USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Biographical cyclopedia of Vanderburgh County, Indiana : embracing biographies of many of the prominent men and families of the county > Part 2
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DR. A. M. OWEN.
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"Tetanus," was ably prepared and has given due attention to matters of did credit both to himself and college. public import and has identified himself with all enterprises having for their ob- ject the advancement of the interests of the city of Evansville. Ile was one of the incorporators of the Evansville and Chicago Railroad Co., president and director of the District Telegraph Co., has served as president of several busi- ness associations, and in fact is in some way identified with many commercial enterprises of a public character. He is an enthusiastic and an indefatigable practioner. and a fine type of the class to which he belongs. In 1875 the doctor was married to Miss Laura, daughter of G. N. Jerauld, of Princeton, Indiana. Three children have blessed their union, Amelia E., Leartus J. and George N. Immediately after his graduation he came to Evansville and began the practice of his profession under rather adverse circumstances, but in a comparatively short time he found himself in the possession of a large and lucrative business. His success in sur- gery gave him an enviable reputation and his territory grew until now it em- braces Southern Indiana, Northern Kentucky and Southwestern Illinois. He was the founder of the Evansville Hospital Medical College, of Evans- ville, and occupied the chair of surgery until his large and growing practice and his extensive business interests com- pelled him to tender his resignation. The heavy demands upon his time have Dr. Owen, in connection with Dr. Edwin Walker, established the Evans- ville Sanitarium which was opened January IS, 1894, he being president and Dr. Walker secretary and treasurer. The sanitarium is one of the most per- fectly arranged homes for the sick in the country. Everything in and around it is of the latest and most improved design. Commenting on it the Even- ing Tribune of August 6, 1896, said: "In January, 1894, there was estab- tablished in Evansville by some mem- bers of the local medical fraternity, a private sanitarium for the treatment and nursing of deep-seated and complicated cases. Also for performing of surgical operations under the highest antiseptic condition. This institution is delight- fully situated on Fourth street, opposite the park, and the building is a large and imposing brick structure with white prevented him from making any contri- butions to medical literature further than reports of some of his most im- portant surgical cases. He established, and for three years was the editor and publisher of the Indiana Medical Reporter, afterwards known as the Western Medical Reporter, of Chicago. He is a prominent member of nearly all of the more important medical organizations of the country, notably among the number the International Medical Congress, the American Surgical Association, the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, the American Medical Association, the McDowell Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Society and the Vanderburgh County Medical Society. Notwithstanding the magnitude of his general and surgical practice, Dr. Owen 2
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stone trimmings. The halls and rooms are large, well ventilated, lighted by electricity and provided with electric bells. The operating room is a model, it being considered by experts one of the finest in the country. The sani- tarium conditions receive the most rigid enforcement. The sanitarium is pro- vided with laboratories, in which the condition of the patient is thoroughly investigated under the light shed by the latest scientific developments. Even the water used in the baths, as well as that used for drinking and cooking, is thoroughly sterilized and made free from all diseased germs. A corps of well trained and experienced nurses are in attendance and everything that medical skill or expert nursing can do to bring about a recovery is at the dis- posal of the patient."
EDWIN WALKER, M. D., P. H. D.,
A LEADING physician and surgeon of Evansville, was born in Evansville, May 6, 1853, and obtained his elementary training from the public schools, gradu- ating from the high school in 1869. The name of Walker has been closely connected with Vanderburgh county for over a half century. Dr. Walker's pater- nal grandfather, William Walker, set- tled here in 1835. He is the son of James T. and Charlotte (Burtis) Walker. Dr. Walker attended the Hanover (Indiana) college, where he for two years pursued a classical course of study,
and during that time was a member of the Union literary society and of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. In 1871 he began the study of medicine, under the preceptorship of Dr. G. B. Walker, of Evansville, attended three courses of lectures in the Evansville medical col- lege, from which he was graduated in 1874. He was afterwards appointed professor of anatomy in that college. He took a course of lectures in New York City in 1877, entered the univer- sity again two years subsequently, grad- uated with honors, was awarded the prize for the greatest proficiency in dis- eases of the nervous system. He was also a student under Professor Seguin, a most able and scientific instructor. Upon returning to Evansville, Dr. Walker was chosen professor of diseases of women and diseases of the nervous system in the medical college of Evans- ville. He attended a course of lectures in the New York Polyclinic, also took a course of special study of female dis- eases and diseases of the throat, under the tutorship of Professor Bosworth. He spent two months attending hospital clinics, went to Europe, where he devoted his time in search of knowledge bearing on the diseases of which he has made a specialty, and was associated with the leading authorities in Berlin, Vienna, London and Edinburgh. He returned to America, and in ISSS devoted him- self again to the investigation of medical science in New York. He was county physician of Vanderburgh county in 1876-78, was mainly instrumental in establishing the city hospital. He is a member of the Southern Surgical Society,
JUDGE H. A. MATTISON.
