USA > Indiana > Brief biographies of the members of the Indiana State Government : executive, judicial, and legislative, 1874-5 > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
MAJOR ROBERT SLATER,
SENATOR FROM JOHNSON AND MORGAN,
Was born in an old log cabin in Dearborn county, Indiana' January 5, 1833. He is the son of a French Canadian father and a Vermont Yankee mother, and he claims to have been educated in "the wind-shaken garret of dilapidated fortune." By virtue of this education he became a printer by occupation, but he was not destined to stick type all his life. He had a penchant for pushing the pencil ; so in 1859 he began to edit the Franklin Democratic Herald, and has been so engaged, when not in office, since that time. In 1856 he lived in Aurora, and was elected City Clerk. During the administration of Andrew Johnson he was appointed mail agent on the Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad. Politically he has always been a Democrat of the most ultra type, and was elected to the Senate from Johnson and Morgan by a larger majority than any other Democratic Senator ever received. He served in regular and special session with distinction, holding important positions on committees, and is now a member of the State House Committee from the Senate.
70
LEGISLATIVE.
GEORGE B. SLEETH,
SENATOR FROM DECATUR AND RUSH,
Is a native of New York where he was born on the natal day of our Republic, (July 4th,) 1837; His parents were of Irish nativity and had arrived in America but three months before the birth of the son who is made the object of this sketch. When he was nine years of age Senator Sleeth had the melancholy misfortune to suffer the loss of paternal protection, through the death of both his loved and loving parents. For the three succeeding years, he was cared for by friends of the family in Pitts- burgh. Then, at the tender age of twelve, he left them to seek his fortunes in the then " far west." It was in 1852, that he first set foot upon Indiana soil, and he stuck to it tenaciously from the start. He first located at Laurel, Franklin county, and followed farming for a livelihood, working for a farmer named Winship. Meantime he neglected no opportunity for the acquirement of an educa- tion either in or out of school. Indeed, he never ceased his educational endeavors until he had taken a thorough course in Farmers' College, Ohio. Having thus laid a firm foundation on which to base a profession, in 1862, he entered the law office of the Hon. Leonidas Sexton, (now Lieutenant-Governor of the State and President of the Senate,) at Rushville, where he still resides. There he prosecuted his studies with that intelligence and steadfast- ness of purpose that has characterized his whole life, and led him from poverty to plenty, and to professional and political prominence. In 1872 he was elected to the State Senate from the counties of Decatur and Rush, and served with marked ability through the succeeding session, and is now a member of that honorable body. He is one of but
71
LEGISLATIVE.
few men in his profession who would prefer his practice to political preferment, but is willing to respond to the call of his constituents. That the office should seek the man and not the man the office, is one of his firmest con- victions. His reputation as a lawyer is the gratification of all the ambition that animates him to strive to obtain and maintain a prominent position in the hearts of the people of his adopted State. As a politician, he is con- scientious, and is true to his conscience when an unscrupu- lous measure of legislation is being urged in the interest of party.
MILO R. SMITH,
SENATOR FROM MARSHALL, FULTON AND PULASKI,
Was born in Logansport, Cass county, July 1, 1820. His father was born near Harper's Ferry, on the old Virginia shore, and his mother in Kentucky. They moved to Indiana in 1810, first locating in Harrison county, and remaining there until 1824, when they removed to Crawford county. Residing there four years, they removed to Cass county, where the father had received the appointment of Govern- ment Blacksmith to the Miami and Pottowattamie Indians at a salary of $500 per annum. The elder Smith was a black- smith during the week, and a Baptist minister on Sunday. He organized the first church of that denomination ever established in Logansport.
Senator Smith's lines of life were not cast in pleasant places, yet he is as " happy as a big sun flower," to use his own happy expression. His father died in 1831. Adopted by his sister, he was taken to Knox county, Illinois, where
72
LEGISLATIVE.
he was suffered to grow up with the country until 1840, when his sister moved to Galona, taking him along. There and elsewhere, he was knocked about among his relatives until 1846, when he began business for himself as cabin boy on a Mississippi steamer, where his moral education was no longer neglected. Serving two years in that capac- ity, without being blown up, he returned to Indiana and abided at Rochester for a season; then settled in Logans- port and sold goods there for eight years. He returned to Rochester in 1856, where he has since resided. His school- ing was of that practical character that makes the man. Senator Smith is a lawyer, and practices that profession when not engaged in the service of the State.
