USA > Indiana > Encyclopedia of biography of Indiana > Part 38
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WILLIAM N. JACKSON.
William N. Jackson was born June 6. 1809, at Elk Forge, Cecil county, Mary- land. His father, James Jackson, a na- tive of Wilmington, Delaware, married Martha Nutt, who was born near Newark, Delaware. He was the manager of an iron manufactory at which there was only the little settlement connected with the works at Elk Forge. Here William lived
until fourteen years of age. During these years the children got their schooling by a three-mile tramp to the cross-roads schoolhouse in winter. Popular educa- tion was meager iu quality as well as quantity. The Jackson family, in which there were eight children, four boys and four girls, fared better than most by rea- son of having a school teacher in the house. The boy William left home when he was about fourteen and entered an iron manufactory, where he was clerk, spending his time thus until he came west in 1832. He settled at Cincinnati and continued there in the iron house until 1834, when he went to Indianapolis to wind up a small iron business which he and his brother Stephen had failed to make successful. About this time he was asked to go into the office of the National Road at Terre Haute, which thoroughfare the government was then engaged in building through that region. Here he remained until 1840. He then went to Indianapolis, where he was an assistant, under Mr. Joseph A. Moore, in the Indianapolis postoffice for several years, and until all were removed under President Tyler. He then became secre- tary of the Indianapolis & Madison rail- road company at Madison. There he re- mained until 1853, when he resigned and came to Indianapolis. In that year he was chosen general ticket agent, secre- tary and treasurer of the Indianapolis Union railway company. With this company he has remained ever since. As he grew in years and the business in-
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creased, the office of ticket agent was separated from his duties, and later he gave up the office of treasurer; but he still holds the office of secretary. The handsome open square on which the new Union Railroad Station fronts in Indiana- polis, is named Jackson Place in honor of Mr. Jackson. In his first sojourn at Indianapolis, he united with the Second Presbyterian church, of which Henry Ward Beecher was then pastor; and this has been his church home, althongh dur- ing his long life since then he has identi- fied himself with many missions and new churches that have gone out from the Second church. The members of the family all lived to adult years, but of them all, only William N. survives. The father and mother were professors of re- ligion and practicers of it, as were all the children. The life of William N. Jackson has expounded the definition of pure religion: "Pure religion and unde- filed before God and the Father, is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." The story of his life might be said to be a realization of this definition. He never married and his life has been absorbed in doing good. He has never held public office nor been identified with public affairs. And yet no man in his community, and few men in any community have been wider known or more universally loved. An illustration of this was given two years ago in the raising of a fund called the .Jackson fund to care for sick children at
a hospital established in Indianapolis under the anspices of the Flower Mission. The singular appropriateness of this is that Mr. Jackson's love for children has been one of the most marked features of his life. One evening at a small so- cial gathering his name was mentioned, and out of the conversation arose the idea of founding this fund. The work was kept secret. Only those were asked to contribute who were friends of Mr. Jackson, and only a few of his friends. for their name is legion. The paper was passed from hand to hand sometimes, always done in the odd moments of busy lives. They who were privileged to de- vote even so little time to it had the better part; they heard the words that came with the offerings. Truly, "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold." One wrote of "this most de- served tribute to one whose life has been and is so full of good works, his presence an inspiration to children, and his face a benediction to all." Another: "It was a happy thought to make this a token of regard rather than wait to make it a tribute to his memory. I thank you for the privilege of contributing to this fund." Another wrote: "Mr. Jackson's was the most helpful influence that ever came into my life, and I want to share in this token." It is hardly too much to say that every gift had with it some word that increased its value. In the history of gifts, it cannot be that there has ever been more love, more spontaneity than
