USA > Indiana > Shelby County > Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana, Vol. 1 > Part 20
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vice-president. Joseph Chez, secretary : R. W. Harrison, treasurer. According to the constitution "The association is established to maintain the honor and dignity of the profession of the law, to cultivate social intercourse among its members, and to increase its usefulness in promoting the due administration of justice."
In addition to the quarterly meetings, the association holds an annual meeting and banquet during the last week in February of each year, and a pic- nic in the month of June of each year. Each year some noted personage out- side of the county are invited to be present and participate in the program given at the banquet.
So once or twice a year all strife and bitterness engendered in many a hard-fought legal battle is forgotten and laid aside, and each lawyer stands ready and willing to give to his laymen friends and guests this homely advice of Shakespeare :
"Do as adversaries in law. strive mightily.
But eat and drink as friends."
PROGRAM TENTH ANNUAL BANQUET.
(February 23, 1909.)
Toastmaster . Charles Hamilton Tindall
"What is the Trouble With the Law ?" Hon. William Dudley Foulke An Address by the Governor. Hon. Thomas R. Marshall "The Lawyer's Wife" Edmund Kinzey Adams
"Evils of the Divorce Thomas Henry Campbell
"Some Things With Which We Have to Contend. Alonzo Blair
"The Babies."
Charles Major
It is not the purpose of this work, for various reasons, to insert here, per- sonal sketches of the different members of the bar, who are now living and practicing law. Such a feature would be foreign to the plan of this book.
The Shelby County Bar has had several practitioners who would have taken the front rank in any great city of the country. Foremost of them all was Thomas A Hendricks, while but little, if any, less able as a lawyer, was Martin M. Ray.
Other conspicuous members of the bar, who were the Nestors of the days gone by, were Eden H. Davis, William J. Peaslee, Stephen Major, Benjamin F. Love. James Harrison. Alfred Major, O. J. Glessner, Thomas B. Adams, L. T. Michener. James B. McFadden and others who are still in the practice here. These were, and the survivors are all around lawyers of natural force and brilliant acquirements, and no interior town ever had their superiors.
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The later accessions to the bench and bar of Shelby county will be pleased to known that their predecessors in the early days were men of the highest abil- ity and character alike as lawyers and in all relations of life.
The Shelby County Bar has passed many resolutions of respect upon the death of members, but it would be impossible to publish all of them, so we have selected four sets of resolutions passed upon the occasion of the deaths of four of the "old school" lawyers, each of whom practiced law in Shelby county from forty to fifty years. These men saw the practice under the old code dwindle away, and witnessed the growth of the new forms of practice under the new constitution, and finally ended their days here, at good ripe old ages, still in the "harness" as the saying is: at the time of their respective demises.
At a meeting of the Shelby County Bar, upon the occasion of the death of the Hon. Stephen Major, the undersigned committee on resolutions reported the following :
"We have met to pay our tribute of respect to the memory of Hon. Judge Stephen Major, who has been for upwards of half a century a member of our bar, excepting an interval extending through one full term. in which he held the position of Judge of the Marion Circuit Court. He has been taken from us in his mental vigor, but in the fullness of his days and professional honors. He falls ripe for the sickle of death. We have known him long and well, and desire, rather in our emotional feelings than in compliance with the usage of the profession. to give expression to our high estimation of his merits as a man, a lawyer, a judge, and a Christian. Therefore, as expressive of our un- feigned sorrow and sympathy with his family and fellow citizens in their bereavement,
"Resolved, That we hereby express our admiration and respectful re- membrance of the professional courtesy, talents and merits of our deceased brother, and that we will emulate his virtues as the best tribute to his memory.
"Resolved, That we tender his family and friends our sincere condolence, feeling that although to them even more than to us the loss is irreparable. Yet to him it is a great gain that he has entered upon the rewards of a well spent life, before that higher bar where all must appear.
"Resolved, That we attend the funeral obsequies in a body, and that our chairman for us request that the minutes of this meeting be spread upon the records of the Shelby Circuit Court.
"JAMES HARRISON, "B. F. LOVE, "THOMAS B. ADAMS."
MEMORIAL RESOLUTIONS.
Memorial and resolutions adopted at a meeting of the Shelby County Bar upon the occasion of the death of James Harrison :
13
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CHADWICK'S HISTORY OF SHELBY CO., INP.
"With a deep sense of sadness and loss we are confronted with the awful fact that death has again invaded our ranks and removed from our midst and from the busy scenes of life our worthy and esteemed brother, Hon. James Harrison.
"He was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, on the 7th day of July, 1818. At the age of twenty-five he located in this ( Shelby) county. since which time he has occupied an enviable position as a lawyer, a legislator and a citizen.