STROTHER M. STOCKSLAGER,
SENATOR FROM CRAWFORD AND HARRISON,
Was born in Mauckport, Harrison county, Indiana. May 7, 1842, of American parentage, both mother and father hav- ing been born and reared in Shenandoah county, Virginia. He is now and always has been a resident of Harrison county, his present postoffice address being Corydon. After having taken a course of instruction at the academy near Corydon, Mr. Stockslager entered the Indiana State Uni- versity at Bloomington. but did not graduate, having to give up his collegiate course. In 1861 he assisted in raising a company for the 13th Indiana Volunteer Cavalry ; and in 1864 entered the service himself as 2d Lieutenant of the same company, and he served with such skill as secured for him promotion to the captaincy of the company, in which capweity he served until the conclusion of the war .
73
LEGISTATIVE.
He displayed great daring and presence of mind at the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, during Hood's desper- ate advance in 1864. Mr. Stockslager read law with the Hon. Simeon K. Wolfe, Member of Congress from the Third District ; served Harrison county as Deputy Clerk from 1856 to 1860, and as Clerk from 1867 to 1869 He is now, and has always been, a Democrat. His father was the first Democratic Sheriff ever elected in Harrison county, and he served from 1856 to 1860.
WILLIAM CLINTON THOMPSON,
SENATOR FROM MARION,
Is a native of Butler county, Pennsylvania. His parents were born at Philadelphia, of Scotch, Irish and German extraction. His father was a farmer by occupation, and to that avocation he trained the son in early life. But before he had attained his majority, the subject of this sketch suffered the loss of both father and mother, and was thrown upon his own resources; but he was equal to the emergency. He managed to amass means enough to attend school in Cannonsburgh and Pittsburgh, in Penn- sylvania and afterwards to graduate from the Cincinnati Medical College. In 1847 he came to Indiana and located in Indianapolis, and entered upon the practice of his pro- fession, in which he exercised such skill and fidelity as won for him the confidence and support of all with whom he came in contact. Professionally he has been very suc- cessful, and the same is true of all his undertakings. This is duly attested by the fine property he has around him, all of which he has earned. In politics the Doctor was a
74
LEGISLATIVE.
Democrat until 1850, when he became a Republican, and has remained so since, though he is not the kind of a man to sacrifice principle to party or persons. His record is that of an Independent Republican. For eight years he was a member of the city council, and when he shall have served through this term will have served the State in the Senate six sessions. During the war he was a Brigade Surgoon, and discharged the duties of the trust to the satis- faction of superiors, subalterns and patients. In the begin- ning he was assigned to duty in the Army of the Potomac, and acted there until after the battle of Antietam, when he resigned on account of failing health. It is not inappro- priate to add here that Dr. Thompson has been the family physician of all the Governors of Indiana, from Wright to Baker-quito a distinction, indeed. He has been continu- ously a citizen of Indianapolis for nearly a quarter of a century, except six years spent in St. Charles, Missouri. The Doctor is a genial gentleman, one whom it is worth a day's journey to meet in social converse.
ROBERT TOBIN,
SENATOR FROM SPENCER AND PERRY,
Was born in Tobin township, Perry county, Indiana, December 17, 1815. His parents were both of American birth, but of foreign extraction, the father of Irish and the mother of German descent The elder Tobin was Judge of the County Court one term, and Justice of the Peace for nearly a quarter of a century. Robert was educated in the common schools of his native county, and after graduating therefrom, he engaged in agricultural pursuits, in which
75
LEGISLATIVE.
avocation he has spent about all his life to the date of his call to the Legislative halls of the State. However, he had before held several township offices, but they did not inter- fere with the management of his farm. In politics, he was first a Whig. then a Republican, and is now identified with the Working Men's party, through the influence of which he was elected to the Senate of the State of Indiana. His address is Tobinsport. Perry county.
