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ARTHUR A. MCKAIN.
The remote MeKains were Scottish, but this memoir purposes only to glance back two generations, to the sturdy Revolution- ary soldier who transmitted to his son James-the father of Arthur A .- his military propensities without the envied opportunity of achievement in actual warfare. That son was born April 27, 1804, in Bracken county, Kentucky, but early went to Ohio, settling upon a farm about two miles northwest of Troy. While young he received an appointment as |
major in a rifle regiment at Troy, a post for which he was especially qualified by his native taste for the military life, which later grew to an ardent longing for actual service. The Rebellion came too late, however, for although he repeat- edly volunteered to serve his country, his advanced age rendered him ineligible. His lot was to spend his days in tilling the land, and this he did well, enjoying a lifelong reputation for thrift and honesty. He was a loyal Whig previous to the effacement of that party, then, after cast- ing a vote for John Bell in 1860, he be- came and continued a devoted Republican until his death, which occurred February 9, 1889. He was twice married, the first time to Miss Lncilla Patton, of Miami county, Ohio. Of the seven children re- sulting from this union three are living and are persons of acknowledged worth and social importance. The first wife died in 1845, and two years later Mr. McKain married Mrs. Broadwall, a niece of Messrs. Sol Smith, of St. Louis, and Amor Smith, of Cincinnati. Of the two children borne by the second Mrs. Mc- Kain, one is deceased, the survivor being our present biographical subject. Arthur A. MeKain was born on his father's farm near Troy, Ohio, November 2, 1831. He attended the district and graded schools of that section until prepared for higher study, then took a year of academic work at Euphemia, Ohio. He was now ready, although but a stripling in years, to de- clare his independence, and resolutely set his face towards the great clashing world
Arthur A. Mchain
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of affairs, in which his young ambition pictured a rising career, which, however, must be made wholly through his own abilities and efforts. His first business venture, which proved a winning one, was his engagement as agent for a nursery in the East. This work brought him in con- tact with people and, while netting him a considerable income, prepared him for larger undertakings. In 1873 he en- gaged for himself in the sale of nursery stock. About four years later he aban- doned this line of trade and became a manufacturer of monuments at North Manchester, Indiana, and in 1880 opened a wholesale marble yard at Chicago for Redfield Proctor, present U. S. Senator from Vermont. He removed to Indiana in 1881, locating at Indianapolis and pur- suing there the marble industry on a large scale, manufacturing marble and granite monuments at prices ranging from $2,000 to $25,000. This was his primary specialty, though a scarcely less important branch of the business was the furnishing of soldiers' monuments. The marble enterprise was succeeded by one very different in kind, though even larger in result; and the business char- acter in which Mr. McKain is now best known is that of president of the Indiana Manufacturing Company. This concern was organized by him in 1891, with a cap- ital stock of $360,000, and under his guidance has developed enormously, tak- ing its place among the most flourishing manufactories of the State. The object of this establishment was the production
of the "Pneumatic" or Wind Straw Stacker, a machine which has become in- dispensable to threshers and extensive farmers. Its history is an interesting one: James Buchanan was the original invent- or and patentee of the device, in which Mr. MeKain became interested, as also in its projector; and an arrangement was made between the two men by which Mr. McKain should personally introduce the article, proving its merits by practical test. Accordingly, he made a tour in the State of Kansas, equipped with a few of the stackers, the experiment meeting with total failure, through which result he was subjected to many privations. However, he did not despair, and even while suf- fering the hardships consequent upon present failure he discerned in the stack- er its possibilities of development, and, summoning his own latent inventive fac- ulty, he set to work to perfect the de- vice. In 1890 he returned to Indianapolis and purchased the interest of Mr. Bu- chanan in the invention, thus becoming its sole proprietor. Since the organiza- tion of the Indiana Manufacturing Com- pany, Mr. McKain and other inventors have made repeated innovations upon "The Farmer's Friend" and other varie- ties of the wind stacker, obtaining a patent upon each portion of its structure, until the number of patents controlled by the company has swelled to seventy odd. So great is the demand for these stack- er's that all of the companies manufac- turing threshing machines have ne- gotiated for license to make and sell them
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under royalty. Another concern of which Mr. McKain is president is the American Buncher Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated in 1895. Still another enterprise, which has brought him into prominence in Indianapolis, is that of in- stituting the Consumers' Gas Trust, through which the rates on gas have been materially reduced, thereby placing the whole gas-consuming metropolis under grateful obligation to him. During our recent war with Spain, Mr. McKain played a highly creditable and appre- ciated part in personally performing the task of recruiting for active service a regiment which was enlisted as the One Hundred and Sixty-first In- diana Volunteers. He was reluct- ant, however, to accept a command in this regiment, although clearly entitled to one. Mr. McKain is a married man, hav- ing been united, on February 2, 1871, to Mary P. McClure, daughter of Jeremiah McClure, a farmer of substance and high respectability. The MeKain residence is in Indianapolis, where he owns real estate of much value and has made other considerable investments. Mr. McKain is a wealthy man, having, in ad- dition to his large city property, financial interests in other sections. He is neces- sarily a busy man, yet is not neglectful of the social side of life, and is widely known and honored as a liberal, kindly and genial gentleman. He is entitled to a hearty satisfaction in having honestly achieved in his prime the success desired by all, yet to some coming only in the
gray autumn of life, and to the many, never.
