USA > Indiana > Shelby County > Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana, Vol. 1 > Part 36
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he found that after Louis X1.'s death she wrote to Brandon from Paris, in- timating that if he wished to marry her it would be better for him to come to Paris without obtaining her brother's comsent than it would to wait until her brother prohibited the marriage. The romantic situation interested Mr. Major and he began to wonder about the incidents whose sum total went to make up the chief events. History was silent, but the novelist's imagination was equal to the occasion and produced the sterms and episode- which lend such romantic charm to "When Knighthood Was in Flower." The romantic marriage of Dorothy Vernon and John Manners, the son of her father's enemy, was known in outlines, but the filling-in incidents, which constitute the chief charm of stories, were entirely absent. It was necessary to reconstruct them, and it was by doing this with such skill that Mr. Major placed the reading work under renewed obligations to his genius. "Knighthood" met with honors seldom bestowed in the most successful novel. It was dramatized for Julia Marlowe, and under the management of that brilliant actress prowved one of the most popular plays of the day. It was also converted into a comic opera set to music, and in that form made a third fortune for the fortunate possessor of the copyright.
September 27. 1883. Mr. Major married Miss Alice Shaw, a woman of striking personality and pronounced literary tastes. Mr. Major lives in a charming home surrounded by a library of choice books, many of them rare and costly, which he has secured through collectors from time to time for years. He cares nothing for politics. but in 1885 was elected City Clerk, and in the following year was sent to represent the county of Shelby in the lower House of the Legislature. He served through the session of 1886-1887, but one term was enough.
In personal appearance Mr. Majer is a man of striking physique with dark gray hair. blue eyes, an unusually brilliant conversationalist. with the affability and genial address that bespeak the gentleman.
HON. KENDALL MOSS HORD.
Eminent as a lawyer and jurist, and holding worthy prestige as a citizen. Hon. Kendall Moss Hord stands out clear and distinct in the history of Shelby county and few men of his calling .in the state can boast of as long and dis- tinguished a career of professional service. Achieving success in the courts at a period when most young men are entering upon the formative period of their lives, wearing the judicial ermine with becoming dignity and bringing to every case submitted to him clearness of perception and ready power of analysis characteristic of the master of jurisprudence, his name and deeds fer
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nearly a half century have been closely allied with the legal institutions. public movements and political interests of the state, in such a way as to gain for him honorable recognition among the notable men of his day and generation.
Judge Hord is a lineal descendant of Thomas Hord. who was born in England in 1701, and who came to America when a young man, settling in Essex county, Virginia, where, according to the records of said county, he purchased in November, 1736, a large tract of land. Little is known of this ancestor beyond the fact of his having become a man of influence in the above county, and taken an active interest in the settlement of the country and the development of its resources. He died in Virginia in 1766, and left several children who subsequently migrated to other parts, their descendants in due time locating in various central and western states.
Hon. Francis T. Hord, the subject's father, was born in the old Dominion state, but left there many years ago, moving with his family to Mason county, Kentucky, where he received his education and grew to maturity. In early life he studied law and after his admission to the bar rose rapidly in his pro- fession and within a comparatively brief period became one of the leaders of his profession in Mason county. When the county seat was moved from Washington to Marysville. he changed his residence to the latter place where he continued to practice his profession during the remainder of a long and eventful life, achieving distinguished success the meanwhile and attaining an influential position among the lawyers of the state. long noted for the high order of its legal talent. In addition to the general practice he served with signal ability on the bench of the circuit. and was also an influential factor in state politics for many years, and at one time represented his senatorial dis- trict in the Legislature.