ISAAC UNDERWOOD,
SENATOR FROM GRANT, BLACKFORD AND JAY,
Was born of Welsh parentage, in Clinton county, Ohio, July 21, 1821. He graduated at the old log school house, and then he turned his back upon his alma mater, and engaged in agricultural pursuits-and the pursuit of good bargains in the stock trade. In December, 1856, he came to Indiana, and after sojourning in Randolph county two years and Fort Wayne one year, he settled down to busi- ness in Jay county, where he has since lived. In 1861 he represented Jay county in the Lower House of the Legisla- ture. He was once Treasurer of that county. These two positions are the only ones he has hitherto held by polit- ical preferment. However, he has held quite a number of responsible positions of a public character. For one year he was Treasurer of the Cincinnati, Richmond and Fort Wayne Railroad, and for a time Vice-President of the Lake Erie and St. Louis Railroad. In politics Senator Underwood was a Whig until the organization of the Republican party, then he joined that party and acts with
76
LEGISLATIVE.
it still. He is an avowed champion of such legislation as shall result in the greatest good to the greatest number and does not believe that there isany antagonism between capital and labor, and thinks those giant interests would be harmonious were they properly managed.
HENRY M. WILSON,
SENATOR FROM SULLIVAN AND KNOX,
Was born in Greene county, East Tennessee, January 12, 1815, of Scotch parentage; was educated in that State, and removed to Sullivan county in 1831, and has resided there ever since; by occupation is a farmer. Mr. Wilson has held office and played a prominent part in local politics for the last twenty-two years. During that time he served the county of Sullivan as Trustee, Justice of the Peace, School Commissioner, Auditor, Clerk, and Recorder. In 1860 he was elected to the State Senate, and served four years. He was elected by the Democratic party, of course as overy official must be who comes from that stronghold of the Democracy. Mr. Wilson has ever been a consistent member of that organization, and was a delegate to the Charleston Convention in 1860. His father was an officer holder before him, having been a Justice of the Peace, Postmaster, etc.
77
LEGISLATIVE.
JOHN H. WINTERBOTHAM,
SENATOR FROM LA PORTE,
Was born at Humphreysville, now Seymour, Connecticut, November 13, 1813. His parents were English by birth, but American by adoption. At the time of Senator Win- terbotham's birth his father was manager of a woolen manufactory for General Humphreys-Washington's Min- ister to Portugal, and the first importer of merino sheep. Under the supervision of the elder Winterbotham, the Humphreys mills turned out blankets and clothing for the army of the United States during the war of 1812. At the close of the war General Humphreys admitted Mr. Winterbotham to the firm as junior partner, which relation was not dissolved until by the death of the General, in 1818. Continuing the business until 1828, Mr. Winter- botham was overwhelmed with business reverses, and became a bankrupt through protective legislation. Then he came West to grow up with the country, locating in the then wild woods of the State of Ohio. It is said that the feeling of all the surviving members of the family is to walk a mile to kick a sheep-or a protective legislator. Owing to these reverses Senator Winterbotham could only graduate from the old log school house in the district where the family settled, near Fredericktown. He spent several years in farming, when he left school, after which he began the sale of agricultural implements through the Western States, for Eastern manufacturers. In 1849 he became the junior member of the firm of Pinney, Lamson & Co., manufacturer of agricultural tools, Columbus Ohio. They contracted largely for convict labor in the Ohio State Penitentiary. In 1853, Mr. Winterbotham sold his interest in, and retired from the firm. Immediately
78
LEGISLATIVE.
thereafter he formed a copartnership with Gen. G. A. Jones, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and with him leased the Iowa Peni- tentiary for the term of ten years, and engaged in the manufactory of agricultural implements in that institution until the expiration of the lease. Soon afterward, in con- nection with Gen. C. R. Wever, he established the Fort Madison National Bank, and he was president of this sound financial institution until his removal to Michigan City, where at the earnest solicitation of the Warden and Directors, he contracted for 150 men in the State Prison North, and employed them in the manufacture of cooper- age for the Chicago market ; also made carriage bodies and gearing, which were sold extensively throughout the United States. In 1871 he made a contract for the service of 200 men in the Illinois State Prison at Joliet, and he is now carrying on an extensive manufactory in the Illinois and Indiana Penitentiaries, under the firm name of J. H. Win- terbotham & Sons. He is withal a gentleman of remarka- ble executive ability, firm, and resolute, and he has been successful in all his undertakings.
He is also a man of marked mental ability, and is des- cended from an intellectual family. His great uncle, William Winterbotham, will be remembred by literary people, as an author of American history. His works can be found in the older libraries. The Senator's sister, Mrs. Ann S. Stephens, has an enviable reputation as an authorese. During the last session of the Legislature. the Senator served the State with distinction.
