USA > Indiana > Encyclopedia of biography of Indiana > Part 5
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JAMES A. MOUNT.
James Atwell Mount was born on a farm in Montgomery county, Indiana, in 1843. It will be seen that his natal en- vironment shaped his entire future life.
With his earliest breath he drew in that love of the soil, of green fields and well- tilled acres, which has permeated his life and has made of him an ideal and progressive landed proprietor. Atwell Mount, his father, was born in Virginia in 1806 and moved to Kentucky in 1813. Here he married Lucinda Fulenwider in 1826, and, leaving the "dark and bloody ground" of Kentucky in 1828, they mi- grated to the then uncultivated State of Indiana; that commonwealth to which their unborn son was to add dignity and honor. The hardships of the undrained malarial country they met heroically ; they were industrious, temperate, frugal, the type of citizens who mold a nation. Twelve children were born to them and one of them was ingrained with the rug- ged heroism of his progenitors-this was James A. Mount. His boyhood was passed in the usual round of boyish tasks on a farm-cutting wood, doing chores, feeding stock. He learned those valuable truths which indigence and labor best teach-frugality, thrift, and the value of money. From his mother, as she spun and wove the raiment for her little ones, he heard tales that thrilled his young heart and created the embryo enthusiast and patriot. The story of Washington at Morristown, the sojourn at Valley Forge, the crossing of the Dela- ware river, the hardships of the Revolu- tionary soldiers, were all to this serious, earnest boy latent incentives which sprang into life at the first call of his country for volunteers. He enlisted in
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the Seventy-second Indiana Volunteers in 1862. He was a member of the famous Wilder brigade, and General Wilder him- self has testified to his bravery in volun- teering twice for the skirmish line at Chickamauga, when to do so was almost certain death. In the history of the Sev- enty-second it is stated that James A. Mount was the first skirmisher of Sher- man's army to cross the Chattahoochee river, through which he charged at Ros- well, Georgia, at daylight July 9, 1864. Even while ill from measles he marched through days of incessant rain and waded swollen streams, and for three years he missed not a single march, skirmish or battle. At the close of the war Mr. Mount entered the Presbyterian Academy at Lebanon, Indiana. From lack of funds his time was limited to one year, but such was his assiduity in study that he put the studies of two years into one. In Lebanon he met and married Miss Kate A. Boyd. This was in 1867. At this time Mr. Mount's principal possessions were his willing hands, supplemented by a well-trained mind and the conscience of a Christian-the only patrimony he had in- herited. The young husband and wife determined at once upon farm life. They rented a farm with a small house of but three rooms, which they fitted with the necessities of life. The heavy rental in- posed upon them was enough to discour- age hearts made of less "stern stuff"- they paid one half of all the grain sold and one half of all money realized from the sale of live-stock. Beside paying
this Mr. Mount cut the timber and laid several hundred rods of ditch, grubbing and clearing land, for which he received no pay. His neighbors urged him to go West, assuring him that with such a heavy rent he could never hope to own a farm in Indiana, but his indomitable will had already determined to own as fine a farm as the State could boast. Gradually a change came over the farm; unremitting work, coupled with excellent managerial ability, made themselves felt in the way of heavier crops, larger sales of live-stock, well-drained fields and culti- vated meadows. The young farmer seemed to have the touch of Midas, and all things prospered. At the end of seven years the stock and implements were bought and the rent paid in cash. Three years later Mr. Mount became owner of the farm. This involved a debt of about five thousand dollars, but at the end of five years the debt was paid, and in 1895, twenty-eight years after he began as lessee, he was the proprietor of five hun- dred acres of land and had erected a farm-house of modern style and beauty, costing over eight thousand dollars. Gov- ernor and Mrs. Mount have been valuable exemplars of what farm life may become. They were both imbued with the idea of elevating the standard of country life in point of convenience and beauty. All that science can do to make easier the life of the farmer and to elevate him men- tally they heartily believe in and encour- age. They consider it the ideal life, pro- vided proper thought and study is be-
