USA > Indiana > Encyclopedia of biography of Indiana > Part 26
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of Joseph W. Ross, a pioneer merchant of Noblesville, Indiana, and gives credit for all his successes to his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Trissal are the parents of but one child, Julius Ross Trissal, born at Noblesville, Indiana, in 1871, and now holding an important business position in Galesburg, Illinois. A prominent mem- ber of the Indianapolis bar says of Mr. Trissal: "He has an analytical mind; he thinks and acts quickly and is able to form very accurate conclusions in his es- timate of a legal situation. He has risen in his profession by virtue of natural ability and hard work. His indefatigable energy and loyalty to the interests in- trusted to him, are characteristics which have contributed much to his success."
JAMES D. MAXWELL.
Dr. James Darwin Maxwell was born at Hanover, Jefferson county, Indiana, May 19, 1815, and died in Bloomington, Sep- tember 30, 1892. He was the son of Dr. David H. and Mary (Dunn) Maxwell, natives of Lancaster, Garrard county, Kentucky. His grandparents were natives of Virginia, of Scotch-Irish de- scent. Their ancestors emigrated from Londonderry, in the North of Ireland, at a very early date to the colony of Vir- ginia. His father, David H. Maxwell, studied medicine at Danville, Kentucky, and after his marriage, in 1807, moved to Jefferson county, Indiana, where Han- over now stands. He was elected dele-
gate to the first Constitutional Conven- tion, held in Corydon in 1816. In 1819 he moved to Bloomington with his family, where he practiced his profession and in- terested himself in the cause of higher education. He was a man of great enter- prise and public spirit. It was through his personal influence that the location of the State Seminary was secured for Bloomington by act passed January 20, 1820. He was appointed one of the trus- tees of the seminary and soon after its organization was elected president of the board of trustees, which position he held almost continuously until the time of his death, May 24, 1854. With regard to the foundation of the Indiana University in its present location, its survival during its infancy, while a seminary, and its suc- cessful opposition to many adverse in- fluences during its early history, there is no one to whom more credit is due than to Dr. David H. Maxwell. As a legislator, as a trustee, as a fluent writer, as a pri- vate citizen, and as a man of sound judg- ment, he was indefatigable in his labors for the interest of the University. His son, James Darwin Maxwell, the subject of this sketch, was educated at the Bloom- ington schools and at the Indiana Uni- versity, where he was graduated with the degree of A. B. in the class of '33, and was made tutor of Latin soon after. In 1836 he became professor of Latin in the Mississippi State College at Clinton, Mis- sissippi. Returning to Bloomington, he studied medicine with his father for a short time and then went to Lexington,
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Kentucky, where he attended the Tran- sylvania Medical College, after which he attended the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, graduating in 1844. He was married July 6, 1843, to Miss Lonisa J. Howe, a daughter of Joshua Owen Howe, one of the early settlers, and a prominent merchant of Bloomington, a native of Bal- timore, Maryland, of English descent. They were the parents of ten children, Emma (Mrs. Vinson Carter, of Indian- apolis), Mary E., Howard (of Indian- apolis), Dr. Allison Maxwell (of Indianap- olis), Dr. James D., Jr. (deceased), David H., Anna E., (Mrs. Allen B. Philputt, of Indianapolis), Louise, Fannie Belle and Juliette, of Bloomington. For more than forty-five years Dr. Maxwell followed the general practice of medicine and was one of the leading physicians in Bloomington, also in the surrounding country, being called largely in consultation throughout this part of the State. He was a member of the American Medical Association, the State Medical Society, and president of the Monroe County Medical Society for several years. He was pleasant, quiet, courteons and dignified-a perfect gen- tleman. In his practice, gentle, kind and sympathetic. In 1838 Dr. Maxwell was elected to the office of secretary of the board of trustees of Indiana University, which office he held until 1855. In 1860 he was elected trustee, and this office he hield until his death. For forty-nine years he was officially connected with the Uni- versity. During this long period he brought to the discharge of his duties
great ability and the most untiring en- ergy and fidelity, and an abiding faith in the ultimate success of the institution. His judgment, based upon his thorough knowledge of the workings of the insti- tution, was most valuable to his asso- ciates. He was liberal and judicious in his views, and zealous and fearless in his advocacy of what he regarded as the best interests of the university. Quoting from remarks made by Judge D. D. Banta at the time of the death of Dr. J. D. Max- well:
"To both father and son the Indiana University owes much and it is almost impossible for me to speak of one without mentioning the other. The father was a member of the first Constitutional Con- vention of the State, did his full share of the work of forming a Constitution, which made this University a possibility. It was on his personal solicitation that the General Assembly acted and the State school was chartered. For thirty years, save one, he was a member of the board of trustees, during which time he wit- nessed the development of the institution from seminary to college and from col- lege to university. Of him, if of any man, may it be said, he was the father of the Indiana University. One generation took up the work where another left it off, and the same spirit of love for higher learn- ing and of loyalty to this institution, that animated the father for more than thirty years, came in no less measure to the son, who for nearly fifty years gave it his best services. In his quiet, unostentatious, gentle, loving way, he served the institu- tion no less faithfully and usefully than the father did before him, and he deserves the perpetual remembrance of all lovers of the Indiana University."