79
LEGISLATIVE.
DAVID TURPIE,
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE AND REPRESENATIVE FROM MARION,
Says Lanman's Congressional Dictionary, " was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, July 8, 1829; graduated at Ken- yon College in 1848; studied law, and was admitted to practice at Logansport, Indiana, in 1849; was appointed by Governor Wright, whom he succeeded in the Senate, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1854, and was Judge of the Circuit Court in 1856, both of which offices he resigned. In 1852 and also in 1858, he was a member of the Legislature of Indiana, and in 1863, he was elected Senator in Congress for the unexpired term of J. D. Bright, and immediately succeeding J. A. Wright, who served by appointment of the Governor."
For years Judge Turpie has been prominently before the public as a politician. At one time he was a candidate for congressional honors, and gave the Hon. Schuyler Colfax an enlivening race, and it was in the palmiest days of that lamented Christian statesman. For sometime he has been a member of the Indianapolis bar. Last fall he was elected to the lower branch of the Legislature. It is an anomoly in American politics that a former United States Senator should consent to the use of his name as a county can- didate. Judge Turpie did that because he is a man who holds himself in readiness to go where the people call, without regard to his own personal preferences. Upon the organization of the House, he was elected Speaker, and already he has the members trained to familiarity with par liamentary practice. He is a positive man and one born and bred to command.
-
80
LEGISLATIVE.
SAMUEL AMES,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM LAKE,
Was born in the State of New Hampshire, of English and German parentage, July 14, 1814. He was educated a civil engineer, in New Hampshire, and removed to Penn- sylvania in 1838. There he lived until 1856, when he removed to this State. He settled down to farm life in Lake county, near Lowell, and lives there still. Before the present, he has never held any office of prominence in county or State. However, his father was a member of the Legislature of New Hampshire as early as 1824, and served the State with distinction. The gentleman from Lake responds at roll call from the Republican side of the House, but he is not a violent partisan.
JOSEPH HARE ANDERSON,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM TIPPECANOE,
Was born near Fairview, Guernsey county, Ohio, Novem- ber 15, 1838. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, of English extraction ; his mother was a native of Ohio, and of Scotch descent. They removed to this State April 15, 1866. The senior Anderson was for eighteen years a Jus- tice of the Peace, but devoted himself to agricultural pur- suits, training his son in that avocation, insisting that it was the surest way of making a living. Representative Anderson, not content with the quiet walks of his father's rural retreat, and inspired by the official career of his paternal progenitor, as Justice of the Peace, worked in the harvest at the age of fifteen years, for means with
81
LEGISLATIVE.
which to pay his way at school, and pave the way to future greatness. By this means he acquired an average English education, and finally concluded that physicians made it pay, and didn't have hard work to perform, so he studied medicine with Dr. McPherson, of Fairview. Subsequently he took a course in the Cincinnati Medical College, gradu- ating therefrom. In 1862 his country called, and he enlisted in the ranks of the 40th IowaRegiment, but was soon promoted to the medical staff of the 1st Iowa, where he served and dispensed the enlivening pill for eight months, and received another promotion, this time to the General Hospital, where he served until the close of the war. Since then he has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Coburn, Tippecanoe county. He was elected Township Trustee in 1872, and served two years. Dr. Anderson was born and bred a Republican, always lived a Republican, and he expects to fight it out on that line, as he expresses it, in the language of our excellent Executive.
JAMES W. ARNOLD,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM PIKE,
Was born in Warwick, July 4th, 1817. His parents were American and had removed to Warwick county but three years previous to his birth. Schools were scarce when the subject of this sketch was a school boy, yet he managed to secure a very creditable education, the circumstances con- sidered. When with his father on the farm, he worked in the cornfield but at a subsequent period in life, he felt called
6
82
LEGISLATIVE.
into the vineyard of the Lord, and for the last few years he has been engaged as a minister of the Gospel. Last October, however, having received a call from the people, he is now serving the State for a season, in the Halls of Legislation. Representative Arnold is a real representa- tive of the true blue Democracy, a credit to the party and the county he is here to serve. Stancel is his post office address.