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stowed upon it. Governor Mount pos- sesses in great degree that patriarchal love of the soil which has characterized many great minds, from Cincinnatus to Gladstone. His success as a farmer led him to give his ideas in the form of lec- tures before farm institutes over the State, and there is no doubt but that his theories have made a permanent imprint upon the farming industry of Indiana, to its great and lasting benefit. During the busy years when Mr. Mount was develop- ing his farm he little dreamed that, at the same time, he was making of himself the very best political timber. His many practical excellencies, his constant meet- ing with the people of his State, brought unsought upon him the publicity and care of political life. He was nominated in 1888 for State Senator over his protest and carried a Democratic Senatorial dis- trict-serving with distinction for a term of four years in the upper branch of the Indiana General Assembly. In 1896 he was brought forward as a candidate for Governor. There were before the Repub- lican convention twelve prominent aspi- rants for this office. It was a convention long to be remembered for its great size and immense enthusiasm. Mr. Mount was chosen on the seventh ballot. His perfect integrity and unimpeachable character elected him by a plurality larger than any ever given in Indiana to either a presidential or gubernatorial candidate. Governor Mount's official life has been one of marked success. He desired great- ly to introduce into the management of
State affairs that careful expenditure and economy which has been one of the chief sources of his own success. To do this is ever a dangerous and difficult task. It meets with objection and opposition at every point. To carry on affairs of state with a reckless extravagance, meting out the people's money to the various domi- nant "rings," seems to be an axiom of political economy which it requires nerve to confront. Governor Mount had that nerve and he set his face firmly against it. He has frowned at extravagance, has counseled prudence and thrift, and has governed wisely and well. There has been no tinsel effect about his adminis- tration, nor has he used his office as a promoter of brilliant social life. He has pursued his calm, serene path exactly as he did before. Happy in his home life, he makes no effort to impress his fellow be- ings by a stylish and showy mode of liv- ing. Governor and Mrs. Mount have three children. Long ago, feeling that he had been greatly deprived in his educa- tional facilities, he determined to give his children every possible advantage -- con- sequently, they all have excellent college educations. His son, Harry N. Mount, graduated from Wabash College in 1894, with first honors, securing the Baldwin prize for oratory. He afterward entered Princeton Theological Seminary, whence he graduated in 1897, and is now a Pres- byterian clergyman of great promise. His daughter, Miss Helen, married in 1898, Rev. John W. Nicely, also a rising Pres- byterian divine. Governor Mount is him-
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self a devout Presbyterian. He was chosen Vice Moderator of the Presby- terian General Assembly in 1898. The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by the trustees and faculty of Hanover College June 8, 1898. Through all his busy life he has not neglected re- ligious matters, nor have political or financial successes caused him to swerve one moment from the path of consistent Christian duty. He attributes much of this to the remembrance of his mother. In an interview he speaks thus : "I have attended Sunday-school all my life. Twenty-four years ago my Christian mother left her Sunday-school and went to her final reward. I took this class of bright girls and only resigned it to be- come Governor of Indiana. My father was an elder in the Presbyterian church for fifty years, and he was never too old to attend Sunday-school, prayer meeting, and all the services of the church. I be- lieve it does not detract from true no- bility and manhood to be a Christian man, but, on the other hand, it adds to true dignity and gives a man additional ster- ling qualities of manhood." Governor Mount, when the cares of his official ca- reer are ended, will in all probability retire to the beautiful farm which repre- sents the labor of his life, and pass there serenely his closing years. Retrospect can bring him only the realization of a life well lived, difficulties surmounted, success achieved, and the pleasant con- sciousness of the well-earned approbation of his neighbors and fellow beings.
OVID BUTLER .
