USA > Indiana > Encyclopedia of biography of Indiana > Part 6
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BIOGRAPHY OF INDIANA.
wisdom, the purity of morals, the sound- ness of integrity, the ornaments of litera- ture, the amiableness of urbanity, the graces of modesty, and, generally, the amenities and decorations of life." His predilection for the law was hereditary, but he was also thoroughly indoctrinated before admission to the bar. He aspired after excellence, and his ambition was a spur to his industry. By severe and sedu- lous application he acquired a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of legal principles, which a discriminating quality of judgment enables him to classify for use in argument or decision. Profound understanding of a principle and exact knowledge of a law enable him to conjoin the two in a method of reasoning, easily followed and leading to an irresistible conclusion. His argument is character- ized by strength and symmetry, by clear- ness and sufficiency. Many of his pnb- lished opinions are regarded by the pro- fession as the best and most logical in- terpretation of the law on the subjects treated. Some of his expositions and con- clusions in the treatment of new ques- tions have been cited with respect equal to that accorded the authoritative expres- sion of the courts. His statement of a principle or a conclusion is exegetic rather than dogmatic. Mr. Butler has the acuteness of intellect which dis- plays itself in the analysis of ab- struse, complex or involved ques- tions; but, more than that, he pos- sesses large constructive ability-the capacity for observing the relations
and correlations of things; the power of combining, connecting or uniting them to- gether, in formulating a judicial decision or a legal corollary. He is in the best sense a lawyer. Whatever else has en- gaged his thought or employed his time is incidental. His culture is broad and deep. He writes with fluency of language and affluence of thought on most subjects of popular concern. His voluminous dis- course, spoken and written, is equally free from mannerism and persiflage. His style is pure, concise, forceful, elegant; always logical, but never didactic; philosophical rather than emotional; scholarly; rich in judicious observations; exhibiting little imagination or sympathy. His argument appeals to the judgment and the under- standing rather than to sentiment; it is strong in quality or reasoning, but weak in pathos. All of his writings are felici- tous of phrase and luminous as to mean- ing.
WILLIAM Z. STUART.
William Z. Stuart, jurist and lawyer, must always hold an eminent place in the judicial history of Indiana. His name will be found in the short register of really great lawyers who gave prestige to the bar of the State during a period of thirty-five years succeeding 1840. He was born at Dedham, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, December 25, 1811, and the first nine years of his life were passed in his native town. His parents, Dr.
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BIOGRAPHY OF INDIANA.
James Stuart and Nancy Allison, were Scotch Presbyterians, who had emigrated from Aberdeen to America. When Wil- liam was nine years of age the family re- turned to the ancestral home at Aber- deen, where he spent the next five years under the careful tuition and training of his mother, who was a woman of superior intelligence, rare culture and refinement. He became restive under the strict rule of Scotch Presbyterianism in Scotland, when he remembered the freer atmosphere and larger liberty of his childhood in America. He felt the illiberality of the exactions and the severity of the discipline as a repression of his ambition, although he loved his mother with all the strength of filial attachment and to the end of her life remembered gratefully her affection- ate devotion to him in the dual capacity of mother and teacher. At fourteen he left home without the knowledge of his parents and broke the restraint of his en- vironment by returning to America. His mind was unusually cultivated for his years, as evidenced by his acquisition of some of the best English literature and his taste for reading standard works. Landing in the United States without money or acquaintance, he sustained him- self from the beginning by engaging as clerk in a drug store at New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he remained two years. Going thence to Boston, he se- enred employment in the same avocation and at the same time took up the study of medicine, which he pursued with a view to entering that profession. One who
knew Judge Stuart in his maturity could not but rejoice that his early preference for medicine was succeeded by a stronger preference for the law. Although he might have become a successful physi- cian, the peculiar qualities that adorn the bench and the bar were so inwrought in the fiber of his being that equal success in any other profession would seem to have been problematic. And yet it must be admitted that in his modest career as a drug clerk there was no prophecy of his future greatness as a lawyer. About this time he was fortunate in securing the friendship of the famous Dr. Kirk, of Bos- ton, through whose advice he decided to obtain a collegiate education. His prep- aration for admission to Amherst College was completed at the academy in one year. During the four years of his studentship in college he earned the money for personal expenses by tutoring individual students and teaching school in winter. His habits were frugal, and, by the exercise of rigid economy, he was able to pay his way and complete the curriculum in four years. He was graduated in 1833 with one of the class honors. After graduation he resorted to teaching as the best re- source for obtaining ready money, serv- ing one year as principal of the high school at Hadley, Massachusetts, and two years as principal of Mayville Academy at Westfield, New York. He was admira- bly qualified for the duties of instructor by thorough knowledge of the text books, by experience and the capacity to commu-
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BIOGRAPHY OF INDIANA.