Elizabeth Moss, who became the wife of Francis T. Hord. was also a native of Virginia, and a woman of strong character and many sterling at- tributes. The children of this estimable couple, seven sons and two daughters. were as follows: Oscar B., a prominent member of the Indiana Bar, and for a number of years associated with Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks: William T., a surgeon in the United States Navy : George M., a commission merchant. of Chicago: Francis T., a lawyer of Columbus. Indiana, and long the leader of the bar of that city : Elias R., a resident of Chicago, where he carries on a large commission business : Kendall M., of this review : Harry C., a physician and surgeon, who died in early manhoed: Mary G. married John R. Clark, and lives in Maysville. Kentucky, being at this time in her eighty-third year : Jo- sephine, also a resident of Maysville, is the wife of James B. Noyes.
Judge Hord was born in Maysville, Kentucky. October 20. 1840, and spent his early life in his native town. After a preliminary mental training in the elementary schools. he entered Maysville Seminary. from which he was graduated in due time, this being the same institution of learing in which
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President U. S. Grant finished his education. For some time following his graduation Mr. Hord taught school and while thus engaged read law under the direction of his father, making substantial progress in his studies and laying broad and deep the foundation for his future usefulness. In the spring of 1862 after a satisfactory examination before two Judges, he was admitted to the bar and at once began the practice of his profession at Flemings- burg. Kentucky, but the Civil war being in progress, and not caring to take part in the conflict. he finally decided to look elsewhere for a more favorable opening. Accordingly he disposed of his business at Flemingsburg and coming to Indianapolis entered the office of Hendricks & Hord. with the object in view of familiarizing himself with Indiana practice. After one year in the capital city he located at Shelbyville, where his ability soon won recognition among the rising young attorneys of the local bar.
The year following his removal to this city. Judge Hord was elected Prosecuting Attorney of the Common Pleas Court, and after serving two years in that capacity was further honored by being elected Prosecuting At- torney of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, which position he held for the same length of time. In 1872 he was again elected to the same position and after discharging the duties of the same with credit to himself and to the satisfac- tion of the public for a period of four years, was called to the higher and more responsible position of Judge of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit. comprising the counties of Shelby and Johnson. Judge Hord brought to the bench a mind well disciplined by intellectual and professional training, his previous experi- ence in all phases of the law, peculiarly fitting him for the exacting duties of the position. Such were the wisdom and clearness of his decisions that but few of them were set aside by the Supreme Court. After occupying the bench two terms. twelve years, Judge Hord resumed the active practice of law as senior member of the firm of Hord & Adams, and has so continued ever since, being in point of continuous service the oldest member of the Shelbyville bar, and one of the most eminent men of his profession in the central part of the state. His first partner was John L. Montgomery, after whose death in 1870, he practiced with Alonzo Blair for six years, and in 1888 became as- sociated with E. K. Adams, his present partner.
As a lawyer Judge Hord exhibits a keenness of perception, a firmness of grasp upon legal propositions and a power analysis possessed by few. From the time of engaging in the practice at Shelbyville in November, 1862. he has maintained his office at the northeast corner of the public square and for nearly a half century has prosecuted his profession with energy and success.
Judge Hord was married August 20, 1867, to Emily McFarland, who was born in Springfield. Ohio, on the 26th of May. 1847. being a daughter of John B. and Betsy McFarland, the father for many years a business man of Shelbyville. Judge and Mrs. Hord have one son, Luther J., born May 9.
REV. A. KAELIN.
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1869. He was educated in the Indiana University, and at Purdue, graduating from the departments of pharmacy and chemistry, and for some years con- ducted a very successful drug business in Oklahoma. Disposing of his interests in the West he returned to his native city, where he is now manager of the Ilord Sanitorium, his father being a partner in the enterprise.
Judge Hord is a representative Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, and enjoys the distinction of having never been defeated for any office to which he aspired. His oratorical abilities are in great demand during the progress of campaigns, and he is popular as a speaker at banquets, decoration days and other public functions. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons. Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, to which he has belonged for many years ; also the Improved Order of Red Men, in which he has served as great sachem of the state. besides representing the order in the Great Council of the United States. The Judge has been successful finan- cially as well as professionally and during his long and active practice has placed himself in independent circumstances: his residence at No. 85 West Washington street is one of the finest and most attractive in the city.
