USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical sketches of early Indiana > Part 24
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Mr. Cravens saw that his party was wedded to slavery, and when it nominated General Taylor, a slaveholder, for the pres- idency, he determined to leave it. No one who has not passed the ordeal knows how hard it is for one to cut loose from his party. Personal friends desert him and the associations of years are broken up and destroyed. But Mr. Cravens saw his duty in a line different from that pursued by his party, and he
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determined to follow it. He went to the Buffalo Freesoil con- vention as a delegate, and actively participated in its proceed- ings. He supported its nominees-Van Buren and Adams- stumping the State in their behalf. They were defeated, and for awhile afterward Mr. Cravens affiliated with the Democracy. He was one of its nominees in 1850 for delegate to the consti- tutional convention, but was defeated at the polls. The Demo- cratic party, like the Whig, had too many pro-slavery men in its ranks for a man of such pronounced anti-slavery principles as Mr. Cravens to be popular with it. As stated above, he was beaten, and the people of Indiana were debarred from having his valuable services in the formation of the constitution under which we live.
In 1852 both the Whig and Democratic parties declared in their national platforms that the question of slavery was settled. They also resolved that the further agitation of the question was unwise and unpatriotic. There really was no vital issue be- tween the parties, their contest being merely to determine which should have the patronage and the spoils. In the canvass of that year Mr. Cravens supported Hale and Julian, the Freesoil candidates for President and Vice President, and was himself the candidate of that party for Governor of the State. Of course he was beaten, for although pro-slavery politics was then becoming weakened, it was strong enough to bind with its hate- ful cords the masses of the people.
When the Republican party was formed Mr. Cravens entered its ranks. Indeed, he was one of the men who made the party. Its opposition to the extension of slavery endeared him to it, and made him active in its behalf. At the Republican State convention of 1856 he was nominated for Attorney-General of the State, and he entered the canvass with all his old-time zeal and eloquence. He was defeated, but this canvass added largely to his already well-established reputation as a strong debater.
On the breaking out of the civil war, in 1861, Mr. Cravens took an active part in securing recruits, and in other ways fur- thering the cause of the government. He was, for a time, lieu- tenant-colonel of a regiment of infantry, but he was too old and feeble for active service. and soon resigned his commission.
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When John Morgan made his raid through Indiana, Colonel Cravens rallied his neighbors, and tried to stop the invader's progress, but he and his soldiers were taken captive and paroled by the guerrilla chieftain. After this Colonel Cravens did not aspire to public employment, but remained at his home in Os- good until the 4th of December, 1876, when death called him hence. His remains were taken to Versailles and deposited in the cemetery there.
Colonel Cravens was one of those men, rarely met in life, who prefer principles to success. Elected to Congress before he had reached middle life, he could have continued in the pub- lic service had he not been truer to his convictions than to his ambition. But he preferred private station with self-respect to public office with self-abasement.
In early life Colonel Cravens was small of physique, but as he grew older he fleshened. His height was five feet six and one- half inches, and his weight about one hundred and sixty pounds. His complexion was light, his eyes blue and his hair inclined to be sandy. He was a brave, conscientious and able man, and well deserving a place in the history of the State.
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ANDREW KENNEDY.
ONE of the best examples of the possibilities of the American boy may be seen in the life and career of Andrew Kennedy. Born poor, and growing to manhood illiterate, he became a lawyer of large practice, a statesman of enviable reputation. and died before he was thirty-eight years old, one of the best known and most honored men in the State.
Andrew Kennedy was born near Dayton, Ohio, July 24, 1810. When a child his father removed to Indiana and settled in the wilderness near where the city of Lafayette now stands. Here young Kennedy lived and worked until farm life became irk- some and distasteful, and he determined to leave it. This was when he was about midway between boyhood and man- hood. He left his home and went to Connersville, where he had an aunt living, and soon after arriving there he apprenticed himself to a blacksmith, to learn the trade of a smithy. In due time he became a master workman, and would, most probably, have continued at the anvil and bellows for life had not an ac- cident happened to him, which, instead of being a misfortune. proved a blessing.