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flowed with this gift. Some would have memories of individual helpfulness to re- call, of which one of the letters quoted above is a type. Others would be warm with the memory of his life as an exam- ple. All were sympathetic with the idea of a token that might come to him while he was still with them, to be known and read of him. And so there was great agreement in the words with which the offering was made and which are here set out: "We, the undersigned, unite for the purpose of endowing a room in the Eleanor Hospital for Children, as a token of regard to William N. Jackson, and as a testimony to ourselves and our day and our generation and those that shall come after ns, of the helpfulness of his life and character. 'Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatso- ever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report,' are linked with the thought of his daily walk and conversation throughout a life stretching beyond the span of four-score years, and now in its evening we offer him, in the fullness of respect and affec- tion, this greeting." In a few weeks nearly $2,700 was raised. A deed of gift was made by those active in the work, and the fund was placed in charge of the Union Trust Company, which received it as a trust forever to be administered free of charge. Being a charitable fund it is free from taxation, and so the gross earnings of the investment go directly to the alleviation of little children who
without it might suffer and die. The Eleanor Hospital had been recently founded by the bequest of the late Eli Lilly. To aid it comes each year the in- vestment of this fund. In the room of the Eleanor Hospital is a tablet, bearing this inscription: "The William N. Jack- son Room." Mr. Jackson knew nothing of the movement until it was completed. He was then presented with a copy of the papers and the names of the contrib- utors. Supplementing this work the con- tributors had Mr. Jackson's portrait painted and likewise gave it to the Union Trust Company, by whom it was placed in the public art gallery at Indianapolis owned by the Art Association. The fund was completed and made over on Mr. Jackson's birthday, June 6, 1896. From an account of this work the following is taken as an illustration of the feeling of the community and the characteristic quality and beauty of his life and work. How fitting this work is; how fittingly it has been done; the beauty of its growth -for it has seemed to grow of itself; the magnitude and rapidity of it-for it has seemed to multiply in the hands- can be better suggested than set out in words:
To the grave of Giles Winterbourne in Hardy's "Woodlanders," came "Marty" Sonth, a child of toil. Thus the story:
"As this solitary and silent girl stood there in the moonlight, a straight slim figure clothed in a plaitless gown, the contours of womanhood so undeveloped as to be scarcely perceptible, and the
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marks of poverty and toil effaced by the misty hour, she touched sublimity at points, and looked almost like a being who had rejected with indifference the altitude of sex for the loftier quality of abstract humanism. She stooped down and cleared away the withered flowers that Grace and herself had laid there the previous week, and put her fresh ones in the place. "Now my own, own love,' she whispered, 'you are mine and on'y mine; for she has forgotten 'ee at last, although for her you died. But I-whenever I get up I'll think of 'ee, and whenever I lie down I'll think of 'ce. Whenever I plant the young larches I'll think that none can plant as you planted; and when- ever I split a gad, and whenever I turn the cider wring I'll say that none could do it like yon. If ever I forget your name, let me forget home and heaven. But no, no, my love, I never can forget 'ee, for you was a good man and did good things.'"
Here instead of flowers that wither is an offering that will live, but like the flowers it has been offered in love, and for the same reason: "He was a good man and did good things."
JAMES H. JORDAN.