JOHN L. CAMPBELL.
John L. Campbell, LL. D., was born at Salem, Indiana. October 13, 1827. His father, David G. Campbell, was one of the prominent pioneers of the State. John L. obtained his early education in the cele- brated Morrison school at Salem. In September, 1844, he entered Wabash Col- lege and was graduated in 1848. The first year after graduation was spent as clerk in a dry goods store and as a men- ber of the engineering corps engaged in the location of the New Albany and Salem railroad. In September, 1849, he was appointed tutor in Wabash College; in 1851 became principal of the prepara- tory department; in 1854 was appointed Professor of Mathematics, Natural Phil- osophy and Astronomy, and in 1876, by division of the department, he became Professor of Physics and Astronomy. The record (in 1899) shows his connection with Wabash College four years as a stu- dent and fifty years as an instructor. In 1853, on the recommendation of Hon. Henry S. Lane, he was admitted to the practice of law, but he never engaged in the profession. He was married in 1854 to Miss Mary E. Johnston, and is the father of three daughters. In 1864 he de- livered a lecture at the Smithsonian In- stitution in Washington, commemorative of the third centennial anniversary of the birth of Galileo, and two years later, 1866,
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Luther Benson,
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in a letter to Mayor MeMichael of Phil- adelphia, made the first suggestion relat- ing to the International Exhibition of 1876, celebrating the completion of the first one hundred years of American in- dependence. In 1866 he was a member of the board of visitors to West Point. In 1871, on the recommendation of Governor Conrad Baker, he was appointed by Presi- dent Grant, commissioner for Indiana for the International Exhibition of 1876. He was chosen permanent secretary of the United States Centennial Commission and was also chairman of the committee of foreign affairs. The duties connected with this exhibition required a suspension of active college work for nearly two years. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1875, and in 1876 he received from the Indiana University the honorary degree of LL. D. During the fifty years of his college work Professor Campbell has been connected with three general administrations and has taken a prominent part in the ad- vancement of the college. The equipment of the Department of Physics is chiefly due to his efforts; also the general plans for Peck Scientific Hall and for Yandes Library Hall. He has served continuously since 1854 as secretary of the board of trustees, and, excepting the two years' ab- sence on account of the International Ex- hibition rarely has missed a day from the class room, and never has been compelled by sickness or otherwise, to ask any as- sistance from his associates in the per- formance of college work. In addition to
regular college duties his summer vaca- tions have been spent largely in engi- neering work, including the location of the Logansport and Terre Haute rail- road; the Geodetic Survey of Indiana, under appointment of the superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey; and, by appointment of Governor Albert G. Porter, the State survey of the Kankakee Valley, with recommendations for the drainage and recovery of the marsh lands in Northern Indiana. In 1891 Professor Campbell was appointed by Governor Alvin P. Hovey a member of the board of managers for Indiana at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago. He was a member of the executive committee and of the building committee, and served as president of the board of managers from September until the close of the exhibi- tion, and also prepared the final report to the Legislature of the part taken by In- diana in the Columbian Exposition.
LUTHER BENSON.
