USA > Indiana > Encyclopedia of biography of Indiana > Part 22
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Claypool. Miss Claypool was educated in the female seminary of Glendale, Ohio, and at Lasell, Massachusetts, near Bos- ton; and, as Mrs. Vajen, she has accom- panied her husband on several European trips. Mr. and Mrs. Vajen have one daughter, Mary, and one son, Edward Claypool. Not only is Mr. Vajen known by repute in the many and diverse coun- tries where his helmet is in use, but those countries are quite familiar to him, hav- ing traveled very extensively, both on the American continent and in the old world. Yet, throughout his journeyings he has retained his sense of citizenship and an active interest in whatever pertains to the welfare of the city of his home. In- dianapolis is indebted to Mr. Vajen as one of the men who greatly aided the establishing of its first telephone ex- change. He was the first to subscribe his name. In politics, his convictions and influence are on the Republican side; but he is quite free from the ambition of the office-seeker. He is a member of the Com- mercial Club of Indianapolis, also of the Columbia and the German Clubs. He is a Mason of the thirty-second degree, a member of the Raper Commandery No. 1, K. T., and has long been identified with the Order of the Mystic Shrine, in which he has for many years figured conspicu- ously on the official roster, being at pres- ent a director of Murat Temple. Through- out the social realm of his community Mr. Vajen enjoys a popularity which is, doubtless, largely the effect of the gen- crous and genial qualities which have at-
tached to him many friends in many lands. In his travels he has met the great fire fighters of the world, who have shown their great appreciation for himself as well as his new and valuable invention. Mr. Vajen has been elected the only hon- orary member of the Pacific Coast Asso- ciation of Fire Chiefs, and is also an as- sociate member of the International As- sociation of Chief Fire Engineers. Mr. Vajen is best appreciated by those with whom he has transacted the greatest amount of business, and who have re- mained to him fast friends, on account of his deep sense of commercial honor.
JOHN A. BARNARD.
Although of Canadian birth, John Al- fred Barnard comes of English stock on both sides,-directly on that of his moth- er, who, before her marriage, was Miss Gertrude Agnes Harvey, of Bath, Eng- land. His father, John Fiske Barnard, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and reckons his inheritance of English blood as follows: On April 10, 1634, John and Phoebe Barnard, with two lit- tle sons, John and Samuel, sailed for the new world in the ship Elizabeth. The home they had left was in Dunham, Eng- land, and they founded a new home in Watertown, Massachusetts. Here six other children were born to them. This family grew up, dispersed, married, mul- tiplied, and its descendants played a con- spicuous part in colonial affairs. About
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Harlan
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1730, one member of the original family, Isaac Barnard, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, and it is from this branch of the Barnard family that John Alfred is descended, his immediate progenitors having figured actively in the Revolution. On the 27th of August, 1861, at Gren- ville, Quebec, Canada, the subject of this sketch was born. His early education was received in the Galt Collegiate Insti- tute, Galt, Ontario. At the age of seven- teen he entered upon his career as a rail- road employe, and from that date, 1878, until the present time, he has filled a snc- cession of official positions ranging from the humble duties of stenographer to the responsible trust of general manager. His first position was in the office of the gen- eral superintendent, Kansas City, St. Jos- eph & Council Bluffs railroad. After this he served in a clerical capacity successive- ly in offices of general superintendent, en- gineer, auditor and assistant treasurer. Subsequently he was clerk, first in the office of the general manager, Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, then in the treas- ury department, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, at Chicago. The latter road then appointed him assistant pay- master. After one year in this post, he entered, in 1887, the purchasing depart- ment of the O. & M. R. R., at Cincinnati, Ohio. In April, 1889, he was promoted to the position of purchasing agent by the same road. On October 1, 1889, he became general manager of the Ohio, Indiana & Western railroad. March 1, 1890, he exchanged this position for that
of assistant general manager, Cleveland, Cincinnati. Chicago & St. Lonis railroad. In the latter he remained until July 1. 1891, since which time he has been the general manager of the Peoria & East- ern railroad (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chi- cago & St. Louis, lessee). In running over this ascending scale of success and power it is easy to detect as its keynote those sterling qualities of integrity and faith- fulness to duty, traits strongly charac- teristic of Mr. Barnard, whose true ring imparts beauty and harmony to many an otherwise prosy business life. In pol- ities Mr. Barnard is Republican; in relig- ion, Episcopalian. He was married, on April 26, 1890, to Miss Louise Ingalls, whose father, Melville Ezra Ingalls, of Cincinnati, Ohio, is the president of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis railroad. On January 15, 1893, Mrs. Barnard died, leaving one daughter, Abbie Ingalls Barnard, then a child of two years.