Judge Jordan, of the Supreme Court of Indiana, was born in Woodstock, Vir- ginia, December 21, 1842. In 1853, when quite a youth, he came to Indiana and lived on a farm near Corydon until the
beginning of the War of 1861, when he enlisted in the Union army, and made a somewhat remarkable record. For three years and over he served in the army, being a participant in seventy- five engagements, including battles and skirmishes, receiving but two wounds. one of which was quite severe and from the effects of which he still suffers. His regiment was the Forty-fifth Indiana Volunteers (Third Cavalry). On his re- turn from the war he entered Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Indiana, but did not remain to complete his course, de- riding, as he did, to change to the In- diana State University at Bloomington, from which college he was graduated jn 1868, and immediately entered upon a course of legal studies. He read law at his former home, Corydon, Indiana, with the late Judge William A. Porter and Thomas C. Slaughter of that town, and graduated from the Law Department of the State University in 1871, having been, in the meantime, admitted to the bar at Corydon in 1868. In 1869 he began the practice of law at Corydon, but subse- quently removed to Clinton, Missouri, where for a time he engaged in the prac- tice, but finally, in January, 1872, he re- turned to Indiana, locating in Martins- ville, the county seat of Morgan county, which city continues to be Judge Jor- dan's home. In 1872, Governor Baker appointed him prosecutor of the Common Pleas District, of which Morgan county then formed a part. In the following year he was elected city attorney of
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Martinsville, which office he filled effi- ciently for twelve years. Upon his ad- vent in Martinsville, his ability was at once recognized, and he took first place among the members of the Morgan coun- ty bar. In 1882 he was nominated as the candidate of the Republican party for Circuit Judge; the circuit in question be- ing at that time composed of Morgan, Owen and Green counties. His popular- ity was evidenced by the fact that, al- though the district was Democratic by a large majority, he was defeated at the election by only twenty-five votes. In 1894 Judge Jordan was nominated at the Republican State Convention for the Su- preme Bench, and was elected by a ma- jority of forty-five thousand. After three years' experience, on the Supreme Bench, he is regarded by the legal fraternity of the State as a judge par excellence, re- liable, conscientious and thoroughly cap- able to discharge the duties of the of- fice. Much of his success is due to the fact that he possesses in a marked de- gree, both a judicial mind and a judicial temperament. He is calm, patient and most attentive in the hearing of causes, and also is broadly tolerant of the opin- ions of others. During the years of prac- tice in his profession, he had come to es- teem these same qualities most highly in the judges before whom he appeared, and deeming them as equally valuable as learning in the law to the success of a judge, therefore, when he attained his present position of eminence, he endeav- ored to apply these qualities himself, and
has done so with a success acknowledged by all his colleagues. Judge Jordan is fortunate in the possession of the power to readily compass, determine and to es- timate questions and opinions at their real value. Having been an active men- ber in his profession for twenty-eight years and having received the benefit of a fine literary and legal education and training, he is well equipped to do honor to himself and to the high office which he fills, and to render great service to the State. Personally, Judge Jordan is a very affable and agreeable gentleman. He is of the type which has come to be ranked as the highest-unaffected, ap- proachable, his daily life being the em- bodiment of Emerson's idea "of plain living and high thinking." He is an ar- tive member of the Grand Army of the
Republic, also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and Phi Kappa Psi Greek letter society. The opinions written by him since a member of the Supreme Court are said to be sound and carefully prepared, and his services, as a judge, are appreciated by the bar and the public in general.
PIERRE S. GRAY.
The distinguished men of Ohio are 80 numerous that their prominence in pub- lie life has become proverbial. They have honored their State in the most import- ant publie trusts, and distinguished themselves alike in the civil and military
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service of the Nation. In this sketch we have for our subject, one who not only is privileged to hail from Ohio, but whose birthright is that of bearing a name hon- ored by the people in the State of his adoption. Pierre Soule Gray was born in New Madison, Darke county, Ohio, May 2. 1853. He is the son of Governor Isaac Pusey Gray. His mother is Eliza J. Gray. nee Jaqua. In the month of November, 1855, the family changed their residence to Union City, Indiana, which continued to be their home for thirty years. Here the father established a Incrative law practice. He was not only successful at home, but won distinction, and received well deserved recognition in other fields. Pierre Gray obtained the rudiments of a liberal education in the public schools of I'nion City. He entered the freshman class in the Indiana State University at Bloomington, in the month of October, 1870, at the age of seventeen. His literary tastes led him to contribute largely to the columns of the "Indiana Student," of which he early became associate editor. In 1874 he was elected to the position of editor-in-chief. During his college course he was a member of the Athenian Liter- ary Society. After a full four years' course he graduated with high honors on July 2, 1874, and had conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Science. At the close of his school life he entered his father's law office, in which he received a thorough training in both the law and practice. He was admitted to the bar in Randolph county Circuit Court, on No-