"He was admitted to the bar in company with the late Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, on the 16th day of February, 1843, before the then acting Judge, William J. Peasley. His career as a lawyer of nearly a half century, was marked with fidelity to his clients and integrity to his associates and the courts ; he was ever sincere and logical in his arguments and when occasionally occupy- ing the bench he was fearless, impartial and courteous.
"His private character was above reproach and before the public he stood as an upright, worthy and esteemed citizen.
"To his sorrow stricken family and relatives we extend our fullest sym- pathy in this hour of their grief.
"L. J. HACKNEY, "T. B. ADAMS, "B. F. LOVE, "Committee."
RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT.
The following resolutions were passed by the bar on the death of Hon. Oliver J. Glessner :
"Oliver J. Glessner was born in the state of Maryland on the 11th day of October, 1828. and in his early childhood came with his parents to Indiana. where he has continuously resided. He was admitted to practice law in In- diana in February, 1856. In 1864 he was elected Judge of the Eighth Com- mon Pleas District, of which Shelby county was a part, and moved to Shelby county in 1865. where he has ever since resided. Retiring from the bench. he immediately entered upon the practice of his profession, in which he soon be- came of the front rank. In the fall of 1870 he was elected to the state Senate of Indiana. In 1872 the party selected him as a candidate for Presidential elector. but declined the proffered honor, because his office of state Senator disqualified him from holling the office. In 1880 he was again nominated by his party. as a candidate for Presidential elector and took prominent part in the campaign of that year. In 1890 he was elected to the Lower House of the Indiana Legislature, and took an active part in the session of 1891.
"Judge Glessner was a ready debater and a man of combative nature, but was not offensively so. It has been written of him: 'As a lawyer he possessed
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more than ordinary ability, being endowed with an active mind, shrewd discern- ment, a combative disposition ( though strictly courteous) combined with ex- tensive reading and practice.'
"As an advocate few men in Indiana had superior skill : his bright per- ceptive faculties, a vast fund of natural capacity, known as 'common sense;' an unusual personal magnetism, a fine voice, a fine and graceful flow of language, ingenuity in presenting lucidly and impressively the facts establishing his theories and in answering and advocating the elements in conflict with his theories. all united in securing his aims.
"This in brief is only a part of the life of Oliver J. Glessner as it was demonstrated to those who knew him most intimately.
"We regret the death of Judge Glessner very sincerely, and tender our sympathy to his afflicted family.
"We recommend that a copy of this memorial be spread upon the records of the Shelby County Circuit Court, and that a copy also be transmitted to the family of our deceased brother, and that the local papers of Shelbyville be re- quested to publish the same.
(SIGNED. ) "KENDALL M. HORD. "BENJAMIN F. LOVE. "JAMES B. MCFADDEN, "Committee."
ON THE DEATH OF BENJAMIN F. LOVE.
"Again has the angel of death invaded our ranks and removed from our midst our esteemed friend and brother, Benjamin F. Love, and made vacant the seat he has occupied for so many years, as he met with us in the discharge of his professional duties.
"And therefore, the sad and sacred duty devolves upon us in some ap- propriate manner to give expression to our sorrow for the great loss we sus- tained by the death of our former associate.
"Mr. Love was not only a man of marked ability. but of perfect integrity, and lived to attain a very high and honorable position in the ranks of his chosen profession, as well as in the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. He was laborious and painstaking in his profession and a courteous. genial gentleman in all the relations of life. Gifted by nature with an intel- lect above the average. by close application and unwearied labor he was eu- abled to place himself in the rank of the foremost lawyers of the state. . Is a lawyer he was candid with his clients, untiring and tenacious in their interests, yet in all things and at all times honest with the court and courteous with his adversaries.
"Mr. Love was not only a good lawyer but was one of the best advocates
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at the bar, and no lawyer was ever arrayed against him in a legal contest at the former, who did not before the contest was over, fully realize that he had met a foeman worthy of his steel.
"He was not as polished in his manner of addressing the court or jury as other lawyers of much less ability, perhaps, yet his manner was peculiarly his own, and it might well be said of him that he was a diamond in the rough. He was not an ambitions man, but was content to be only a lawyer. As a lawyer he never accepted a retainer without giving to the case his best energy and ability of which he was possessed. He never neglected to make the most thorough preparation. He guarded against every emergency and was seldom caught unawares. Being carefully prepared upon the law of his cases and thoroughly acquainted with the facts of each, his power before the jury and court, alike, was of the highest order. Ile carried his causes by the force of his nature, the correctness of his position, and his great skill in demonstrating the justness of his client's cause. Trickery and deception found no place in his legal equipment.