The late Samuel W. Parker then lived at Connersville, and was not only a brilliant lawyer, but was also a dear lover of the horse. He owned an animal which was so spirited and vicious that it was difficult to get him shod, but Kennedy undertook the task, and was badly injured by a kick from the horse. Being unable to work, he commenced to study, and, although he could scarcely read and could not write his name, with the help of Mr. Parker, who took great interest in him, he soon became able to read and understand what he read. Books were a reve-
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lation to him. They opened to him a new life. He soon came to the conclusion that the hammer and the anvil were not the proper instruments for him to fight with ; that he was capable of wielding intellectual weapons as well as those only used by the hand. He therefore determined to abandon his trade and study law. In this he was encouraged by Mr. Parker, who placed at his command his library, and the young blacksmith laid aside his apron, washed the soot from his face and hands, and en- tered Mr. Parker's office as a student. He studied hard, and in a short time was licensed to practice. At that time admission to the bar was much more difficult than now. Good moral character was not the only thing necessary to enable one to be a lawyer. Before being admitted to the bar the applicant had to pass a rigid and critical examination, and he was only licensed when he passed this ordeal to the satisfaction of two judges of a court of record, so it is apparent that young Ken- nedy made good use of his time and opportunities, for otherwise he would not have been able to gain the admission he sought.
Soon after obtaining his license he removed to Muncie, and opened an office for the practice of his profession. At that time (1830) Muncie contained but few inhabitants, and these few lived in log cabins. The Court-house was a cabin, and in it the young lawyer's voice rang out in behalf of those who employed him. While not so good a lawyer as some who practiced at the Muncie bar, he excelled them all in the defense of those charged with crime. His fine presence, his magnetism and his fervid eloquence made him exceedingly effective before a jury, and fortunate indeed was the offender who secured him as an advocate. His fiery eloquence captivated the people, and he soon became noted as one of the most popular speakers as well as one of the most successful lawyers in the eastern part of the State. He had engaging manners, and, in 1836, when hardly eligible on account of his age, he was elected to the State Senate to fill a vacancy. The next year he was chosen a Senator for a full term, and while in the Senate he was noted for his attention to business and for his fidelity to the interests of those whom he represented. In 1840 he was placed on the Democratic electoral ticket, and made a thorough canvass of his district. The people flocked to hear him wherever he went,
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and at the close of the canvass, the "young blacksmith " was one of the best-known men in the State. In 1841 he was nom- inated for Congress and elected. He was re-elected in 1843 and in 1845, and in 1847 was again offered a nomination, but declined it. During his six years in Congress he attended strictly to his public duties and established a reputation for elo- quence and effective services equaled by few.
Before the close of his congressional term Mr. Kennedy de- termined to be a candidate for the United States Senate. He aspired to a seat in the highest legislative body in the country, and had he lived would, most probably, have succeeded in ob- taining it. He came to Indianapolis in December, 1847, to commence his canvass for the Senate, but he had been here only a few days when he was taken sick with a disease which proved to be small-pox. The Legislature was in session, and many of the members had called on him at his room in the Palmer House, and when it became known that the disease with which he was afflicted was small-pox the utmost consternation prevailed. Resolutions adjourning the Legislature until the second Monday in January, 1848, were introduced and passed on the 13th of the preceding month, and the members at once left for their homes. There was no case of small-pox in the city except the one, and why this one should so badly scare the assembled wisdom of the State seems to us of the present time exceedingly strange. Mr. Kennedy continued sick and confined to his room until the evening of the last day of 1847, when he died. His body was taken at the dead of night, wrapped in the clothes of the bed on which he died, to the cemetery, at- tended only by the hack-driver and sexton, and consigned to mother earth. The hackman and the sexton who performed the sad task of laying him away in his tomb contracted the fell dis- ease which took him off, and in less than two weeks thereafter were laid by his side. A sad ending was this of a career which promised so much.
The death of Mr. Kennedy caused gloom throughout the State. In commenting upon his demise, the Indianapolis Sen- tinel said :
"In the death of Mr. Kennedy the State loses, in the prime
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of his life and usefulness, one of her most honored and distin- guished sons."