vember 6, 1875; to the Supreme Court of the State, on October 26, 1876; and to the United States District and Circuit Courts in 1889. Soon after his admission to the bar, his father, then serving as city at- torney, appointed him to the office of as- sistant city attorney. In this position he assumed a large portion of the official du- ties, under his father's direction, and earned confidence and esteem, after which he served two years as city at- torney. Prior to his admission to the bar, he was elected to the office of city civil engineer, in which he rendered effi- cient service for a short time. He re- linquished the office to give his undi- vided attention to the law. In a spirited political campaign in 1884, Isaac P. Gray, at the head of his party's ticket, as its candidate for Governor, led to a brilliant victory. The victory achieved by him changed the politics of the State govern- ment. He was inaugurated on January 12, 1885. He remembered the efficient aid received from his son during the nine years of their association in a large and responsible law practice, and, having need in the more public position of Gov- ernor for one to whom he could entrust many of the details of his official duties, he appointed him to the office of private secretary. His superior qualifications and sterling integrity were fully con- ceded. The intimate business relations existing between father and son were thus happily continued. It was now necessary to move to the capital of the State. The old home at Union City,
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where strong ties of friendship existed, was changed with many regrets for the new home and new responsibilities at In- dianapolis. This beautiful capital city be- came their permanent abiding place. In the practice of his profession, Pierre Gray has gained prominence as a safe counsel- lor and a strong pleader. By clear in- sight rather than by forensic display, he wins success and holds the respect of bench and bar. His time has not all been given to the law, to the exclusion of di- verting business projects. He took large interest in the development of a tele- phone service. In 1880 he organized and became manager of the Citizens' Bell Telephone Company; and successively during the years following until 1885, he was manager of the plant. This diver- sion afforded needed rest from a single line of thought, and was attended with pleasure and profit. He united in marriage with Miss Kate A. Mc- Donald at Union City, on October 12, 1881. In social life he shares largely the privileges accorded by high esteem and won by genial good will. He became a charter member and first Chancellor Commander of Invincible Lodge, No. 84, K. P. In December, 1879, he was chosen representative to the Grand Lodge. As a member of that body he has held many of its offices and served on the most promi- ment committees, continuously holding distinction in the fraternity. In politics he is a Democrat and performs his pa- triotic duty by giving dne attention to the primaries, in which our publie serv-
ants are chiefly selected. He has served 01: precinct committees, and as their sec- retary and chairman, as delegate to coun- ty conventions, and as chairman of cen- tral committees. Mr. Gray is a painstak- ing, industrious lawyer of recognized abil- ity and high standing at the bar. He is a public spirited, esteemed and worthy citizen. He shrinks from no public duty, however humble or exalted, and dis- charges faithfully the trusts that are con- fided to him.
WILLIAM B. AUSTIN.
William Baden Austin, of Rensselaer, is of Scotch-Welch extraction, by a union of the families of Austin and Webb. Aus- tin is a good old Scotch Presbyterian name, known through more than two cen- turies in America as the synonym of in- tegrity and uprightness. For several years the family lived in Virginia, whence John Baden Austin, grandfather of our subject, born in 1788, emigrated to Ken- tucky about the opening of the present century and settled in Cynthiana, Harri- son county. The first of the Webbs came to this country from Wales and settled in the colony of Connecticut near the be- ginning of the Eighteenth Century. Some of them bore a conspicuous part in the Revolutionary War and many have at different times been honored with import- ant political offices in various states. Frederick Webb, grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, removed from Con- nectient and settled in Xenia, Ohio, from