LEVI P. HARLAN.
The Harlans were originally English, the immediate ancestors of the American side of the family having, in the year 1687, settled in Chester county, Penn- sylvania, from which point their descend- ants, fruitfully multiplying, became dis- seminated through the South and West. In the old Friends' graveyard at Chester, Pennsylvania, the brothers George and
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Michael Harlan have lain at rest for more than a century; but their lineal descend- ants, as recorded by the National Asso- ciation of those descendants, number from eight to ten thousand. The family has been a prominent one in the political affairs of the country, the Iowa branch having sent a Senator to Washington, the Ohio and Indiana branches furnishing several members of Congress, while that of Kentucky produced a member of the United States Supreme Court. It is from the latter branch that Levi P. Harlan is descended, his near progenitors having left Kentucky for Indiana early in the Nineteenth Century, and settled at Con- nersville. In 1827 the family removed to Marion county, where it has since lived. Here the father of this subject, Austin B. Harlan, was reared, and here he met and wedded Miss Elizabeth Lorinda Conwell, who was a native of Xenia, Ohio, but who early became a resident of Marion county, Indiana, her family being a well-known and honored one in the eastern part of the State. Many of the Conwells were minis- ters, and one member, Rev. James Con- well, was long a resident of Laurel, In- diana, where he raised a numerous fam- ily, whose superior abilities brought them into prominence in the commercial and social affairs of that section. Levi P. Har- lan was born in Marion county, Indiana, March 3, 1853. His mother died soon after his birth, his father, who still sur- vives, continuing to live in the old home- stead, now in the family for seventy-one years. Here Levi's childhood and early
youth were passed in helping with the farm work and attending the school of the district. At seventeen he began to teach, and was for a number of years a successful though youthful pedagogue. For two years young Harlan was a stu- dent at Butler University, then, in June, 1873, went to Chicago and, associating himself with one of that city's leading law firms-Wilson, Martin & Montgom- ery-read law for about two years. He then returned and was elected at Indian- apolis superintendent of schools for Mar- ion county. For ten years he officiated in this post, meantime becoming a promi- nent member of the County Superintend- ents' Association, of which he was for six years secretary. For fifteen years he be- longed to the State Teachers' Association, in the activities of which he took a lead- ing part, being for two years chairman of its executive committee. He resigned his office as county superintendent in 1885 and became cashier in the city and Marion county treasurer's office. In 1887 he quit- ted this position and spent the next two years in travel and study. Returning, he entered into a legal partnership, the style of which was Mccullough & Harlan. After three years of joint practice the firm was dissolved, and Mr. Harlan has since pursued his labors alone, winning a gratifying degree of financial success and an eminence in the profession which is the natural product of his character and abilities. In 1877 Mr. Harlan was married to Miss Sarah L. McVey, whose family has long been one of affluence and
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prominence in Marion county. For the most part the McVeys are engaged in agricultural pursuits. One, however, James McVey, an uncle of Mrs. Harlan, is a Methodist clergyman, and has been several times a member of the State Leg- islature. On December 30, 1897, Mrs. Har- lan died, leaving five children: Horace, Ethel, Clara, Dayton and Loren. Mr. Harlan's residence is situated on his beau- tiful farm just east of Irvington and is among the most elegant and home-like in the suburbs of Indianapolis. Dwelling in this retired and restful spot, surround- ed by their children and by every material comfort, with their doors hospitably open to a large and select circle of friends, the life of Mr. and Mrs. Harlan was one of almost ideal conditions. Since the loss of his wife, Mr. Harlan, with his young children, continues to reside in the home, which is conscientiously kept up in all of its appointments, wearing as of old the inviting air familiar to the substantial people of the community. MI. Harlan has been for many years a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is Democratic, and as chairman of the Marion county committee conducted the campaign of 1882. He does not aspire to political prominence, and whatever of preferment has come to him has come naturally, as to the one best fitted for the trust. Mr. Harlan's life has been a useful and untarnished one, ever reflecting a healthful and helpful influence upon the lives of others.