This distinguished lawyer, journalist and philanthropist, was born at Augusta, New York, February 7, 1801, and died at Indianapolis, July 12, 1881. He was a son of Rev. Chauncey Butler, the first pastor of the Disciples Church of Indian- apolis, who died in 1840. His grand- father, Capt. Joel Butler, who was a Revolutionary soldier and served at Que- bec, died in 1822. In 1817 the family re- moved from New York to Jennings county, Indiana, where Ovid Butler grew up and was educated according to his op- portunities, and taught school and read law. He settled at Shelbyville in 1825 and practiced his profession there until 1836, when he removed to Indianapolis. He continued his practice in that city until compelled to retire on account of ill health in 1849, having as partners, Calvin Fletcher, Simon Yandes and Horatio C. Newcomb, successively, and during this period he built up a large and lucrative clientage. As a lawyer Mr. Butler ex- celled as a counselor and in the prepara- tion of cases. As an advocate and ora- tor his style was colloquial and quiet- never noisy and declamatory, while his language was wonderfully pure and beau- tiful. He was never humorous, but al- ways logical and convincing. He was noted for the untiring perseverance with which he pushed every cause through the courts and he was regarded as a most formidable antagonist. Few of his com- petitors at the bar possessed the same
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degree of mental strength and culture, and few were so indefatigable in their work. Ovid Butler never held or sought office. He was diffident, and in manner modest and nnobtrusive. Nevertheless, during the years between the Mexican war and the late Civil war he was a great power in the higher politics of Indiana. These were the stirring times of the great anti-slavery movement which culminated in the Rebellion and led to negro emanci- pation. In 1848, because of its pro- slavery proclivities, he abandoned the Democratic party. He was active in or- ganizing the Free Soil movement, which in August of that year resulted in the Buffalo convention and nominated Mar- tin Van Buren for the presidency. The dominant idea of this party was the non- extension of slavery to the Territories. It did not propose to disturb slavery in the slave States, it having there a legal right to exist. This position was far in advance of that of the Whigs or Democrats, which was practically pro-slavery. He was, this year, a candidate for elector on the Free Soil ticket. He also established a paper in aid of this movement, styled the Free Soil Banner. Gen. Lew Wallace, then only a stripling, was one of its editors. Mr. Butler regarded Henry Clay's . com- promise measures, passed in 1850, as a hollow trnce. When the Whigs and Den- oerats in their national conventions in 1852 accepted these measures as a finality and tacitly agreed that there should be no further agitation of the slavery question, he was unwilling to acquiesce. He at
once took steps to establish a paper, The Indiana Free Democrat, in favor of free territories and in opposition to pro-sla- very domination in national affairs. The paper was widely circulated, and did much during the next two years toward keeping the anti-slavery canse before the public. He also established, with the same object in view, in Cincinnati, a re- ligious anti-slavery paper in connection with the Disciples church, of which he was a member. In 1854, in flagrant vio- lation of the pledges of 1852, Congress re- opened the slavery agitation by repealing the Missouri compromise act, which pro- hibited slavery in the territories north of the parallel of 36° 30'. This repeal ex- cited the just indignation of the con- servative masses of the North, and raised a furor throughout the country. It af- forded a rare opportunity for Mr. Butler and other anti-slavery leaders to unite all the opponents of slavery extension into a great and compact political party. In furtherance of this design, the Indiana State Journal, the Whig State organ, was purchased, mainly by him, and converted into an anti-slavery paper. About this time he wrote a call for a mass conven- tion of all the opponents of the repeal of the Missouri compromise act. This call was signed by many of the leading citi- zens of both the old parties, whereupon it was published in the Journal, and re- published by the opposition country press of the State. In response to this call a hnge meeting convened in the old state- house yard, variously estimated at from
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ten to twenty thousand. The masses were thoroughly aroused and the politi- cians ready to follow. Among others present and participating were Major Henry S. Lane, the recognized leader of the old Whig party, and Judge Oliver P. Morton, a young Democrat of marked ability, both of whom were afterwards justly distinguished in the affairs of the State and Nation. This meeting, the idea of which Mr. Butler originated, may fair- ly be considered the gerin-the begin- ning-from which sprang the Republican party of Indiana. The resolutions then passed covered all the issues of the great struggle which ensued. Nothing was left out. Everything seemed in readiness for immediate action. But to the chagrin and bitter disappointment of Mr. Butler, his plans were thwarted and his anticipated movement sidetracked, for the time, by the Know-nothing craze, which suddenly swept the country like a tornado, but as suddenly disappeared. This foolish po- litical episode delayed the complete or- ganization of the Republican party until 1856, when it made a valiant but unsuc- cessful effort to elect General Fremont to the Presidency. During these eventful years Mr. Butler was not only a leader and educator of public opinion, but the main financial stay of this movement. He gave not only freely of his time, but thou- sands of his money. With little aid from others he maintained the Indianapolis Daily Journal, then a money-losing enter- prise, for about six years. For his faith- ful and efficient services he neither asked