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the American Association of Obstetrics and Cynecology, the State of Indiana Medical Society, the Vanderburgh Med- ical Society, the Mississippi Valley Med- ical Society and the American Med. ical society. In ISSS the faculty of Hanover college conferred upon Dr. Walker the degree of P. H. D.
In January, 1893, Dr. Walker, in connection with Dr. A. M. Owen, estab- lished, in Evansville, a private sanita- rium, which is delightfully situated on Fourth street, facing the park. The establishment in Evansville of such a magnificent and useful institution is a source of great pride to the people of Evansville and the surrounding country. The great good accomplished by an institution of this kind is inestimable. The halls and rooms are large, well ventilated, lighted by electricity and furnished with all modern conveniences. Experts say the model operating room is the finest in the country. The condi- tion of the patient is thoroughly inves- tigated under the latest and most seien- tific methods, the sanitarium being provided with well arranged labora- tories. The sanitary arrangement is perfect, and as a home for the sick, it is complete in every way. The water used for bathing, as well as that used for drinking and cooking, is thoroughly cleansed by filtration and thus rendered pertectly pure. The sanitarium is pro- vided with an efficient corps of well trained nurses.
Dr. Walker was married in 1880, to Miss Capitola Hudspeth, daughter of George and Margaret (Smith) Huds- peth, of Boonville. Indiana.
MAJ. HAMILTON ALLEN MATTISON,
TUDGE of the circuit court of Vander- burgh county, was born in South Ber- lin, New York, September 23, 1832. His grandfather. Allen Mattison, a Rhode Island Quaker, was in the Rev. olutionary war in 1775 under General Nathaniel Greene, fought at the battle of Bunker Hill, and removed with his family to South Berlin, New York, where he resided until he died in 1854. Major Mattison's father was Allan J. Mattison and his mother was Miss Luey Thomas. Hamilton A. Mattison be- longs to that large class of men of dis- tinction and public usefulness, who was born to the soil. His early years were spent upon his father's farm in New York, and his first instruction received in the district schools where he attended about three months in the year. When nineteen years old he entered the New York Conference Seminary at Char- lottsville and pursued his studies, at the same time earning by his own labor as assistent teacher the necessary means .to support him and pay his tuition. He entered Union College, from which in- stitution, under the presidency of the distinguished educator, Dr. Eliphalet Nott, he was graduated in 1860. For two years afterward he was principal of the Bacon Seminary, Woodstown, N. J. In July, 1862, when the war dogs were baying on every side he laid aside his wand, and picking up his musket responded to the call of President Lin- coln, enlisted and raised a company of recruits which became members of the Twelfth New Jersey Regiment. He
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was commissioned second lieutenant and subsequently promoted to first lieutenant, captain and major. He was on the staff of General Alexander Ilayes and Nelson a Miles. and was actively engaged in twenty-five battles, wounded three times at Chancellors- ville, wounded twice again and had his horse shot from under him in the battle of the Wilderness, and there made pris- oner of war. He was introduced to General Lee on the battle field and conversed with him. Now a chapter of hardships in the life of Major Mattison begins, such as only those who have undergone similar sufferings in southern prison pens can appreciate. He was taken to Lynchburg, thence to Macon, Georgia, and there confined "on short rations" from May until July, then taken to Savannah, Georgia. Was one of the fifty federal officers taken from Savanah by the rebel authorities and placed under the fire of the federal guns, while they were shelling the city of Charleston from Folly Island. After several weeks, with others, he was taken to Columbia, South Carolina, and put in a pen exposed to all kinds of weather, without shelter of any kind, and fed only on coarse corn-meal and sorghum. Here through intense suffer- ing he remained until November 28th, when, in company with a fellow pris- oner, Rev. John Scamahora, well-known in Evansville, he made his escape. Without money or food and with a scanty supply of clothing, the two took to the woods and started out to meet Sherman's army, which they believed to be on its way to Augusta, Georgia.