"He was unwilling to violate the dictates of his own conscience, or pros- titute a noble profession by the employment of unfair or dishonorable means to aid a failing cause. The records of the local courts furnish ample evidence of his ability as a trial lawyer ; while reports of appellate courts of this state will attest and perpetuate his profession and proficiency in the same. His life will prove an incentive to the younger members of the bar and demonstrate to them that industry, when coupled with an unblemished character, will surely bring to the prefession success, and win the respect and esteem of all good men.
"Upon political and all other questions in which the welfare of society was involved. he had strong convictions of the right which he was ever ready to maintain with dignity and strength. He ever believed in the convictions of the things which he stood for and urged them because he believed them to right. In the positions which he took he always maintained his own self-re- spect and secured the respect of those with whom he differed.
"By his long and honorable career he has left upon the profession and the community in which he has lived. the stamp of his untiring energy, of his splendid ability and of his noble character. He was liberal to a fault, his charity was proverbial and his disposition was as kind as that of a child.
"The members of your committee, who were for many years intimately associated with him professionally and otherwise, take great pleasure in bear- ing witness to the splendid ability, his sterling integrity and his kindly dis- position.
"In his death the community has lost one of its best citizens and the bar one of its most able and upright members. We shall miss his venerable form in the courts. We shall feel the loss of his society in our professional gather-
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ings, but we shall ever cherish in our memories the recollections of his un- spotted character and his pure and noble life.
(SIGNED.)
"J. B. MCFADDEN, "K. M. HORD, "H. C. MORRISON, "Committee."
PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS.
Elected.
Hiram M. Curry . October, 1822
Calvin Fletcher.
. October. 1823
Harvey Gregg
September, 1824
Calvin' Fletcher.
September. 1825
James Whitcomb September, 1826
William W. Wick
March. 1829
Philip Swetzer
March, 183]
Hiram Brown.
September, 1831
Harvey Gregg
March, 1832
William Herrod
September. 1833
William Quarles
February. 1837
William J. Peasley
April, 1839
Hugh O'Neal.
February, 1841
A. A. Hammond
February, 1843
Edward Lander
February. 1847
Mathias Wright
February. 1849
David S. Gooding
August. 1851
Oscar B. Hord.
.April, 1853
Thomas A. McFarland
October, 1853
William Patterson
April. 1855 April, 1859
Milton G. Cullum
April, 1861
Samuel S. Harrell
April. 1863
O. Dundy
April, 1865
K. M. Hord
April, 1867
Platt Wicks.
. April, 1869
Daniel W. Howe,
October, 1869
Nathaniel T. Carr
April, 1871
K. M. Hord.
October, 1872 WV. Scott Ray.
October, 1874
L. J. Hackney
. October, 1878
Jacob L. White December. 1880
Fred S. Staff
December, 1882
Henry C. Hanna
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CHADWICK'S JHISTORY OF SHELBY CO., IND.
Peter M. Dill.
December, 1886
John C. McNutt. December, 1888
Thomas H. Campbell December, 1892
Alonzo Blair. . December, 1896 Charles Hack December, 1902
Elmer Bassett.
January, 1905
Charles Hack
January, 1907
John Cheney
January, 1909
ROLL OF ATTORNEYS.
The following roll of attorneys comprises most of those who were ad- mitted to the Shelby bar prior to 1852, as well as many of a subsequent date. From 1852 down to the present the records of admission are very voluminous and without index. hence it is next to impossible to obtain every name, but many are given which will be of interest, as well as for reference :
Year.
Year.
1822-Hiram M. Curry.
Charles H. Test.
Calvin Fletcher.
James Delaney. John A. Breckenridge.
1849-Larkin Reynolds. Duane Hicks. William B. Haquis.
1823-James Raridan.
Oliver H. Smith.
Philip Swetzer.
James T. Brown.
1850 -- Andrew J. Boone. Alfred Major. Thomas D. Walpole.
Thomas A. MeFarland.
Abel Cole. Daniel B. Wick.
B. F. Morris. Edgar C. Wilson.
1824-Gabriel Johnson.
Harvey Gregg.
Hiram Brown. William W. Wick.
IS51-Squire W. Robinson. David S. Gooding. Joseph F. Roberts. Hiram B. Brown. William Singleton. Samuel P. Oyler.
1825-Joseph Vanmeter. James Braman. Ovid Butler.
Andrew Davidson. Henry Hurst.
1826-James Form. Albert S. White.