JOHN H. BARKER.
John Henry Barker, although a native of Indiana, is descended from New Eng- land ancestors. His father, John Barker, whose biography was published in Vol- ume I of this work, belonged to an old New England family and possessed the best characteristics of the liberalized Puritans. These are the traits which have long been recognized as an import- ant factor in developing the natural re- sources and conducting the business en- terprises of the great West. He was born at Michigan City, February 4, 1844, and received his early education in the common schools of that town. At the age of thirteen he entered Racine College, at Racine, Wisconsin, where he spent two and a half years. His taste for business and his eagerness to enter upon that sort of a career did not permit him to finish his college course. When nineteen years of age le secured his first employment. away from home, as shipping clerk in the sugar warehouse of J. H. Dunham, in Chi- cago. His second position was in the same capacity with Pollard & Doane, wholesale grocers, of Chicago. After re- maining a year in that situation he went to Springfield, Illinois, and engaged in the wholesale grocery trade as a member of the firm of Smith & Barker, his partner being LaFayette Smith. At the end of three years he sold his interest in Spring- field to LaFayette Smith and Charles M. Hay and entered into the same busi-
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ness in Chicago with William H. Meeker, constituting the firm of Meeker & Barker. After continuing in partnership with Mr. Meeker for two years he sold his interest in the business and returned to his boy- hood home at Michigan City for a perma- nent residence. The manufacturing firm of Haskell & Barker was at this time firmly established and conducting a suc- cessful business in the manufacture of freight cars. The Barker member of the firm was the father of John H. Barker, and the latter was at once employed in a clerical capacity and charged with the supervision or inspection of materials used. It was in 1869 that he became con- nected with the business which has en- gaged his time and attention continuously for about thirty years. In 1871 the Has- kell & Barker Car Company was incor- porated as the successor of the firm men- tioned above, and soon after Mr. John H. Barker was made general manager of the business. He held this position until 1884, when the interest of Mr. Haskell in the company was purchased by the es- tate of John Barker, deceased, and he then became president of the company. Since 1884 he has had the executive man- agement and conducted with very marked snecess the business operations of the corporation. In 1871 the company en- tered upon the manufacture of passenger coaches, but as this branch of the busi- ness was more complicated in its details it was discontinued in 1876. The Haskell & Barker Car Company has long been rec- ognized as conducting one of the import-
ant industries of northern Indiana. The business has grown to mammoth propor- tions and has always been successful. Mr. Barker is one of the public-spirited. enterprising citizens of Michigan City. Ilis liberality has contributed to build- ing up and maintaining some of the most useful and beneficent institutions of which the city is proud. As a memorial to his three children, who died in early child- hood, he built and furnished completely Barker Hall, a parish house and school in connection with Trinity Episcopal Church. He was also a very liberal con- tributor to the beautiful church edifice, which was erected in 1890. He was the principal contributor, and a very liberal one, to the erection of the new library building. As one of the attractions of the lake front he erected at his own expense a pavilion and band stand in Washing- ton Park, modeled after the peristyle at the World's Columbian Exposition. Mr. Barker applies himself intensely to whatever he undertakes and masters all the details with great thoroughness. He inherited from his father a distinct capa- city for business, which has been in- proved and enlarged by exercise in the various forms of industry and enterprise which have engaged his attention. An ok and prominent citizen of Michigan City, who has himself been connected with large commercial affairs for twen- ty-five years, says: "Mr. Barker is the best business man I have ever met." In polities he has always been a Republican and zealous in be-
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Leander & Monks
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half of the party. He is not a mem- ber of any church, but attends the wor- ship of the Episcopalians with his family and is a vestryman of that church. He was married August 28, 1873, at Michigan City, Indiana, to Mrs. Genia Brooks, of Springfield, Ohio, who died April 3, 1891. Three children, two daughters and a sou, born of this marriage, died early. Feb- ruary 14, 1893, he married Miss Katherine Fitz-Gerald, daughter of Martin Fitz-Ger- ald, of Manchester, New Hampshire. There is one child, Catherine, the fruit of this marriage, born February 4, 1896. His mother, Cordelia E. Barker, died at the home of her son in Michigan City, De- cember 24, 1894. Mr. Barker is fond of his home, his family and his circle of in- timate friends. After business hours he may always be found in the happy and restful associations found in his own household.