REV. ADELRICH KAELIN.
The efficient and beloved pastor of St. Joseph Catholic church of Shelby- ville, Indiana, is a native of Switzerland, born November 19. 1849. in Einsil- deln. Canton of Schwyz, where his antecedents had resided for many years. and where both his father and grandfather held high positions in the public service. Jeremiah Kaelin. his father, was for a number of years a counsellor to the Government, and Jeremiah Kaelin, the latter's brother, served for a period of thirty years in the Legislature of the above canton ; their father was also a Government counsellor, and a man of high standing and wide influence in official circles. The birthplace of Father Kaclin, one of the interesting places in Switzerland, was widely known as long ago as the year 700 A. D. as the seat of a sacred shrine to which as many as one hundred thousand pil- grims resorted every year for public worship, and it is stated that the Emper ir Charlemagne not infrequently went there to render homage to the divine being.
Father Kaelin's preliminary education consisted of a course of instruction in the schools of his native city which he attended until fourteen years of age. at which time he accompanied certain relatives to America, landing in New York in 1864. thence proceeded to Cincinnati, where he continued his studies during the three years ensuing. At the age of seventeen he engaged in the publishing business to which he devoted his attention until his twentieth year. when he abandoned secular pursuits to prepare for the work of the priesthood,
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entering in 1876 St. Meinrads Abbey, Spencer county, Indiana, where he ap- plied himself assiduously to his theological studies until ordained priest in the year 1882. Shortly after his induction into his sacred office he was made as- sistant pastor of St. John's church at Vincennes, Indiana, where he remained four years to the day, thence in 1886 was transferred to the churches at Shelby- ville and Acton, which he served with great acceptance for a period of eight years, or until the church at the former place became an independent parish. Up to 1886 St. Joseph's church at Shelbyville had been attached to St. Vin- cent's at Prescott. Indiana. as a mission, but the rapid growth of the popula- tion led to its being created a parish with Acton as a mission point.
The history of Catholicity in Shelbyville dates from about the year 1825. at which time there were a few Catholic families living in the town and throughout the county, whose spiritual wants were looked after by priests from St. Vincent's church. the first services being held in private residences and later in public halls. The families constituting the congregation of St. Joseph at the time of the building of the first house of worship in 1867 numbered about thirty-five. For three years prior to that date they met in a hall built for the purpose. but this proved too small to accommodate the increasing con- gregation and led to the erection in the above year of an edifice more in keep- ing with the growth and dignity of the church. A lot on East Broadway was purchased by Rev. J. P. Gillig in 1865. and on August 6, 1867, ground was broken for the f amdation of the contemplated building under the direc- tion of Rev. William Doyle, who superintended the work of construction to the point where the edifice was enclosed. the floor laid, windows put in place and the structure roofed. the first mass being celebrated in June. 1868. About that time difficulties began to arise from want of funds to meet the indebted- ness incurred, suit was brought against the congregation and judgment ren- dered adversely to it in the court, with the result that the building was disposed of by Sheriff's sale February. 1870.