1852-Simeon Stansife. Beaty C. Stewart. 1853-Cyrus Wright. Isaac N. Johnson. William H. Bainbridge. John W. Robinson. 1854-James C. Hart. 1855 -- Steven D. Lyon.
.
James T. Brown. Mathew C. Vanpelt. George Lyon.
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CHADWICK'S HISTORY OF SHELBY CO., IND.
Year.
1827-William Quarles. 1828-George W. Wallace. M. Willett. Livingston Howland. 1860-Benjamin F. Slocum. Edwin P. Ferris. John A. Beale. 1861-Isaac N. Odell. . Benjamin F. Love. William II. Payne. Levi Runshu. J. H. Brenton. 1830-John W. Alley. Isaac M. Johnson. William I. Brown. Hugh B. Eggleston. 1831-William O. Ross. 1832-John Ecles. James B. Ray. Humphrey F. Robinson. Stephen Major. 1833-William Brown. William J. Peasley. William Herod. Fabius M. Finch. 1834-Burel B. Taylor.
1835-Gilderoy Hicks. Jolm Ryman. Christian C. Nave. Peter Ryman. 1836-A. A. Hammond. Mason Hutton. Royal Mayhew. 1838-Henry Brown. A. F. Mayo. 1839-James B. Sleeth.
David B. Farrington. 1840-Moses Kelley. Irwin W. Madison. Horatio C. Newcomb. 1841-Hugh O'Neal.
Year.
Johnson .1. Kendall. Samuel W. Workman. 1859-Perry M. Green. Lancaster. James L. Mason. Robert II. Power. Richard Norris. George W. Workman.
1868-Bellamy. S. Sutton. 1869-A. B. Campbell. George D. HFinkle. Alonzo Blair. Platt Wick. 1870-Henry W. Whitcomb. John Hoop.
1871-Austin F. Denny. William F. A. Bernhamer. S. B. Jenkins. 1875-Ilarris H. Francis. Leopold Feibleman. Robert W. Wiles. Charles Sprague. Corydon W. Morrison.
1876-Oliver B. Phillips. Newton L. Wray.
1877-William R. Burton.
1878-James F. Dunn. Thomas B. Adams. Lewis T. Michener. Joseph W. Thompson. 1879-Harry C. Morrison. E. H. Chadwick. Charles G. Adams. M. D. Tackett. ISSO-Lyman L. Mobley. W. B. Wilson. A. C. Harris. 1881-George F. Wilson. William Cassady. James Wright. George C. Butler.
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Lucian Barbour.
William H. Brumfield.
1844-Eden II. Davis. 1845-Hugh F. Fugit. R. A. Riley.
Tingle.
A. W. Hubbard.
R. D. Logan. Daniel A. Hart.
David Stone.
1844-Mathias Wright. Jolin Morrison. P. A. Hackleman.
1846-David McLane. Albert G. Porter. Lewis F. Coppersmith.
1866-George A. Johnson. Charles W. Snow.
William Henderson.
Harvey H. Daugherty.
1848-William Wallace. John Quarles.
1867-John R. Mitchell.
1881-William McBane.
McGuire.
James T. Caughey.
Fletcher Meredith.
1883-Edward Dealy. William Wright.
PRESENT ATTORNEYS OF SHELBY COUNTY BAR.
( With Date of Admission. )
Adams, Edmund Kinsey
1875
Billman, John Wolfe.
1872
Bassett, Elmer
1902
Blair, Alonzo. 1890
Carter, Isaac.
1889
Chadwick, Edward Henry
1879
Cheney, John Calhoun
1 898
Cole, Myron E. (Mich., 1888.)
1905
Campbell, Thomas H.
1890
Downey, Henry S.
1874
Douglass, Ralph W.
1908
Glessner. Oliver J. Prior
1869
Hack, Charles Allen
Harrison. Robert W.
1881
Hall, Joseph Oscar
1905
Henry, Claude R.
Hord, Kendall Moss, Prior to
1866
Israel, Wilbur
1 896
Robert S. Cox. Finley Bigger. 1842-James M. Sleeth. Cyrus Wright. 1843-Edward Lander. Thomas .\. Hendricks. James Harrison. M. M. Ray.
1847-John Slater.
Robert B. F. Pearce.
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CHADWICK'S HISTORY OF SHELBY CO., IND.
Isley, William H.
1883
Jones. Herbert Clay
1906
Lisher, Ary E. .
1884
Metcalf. Ernest Marion
.
Morrison. Harry C.
1879
Meiks, George H.
1898
Major, Charles A.
1878
McFadden, James B .. Prior to
1867
McDaniel. Erastus W.
1892
Sullivan, Michael O.
1 890
Shaw, Andreville.
1898
Smith, David.