LEANDER J. MONKS.
Any compilation of the lives of ludi- ana's representative men would be strik- ingly incomplete if it failed to include the biography of Hon. Leander J. Monks. A native of the State, he has been a life- long resident within its borders, a con- stant contributor of his versatile ener- gies, lofty influence and material bene- fits to the up-building of its institutions, and for twenty years an honored member of its judicial bench. His parents were George W. and Mary (Irvin) Monks, his
father having come from Cincinnati, Ohio, when a young man, and settled as a pio- neer in Indiana. Here the recognition of his abilities soon brought him in touch with public affairs. He was elected clerk of Randolph Circuit Court in 1839, which office he filled so efficiently during its term of seven years that he was re-elected in 1846 and continued in office through another seven-year term. This post was succeeded by a seat in the Lower House of the State Legislature, to which he was elected in 1854 and in which he served during the session of 1855. While his intellectual capacities made him a valu- able citizen, his qualities of heart made him notably a valued one, his generosity and kindliness endearing him to the en- tire community in which he lived. His death occurred in 1865, he having sur- vived his wife by one year. The subject of this sketch was born July 10, 1843, at Winchester, in the county of Randolph, Indiana, which town has during his whole lifetime been his place of residence. Ile obtained his early education in the schools of Winchester, and there pur- sued the studies which were to fit him for college. This preparatory work com- pleted, he entered the State University at Bloomington in the autumn of 1861, continuing there until the close of the term of 1863. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar and, opening an office, began the practice of his chosen profession. In the fall of 1878 the Twenty-fifth Judicial Circuit, which at that time comprised the two counties of Randolph and Delaware,
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elected Mr. Monks judge of that circuit; and he was subsequently twice elected to the same position, the last time being after the county of Randolph had come to comprise the whole circuit. This selec- tion was made wholly without opposition; and, considering the responsibility of the position and the limited experience of Mr. Monks as a practitioner, this unanimous choice was a high tribute to his principles and abilities. In politics Judge Monks has always been a stanch adherent to Re- publican tenets, and for a number of years during the seventies he took a prom- inent part in the campaigning of his coun- ty and State, having filled the chair of the Republican Central Committee of Randolph county in the campaigns of 1870 and 1872, and having been a member of both State and Executive Committees during those of 1874 and 1876. In 1894 his party nominated him at its State Con- vention as a candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court, and in the following No- vember he was elected by a flattering plurality of 46,000 votes. The profession- al work of Judge Monks has always borne che stamp of a master hand, and has won for him, as the natural reward of superior work, superior success. He has never been an endorser of the theory of "strokes of fortune" and "lucky hits." He has be- lieved that excellence in the legal and judicial fields, as well as in all other fields of legitimate industry, is attained only by means of faithful and persistent effort. Year after year he has conned the vol- umes of his well-stocked library, until the
host of stubborn technicalities hidden there have yielded to his mastery, and stand ready, like docile servants, to do his instant bidding. Thus aided, the Judge can transact a surprising amount of legal business withont inaccuracy or confusion. No one has better learned than he the difference between eager, wasteful haste and well-poised, produc- tive dispatch. Crowning this wealth of acquired facilities is the character of the man himself-a character made up of many strong parts. A stern, conscien- tions integrity is combined with a taste and capacity for minute analysis; and while he is a man of powerful convictions, which are firmly rooted in well-earned knowledge and long experience, and while his judgment is rarely at fault, vet he possesses a breadth and fairness of mind which enables him to carefully weigh ad- verse evidence and to yield if in error, graciously adopting the opposite view. He loves his work for itself ; espouses jus- tice for her own sake. Judge Monks is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Winchester, and in the realm of social intercourse, whether in religious or secular circles, he is ever found the same kindly, genial gentleman. No sus. pieion of judicial severity intervenes to disturb the free flow of social ameni- ties. He has for many years belonged to a college fraternity known as the Sigma Chi; and he has a host of friends, with whose varied portions of joy and sorrow he is an ever-ready sympathizer. Judge Monks was married in 1865 to Lizzie W.,
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the only daughter of Alex and Margaret White. The four children born to them are: Margaret, wife of Thomas J. Kizer; Mary D., Alice and Agnes.