nicate his knowledge. He had decided, however, to enter the profession of law, and during his residence at Westfield. while holding the position of principal of the academy, he studied the elementary books under the direction of Judge Pot- ter. In 1836 he came west and settled at Logansport, Indiana, where he was ad- mitted to the bar and withont delay en- tered into a miscellaneous practice, which soon extended into all of the courts from a justice of the peace to the Supreme Conrt of the State. The settlements along the upper Wabash were new, but the early settlers were perhaps relatively more litigious than their descendants and successors. The late Senator Daniel D. Pratt and Judge Horace P. Biddle were the chief competitors of Mr. Stu- art at first, and the three were leaders of the Cass county bar, and companions in riding circuit, for many years. In 1845 Mr. Stuart was elected prosecuting at- torney for a term of two years, and dis- charged his official dnty with ability. He was not especially severe on petty of- fenders, but was earnest, vigilant and re- sourceful in the prosecution of a person indicted for felony, especially for a capital offense. He studied and mastered every phase of the case; he was the majesty of the law personified, and permitted no guilty man to escape. It is a fact, how- «ver, that the prosecution of the state's cases was not congenial, and his employ- ment was almost uniformly for the de- fense, except during his term as official prosecutor. Judge Stuart was not an
office-seeker. He loved his profession and rose in it rapidly to the highest rank. Only on rare occasions did he consent to serve in official station. He was elected in 1851 to represent his county in the first general assembly held under the new Constitution. In that position he was able to render a service of inestimable valne to the State. It was necessary to adjust existing statutes to the provisions of the Constitution and formulate a code practice for the several courts. Judge Stuart was the chief instrumentality in perfecting this great work, whose perma- Dence is the test of its excellence. The procedure formulated at the middle of the century governs to-day with compara- tively little modification. Before the close of the legislative session Judge Stuart's reputation for legal acumen and practical wisdom had extended in all di- rections to the boundaries of the State. As an immediate sequence of his distin- guished service he was elected in 1852 to the bench of the Supreme Court. The opinions written by him during his mem- bership of that tribunal are cited by law- vers and authors of text books, whose learning qualifies them to speak with anthority, as models of judicial decision -for clearness of expression, conciseness of statement and force of reasoning. Many of them evidence deep research in- to the history and evolution of the law and thorough understanding of the foun- dation principles of jurisprudence. Sim- plicity and directness characterize all of his judicial utterances. His language was
PS Ayres
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BIOGRAPHY OF INDIANA.
not only plain and strong, but also ele- gant. His early habit of study was sedulously preserved to the end of his life. In 1856, while serving on the bench, he was nominated as the candidate of his party for Congress and made the canvass in opposition to Schuyler Colfax, but the partisan majority was against him. He was not a politican or a time-server. He had little taste for the disputations of the hustings, and none of the small arts of the demagogue. He was trained for the more elevated combats of the forum, in which he was the peer of the ablest. Few of the giants at the bar measured up to his standard, as a logician, a rhetorician and a tactician. He was equally prepared to parry and to thrust. The salary allowed by the State to a judge of the Supreme Court was no adequate compensation for the services of such a lawyer as Judge Stuart, and therefore, after completing five years of the term, he resigned in 1857 to accept the position of general solicitor of the Toledo & Wabash railway com- pany. Early and late, year in and year out, without rest or vacation, he contin- ued in the discharge of his duties, with ever growing ability and ever broadening reputation as a railroad lawyer, until the autumn of 1875, when overtaxed nature exhibited the danger signal and com- pelled a stop. Incessant labor had impaired his vitality and left it without sufficient energy for recup- eration. He died May 7, 1876, at Clifton Springs, New York, whither he had gone with his family in the early
spring with the fond hope of improving his health. In 1868 Amherst College con- ferred . on him the degree of LL.D. In 1870 he was the choice of his party for Judge of the Supreme Court, but declined the proffered honor. He had a passion for military history and historic battles. He was able to draw accurate maps of the principal battlefields of Europe and America during the last century, and lo- cate the contending forces. He was not a public leader, but a firm advocate of measures which his judgment approved. Trained in the Presbyterian faith he be- lieved in its doctrines, but never united with the church. At home, as the dig- nified and trusted head of the family, his cordiality and social qualities were al- ways marked, and his hospitality was un- stinted. Judge Stuart was married in 1838 to Minerva Potter, daughter of Judge Potter, of Westfield, New York, who died in 1846, leaving a daughter and two sons: Venetia, Seldon P., deceased, and Francis H. In 1849 Judge Stuart married Sarah Scribner Benedict, of Verona, New York. Four sons were born of this union: Charles B. and Thomas A., who are deceased, and William V. and William Z., living.