As a monument to commemorate the services and virtues of the Doctors Max- well, father and son, the stone building
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containing the library and the offices of ; the Findley Academy, Otterbein Univer- the Indiana University, is named in honor of them-Maxwell Hall.
SIMON P. THOMPSON.
Hon. Simon Parr Thompson, of Rensse- laer, Indiana, was born May 8, 1838, in Orange township, Hancock county, Ohio. His grandfather, Isaac Thompson, was a Virginian who for many years carried on a farm in Londen county. The latter part of his life, however, was spent in Starke connty. Ohio, where his son David, the father of Judge Thompson, was born. David Thompson married Eliza McCoy, a native of Columbiana county, Ohio, and in 1833 he established a family homestead in the then frontier district of Hancock county, in which was reared his family of ten children. Of his seven sons, Alfred Thompson, whose biography is given in another part of this volume, is the sec- ond, while Simon P. Thompson is the fifth. Growing up in the sparse community of this pioneer locality, the educational advantages directly available to our sub- jeet were necessarily meager; but he was strong in the sturdy ambition and in- dustry which have, in so many notable instances in the history of our country, filled offices of high trust and responsi- bility, even from the cabin homes of the backwoods. At the age of sixteen, he be- gan teaching winter terms in the district schools of his county, the money thus earned enabling him to take courses at
sity. and the Southwestern Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio. He graduated from the latter institution in 1861, then sindied for a year at Oberlin College, after which he was elected principal of the public schools of Rensselaer, and, re- moving thither, entered upon his duties in the antumn of 1862. As an instructor, his work was highly satisfactory to ev- eryone but himself. He felt the need of a larger scope for the expansion of his faculties and the exercise of his powers. Having long been attracted to the legal profession. he now filled all his leisure moments with the study of its text books. After two years' service as principal of the Rensselaer schools, he accepted a cler. ical position in the banking house of .1. McCoy & Thompson, in which he remained for a year, in the meantime pursuing the study of law with such zeal that after attending a single year's lectures in the Law Department of the University of Michigan he began the practice of law. This was in the autumn of 1865, and until the beginning of 1867 he practised by himself at Rensselaer. He then entered into a partnership with Mr. Robert S. Dwiggins, the style of which was Dwig- gins & Thompson. Three years later Mr. Dwiggins retired from the firm, being sue- ceeded by Mr. Thompson's brother, Thom- ax. The firm name was, accordingly. changed to Thompson & Bro., and con- tinned as such for twenty-six years, al- though during this time the "Bro." stood for his brother David J. and other junior
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8 °. Thompson
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partners. The firm was dissolved in 185, upon the election of its senior member, Simon P. Thompson, as Judge of the Thir- tieth Judicial Circuit, which circuit then comprised the three counties of Benton, Newton and Jasper. This promotion to the bench came as the natural reward of the faithfulness with which he had ap- plied himself at the bar. From 1872 to 1876 he held the elective office of prose- cuting attorney; and as indicating his thoroughness and skill in the criminal field, a brief outline of the celebrated murder case of the State vs. McCulloch may be of interest: In May, 1865, one William Morgan had left his home in Wisconsin, setting out for Indiana with a pair of horses and a covered wagon, and was never afterward seen or heard from by his friends. In the fall of 1867 an in- complete human skeleton was found in a slough in Benton county,Indiana. William J. McCulloch had been arrested on suspi- cion of murder, it having been known that previous to Morgan's departure from Wis- consin an arrangement to meet had been made between him and McCulloch. After his accession to office, Mr. Thompson was summoned by Governor Hendricks and given charge of the case; and upon the slight foundation afforded him, by means of travel and study of the case there was built up a substantial structure of evi- dence, upon which McCulloch was con- victed of murder in the first degree. The defendant appealed to the Supreme Court, but, although the evidence was wholly circumstantial, it was found to