GEORGE T. BARNEY,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM NOBLE AND ELKHART,
First optically observed the wonders of this wicked world in New York, April 10, 1822. His parents were also natives of New York. The subject of this sketch came West and located in Ohio in 1837, and there remained until 1844, when he removed to Indiana, and settled at Elkhart. Living there until 1852, he pulled up stakes and pitched his tent in Michigan, and there remained until 1860, when he returned to Elkhart, where he has since continued to reside. In early manhood he graduated from Oberlin College, in Ohio; and, after read- ing law, he practiced until his health failed him, when he returned to the rural regions and pursued the avocation of a farmer. He has, however, held a number of offices in his time, amongst others that of Constable, Justice of the Peace, Township Assessor, Sheriff, and United States Marshal under President Buchanan. In politics, he is what he always has been-Democratic.
83
LEGISLATIVE.
GEORGE RUSSEL BEARSS,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM KOSCIUSKO AND FULTON, Was born at Peru, Miami county, November 24, 1834, and of American parentage. He was educated at Kenyon College, but has heretofore followed the avocation of farm- ing, and hitherto has held no official position. His father, however, has been a member of both branches of the Legislature and is now a member of the Senate. In poli- tics Representative Bearss is a Republican. He has resid- ed in Peru and Rochester, but the latter place is now his postoffice address.
T. S. BELLOWS,
REPRESENTATIVE FROM CLARKE,
Was born near Lyme, in the State of Connecticut, Novem- ber 7, 1816. Mr. Bellows is a direct descendant of one of the oldest families of Yankee land, and can trace his lin- eage back almost in sight of Plymouth Rock, "on the wild New England shore." Before he can remember, however, he lost his father by death, and when but three years of age he moved to Indiana with his mother. She settled in Clarke county, and there the subject of this sketch has lived since. All the education he ever received was through his own exertions. When he began business for himself, it was as a farmer, and all the money he has or ever had, he earned by the sweat of his own brow. He has held most of the offices within the gift of his neighbors, who know him best. He has served two terms as Sheriff of Clarke county ; also, one term as County Commissioner. In politics, he is and ever has been, a sound Democrat. New Providence is his post office address.
84
LEGISLATIVE.
GEORGE WORTH BENCE
REPRESENTATIVE FROM CLAY,
Was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky, November 11, 1846, of American parentage. With his parents he removed to Putnam county, this State, November 1, 1853. He worked in the summer on his father's farm, and attended school in the winter, until he had attained the age of 23. Then he read medicine with Dr. Wileox, at Greencastle. After having read there until he had a fair knowledge of the restorative art, he attended lectures in the medical department of the University of Virginia, until he gradu- ated in 1871. As a Physician, Dr. Bence takes high rank in his section of the State. His course of reading with Dr. Wilcox was a thorough training of itself, to say noth- ing of his attendance at the University of Vinginia, one of the standard medical institutions of the country. Last fall he was urged to accept the nomination of the Democ- racy of Clay county, for Representative; and at last he accepted, though he was well aware that he had a Repub- lican majority of three hundred to overcome. After making a vigorous canvass, he had the satisfaction of being elected by nearly that majority. As a Legislator, he is making a record that should be satisfactory to his con- situtents.
GEORGE H. BROWN,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM JASPER AND WHITE,
Was born of American parentage, in Jackson county, Ohio, May 11, 1816. When he was but eleven years of age, his parents removed from Ohio to Tippecanoe county,
85
LEGISLATIVE.
Indiana. There he was educated in the district school nearest his father's farm, and there he lived until 1840, . when he removed to Jasper county, where he has resided ever since. By occupation he is a farmer and stock dealer. He was born for an office-holder, however, for he had not lived in Jasper county three years before the dear people besieged him with persuasion to serve them as County Commissioner. He consented, and they kept thrusting the honor upon him for a decade. In 1860 he became a Republican in politics, and continued to act with that organization until 1870, since when he has been indepen- dent in politics, and was elected to the Legislature on that ticket. Rensselaer is his post office address.
BARKER BROWN,
JOINT REPRESENTATIVE FROM RIPLEY, DECATUR AND RUSH,
Was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, December 5, 1824. His parents were also native Kentuckians. When the son was but ten months old his parents removed to Indiana. Those were pioneer days, and even log school houses were few and far between. But there was one in the community where the Browns located even then, and to that the subject of this sketch walked in winter, acquir- ing what was then regarded "a right smart education," as that part of the country was a waste a and wil- derness. Farming was the fashion in those days as everybody got along in harmony and there was no noed of lawyers and newspaper editors and reporters and
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.