LYMAN S. AYRES.
Lyman S. Ayres was born on a farm near Oswego, New York, September 24, 1824. Work on the farm was not suited to his disposition and therefore at an
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BIOGRAPHY OF INDIANA.
early age he left home to find an occupa- tion more congenial. Self-reliant and manly, even as a boy, he started out to learn something of the world and find his own place among the busy people. He made his own way in honorable fashion to Montville, a mere hamlet of Geauga coun- ty, Ohio, about seven miles from Paines- ville. There he entered upon a mercan- tile career, which expanded under subse- quent favorable conditions until he be- came the leading retail merchant of a great State. At first he traveled on foot, carrying a peddler's pack of dry goods and notions, which he sold to farmers and others in the adjacent territory. At the end of one year he had prospered suf- ficiently to indulge himself the luxury of a horse and wagon, and thenceforth he carried a pack no more. For five years he peddled his merchandise from house to house in the counties of northeastern Ohio, and within that period he accumu- lated the requisite amount of capital to open a general store, in the town of Char- don, the county seat of Geauga, in part- nership with his brother-in-law, John Murray. He remained there, occupied with the business of a country merchant, until 1864, when he sold his interest in the store to his partner and removed to Geneva, New York. At Geneva he formed a partnership in the mercantile business which was continued until 1872, when he purchased an interest in a retail dry goods house at Indianapolis, and en- tered into a partnership under the firm name of N. R. Smith & Ayres. Mr. Ayres
then removed to New York City, where he remained for two years, coming thence to Indianapolis to assume the manage- ment and control of the business from which Mr. Smith retired. The style of the firm was then changed to L. S. Ayres & Co., a name under which the business has ever since been conducted. Mr. Ayres very soon demonstrated his capacity to manage a large business. He possessed the executive faculty in a very marked degree-the faculty of estimating men as to their adaptation to particular places, and planning work to be done by others. His judgment was rarely at fault in se- lecting a boy for any place, however ob- scure, and it may be spoken in his praise that many of the boys starting on the lowest round of the ladder in his store climbed into positions of authority and responsibility, through their own merit, aided by his unfailing encouragement and support. Mr. Ayres had the mental grasp of a large-minded business man. For twenty-two years he managed the store which bears his name, and under his guiding hand its trade was ever in- creasing. He was modest and unassum- ing in demeanor, never aspiring to public office or accepting the position of leader- ship in affairs for which his abilities and character furnished high qualifications. He was earnest and sincere in his con- victions, whether they related to the af- fairs of business, to the moral and relig- ious duties, or to the affairs of State. His membership was in the Methodist Episcopal church, but during his resi-
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BIOGRAPHY OF INDLIN.A.