On the Ist day of January, 1848, the same paper thus spoke of Mr. Kennedy :
" The decease of this distinguished man will excite feelings of the profoundest regret, not only among the people of this State, but among all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. He was emphatically one of 'nature's noblemen,' and, though born of poor parents, and in his early youth deprived of even common advantages for the cultivation of his mind, he was so richly endowed in mental qualities that he was able to overcome all obstacles, and ultimately to attain an elevated position among the most distinguished men of the State. He was socially, as well as politically, a Democrat. Possessing the most exalted mental attributes, he felt that no man could rightfully claim mastery over him ; and, having himself drunk of the bitter cup of poverty, he knew how to sympathize with and encourage the poor in the assertion of their rights."
When the Legislature convened in January following Mr. Kennedy's death, appropriate resolutions were introduced and several eloquent speeches were made. In speaking on the reso- lutions, Hon. A. J. Harlan, of Grant county, said :
" I hope and believe that I shall not be deemed by any one who hears me at all exaggerating when I assert that the la- mented Kennedy, whilst connected with his public services, either in the Legislature of his adopted State, or in the Con- gress of the nation, gave constant and continued proof of his- sound, practical and statesmanlike intellect, unyielding honesty of purpose, and a generosity of soul and will that ever qualified him for the performance of all generous, hospitable and noble deeds, and which at all times saved him from the charge of any act that was ignoble, sordid or illiberal.
" In his private life he was remarkably bland, courteous and interesting ; and his death has thrown a sorrow and disappoint- ment to many a kind and innocent bosom which his living mo- ments never failed to fill with the liveliest hopes of future good- ness and prosperity."
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Mr. Orr, a representative from Delaware county, the county in which Mr. Kennedy had lived, said :
" MR. SPEAKER-I arise to announce to you and the House the pleasing intelligence that that dreadful and loathsome dis- ease, the smallpox, is measurably arrested. We had some thirty-odd cases at our county-seat, and but three deaths out of the number. Out of ten or fifteen cases in the county there was but one death, and for a week or ten days previous to my leaving home there was but one new case. Now, sir, although this was calculated to produce joy in our midst, yet we are cast into gloom and sadness at the news of the death of our highly honored and much esteemed fellow citizen, the Hon. Andrew Kennedy. Death, it is true, is not a respecter of persons, and in this case its victim was a shining and conspicuous mark ; his social virtues were most appreciated by those who knew him best. As an instance of this, sir, I will tell you that in his own county, which always casts upwards of two hundred Whig ma- jority, he reduced this majority to twenty-five. He was an ardent admirer and lover of our institutions, and well he might be, for it was owing to their benign influence that he rose to that conspicuous and enviable position he occupied in society. When talking on these subjects he seemed to soar, as it were, above himself, and to forget every other thing around him. As an instance of this, I will tell you a circumstance that trans- pired as he and I came down at the opening of the Legislature. Talking of our glorious institutions, which to me was always pleasing, he became quite eloquent ; his eyes beamed with lus- ter peculiar to the man ; he sprang to his feet (unconsciously dropping the check-lines, though approaching a critical place in the road), and burst forth into one of his most grand and eloquent strains, just as though he had an audience of five hun- dred persons. He poured forth to my delighted ears, in the most glowing language, the glory of our country as it now is. and as I hope it will be a thousand years hence ; during which time we had passed over considerable road. After sitting down he asked me how or when I took the check-lines from him. I told him the circumstances ; he replied that he hoped the tree of liberty would ultimately become so large that all nations and
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kindreds might repose underneath its shade, and that its branches might extend to the nethermost parts of the earth, and that he believed republican principles would become so prevalent that they could peremptorily give the command, 'Tyrants, about face !' But he needs no eulogy from me; the history of this commonwealth is his history. Of this, the future impartial his- torians in writing it out will devote a page to the history of the Hon. Andrew Kennedy. Permit me, sir, in conclusion, to pre- sent the following resolutions :
" Resolved, unanimously, That we have heard with profound regret of the death of our distinguished fellow-citizen, the Hon. Andrew Kennedy, who departed this life on the 31st day of De- cember, 1847.