constitute so complete a chain that the original verdict was confirmed and Mc- Culloch went to the penitentiary for life. The case attracted a great deal of atten- tion. Not only in the legal profession, but in many phases of the development of his city, county and State, has Judge Thomp- son been a prominent figure. Shortly after resigning his principalship of the school in Rensselaer, he became county school examiner and actively interested in the improvement of the land of Jasper county. He participated in the removal of mill dams from all the streams and in instituting a system of drainage where- by thousands of acres of hitherto worth- less land were reclaimed. This trans- formation cannot be more effectively des- ignated than in the words of the Judge himself, in a paper read before the Old Settlers' Association of Jasper county. "The steam dredges," said he, "are com- pleting the creation of our county by gathering the waters together, that the dry land may appear." Besides the ob- vious economic advantages secured by this enterprise, it realized as a most hap- py result the entire effacement of mala- ria, which had previously been prevalent throughout the county. A large tract of land in Union township has been re- claimed by a system of ditches fifteen miles in extent, and Judge Thompson has several well-improved farms where was formerly only a waste of water. He has purchased thousands of acres of land of non-residents and disposed of same to actual settlers, while he has given freely
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of both money and energy for the further- ing of such improvements as railroads, highways, gravel roads, public buildings, libraries, churches, etc. Industrial and educational matters, also, have found in Judge Thompson an ardent supporter; and in politics he has rendered most faith- ful service to the Republican party, tak- ing for many years a leading part in its campaigns. In 1876 he was alternate del- egate to the National Convention at Cin- cinnati; in 1884, delegate to the National Convention at Chicago; while in the con- gressional conventions of 1876 and 1880 he received votes second in number only to the nominee. From 1886 to 1890, Judge Thompson served as State Senator, and during his incumbency introduced bills for the taxation of sleeping car, telegraph, telephone and express companies in pro- portion to the value of their business, instead of merely on the property held by them within the several counties, laws which have since been extended into other States, becoming, indeed, almost general. Judge Thompson was married October 10, 1878, to Miss May Foltz, whose father was the late Cyrus Foltz, of Benton county, Indiana. Mrs. Thompson is not only a model keeper of the home in a practical sense, but as an accomplished musician, contributes to it an element of rare lux- ury. Judge and Mrs. Thompson are the parents of four living children, one son, Parr, having died in infancy. The eldest daughter, Grace. is a sophomore at the Northwestern University; Edna, now at- tending the high school, and the two boys,
Firman and Simon, Jr., are in the public schools. All the children have traveled with their parents in varions portions of the country, and display by their general information the effects of their superior advantages. In closing this sketch, no panegyric upon the virtues of Judge Thompson is needful to strengthen that which breathes in the noble list of his achievements. through all of which he has held himself erect with the royal dignity of a true American. His home at Rens- selaer is a modest but substantial one. His family enjoy the universal respect of the community. His administration of the judicial office has been marked by diligence, economy and equity.
AUSTIN F. DENNY.
Austin Flint Denny was born in Marion county, Indiana, July 6, 1841, the son of Theodore V. and Elizabeth (MeLaughlin) Denny, concerning whom a sketch is pub- lished elsewhere in this volume. At the age of seven years, Austin F., as the re- sult of an accidental injury, lost his right arm. After this he pursued the prepara- tory studies and took the regular classical course in the Northwestern Christian University (afterward Butler University), graduating with the degree A. B. July 3. 1862. The two years next after leaving college, he taught with J. B. Cameron in the schools of Edinburg, Indiana, shar- ing with that gentleman the directorship and superintendeney of those schools.