This sketch purports simply to recount a few chief and interesting facts of an already familiar subject; for the name of Luther Benson, like that of John B. Gough, is well known throughout the country in connection with the noble cause of temperance. Any biography of this man is necessarily a record of one of the greatest triumphs ever achieved by mortal in his life-and-death struggle with abnormal appetite. This appetite was un-
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doubtedly inherited from his maternal grandfather and was fostered and strengthened by the customs of the day, spirituous liquors being kept and freely used by every family. Luther Benson was one of a family of nine children, sev- en of whom were boys. His father, John Harley Benson, was born March 2, 1802; and during the war of 1812 there devolved upon him the duty of carrying the mail from Covington, Kentucky, to Frankfort. Every week this plucky little lad of ten bestrode his pony, passed within easy range of the hostile guns and delivered the mail in safety. In 1835 he left Ken- tucky with his family and located in Rush county, Indiana, where he remained un- til the close of his life, September 21, 1893. Here his son Luther, des- tined to become so singularly distin- guished, was born September 9, 1847, and grew to manhood assisting with the work of his father's farm. He obtained the rudiments of an education in two little log school-houses-one standing by a stream called Hood's Creek, the other ou the site of the present Ammon's mill. When sixteen years of age he began at- tending school at the little village of Fair- view, several miles from his home. His instructor at this school was Wil- liam M. Thrasher, who later on held a professorship in mathematics at Butler College, Irvington, Indiana. His educa- tion was completed at Moore's Hill Col- lege near Cincinnati, after which he be- gan the study of law; but the time had come when the onward current of his ex-
panding young life was to receive a fear- ful check and its sweet and wholesome waters be turned to bitterness. His pas- sion for drink had come upon him; and, although he afterward entered college, his attendance was of short duration. Henceforth his best efforts must be ex- pended in fighting the fiend that threat- ened his destruction. Of his moral sense and moral stamina his later years of tri- umph gave abundant proof; but that tri- umph came only after a long season of misery and humiliation to himself, his family and friends. On January 21, 1877, he experienced a profound revulsion to his manner of life and determined to rise above his weakness. This seeming con- versiou occurred at Jeffersonville, Indi- ana, and was the forerunner of his per- manent conquest of a few months later at Fowler, although a period of relapse to his pitiful thralldom intervened. During the ten years prior to this time he had been engaged in the practice of law, a vo- cation to which he was in some ways ad- mirably adapted, having, when not under the influence of liquor, a logical intelli- gence and eloquent flow of language. He had begun his legal studies in the office of Hon. John S. Reid, at Connersville, and had subsequently opened one on his own account at Rushville, where he praticed with good success until, himself released from the tyranny of strong drink, he felt impelled to devote his remaining days to the rescuing of like victims. Imbued with the moral courage of a lofty purpose, the chosen scene of his first lecture was
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Raleigh, whose inhabitants had been eye- witnesses to his most reckless dissipa- tion. After this he proceeded from one to another of the principal towns of Indi- ana until, within three years, he had de- livered nearly five hundred lectures in his home State. Subsequently he made a tour in the East, giving his first lecture at Bangor, Maine, where he was sympa- thetically received by a large audience. Then followed lectures in Boston and the other principal eastern cities, his efforts meeting everywhere with much apprecia- tion and enthusiasm. Throughout his public work he was cordially supported by the press, of his own State as well as others, this prophet, at least, being not "without honor in his own country." He had many friends in Indiana to whom he was warmly attached, and who had been true to him even in the days of his great- est weakness and error. In 1883 or '84, Mr. Benson received the Democratic nomination for Congress from the Sixth District, but in a manly letter declined the nomination, not wishing to enter ac- tively into political life. In March, 1894, while attending the National Temperance Convention at Washington, D. C., as one of the speakers on that occasion, Mr. Ben- son was honored in an unusual way by his friends. A request, signed by thirty Sen- ators and Congressmen, asking that Mr. Benson be invited to speak in the House of Representatives, was sent to Speaker Crisp, closing with this statement: "We assure you that the services of Mr. Benson in the cause of temperance entitle him