" Resolved, unanimously, That in the death of Andrew Ken- nedy society has lost one of its brightest ornaments, and the State one of its faithful servants.
" Resolved, unanimously, That we deeply condole with his afflicted family in the loss they have sustained, and that we hereby tender to his bereaved widow our mutual sympathy.
" Resolved, unanimously, That His Excellency, the Governor, be requested to forward to the widow of the deceased a copy of the foregoing resolutions.
" Resolved, unanimously, That as an evidence of the high es- teem entertained for the deceased this House do now adjourn."
Mr. Kennedy's widow still lives at the old homestead in Mun- cie, and a short time ago the author of this sketch heard from her lips the sorrowful account of her husband's death. She said she begged to be taken to Indianapolis that she might be with her husband in his illness, but the boon was denied her, The life of her husband went out when she was far away. His fevered brow and parched lips were cooled by stranger hands while the wife of his youth was praying that she might be per- mitted to perform those loving offices herself. But she prayed in vain.
The small-pox scare of 1847 caused a good deal of amuse- ment among the people of that day. That the great Sanhedrim of the State should dissolve and its members go home on ac-
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count of a solitary case of small-pox seems incredible, but it was so. Many were the jokes that went the rounds of the news- papers of that time. Among them were the following :
" Why is the present Indiana Legislature like General Wil- kinson ?
"Answer-Because they ran away from Kennedy (Canada).
" Why is the Indiana Legislature like a young lawyer?
"Answer-Because it is highly excited over a solitary case.
" Why is the Indiana Legislature unlike Santa Anna?
"Answer-Because they ran when there was no danger ; he ran when there was danger."
A local poet thus poured out his soul in blank verse in an ode to " Small-pox and the Legislature : "
" Thou hast
Alarmed the heels e'en from their boots, and
Given their tattered coat-tails to the wind ; And, with the vast velocity of fear, they Have outstripped the speed of railroad cars, And frost and mud have been like cobweb
Barriers to their brave retreat. Avaunt ! Fell devil, from our peaceful town, and Let the Legislature all come back."
This body of lawmakers was known at the time as the Leg-is- lature.
Mr. Kennedy, while in Congress, made a speech on the Ore- gon bill, in favor of " fifty-four forty or fight." At the conclu- sion of his speech he fainted from exhaustion. However, he revived in a moment and received many congratulations from his friends. Among those who took him by the hand on that occasion was John Quincy Adams, a bitter opponent of the bill, but a great lover of oratory. He said: "Kennedy, let me take by the hand the greatest natural orator in America."
In a speech, delivered in the Senate of the United States, by Judge Douglas, of Illinois, the following reference is made to Mr. Kennedy. (See Congressional Globe, part 3, Thirty-fifth . Congress.)
"I am reminded of the case of Hon. Andrew Kennedy, a Democratic member of Congress from Indiana, who, some years
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ago, was elected from a district which had about four thousand Whig majority. One day he got up to make a speech in the House, when one of his colleagues asked him how he got there. He replied : 'I come from the strongest Whig district in the State of Indiana, a district that gave General Harrison a bigger majority than any other in the United States of America. I beat three of the ablest Whigs there were in the district, and I could have beaten three more if they had dared to run against me."
ROBERT DALE OWEN.
JUDGE BANTA, in his veracious history of "The Voyage of the Oscar Wilde," makes the observation : " Writing history is like making a bouquet in a garden of rare and beautiful flow- ers-there is such an array of material, so much to choose from, so little that can be chosen, and so much to be left untouched." In preparing this sketch I was forced to reject more material than I used ; to cast aside more flowers than my bouquet con- tains. If I have had the judgment to select those which give forth the sweetest fragrance, those whose colors best blend in unison, I have been fortunate, indeed.