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Yours respectfully Austin Plint Denny
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Mr. Denny then became the principal and superintendent of the public schools at Franklin in the same county. During his engagement in teaching he employed his leisure time in the study of law, and in 1866 terminated his career as a teacher that he might devote his whole time to legal studies. He entered Harvard Uni- versity and took the regular course in the Dane Law School under the tutelage of those distinguished authors and jur- ists, Emory Washburn, Theophilus Par- sons, Joel Parker, and Richard H. Dana, Jr. He received from Harvard University the degree of LL. B. July 15, 1868. After completing his preparatory course in law, Mr. Denny engaged in the active practice of his profession at Indianapolis, and is vet a member of the bar of that city, and in the possession of a good practice. His standing in the profession of his choice is such as could be foretold from the traits of character inherited from his ster- ling English ancestry. He is well known as a safe and careful counselor, in all grades of office work having no superior; in a good cause he is a strong adversary in litigation; is diligent in the prepara- tion of his cases; and in the argument of legal points has few superiors. His care- ful preparation of written argument in the Supreme Court is notable; and in several instances has been the proximate cause of the overruling of preceding de- cisions, a result rarely attained and sel- dom expected by lawyers. He was the leading spirit and potent factor in one of the famous cases at the Indianapolis
bar, the Farman will case. He was never engaged in the trial of any noted criminal cases, but has had a fair share of civil liti- gation and has conducted to successful re- sults some notable cases containing in- teresting questions in both law and fact. He enjoys the reputation of a safe and valuable counselor and makes the law of real estate a specialty. Mr. Denny was married January 7, 1873, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Keehn, a descendant of an old and respected family of Reading, Penn- sylvania, and an efficient instructor in the schools of Indianapolis. Mrs. Denny died September 4, 1896. She was a lady of rare literary taste and ability, and had an unusually wide knowledge of English literature. She was prominent in local literary clubs, and in social circles of a similar bent. Mrs. Denny organized a ladies' literary club that met every Wed- nesday at her residence. It was called the "Wednesday Morning Coterie." After Mrs. Denny's death the name was changed to the "Mary K. Denny Coterie," in honor of her memory. It still holds its regular meetings. While it is limited in its membership, the influence of its ex- ample in thoroughness of work is excep- tional. Mr. Denny is a member of the En- dianapolis Bar Association; of Philoxen- ian Lodge, I. O. O. F .; of Olive Branch Lodge, K. P .; of the Grand Lodge, K. P., of Indiana; of the Marion Club; of the In- diana Harvard Club; and of the Univer- sity Club of Indiana; and is a member of. and a contributor to, a number of chari- table organizations. Until its recent dis-
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solution, in order to surrender control to the Grand Lodge, he was the president of the Knights of Pythias Castle Hall Asso- ciation of Indianapolis.
JAMES V. KENT.
James V. Kent, Judge of the Forty- fifth Judicial Circuit of Indiana, was born in Clinton county, May 29, 1847. His fath- er was George A. Kent, a native of Con- necticut and the son of Anson Kent and Lucinda Starkweather. His mother was Sarah A. Boyle, a daughter of William Boyle, who emigrated from Virginia and became an early settler of Clinton county. His grandfather, Anson Kent, removed from Connecticut and settled in Clinton county in 1832, when his father was a boy thirteen years of age. They settled on a farm near Michigantown, which was the home of the grandfather until his death in 1846. Anson Kent was one of the contractors who contributed to the construction of the Michigan State Road. an improvement of great value in open- ing up to settlement many thousand acres of forest and furnishing a highway to reach the markets. Judge Kent was reared on the farm, as his father before him had been, and received his education in the common schools, mainly. He was permitted to attend the Presbyterian Academy at Lebanon for a single term and also spent one term in the academy at Dayton, Indiana. It was necessary for him to become self-supporting at an