to this honor"; to which Mr. Crisp re- turned a kindly reply, stating that he would be glad to comply with the request made by the Senators and Members of the House, but the rules of the House pro- hibited the use of the hall for any other than legislative business. In 1884 Mr. Benson was married to Anna C. Slade. His domestic life was made beautiful by a wealth of affection, and his death, which occurred June 21, 1898, was deeply and widely deplored. Mr. Benson and his wife belonged to the Methodist Epis- copal church, attending that of Roberts Park, Indianapolis, of which Mrs. Benson is still a member. Not only with oral eloquence did Mr. Benson labor for the cause of temperance; he toiled with pen as well. "Fifteen Years in Hell" is the significant title of a book of which he is the author and which has had a phenome- nal sale throughout the country; and Mrs. Benson holds for publication the manu- script of her husband's autobiography, completed shortly before his death. This work will be read with reverence as the life of a great hero. No martial general, bedecked with stars and ribbons, is de- serving of more honor; nay, the moral victor is the greater, because of the more insidious foe. And Luther Benson was wise with that vital wisdom born of ex- perience. Ile had an intimate knowledge of life phases ranging from the gutter to the applause-resounding rostrum of Fan- euil Hall; and while no one would covet his experience of misery and degra- dation, it unquestionably opened to him a
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vast field of pathos, hope and exaltation, known to the man of happier fortunes only "as a tale that is told." His afflic- tion brought him into deeply sympathetic relations with the multitude of sufferers from the drink scourge, to whom his heart and purse alike were open. The struggle of Luther Benson for uprightness is but a forceful illustration of the universal upward impulse-an impulse which per- vades, potentially, even inert matter, and which is the deepest wellspring of our hope for immortal life.
"Every clod feels a stir of might-
An instinct within it which reaches and towers;
And, groping blindly above it for light, Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers."
Thus sweetly sings our poet, and thus sweetly do we dream that this brother, whose upward groping was so long and painful, has reached the perfection of soul life amid celestial flowers.
THEODORE V. DENNY.
Theodore Vernon Denny was born in Leicester, Worcester county, Massachus- etts, February 21, 1800. Through his father, Joseph Denny, his genealogy is traced in an unbroken line to John Denny, who, in 1439, received from Henry VI. a grant of land in Combs, Suffolk county, England. It is a noteworthy fact, illus- trative of inherited tendencies towards conservatism and persistence, that lineal descendants of John Denny, the King's
grantee, still own and occupy a part of that particular land. Joseph Denny, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a son of Samuel Denny, a prominent and leading citizen of Leicester, who was a lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of minute men which marched on the Lexington alarm in 1775; and who, in 1776, was col- onel of a regiment in the Revolutionary army at Tarrytown and elsewhere in that vicinity. Theodore V. Denny's mother was Phebe Henshaw, daughter of Col- onel William Henshaw. In 1774 and 1775 William Henshaw was chairman of the committee of correspondence of the town of Leicester, was very busy in consulta- tion with Worcester and Boston concern- ing the oppressions of the royal govern- ment, and was influential in many of the most important measures of that period. At a county convention in Worcester, it was on his motion that companies of "minute men" were first organized, ready to march at a moment's warning, should any coercive measures against the colo- nists be inaugurated. A regiment of which William Henshaw was colonel reached Cambridge, April 20, 1775. He was a member of the council of war at Cambridge and Charlestown, and, to a great extent, was responsible for the for- tifications and the disposition of forces at Cambridge just prior to the battle of Bunker Hill. In 1776 he was with his regiment at the disastrous battle of Long Island; was cut off from the main body of the Continental troops, but gallantly forced his way through the superior
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forces of the royalists, and reached New York. He was in the battle of White Plains; was with Washington's army at the crossing of the Delaware, and at Princeton, Trenton and Morristown. Gov- ernor Washburn, the historian of Leices- ter, and the distinguished jurist, to whom he was personally known, said of him: "He belonged to a class of men who seem to have been raised up by Providence to plan and carry through the Revolution and lay the foundation of a free and in- dependent republic." He repeatedly rep- resented his town in the General Court and held many positions of private and public trust. Colonel Henshaw was a great-great-grandson of John Alden, of whom Longfellow said: "His foot was the first that stepped on the rock at the landing" of the Mayflower. He was a great-grandson of Joshua Henshaw, born 1638, who was sent to Boston 1648, by the steward of his ancestral estate for the nefarious purpose of obtaining it through a testamentary provision to take effect upon the death of Joshua. Joshua died in London in 1719 while engaged in an effort to recover his estate. He was a son of Joshua Henshaw of Lancashire, England, a member of the Long Parlia- ment, who, in the Parliamentary army, was killed in the battle of Edgehill, Oc- tober 23, 1642. The subject of this sketch remained in his paternal home until he attained his majority, when he gave way to a longing, often expressed, for the broader, less restricted and less conven-