They traveled across the state of South Carolina, walking by night and con- cealing themselves in woods and swamps during the day. Reaching the Savan- nah river, they took possession of a small boat and ran the gauntlet of rebel guards and steamers until they reached the lines of Sherman's army at Savannah, which place had been captured subse- quent to their escape. They had trav- eled nearly 1,500 miles through a rebel country and were nearly prostrated with fatigue. Gen. Sherman ordered Major Mattison to report to the army of the Potomac as soon as he was able to re- turn to duty. After visiting his home in New York, he rejoined the army of the Potomac about March 1, 1865, and took part in all the battles in which that army was engaged until the surrender of Lec, some six weeks later. He was mustered out of service at the close of the war, and soon after entered the Albany Law School from which he was graduated in 1866, receiving the degree of LL. B. The same year he married the daughter of Hon. Marinus Fair- child, of Salem, New York. He be- gan the practice of law at Salem, in partnership with his father-in-law. In February, 1868, he removed to Evans- ville and in the following fall took an active part in the political campaign. advocating the election of Gen. Grant for president. In 1870 he was appointed county attorney, but resigned the office in the following year for the purpose of accepting the appointment by the gover- nor to the office of prosecuting attorney of the Vanderburgh county criminal court, to fill a vacancy. In the fall of
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1872 he was elected by the people to the same office for a term of two years. In 1876 he was appointed, by United States Chief Justice Waitc, register in bankruptcy, and discharged the duties of the office until its abolishment by law. In 1887 he was appointed city attorney. for Evansville, and was re- appointed to the same office in IS88. Retiring from the office of city attorney he formed a partnership with Messrs. Posey and Clark, and afterwards the firm was changed to Mattison, Posey & Chappell. In the fall of 1896 he was elected judge of the Vanderburgh county circuit court for a term of six years, and it is a notable fact that he is the first republican ever elected as judge of the circuit court in the first judicial circuit of Indiana. He became a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity at Troy, New York, in 1862, and joined Reed Lodge; No. 316, of Evansville, by de- mit in 1868; became a member of La Valette Commandery of Knights Templar in 1872, and has held many important offices, and is now past master of Reed Lodge, past high priest, past illustrious master of Simpson council and past eminent commander. He joined Trinity Methodist Episcopal church soon after moving to Evansville and ever since has been an active meni- ber of both church and Sunday school. His first wife having died in 1873, he was again married February 7, 1878, to Miss Henrietta M. Bennett. of Evans- ville, formerly of Brooklyn, New York. Ile had one daughter, the issue of his first marriage, who died in 1892, at the age of twenty. Added to ability and
integrity Judge Mattison possesses in an eminent degree those humane in- pulses which prompts one to temper justice with mercy. It has been his rule to be lenient with youthful offenders brought before him for the first time, his theory being that such cases may be easier and more surely re- claimed to honorable paths by surround- ing them with proper influences than by subjecting them to the association of hardened criminals which extreme penalties would necessarily involve. He has not hesitated even at times to set aside the verdict of juries that were plainly excessive, whether from mis- conceptions of the true import of testi- mony, from sudden impulse, or from any other cause whatever. Yet where the stern degree of law has seemed to be the only atonement for outraged justice, his decisions have never lacked the firmness and severity which the true minister of the law must know when and how to use.
JOHN H. FOSTER,
E MINENT lawyer and judge of the su- perior court of Vanderburgh county, was born in Evansville in 1862. He received his early mental training in the common schools of Evansville and en- tered the State University in IS78 and was graduated in June, 1882. Took a law course in Columbian University, of Washington, D. C., and was admitted to the bar in 1886. He had a success- ful law practice, which he gave up when
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called by the people to serve as judge number of years engaged in the grain of the superior court, to which office he was unanimously elected in 1894.