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which place he moved to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where his family was reared. William B. Austin, the son of John Martin Austin and Sarah Jane Webb, was born in Rensselaer, Indiana, April 21, 1860. His mother was the daughter of Frederick Webb and a na- tive of Lawrence county, Ohio; his father was the son of John Baden Austin, and was born at Cynthiana, Harrison county, Kentucky, in 1823; removed with his father's family from Kentucky to Indiana in 1838 and settled in Crawfordsville, where he engaged in mercantile business for nearly twenty years. In 1857 John M. Austin removed to Rensselaer, where he continned the business of a merchant until his death in 1877. William B. was then a youth of seventeen. He had al- ready acquired a good common school ed- ucation and was in fact prepared to enter college. He inherited about two thou- sand dollars from his father's estate, which he placed at compound interest by investing in the essentials of a broad and liberal education. Entering Wabash Col- lege at Crawfordsville in the fall of 1877 he completed the course and was gradu- ated a Bachelor of Science in 1881. Two years later the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by the same col- lege for proficiency in literary pursuits. After attendance for one term at the Union Law School, Chicago. he was ad- mitted to the bar in 1881 and entered upon the practice with Hon. Simon P. Thompson, his former employer and pre- ceptor. By absorption, association,
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observation and study he had al- ready acquired a good general and practical knowledge of the law. From the age of eight years until the completion of his collegiate education, ex- cept the terms spent in school, he was employed by Mr. Thompson as office boy and clerk. During the first six years of active practice his association with Judge Thompson was continued, three years of the time as a member of the firm of Thompson & Brother. In 1887 he became associated in a partner- ship with Hon. Edwin P. Hammond, now of La Fayette, which was dis- solved when Judge Hammond as- sumed judicial duties on the circuit bench. For three years thereafter he was the senior member of the firm of Austin, Hol- lingsworth & Co., which controlled a very large law business along commercial lines. Since the dissolution of this firm, in December, 1895, Mr. Aus- tin has not formed any partnership relations, but has continued in the practice alone. He is a good law- yer and very much in love with his profession. He has been remarkably successful in the management of all en- terprises with which he has been actively connected, and at the same time has built np for himself a comfortable fortune and a reputation for business sagacity. In 1888 he organized the Rensselaer Build- ing and Loan Association, which enjoys the exceptional record of never having foreclosed a mortgage. He organized the Rensselaer Water, Light and Power Com-
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pany in 1889 and served as secretary and treasurer of the corporation until the plant was purchased by the city in 1897. Il: 1890 he organized the Rensselaer Land and Improvement Company, of which he has been a director from the beginning. This company has had a prosperous ca- reer. Mr. Austin is the largest stock- holder in the Jasper County Telephone Company organized in 1896. During that year he platted and placed on the market Austin & Paxton's first and second addi- tions to the city of Rensselaer. In April, 1895, he organized the Commercial State Bank of Rensselaer and held the control- ing interest for some time. He sold this interest at a good profit in 1897. While eminently successful in the advancement of his own interests he has always been active and efficient in promoting such public enterprises and improvements as conserve the public welfare. His discern- ment is keen, his apprehension quick; so that he is able instantaneously to grasp and determine the merits of a proposi- tion. He is never balked by indecision or hesitaney; but is prepared to decide or to act with equal alacrity. He is alert, en- ergetic and judicious, moving forward resolutely to the accomplishment of a clearly defined purpose. In 1896 he insti- tuted and endowed for Wabash College the "Austin Prize in Debate." This pro- vides for the annual award of a fifty-dol- lar prize to the member of the Junior Class who stands highest in a debating contest. Mr. Austin has always been an active member of the Republican party
and a liberal contributor to its campaign expenses, but has not been a candidate for any political office. Ile is a member of the Marquette Club of Chicago, and the La Fayette Club, of La Fayette, In- diana. In 1882 Mr. Austin married Miss Louie, eldest daughter of Judge Edwin P. Hammond, and has one child, Miss Virginia, born in 1883.
HENRY W. LAWRENCE.
Henry W. Lawrence, of Indianapolis, is the only surviving member in a family of five children born to James P. and Emily Lawrence. He is of English ancestry, the American branch having its origin in Jonathan Lawrence, who was the first of the family to emigrate to America. Cap- tain JJames Lawrence, of the ship Chesa- peake, in the war of 1812-whose famous command, "Never give up the ship," passed into history-was the great-uncle of our subject. James P. Lawrence, the father of Henry, was born at Norfolk, New York, in 1826, and died June 15, 1878. In the few years given to him after reaching his manhood were developed the sterling qualities and kindly disposi- tion that invite confidence in men, and deserve for them the success which crowns their life work, whatever business avenue they choose to tread. He did much to increase the pleasures of travel, by adding to the comforts of the traveling public, in elevating the grade of hotel ac- commodations. The first hotel to give in-
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