dence at Indianapolis he attended the services of the Second Presbyterian church. His standard of commercial honor and integrity was high and his fortune of seven hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars was accumulated in legiti- mate trade, without wronging or defraud- ing any man. He was never tempted to engage in speculation, always preferring the safer and wiser methods of trade, in which the margins represented the honest earnings of labor and capital. He al- lowed no avoidable waste, or useless ex- travagance. Heads of departments were held strictly accountable, while relations of confidence and mutual esteem were al- ways maintained between the general and subordinate heads. His accumulations were a result of careful saving. He believed in the principles of the Repub- lican party, and while never participating actively in a canvass he was a liberal con- tributor to the campaign funds. He was not a member of any secret order, but his gifts to public and private charities were large. Charitable organizations always found in him a staunch benefactor, one whose contribution could be counted before it was called for with the same certainty as if it were already in the treasury. Mr. Ayres was a man of most kindly disposition, cordial and gentle in social intercourse. He was accessible to his employees under all circumstances, and if any one had a complaint or a griev- ance he had time to listen. His demands upon their time were never excessive or unreasonable. The business house was
closed at noon on Saturdays during the summer months, in order that all might enjoy a half holiday, and it was never opened for trade in the evening. His gen- erous nature was also just, as everyone who knew him intimately well under- stood. He was loyal in his friendship and generously remembered the friends of his youth. The tenor of his life was even, and in all his relations he was hon- orable and reliable. The lesson of such a man's life is worth something in any community-the sagacious man of busi- ness, holding in mind the complex details of merchandising in numerous depart- ments; the quiet citizen, who discharges with seriousness and conscientious fidel- ity the duties of citizenship; the benevo- lent and generous Christian, who recog- nizes the claims of humanity and seeks to befriend, improve and uplift those who need help-such a man has not lived in vain. He has been successful. The mem- ory of his modest worth, exemplified in unobtrusive doing, will not perish from the earth. It is very precious to the fam- ily whose circle was broken by his death. This comprised the wife of his young manhood, Helen Murray, whom he mar- ried at Concord, Ohio, September 19, 1840, and his three children, Mrs. Emma Wheelock, Frederick Murray Ayres and Katherine Ayres. His death occurred May 7, 1896. As a fitting close of this sketch a tribute to Mr. Ayres adopted by his employes is subjoined :
"Unostentatious, kindly, pure, was the life of the man who has left us. Like a
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BIOGRAPHY OF INDIANA.
benediction, the memory of his generous deeds and cheering words will ever lin- ger. How much his sunny presence will be missed, few, save those who for years have been closely associated with him in every day business relations, can under- stand. Upright in all his dealings, he won our perfect trust, and never, in all the years, caused it to waver. His unfail- ing kindness and thoughtfulness won for him our steadfast love. We felt instinct- ively, that any trouble, real or imagined, if carried to Mr. Ayres, would be speedily and satisfactorily adjusted.
" 'His greeting smile was pledge and pre- lude
Of generous deeds and kindly words.'
"His mere presence was an aid and an inspiration to better deeds. His kindly temper, his quick sympathies, his genial nature, made him the personal friend of every one who knew him long or well. To each and all of us he was a friend in- deed. Among us all no one was nearer to the other than he was to each. It is with sorrow unspeakable that we feel this parting. The example of his life-his memory fragrant with good deeds and kindness-will be with us always a source of strength."
GILBERT C. VANCAMP.
VanCamp is one of the good old Hol- land names (originally spelled "Van Campen") transplanted in New Jersey and New York during the colonial period. The bearers of it were brave and patriotic men who loved liberty and independence and believed in the Christian religion. Gilbert C. VanCamp is a descendant of the New Jersey branch of the family. His grandfather served as Captain of vol- unteers in the Revolutionary War, enter- ing the army from the Jersey Colony and rendering valiant service as a patriot.
His father, Charles VanCamp, came to the Territory of Indiana from the vicinity of Trenton and settled near Harrison, in Dearborn county, in 1804. Here he en- gaged in farming and the wagon maker's trade, living in that county and Franklin until his death in 1863 at Metamora. While living near Harrison he married Mary Halstead, a native of Rochester, New York, born in 1800, the daughter of James Halstead who with his family set out for the New West, with a party of emigrants, when Mary was eight years old. They traveled by wagon to the head waters of the Allegheny river, where they sold their wagons and horses, invested the proceeds in lumber, constructed a raft and floated down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers with their household goods to North Bend, a short distance below Cin- cinnati. The place was then somewhat famous as the residence of General W. H. Harrison, Governor of Indiana Terri- tority and soon afterwards the hero of Tippecanoe. Members of this little col- ony bought land in the State of Ohio, not far from the Indiana line. Murat Hal- stead, the journalist and war correspon- dent, belongs to this branch of the Hal- stead family. Gilbert C. VanCamp was born at Brookville, Franklin county, De- cember 25, 1817, the son of Charles and Mary (Halstead) VanCamp. His education was obtained in private schools con- ducted in the neighborhood, as the system of public schools for the young State was not yet organized. When seventeen years old he procured a situation in a flour mill
Gilbertde. Vanlamb
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BIOGRAPHY OF INDIANA.