Judge Matthews Watson Foster, his grandfather, was born in Gilesfield, county of Durham, England, June 22, 1Soo. Ile was apprenticed to a book- seller, which therefore afforded oppor- tunities for literary and legal research. He came to America in 1812 and in 1817 located in Edwards county, Illinois. In 1819 he settled in Pike county, Indiana, and occupied a prominent place in the early history of Pike county, and served several years as associate judge. He was a farmer, miller and merchant in that county until 1846, when he re- moved to Evansville, where he died April 13, 1863. He married Miss Eleanor Johnson June 18, 1829, who died at the age of thirty-seven years. Their union was blessed with eight fine children. In 1851 he married the second time to Mrs. Mary Kazar, who died in California in 1859. To this union two children were born.
Alexander H. Foster (his father), the fourth child of Matthew W. Foster, was born in Petersburg, Indiana, March 1, 1838, and was educated in the State University of Indiana; was regimental quartermaster of the Twenty-Fifth Indiana Infantry two years, beginning July, 1861; was wholesale grocer in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Memphis, Ten- nessee. He returned to Evansville in 1866 and engaged in the pork packing business, and was for three years a member of the city council, and in ISSS appointed Metropolitan police commis- sioner of Evansville, and was also for a Miss Josephine Fiper, of Washington,.
business. He was married April 11, 1861, to Miss Martha, daughter of the late Hon. John S. Hopkins, and to this union four children were born. John H., now judge of the superior court, Frank cashier First National Bank, George and Mary. As a lawyer Judge Foster has always commanded the profound respect of his brethren at the bar. His indomitable energy, his accurate and complete knowledge of the civil code and statute laws, his fair and strictly legitimate manner of conducting his cases, his effort to secure sound and honest legal action, thoroughly equipped in every way for his high calling, courteous and deferential towards his opponent, faithful and persevering in behalf of his client, he commands the respect and confidence of judge and jury and whatever might be the issue he left no doubt in the mind of his client as to the wise and careful management of his case. In the capacity of superior judge, John H. Foster is regarded as one of the best judges on the bench. and has endeared himself to the hearts . of the people. His relation to the bar was of the intimate and almost affectionate nature and the practitioners in his court have the highest regard for him. Judge Foster is still in the prime of life and it is the sincere hope of all who know him that he may long be spared to ad- minister justice, as an example of official probity and good citizenship. He served one term in the legislature in the session of 1893. Judge Foster was married December 28, 1887, to
A. C. ROSENCRANZ.
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D. C., and two children bless their union, as follows: Josephine, born No- vember 30, 1888, and John, born Octo- ber 19, 1896.
MAJOR ALBERT C. ROSENCRANZ,
PROMINENT and worthy citizen of Ev- ansville, president of the Ileilman Plow Works, was born in Baerwalde, near the city of Berlin, Prussia, October 26, 1842, and is the son of C. F. Rosen- cranz, a native of Prussia, who was a watch maker by trade. He married Miss Dorothea Nohse, a native of Prussia, who died in 1884. C. F. Rosen- cranz was a man of the highest integ- rity, loved and respected by all who knew him. He took an active interest in the German revolution in 1848. He came to America in 1850 and settled near Evansville, and in 1851 took up his abode in the city, and resumed his bus- iness as a watchmaker. In 1867 he returned to Europe, and died there in 1887. The subject of this sketch was the only child, was educated in the pri- vate schools and learned the trade of watch maker under his father, while receiving his education. He was en- gaged in his father's business when the war dogs began to bay, and in 1861 aided in the organization of company A, First regiment Indiana Legion, and when the company was mustered in, he was made orderly sergeant. He re- cruited compnay F, Fourth Indiana Cavalry, in July, 1862, was commis- sioned first lieutenant and made captain in 1863. IIc served as body guard to
General Ebenezer Dumont, a Mexican officer of prominence. He engaged in several important battles, notably Chick- amauga. In March, 1864, his regiment was ordered to join General Sherman on his famous march to the sea. When near Buzzard's Roost the brigade to which Major Rosencranz was attached, while making a reconnoissance in front of the left flank of Sherman's army, was attacked by the enemy and lost heavily. Here Captain Rosencranz was slightly wounded and captured. He was con- fined in rebel prisons at Macon, and Savannah, Ga., Charleston and Colum- bia, S C., and Charlotte, N. C., and while in prison endured a chapter of hardships such as can be appreciated only by men who have undergone simi- lar sufferings in southern prison pens. On March 1, 1865, he was paroled and May 3, following, was exchanged. Ile rejoined his commandery and was mus- tered out June 9, 1865. During the winter of 1863-64, he had at times been in command of the regiment, and soon after his release from prison, was com- missioned major, his commission being dated May 1, 1865.