nor received any personal reward from the Republican party. In fact, he had no other ambition than that which was real- ized in the destruction of slavery and the restoration of the Union upon an endur- ing basis. It is needless to further follow this account of his efforts and sacrifices. Enough has been written, however, to clearly indicate that Ovid Butler, during this great political revolution, was the foremost of the leaders and chief among the projectors and founders of the Repub- lican party of Indiana. After his retire- ment from the bar he gave much attention to the interests of the Disciples' church and of the Northwestern Christian Uni- versity. For many years he and some friends had in mind the establishment of an institution such as this university, and during the session of the Legislature of 1849-50 they obtained its charter, which was drafted by Mr. Butler, and which thus clearly set forth the object of the University: "An institution of learning of the highest class for the education of the youth of all parts of the United States, and especially of the Northwest; to establish in said institution depart- ments or colleges for the instruction of students in every branch of liberal and professional education; to educate and prepare suitable teachers for the common schools of the country; to teach and in- culcate the Christian faith and Christian morality as taught in the sacred Scrip- tures, discharging as uninspired and without authority all writings, formulas, creeds and articles of faith subsequent
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thereto; and for the promotion of the sci- ences and arts." For twenty years he served as president of the board of di- rectors of the University, retiring in 1871 at the age of seventy. In 1872 the name of the University was changed by con- sent of the Indiana Legislature, with the concurrence of the board of directors of the institution, from the Northwestern Christian University to Butler Univer- sity. He was the founder of this institu- tion and his birthday is celebrated annu- ally by the students and alumni. Among the latter are many of the most prominent citizens of Indiana and the West. Gen- eral John Coburn, in his memorial address delivered in the University chapel Febru- ary 7, 1882, says of Mr. Butler: "His effort was to be useful, to elevate and purify society, to induce men to live a bet- ter life, to ward off evils which ignorance, prejudice, avarice and all the vices breed. For society he cleansed the fountain. He planted good seed. He fenced against ravagers. He put up finger boards at the crossings. He ent the highways. He drained and cleared against malaria. He prepared for growth, for health, for prog- ress and for the culture of man." In 1827 Mr. Butler married Cordelia Cole. who died in 1838. In 1840 he married Mrs. Elizabeth A. Elgin, daughter of the late Thomas MeQuat, who survived him only a year, dying in 1882. During the latter years of his life he sought quiet and retirement and removed his residence from his old home in town to his farm north of the city. Here his family assem-
bled, his children and their children, to enjoy his society and pay respect to his wishes in all things. His life was well spent and useful, devoted most generous- ly to the good of his fellow men.
NOBLE C. BUTLER.
Noble Chase Butler, Clerk of the Unit- ed States Courts, Indianapolis, was born at Salem, Washington county, Indiana, February 21, 1844. His parents were John H. Butler, whose biography is pub- lished in Volume I of this work, and Mary Chase Butler, both of them belonging to good Quaker families. He has one brother, Charles H. Butler, who is a clerk in the Treasury Depart- ment at Washington, D. C. His an- cestors on the father's side were members of the colony of William Penn and were among the early settlers of Philadelphia, Westchester and Chester county, Pennsylvania. Many members of the family still reside in the same locality and are prominent citizens of the State: William Butler, senior, is Judge of the United States District Court for the East- ern District of Pennsylvania; Thomas S. Butler is a member of Congress; Willian Butler, junior, is one of the judges of the highest State court of Chester county; Samuel Butler was treasurer of the State of Pennsylvania. His ancestors on the mother's side lived at Newport, and near that city, in Rhode Island. Noble C. Butler's early education was obtained in