near Brookville and learned the trade of miller. He was economical and frugal, saving his wages until at the end of four years his capital enabled him to engage in business on his own account. Form- ing a partnership with Mr. Fudge, under the style of Fudge & VanCamp, he opened a store for the sale of tinware and stoves, which was probably the first stove store established in the State of Indiana. Mr. VanCamp assumed the active man- agement of the business and also learned the trade of tinner, making with his own hands many of the articles sold. After four years of this mercantile and me- chanical business at Brookville he sold his interest and for a while resumed mill- ing. From 1845 to 1860 he carried on trade in stoves and tinware, the last sev- en years of the time at Greensburg. In 1860 he removed to Indianapolis, where he became associated with Calvin Fletch- er and Martin Williams, under the firm name of Fletcher, Williams & VanCamp, for the introduction of the cold storage process of preserving fruits, meats, etc. Mr. VanCamp, as manager of the firm's business, erected a warehouse with walls three feet in thickness, with a filling of cut straw, the inner surface being lined
with galvanized iron and the outside cov- ered with sheet iron. This was the first satisfactory and successful experiment in the nature of a cold storage warehouse, the principle of which has been since adopted in the ordinary refrigerator and in refrigerator cars for the transportation of fresh fruits and fresh meats. His first
experiments were directed exclusively to the preservation of fruits, but soon they were extended to the storage of partially cured hams and subsequently they were enlarged indefinitely until the business of cold storage in its various forms and uses has grown to immense proportions. Mr. VanCamp early developed a genius for invention, and ingenuity in construction to make his inventions practical. In 1862 the idea of preserving fresh fruits and vegetables by canning them in summer for winter consumption suggested itself to him and straightway he demonstrated its practicability. Beginning in a small way he improved and perfected the meth- ods, and increased the scope of his opera- tions until the business of canning by the VanCamps and others has grown into a great and prosperous industry, making it possible to serve the table in any part of the civilized world with fruit and vege- tables every day of the year. The Van- Camp Packing Company was incorpor- ated in 1882, with Gilbert C. VanCamp as president, a position which he has held continuously to the present time. His son Frank is treasurer and general mana- ger. As suggestive of the magnitude of the business it may be stated this com- pany used six million tin cans in its oper- ations last year, shipping its products to every state and territory of the Union and to Great Britain and the Continent of Europe. It sells only to wholesale groc- ers. Mr. VanCamp was married March 28, 1844, to Mary Ann Gregg, who died five years later without issue. In October,
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BIOGRAPHY OF INDIANA.
1850, he married Hester Jane Raymond, daughter of Thomas and Amy (Fluelling) Raymond of Franklin county. The Ray- monds are of French descent, but the fam- ily came from New York to Indiana and lived on a farm in Franklin county. As the fruit of this marriage nine children · were born, four of whom died in infancy. The living are Mary, wife of Thomas B. Jackson, Cortland; Clara, wife of John W. Bowlus; George and Frank-all of them residents of Indianapolis, and liv- ing near their parents. At the age of eighty-one years Gilbert C. VanCamp is as active and vigorous as the average man of sixty. He has had a busy life and one of great usefulness. The industries he has established have extended their benefits to thousands in the form of re- munerative employment, and carried blessings to millions in the form of better food. He has been instrumental in con- serving the elements and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind and genera- tions yet unborn will share in the bene- fits his modest genius has conferred. Since early manhood he has been a pro- fessor of Christianity, first uniting with the Methodist and subsequently with the Presbyterian church. He was one of the organizers of the old Fifth Presbyterian church, which was afterwards merged in- to another, but is now a member of the Second Presbyterian church of Indian- apolis. He participates in the activities of the church and in the organized chari- ties of the city. His temperament is sanguine and his disposition charitable.
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