Meanwhile Rev. T. J. Rudolph, who had been appointed pastor, set to work to raise funds to redeem the edifice and add a number of needed im- provements including a ceiling-gallery, steeple bell, raising of the sanctuary and supplying the necessary furniture. the debt being at the time two thousand seven hundred dollars. A lot was purchased and a school building erected and things moved along smoothly until 1881. when Father Rudolph was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Torbeck, who purchased the east half of the lot on which the school building stood, also a tract of land for a cemetery. In 1886 Father Torbeck was transferred to another parish and Rev. . A. Kaelin took charge of the work on July 7th of that year and immediately outlined a policy which soon resulted in the strengthening of the church and the extending of its influ- ence until the parish became one of the most successfully administered in the dircese. In 1895 the cemetery was abandoned and more convenient and de-
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sirable grounds consisting of five acres adjoining Forest Hill cemetery were purchased. The grading was done in due time and other necessary improve ments made and by February, 1896, all the bodies were taken from the old cemetery and reinterred in the new. In 1890 the railroad switch fronting the church property on Broadway was removed and in 1890-91 additions were made to the church, the school and priest's residence, to the great convenience of the three buildings. By 1898 the last of the church's indebtedness was wiped out, immediately after which plans were matured for the erection of a new and more commodious temple of worship and under a full and complete system of pro-rated contribution funds sufficient for the prosecution of the en- terprise were soon in sight. In 1901 the Farley House on East Hendricks street, and the Kennedy lot on East Broadway were purchased as a site for the new edifice and in 1902 Right Reverend Bishop Chatard approved the designs and plans for the structure as it now stands. September 8. 1902. ground for the building was broken, by February. 1903, the foundation was completed, and in April of the same year the contracts were let for the super- structure. The corner-stone was laid May 24, 1903. by Right Reverend Den- nis O'Donaghue, auxiliary bishop of Indianapolis, assisted by a large number of priests and in December following. the brick and stone work was finished. Finally, in the summer of 1908, the new temple, one of the most beautiful and attractive ecclesiastical edifices in the state of Indiana, was completed. and on August 24th of that year it was formally dedicated to the worship of God, with solemn and imposing ceremonies, the day being almost ideal and the at- tendance much too large for the auditorium to accommodate. Right Rev. Dennis O'Donaghue celebrated solemn high mass and the dedicatory sermon by Rev. Joseph Chartrand. a model of scholarship, eloquence and force, was listened to with great interest and profit by the large assemblage, a part of the discourse being in English and part in the German tongue, to suit his auditors who were about equally divided between the two nationalities. The service throughout was very solemn and impressive and truly imposing. and the day which marked an important era in the history of the church will long be remembered not only by the parishoners and Cath lies from other parts, but by the people of the city. all of whom rejoiced in the successful completion of the splendid building and in the growth, prosperity and future prospects of the organization.
The splendid temple erected under the direction and supervision of the consecrated servant of God with whom the enterprise originated is of the pure Roman Renaissance architecture in the mest artistic style of the builders' art. It is indeed an object of beauty and sublimity, and with its magnificent altar. groined arches, stately ceiling. fine painting's and other emotions of profound devotion lift the minds and hearts of worshipers to a contemplation of the "building not made with hands." of which the earthly edifice stands as a type.
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St. Joseph's parish, which includes the city and a large area of adjacent territory, is in a very flourishing condition materially and spiritually, the men- bership. about one thousand in number, being intensely cosmopolitan in char- acter and comprising many of the best people of the county, who, under the leadership of their beloved pastor, are continwilly striving for better things and pressing forward to greater achievements in disseminating the truths of re- ligion among men. Father Kaelin is devoted to his work and since coming to Shelbyville has found a warm place in the hearts and affections of his parishion- ers, besides gaining the esteem and confidence of the people of the city, regard- less of church or creed. He fills a large place in the public view, takes an active interest in all movements for the advancement of the community and standing for law and order uses his efforts and influence for the best interests of the people and is invariably on the right side of every great moral question and issue. Thus far his labors have been signally successful, and it is the earnest desire and sincere prayer of all that he may be spared many years to bless the world and win souls to the higher life.
JOIIN LEWIS MEANS.
When John Means, grandfather of the gentleman whose name heads this review, came from the old Tar state ( North Carolina) to Shelby county, In- diana, in 1827. he found Moral township where he located very wild and only sparsely settled. Here in these early days he kept a tavern where stage and travelers stopped. it being frequented by teamsters hauling goods from remote trading posts. Only about ten acres of the land on which he settled were cleared, but being a man of thrift he soon had a home and when he died he owned two full sections of good land. He was one of five sons of William Means, a native of Rockingham county, North Carolina. The latter was the son of Robert. Jr. He and his father, Robert, Sr., were both natives of Rock- ingham county, that state. Although there is some doubt as to the lineage of this family preceding the last named. it is believed that Robert Means, Sr .. was the son of William Means, a very large man who, with his brother and father, John Means, came from Ireland in 1718 and 1720, settling in Bucks county, Pennsylvania.