After the war Major Rosencranz suc- ceeded his father in business in Evans- ville, which he operated successfully until 1868, and in that year took charge of the affairs in the office of William Heilman, which kept him very closely confined for five years, at the end of which his health was so impaired as to necessitate a change of climate. He went to Missouri and engaged in stock raising. In 1876 he returned to Evans- ville, and January 1, 1897, he assumed
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active charge of the Heilman-Urie Plow Co. as manager. Mr Uric retired in IS78, and Mr. Rosencranz has been in control of the business since. Ile is a man of means and affairs, and his mind is capable of great research. He can divest difficult subjects of their obscu- rity and conduct multifarious plans to a successful issue. Politically, he affiliates with the republican party, and in March, 1887, served on the committee appointed by the city council to advise on the city debt, which at that time was disturbing the public mind. In April, 1887, he was elected councilman from the fifth ward, and was made chairman of the finance committee when the council was organized. He served as chairman of the water works committee. Major Rosencranz, with all his other duties, finds time to devote to the following fraternal organizations, in which he is a useful and helpful member: Masonic lodge, Knight Templar and G. A. R. He was united in marriage May 14, 1868, to Miss Mary Heilman, eldest daughter of that worthy and honorable citizen, Mr. William Heilman, and their union has been blessed with eight chil- dren, of whom only three survive, Olive, Richard and Gertrude.
Major Rosencranz is one of the most active, energetic and enterprising men in the community in which he lives. He is a man of high moral and religious character, beloved and respected by all, and stands pre-eminently one of the first citizens of Evansville. Ile is a member of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, has been liberal in his support of the cause of religion, and has given
to charity with a lavish hand. By these and kindred actions he has endeared himself to the people of Evansville and made a name which will survive him many years, and his work and exem- plary life will be held up as an example to future generations.
JUDGE PETER MAIER
W As born August 1, 1834, in the prov- ince of Hohenzollern, Prussia, and is now one of the leading members of the Vanderburgh county bar. He received the rudiments of his education in Ger- many, and in 1848 emigrated to this country, with his parents, locating in Cincinnati: He was thrown at once upon his own resources and worked in that city until twenty years of age, when he saved sufficient out of his earnings to start upon a collegiate course in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio. He taught school and attended the university alternately until 1858, when he graduated and com- menced the study of law in the office of Sweetser & Hall in Delaware. While preparing for the legal profession he occupied the position of principal of the public schools in that city. Up to this point in his career his life had been any- thing but a bed of roses. It was the old story of an ambitious but poor young man, struggling to reach the first rung on the ladder which leads to ultimate prosperity. And the natural result which follows energy, applica- tion and indomitable will power came
PETER MAIER.
Douglas
Photo
CAPT. J. W. WARTMANN.
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to pass. He was admitted to the bar in 1860, at Delaware, Ohio, and upon the advice of a friend came to Evans- ville, where his star soon commenced to shine in the ascendant In 1864 he began the publication of the Evansville Demokrat, one of the most substantial German newspapers to-day in the coun- try. He sold it to Lauenstein brothers in 1866. In 1865 he was nominated by the democratic party for judge of the court of common pleas, but it was a time when democrat stock was low and he suffered defeat. In 1872, during the famous Greeley campaign, he was nom- inated for judge of the criminal court, but the entire democratic ticket was snowed under. In 1874 he was appointed city attorney. While attending the Cen- tennial in 1876 he was nominated for state senator. He declined the nomina- tion, but his party insisted and the re- publican party pitted against him Wm. Heilman, the strongest man in their party, with the result that Mr. Heilman was elected. In 1882, just when he was about to start for Europe, he was ap- pointed without solicitation, city attorney and served one year. He continued the practice of law until 1890, when he was nominated for judge of the superior court, elected and served four years, and in 1894 he went down in the sea of defeat with the wave that swept the democracy at that time. Since he re- tired from the bench in 1894 he has been engaged in the practice of law. Judge Maier was married in 1864 to Miss Eliza Willey, of Delaware, Ohio, and six children have blessed their union.
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