1894 1880
Stroup. Everett Elmore
Tindall, Charles Hamilton
1894
Tindall. Uris E. .
1900
Tindall, John Alex.
1878 1908
Wilson, David L.
1875
Walker, John F.
1900
Wray, Albert F.
1876
Yarling, Will A.
1905
Wolfe, Frank H.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION OF SHELBY COUNTY.
(By Charles A. Tindall. M. D. )
In the preparation of this chapter I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to former county histories. Forest Hill cemetery and other records, a num- ber of the older citizens who have kindly given their assistance to the present physicians of Shelby county and to the tombstones, which have silently given their records. That which is given as authentic can be relied on as being fairly accurate, but in many instances no definite or accurate information could be obtained. especially about those who have been dead for many years, and those who have removed from this county and whose present location is not known.
An effort has been made to give some account of each physician who ever lived and practiced medicine in Shelby county for any considerable length of time, but the County Clerk's register gives the names and locations of a number of physicians who were located in various parts of the county for a short time at many different periods since 1881. and doubtless there were many before that time, of whom no record is here given. Most of them, how- ever, did not practice in the county long enough to become thoroughly identi- fied with the medical profession of the county, but some may have been missed who were more prominent, as the task of collecting the data has been diffi- cult on account of there having been no early or continuous organization of the profession in the county and consequently no early records have been kept.
The statute requiring all physicans to register with the County Clerk be- came operative in 1881 and the statute requiring a license in 1885. No rec- ord of physicians prior to that time can be found in the Clerk's office, and it is presumable that none has been kept. No careful and systematic record of births and deaths has ever been kept, excepting for a few recent years. The
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older records, if they were ever kept, have been destroyed or misplaced. In fact. it is doubtful if all births are now reported. although under the present system all deaths are probably reported.
In looking into the history of the men who were the pioneer physicians of Shelby county one is impressed with the character of many of them. They were intelligent, resourceful, sturdy men, made powerful by the hardships they endured. They were active in the development of the country and influ- ential in their respective communities. Many of them were well educated. not only in medicine, but in the sciences and literature and it was not uncommon for a physician of the earlier period to be able to preach a good sermon as well as practice medicine successfully.
The relation between physician and patient was then much closer than it now is. The physician was not only the medical adviser, but frequently the general adviser and family friend, and when he once became the family physi- cian he generally continued in that capacity for many years or until the death of one or the other and frequently the patient was an inheritance to a son who had taken up his father's practice. Dr. Weelum MacLure, of lan MIc- Laren's creation was not an uncommon figure and even Jess, his old white mare, that he rode in all kinds of weather for so many years, could be asso- ciated in duplicate with many of Shelby county's pioneer physicians of the early days.
The practice of medicine with the pioneer physician was difficult work : the roads were frequently all but impassable and the only mode of travel was either on foot or horse-back. There were no bridges and it was often neces- sary to force the horse to swim the swollen streams. During the sickly sea- son (and malaria was present almost the year around ) many of the physi- cians were in the saddle, with but little rest, both day and night, going from one patient to another over the thinly settled country. Many times the peo- ple were poor and had but little with which to pay for medical services, al- though, as a general rule, they were honest and paid what they could. if not in money, in horse feed, food and other articles necessary to the physicians' existence.
My earliest recollection of a physician is that of a benevolent-looking. closely-shaven, elderly gentleman coming down the road driving a horse to a high two-wheeled sulky. After hitching the horse he came into the house and made an examination of my father, who was sick. He then asked for a basin, and when it was brought ordered it held under my father's arm, around which he had previously tied a band and with a spring lancet opened the vein and permitted about a quart of blood to escape into the basin. This was some thirty-five or thirty-seven years ago, and the only time I ever witnessed a
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"bleeding." This procedure has been almost entirely discarded. The same may be said of the administration of mercury and antimony in large doses, and in fact of the entire depletive system of medicine. A milder and more rational practice has taken the place of the earlier systems and the prevention of disease occupies a much more prominent place in the physician's duties than in the earlier days.
Drainage of the soil has done more to prevent malaria (formerly called ague or chills and fever) than all of the quinine or other remedies ever given. Whether or not vaccination lessens the dangers of small-pox is a debatable question, but no one who has studied the disease will doubt but that cleanli- ness, ventilation and proper sanitation have very materially reduced the mor- tality in this once dreaded disease. Cholera almost disappears where a high order of sanitation prevails. Typhoid fever is generally traceable to impure water or other impure foods and the poison is sometimes transmitted from one patient to another. This disease can also be prevented by the removal of the cause, which is done by giving the proper care to foods, water and sanitary conditions.
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