early age, as he was only twelve years old when his father died. As a temporary resource he resorted to teaching in the public schools, for which his education gave him qualifications superior to those of the average teacher. From the age of seventeen to twenty-two he pursued this avocation, although he had previously de- termined to enter the profession of law, and at twenty began the study of its text books. His preceptors in the law were Morrison & Palmer, of Frankfort. He was admitted to the bar in 1868 and in the following year opened an office at Michigantown for practice. In 1870 he was elected prosecut- ing attorney for the counties of Boone and Clinton, and at the time of entering upon the duties of his office located in Frankfort. In 1872 he was a candidate for re-election, but as the Greeley cam- paign was disastrous to the Democratic party, whose candidate he was, his offi- cial service closed with one term. Re- suming general practice he formed a part- nership with D. S. Holman and H. Y. Morrison, which was terminated in one year by his withdrawal from the firm. Ho then became associated with Hon. Lean- der McClurg in a partnership which was maintained for ten years. He was con- stantly growing in legal knowledge and successful practice. At the same time he had a liking for politics and was active in support of his party in every campaign from the time of attaining his majority. In 1876 he was elected State Senator on the Democratic ticket, and very soon
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evinced unusual aptitude for the business of legislation. He was the youngest mem- ber of the Senate at the first session. Dur- ing the second session of his term he was one of the most influential senators and was uniformly esteemed by his associates. This public service increased his pres- tige at the bar and from that time on- ward there was a steady growth of his legal business and of his ability to take care of it. He held no other office until 1896, when he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court in a circuit comprising Clin- ton county alone. Although Judge Kent was known to the bar as a good lawyer it is probable their attention was especially attracted to his peculiar fitness for judi- cial service by his sitting on the bench in 1894 as special judge in a very important case tried at Frankfort, upon change of venue from the Howard Circuit Court. This was popularly known as the "Paris Case," in which Paris, cashier of a bank at Greentown, had been indicted for embez- złement. He had charge of one of the wildcat banks instituted by Dwiggins, of Chicago. The dignity and impartiality, as well as the keenness of perception and promptness in ruling which characterized the trial of that case, evidenced the pos- session by Judge Kent of the qualities most desirable on the bench of a trial court. The promise then observed has had ample fulfilment in his exercise of judicial functions in the court over which he was chosen to preside. His uniform courtesy and urbanity no less than his discernment of the law and impartiality
of his rulings have won for him not only the cordial support, but the affection of members of the bar who practice before him. He is candid and fair, exhibiting under all circumstances that equable tem- per and judicial cast of mind, so rarely met with and yet so essential in a judge before whom all kinds of cases are brought and tried. He is large enough and broad enough to acknowledge an error when convinced. He has more pride in being right than in holding to his own opinion. He labors patiently to inform himself as to the law, when important questions are referred to him, but ordi- marily in the progress of a trial he rules quickly and maintains his ruling firmly unless convinced that it is erroneous. In such cases as are taken under advisement he renders his decisions without unrea- sonable delay. If they relate to new ques- tions which have not been adjudicated or passed upon in the State he takes the trouble to write his opinions with great care. He has a good knowledge of men, and of course has his favorites and inti- mates in social life; but on the bench all members of the bar and all parties ap- pearing before him receive the same im- partial treatment. In public address he is argumentative and frequently eloquent. He has long been a student of theology and the different religions of the world, and is capable of considering and estimat- ing the relative merits of each. For twen- ty-seven years he has been a teacher in the Sunday-school of the Methodist Epis- copal church, of which he is a member.
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Some of the members of his class have been with him for a quarter of a century. He married Miss Jannett E. Steele, daughter of Joseph K. Steele, of Frank- fort, May 8, 1873. Two daughters born of this union, Ada M. and Cora J., are liv- ing. Their only son died in infancy. Judge Kent is a Knight of Pythias, a member of the I. O. R. M. and a Mason. In the latter order he has taken all the degrees in both the York and Scottish Rites.
ELIHU W. BALDWIN.
Elihu Whittlesey Baldwin, D. D., first president of Wabash College, was of true New England stock. Both father and mother were born in Connecticut, where they were married in 1782. Soon after the close of the Revolution, they removed from Durham, Connecticut, to the wil- derness of New York and settled the lit- tle town of New Durham in Greene coun- ty. Here Dr. Baldwin was born Decem- ber 25, 1789, the fourth child and first son of the family. In a deeply religious home, surrounded by the untamed beauty of nature, he grew up. Fond of books and study, he was prepared for college by the village pastor, and in 1807, when eighteen years of age, he entered Yale College. The wonderful power of Presi- dent Dwight as a center of genuine re- ligious life, all familiar with the history of Yale well know. In the spring term of young Baldwin's freshman year, a deep religious interest spread through the
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