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the excellent schools of Salem, including the Washington County Seminary and the Salem Academy. In 1860 he entered Han- over College, where he remained until he had completed the studies of the junior year, and soon afterwards enlisted as a private in Company H, Ninety-third In- diana Volunteer Infantry. He served during the remainder of the war and was honorably discharged in the fall of 1865. The larger part of his service was at the headquarters of General Ralph P. Buck- land, General Arthur L. Chetlain and General George H. Thomas, where he was detailed for special duty. Immediately after being mustered out of the army he became a student of the law in the office of his father, who was then the ablest lawyer at the Salem bar. The following year his father removed to New Albany, where he formed a partnership with Gen- eral Walter Q. Gresham, and Noble con- tinued his studies in the office of Butler & Gresham. He also took a course of in- struction and lectures in Louisville Law School. Upon his admission to the bar he became junior member of the firm of Butler, Gresham & Butler, which had a very large practice in the State and Fed- eral Courts. In 1867, on the nomination and recommendation of Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, he was appointed register in bankruptcy at New Albany by Judge David McDonald, of the United States District Court for the District of Indiana, and held the position until the bank- ruptcy law was repealed. As register in
bankruptcy he transacted more business than any similar officer in the State out- side of Indianapolis. Many of his deci- sions are published in the National Bank- ruptcy Register, in Bissell's Reports, in Federal Cases, and other publications of legal decisions and opinions. He was also Master in Chancery of the United States Circuit Court at New Albany. He was married May 27, 1868, to Miss Annie Browning, of Lexington, Kentucky, whose family is an old and influential one in that State. Some of its members emi- grated to the State of Illinois, and one of them, Orville H. Browning, was Secre- tary of the Interior in the Cabinet of Abraham Lincoln. Seven children, three sons and four daughters, were born of this marriage: John Armstrong Butler, who is secretary of the Indiana Trust Company; Mary Browning Butler, Annie Browning Butler, Noble Charles Butler, Walter Gresham Butler, Alice Short But- ler, and Florence Butler. After the re- tirement of Judge John H. Butler from practice and the appointment of General Gresham to the bench of the Federal Court Noble C. Butler continued in the practice of law alone at New Albany until June, 1879, when he was appointed clerk of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States for the District of Indiana by Judges Drummond and Gresham. As clerk, a position which he has held con- tinuously since 1879, Mr. Butler has had charge of the funds of the courts, receiv- ing and disbursing very large sums, which sometimes aggregate in a single
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year three-quarters of a million dollars. He has also served by appointment as spe- cial Master in Chancery, at Indianapolis, in a number of important cases. In Au- gust, 1891, by agreement of the parties and on their request, he was appointed receiver of the American Wheel Com- pany and the Kentucky Wheel Stock Company, owning seventeen manufactur- ing plants and a warehouse and sales- room. These plants were located in In- diana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Massachusetts, and had two thousand employees. Mr. Butler, as receiver, operated the plants and contin- ned the business of manufacturing for more than a year, with marked success. He was engaged with the business of the two receiverships-in operating the plants, disposing of the property and dis- tributing the funds-for a period of one year and eight months, and within that period received and disbursed two million dollars in money; sold the property for the additional sum of one million, one hundred and thirty thousand dollars in notes, and paid three dividends-the cred- itors of the American Wheel Company receiving payment of their claims in full. Mr. Addison Bybee, one of the directors and general manager of the American Wheel Company before its failure, said in an interview published in the Indianap- olis Journal: "The management of Mr. Butler has been remarkably capable. I do not see how the property could have been managed better." Mr. Butler has de- livered public speeches and addresses on
many occasions and on a great variety of subjects. Among his published addresses the following are selected for mention by title, together with the occasion of their delivery: "Nationality and Civil Service Reform," on introducing Carl Schurz to an audience at New Albany, (1876); "In- tellectual Living," before the Convention of Southern Indiana Teachers at New Al- bany, (1878); "The Substance of Patriot- ism," on Decoration Day at Indianapolis, (1880); "The Merit System," on introduc- ing Theodore Roosevelt at Indianapolis, (1891); "The Manliness of Puritanism," before the New England Society of Indi- anapolis, (1897). Others scarcely less important have been delivered before the faculty and students of Wabash College, the faculty and students of Purdue Uni- versity, the Tuesday Club of Richmond, St. Paul's Guild, the Indianapolis Art As- sociation, and the Western Association of Writers. He has also contributed articles to the magazines and reviews on the "Public Schools and National Culture," "A Political Positivist," "Savonarola and the Renaissance," "The Gospel of Cul- ture," and has frequently contributed to the newspapers editorial articles on legal and political, educational and literary subjects. He is a mem- ber of the American Bar Associa- tion and one of the Executive Com- mittee and treasurer of the State Bar Association of Indiana. Noble C. Butler is a lawyer in the Baconian inclusiveness of the word-"embracing the richness and solidity of learning, the profundity of
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