Robert Dale Owen, litterateur, reformer and statesman, was born at Glasgow, Scotland, November 7, 1801. His father was Robert Owen, the noted philanthropist, and his mother a daugh- ter of David Dale, a rich cotton-spinner, renowned for his be- nevolence. When Robert was a child his father removed to New Lanark, a village near Glasgow, where he operated an extensive cotton mill. He had a delightful home, known as Braxfield House, where he lived in elegance, and at which he entertained many of the most distinguished men of his day, among them the Grand Duke Nicholas, afterwards Emperor of Russia. Here young Robert remained until he was sixteen years old, receiving all the advantages which wealth and cul- tured surroundings could bestow. At that age he left home. and with his brother William went to Switzerland, and for three years attended the school at Hofwyl, near Berne, con- ducted by M. Fellenberg, a noted Swiss scholar and statesman. On leaving Hofwyl he returned to New Lanark, and for sev-
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eral years assisted his father in conducting his business, a por- tion of the time it being under his entire control.
In 1824 Robert Owen bought of George Rapp a large tract of land on the Wabash river, where the town of New Harmony now stands. The next year Robert Dale left Scotland for America, that he might assist his father in the management of the New Harmony estate. On arriving at New York he at once went to the Prothonotary's office and declared his inten- tion of becoming a citizen of the United States. In due time he arrived at New Harmony and zealously entered into his father's plans to build up a community where competitive labor should be unknown, where the work of each should be for the benefit of all. The experiment proved a failure, and was soon abandoned.
In 1828 Mr. Owen went to New York, and for three years conducted in that city, in connection with Frances Wright, a radical journal known as the Free Enquirer, a paper devoted to socialistic reform. In 1832 he married Mary Jane Robinson, a woman of great strength of mind, who entered heartily into her husband's efforts to change the social system. After a bri- dal trip to Europe, Mr. Owen and his wife returned to America, and in a short time located at New Harmony, where the greater portion of their lives was spent.
Mr. Owen was active in furthering the moral and material in- terests of the community where he lived. There was no town in the West, if in the whole country, where the standard of morality and intelligence was higher than at New Harmony. Philosophers, scientists-men of world-wide reputation-sought the little town on the Wabash for society and for homes. Among these men Mr. Owen was a central figure. His education, his intelligence, and his popularity among his neighbors combined to make him the most influential man in his section of the State.
It would have been almost impossible for a man of Mr. Owen's position at that time to keep out of politics, and in 1836 he be- came a candidate for the Legislature. He was elected, and during this, his first year of public life, we find him an influ- ential member of the body in which he served. During the ses- sion he was mainly instrumental in setting aside, for the purpose
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of education, two-thirds of the surplus revenue given Indiana by the general government. He introduced a bill securing to married women the right to own and control property, a meas- ure with which his name is inseparably connected. But the people were not prepared for such a radical change in the laws of property, and the proposition was defeated.
Mr. Owen was returned to the Legislature the two following years, and at the session of 1838-9, he prepared and offered a bill known as the " Modification Bill," which passed, and ar- rested the gigantic operations which were loading Indiana with debt.
In 1839 Mr. Owen was a candidate for Congress, his oppo- nent being the gifted George H. Proffit. During the canvass Mr. Owen was grossly attacked, being charged with infidelity, . licentiousness and other crimes against religion and morality.
Two days before the election, three clergymen of Posey county- Mr. Owen's home-published a contradiction of the calumnies, and bore testimony to the purity of his life, but the defense came too late. He was beaten by Mr. Proffit 839 votes.
In an article published in Scribner's Monthly in 1877, Mr .. Owen gave this incident of his campaign with Proffit :
" I may mention here, as illustrative of the style of thought and of idiomatic expression among the simple people with whom I had made my home, an incident of a later date, when I was in the field of Congress against George Proffit. It was in a rustic por- tion of the district, and after I had spoken I had been invited. as usual, to spend the night at a neighboring farmer's. Hap- pening to sit, during the evening, on my host's front porch, I overheard, from just 'round the corner of the cabin, the conver- sation of two men who did not suppose I was within ear-shot. Their talk was, as usual, of the candidates :
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