tional life to be found in the then far West. Early in 1821, with John Hobart, a neighbor and companion from child- hood, he left his native town. They jour- need to Ohio, where they remained for a year without a settled residence, and then pushed on to Indiana to find a per- manent home. They bought land, covered with a dense forest, near the new town of Indianapolis. The residence of the two families in Marion county dates from 1822. On the 30th of March, 1823, Theo- dore V. Denny married Miss Elizabeth Mclaughlin, who was born in Washing- ton county, Kentucky, March 24, 1805. After the death of her parents in a fatal epidemic in 1814, a home was made for her with her uncle, William McLaughlin, then living in Fayette county, Ohio, and afterward one of the pioneer settlers of Indiana, locating near Indianapolis in 1821. Mr. Denny's land was located about three miles south-east from the court- house, and was cleared and improved by him. There he resided until his death in 1854. He was an intelligent and thought- ful man, prominent in the councils of his fellows, and in school, church and politi- cal matters. He was a prominent anti- slavery man, but did not sympathize with the lawless methods of the Abolitionists. He was one of the organizers and original members of the First Baptist Church of Indianapolis in 1822. His widow lived un- til 1873, on the farm. She was a woman of strong character and of marked busi- ness ability. From the profits of her farm
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she maintained her family, educated three minor children, and saved a con- siderable surplus. She died October 6, 1890. The living children of Mr. and Mrs. Denny are Mrs. Martha A. Thompson of Indianapolis; Joseph Addison Denny of Lake City, Iowa; William Christopher Denny, Mrs. Lucinda A. Van Deman, Aus- tin Flint Denny and Albert Walter Denny of Indianapolis. Mrs. Catharine Henshaw (Denny) Logsdon, a daughter, now de- ceased, left a family of three sons and two daughters. These pioneer parents gave birth to four other children who are now dead, and who left no descendants. In all, the living descendants of Mr. and Mrs. Denny now number forty-two, of three generations, and are scattered from Indi- ana to Colorado.
THOMAS TAGGART.
The present mayor of the city of In- dianapolis (1899) is Hon. Thomas Tag- gart. He was born in Amevaile, County Monaghan, Ireland. November 16, 1856, the son of Thomas and Martha (Kings- bury) Taggart. When he was five years of age his parents came to America and settled at Xenia, Ohio. Ilis father se- cured a position with the P. C. C. & St. L. railway, and, being a man of good busi- ness qualifications, was appointed station agent for the company at Xenia, which position he held for twenty years. IFe was a resident of Xenia continuonsly un- til his death in January, 1894. Thomas
Taggart attended the public schools of Xenia while a youth, and, after spending one year in the high school, was impatient to get to work and make his own way in the world. His first employment was in the Depot Hotel and restaurant at Xenia. where he remained until 1875. For the next two years he was engaged in the hotel and restaurant business at Garrett, Indiana, conducted by the same firm that employed him in Xenia-N. & G. Ohmer. In 1877 he came to Indianapolis and con- tinned with the same firm in their res- taurant at the Union Station. In 1887. when the magnificent new station was completed, Mr. Taggart succeeded to the business of his former employers there, becoming sole proprietor. Having had fifteen years' practical experience in the business, he was well equipped for the management of a large and increasing trade. Favored by nature with a genial disposition and a happy faculty for mak- ing and keeping friends, he soon had an unusually large acquaintance. Being a man of sound judgment and a good finan- cier, he made money rapidly and saved it, so that in 1893 he was able to purchase the Grand Hotel in Indianapolis, of which he has since been the sole proprietor. In 1895 Mr. Taggart disposed of his business at the Union Depot and has since be- come actively connected with various corporations and business enterprises in Indianapolis. That he is a man of inde- pendent thought and action, was indicat- ed by his early adherence to the principles of the Democratic party, when his father,
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