ABRAHAM R. COLBORN.
Abraham Reginald Colborn, of Michi- gan City, was born in Dumfries, Canada, December 9, 1846, the son of Benjamin Q. and Mary (Rosenberger) Colborn. His mother was born and reared in Canada. His father, a native of New York State and bred to the carpenter's trade, went over into Canada while yet a young man and established himself in the business of contractor and builder. In 1850 the family removed to Kent county, Michigan, where the father died twenty-three years later. Mr. Colborn did not have the op- portunity to acquire a collegiate educa- tion, or even to pursue his studies in the academic branches. He attended the pub- lie schools of Kent county in early boy- hood and was permitted to be a pupil for a short time in the high school of Grand Rapids. As one of the boys that were thrilled with martial music and the "circumstance of war," he enlisted when seventeen years old as a private in Com- pany A, Thirtieth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, served until the close of the war, and was mustered out in 1865 as commissary of the regiment. The country about his home was improving and developing rapidly and the incite- ments to a life of commercial activity
were strong. Young Colborn opened up business for himself in the lumber trade in a small way, before reaching his ma- jority, and after an experience of one year took a position as bookkeeper with the firm of Roberts & Co., lumber dealers at Muskegon. After eight months at Muskegon he was transferred to Chica- go in the employment of the same house, doing business under the firm name of Roberts, Calkins & Hull. He remained with this firm three years and with the firm of W. W. and J. F. Woodruff, whole- sale dealers in lumber, two years-hold- ing a continuous residence in Chicago five years, all the while employed as bookkeeper. By this time he had ac- quired a pretty thorough knowledge of lumber and the methods of conducting the business of a dealer, and was entirely competent to manage the trade success- fully. In the spring of 1871 he removed to Michigan City, Indiana, where, in con- nection with Mr. Hilborn he opened up the business of wholesale dealers in lum- ber, which has been conducted with marked ability for a period of twenty-sev- en years. The selection of Michigan City as the site for such business showed ex- cellent judgment. The harbor is unob- structed and easily accessible, the cost of handling stock is much less than in Chicago, and the facilities for reaching points in western and southern Indiana by rail are more direct than from Chica- go. The original firm of Hilborn & Col- born carried on the business for two years, when Mr. Hilborn was succeeded
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by R. G. Peters, of Manistee, Michigan, changing the style of the firm to Peters, Colborn & Co. In 1878 Mr. Colborn pur- chased the interest of his partners and for the last twenty years has been sole proprietor of the business conducted in the name of A. R. Colborn & Co. Branch yards have been established from time to time in different towns in the central part of Indiana, thus covering that portion of the State which has for twenty years been developing and improving with a steady and sometimes rapid growth. Messrs. Colborn & Co. have always made a spe- cialty of the white pine lumber manufac- tured in Michigan and Wisconsin, al- though their stock is sometimes augment- ed with cargoes brought from the forests and mills of Canada. They are not de- pendent upon other vessel owners or ship- masters for the transportation of their stock in lake waters, but employ for the purpose their own steam barges, of which they have three, of large tonnage. The advantages of this possession are so manifest as to require no enumeration or argument. They must be considered in estimating the substantial equipment of the firm, which places them far and away above the competition of any other con- cern in the State engaged in similar lines of trade. Having given his time and thought to the business unremittingly for the last thirty years Mr. Colborn is as well informed as any lumber dealer in the United States. His judgment as to markets is excellent. Favored with capa-
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