John Lewis Means was born in the southeast part of Marion county in 1848. He is the son of Alexander and Julia Ann ( Phemister ) Means. The latter was the danghter of Charles and Judith Phemister. who came from Bourbon county, Kentucky, in 1833 and settled in the southeast part of Ma- rion county, near the Shelby county line.
John Lewis Means has no brothers living and only one sister. Mrs.
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J
..
J. B. McFADDEN.
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Nancy Jane King. wife of Abram S. King, who lives in Moral township. When our subject was six years old. his parents moved from Marion county to Moral township. Shelby county, and it was here that John L. Means at- tended school and grew to manhood on his father's farm, which he helped de- velop. When he was fifteen years old his father died and from then on he managed the farm, and although only a boy he made it yiell a comfortable living for the family. In 1872 he was married to Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Tinsley and Sarah ( Murnan ) Smith, of Moral township, and to this union three children have been born : Charles W., Laura Mand, who married U. E. Tindall. and Carrie. After he was married Mr. Means continued to work on the farm left by his father. He also purchased forty acres adjoining this place. making in all one hundred twenty-one and one-half acres. Mrs. Means also has two hundred acres adjoining and also two hundred acres in Moral township that is rented out. This land is all very valuable, is under first-class improvements and excellent management. In 1898 Mr. Means bought a home in Shelbyville at 134 West Mechanic street, where he has since resided. al- though he still manages his farm. His home is a well-kept. substantial and attractive place, where the many friends of this popular family delight to gather.
Mr. Means has given his children cvery advantage and they show very readily that they have been reared in a wholesome home atmosphere and they are all favorites with a large circle of friends. Charles Means is in charge of the shoe department in Means' department store, and lives next door to his father. He married Eva Kinsley, daughter of George Kinsley. The married daughter. Mrs. Tindall. also lives near her father's residence. Her husband is an attorney, and he has a liberal practice in Shelbyville. They are the parents of one child. Glen. ( See sketch of U. E. Tindall on another page of this work. ) Carrie Means is still a member of the home circle.
Mr. and Mrs. Means are both members of the Baptist church, while their daughters belong to the First Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. and Mrs. Means and their children are held in high esteem by all who know them.
JAMES B. MCFADDEN.
To James B. McFadden belongs the honor of being the oldest member of the Shelby County Bar. as is indicated by his admission to the practice, which bears the date of 1855. For a half century in the state and federal courts and during the years of his activity there were few important cases in his immediate field of practice with which his name was not identified. From a somewhat modest beginning he grew steadily in public favor until he attained marked distinction as a successful lawyer.
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As the name indicates Mr. McFadden is of Scotch-Irish lineage and traces his genealogy to an early period in the history of Pennsylvania, in which state his birth occurred on the 8th day of June. 1832. His parents, Hugh and Isabella ( Hayes) McFadden. were also born in Pennsylvania, the father when a young man engaging in the mercantile business. In 1838 the family mi- grated to Indiana, and settling near Boggstown, in Shelby county, became ac- tively identified with the development of that part of the country and for some years experienced the various hardships and vicissitudes of pioneer life. After keeping a store and manufacturing tobacco for about ten years. Hugh McFad- den moved to a farm and from that time until his death in 1851 devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits Mrs. McFadden, who survived her husband a number of years, lived to see her children grow to young manhood and womanhood, and was called to the other world at a ripe oll age.
The family of Hugh and Isabella MeFadden consisted of four children. all of whom grew to maturity and became well known and greatly esteemed : Mary Jane, the oldest daughter, died at the age of twenty : William, a physician and surgeon, is mentioned elsewhere on these pages: Hugh is a successful agriculturist of Shelby county, and Robert departed this life a few months be- fore attaining his majority.
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