USA > Indiana > Encyclopedia of biography of Indiana > Part 7
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Politically he was a Whig and became a Republican when the Whig party dis- solved. He has never been a candidate for political office. By industry and fru- gality he has acquired a competence, with which he is entirely content. Had his mind and heart been set on money-mak- ing, he could have amassed a colossal for- tune. It is the greater glory of his life that it has not been exclusive or selfish or sordid, and that so many others have been sharers in the fruits of his pro- ductive industries and his beneficial in- ventions.
HARVEY G. CAREY.
Harvey Gatch Carey, M. D., was of En- glish extraction, being descended in a direct line from John Carey, who, about 1634, left his native Somersetshire to join the Plymouth colony in America. Five years later the Pockonocket Indians made a grant of land to the colonists, of a section of which John Carey became proprietor. He was active in the set- tlement of Duxbury and Bridgewater, Massachusetts, being the first constable and first town clerk of the latter place, which was incorporated in 1656. A part of the tract of land settled by him has always remained in the family, having been handed down through eight genera- tions. In 1644 John Carey married Elizabeth Godfrey, whose father, Francis Godfrey, was among the earliest settlers in Bridgewater. John Carey of the next generation, born in 1645, married a
26. G. Carey
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daughter of Samuel Allen, and directly descended from them we find Ezra Carey, born in Morris county, New Jersey, in the year 1735. This Ezra Carey married Lydia Thompson, and in 1877 they lo- cated in western Pennsylvania, taking with them an infant son, Cephas-father of Harvey Gatch Carey. At fourteen, Cephas Carey removed with his parents to Ohio, and his youth and prime were spent upon a farm in Shelby county, from which he moved into the town of Sidney, where he dwelt for thirty years and died at the age of ninety-four. The subject of this sketch was born Angust 18, 1826, in Shelby county, Ohio. The first sixteen years of his life were spent upon his father's farm, where he helped to till the land in the summer season and went to district school during the winter months. Dissatisfied with the limited advantages afforded by the home schools, he went to Sidney, Ohio, in 1842, and became a pupil at the academy of Harrison Maltley. Two years of close and systematic study in this institution gave him proficiency in the English branches, and that knowl- edge of Latin and Greek indispensable in the practice of his chosen profession. Upon leaving the academy, he entered upon his medical studies under the di- rection of Dr. Henry S. Conklin,-a phy- sician of high standing in his section of the State. Young Carey remained with Dr. Conklin for three years, during which time he regularly attended the lectures of the Medical College of Ohio at Cincin- nati, several members of whose faculty
were broadly renowned as instructors. At the end of the second course of lec- tures our ambitious student was qualified for his degree except in the matter of years. Being still too young, he con- tinued attendance until the end of the third term when, in competitive examina- tion he was chosen from a class of one hundred and fifty as interne to the Com- mercial Hospital of Cincinnati. After serving in the hospital for the customary year, he located, in April, 1849, at Day- ton, Ohio. Soon afterward epidemic chol- era broke out in that city-a very ill wind, yet one that blew good to the medical profession, at least-and young Dr. Car- ey had abundant opportunity to prove his skill. He had already had charge of cases of cholera during his service in the hos- pital, and this experience was invaluable to him in his encounter with the grim enemy at Dayton. His success in treat- ing victims of the epidemic aided in es- tablishing him with the profession, and his practice grew apace. The leisure com- mon to physicians in the early years of their practice was occupied by Dr. Carey with social and literary labor along the line of his profession. He became a mem- ber of several medical societies, ranging from the merely local to national organi- zations, and contributed regularly to various current journals. Although feel- ing so broad an interest in medical mat- ters, however, and although he had won a most enviable degree of success, both in the high class of the patronage he com- manded and in financial result, he was
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constrained to abandon the professional life because of its inroads upon his health. In 1863 he moved to Indianapolis and became superintendent of the Indi- ana Central Railway. During that and the succeeding year, he fulfilled a con- tract for building the Richmond & Cov- ington Railroad-the line now continuous between Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. Later on he disposed of his interest in this road, and invested as a stock- holder in the Merchants' National Bank of Indianapolis, in which he served suc- cessively as director, vice-president and president. In 1879 he retired from the activities of business life, but subsequent- ly held a silent membership in the firm of Layman, Carey & Co., and afterward became vice-president of the Van Camp Hardware and Iron Co., which position he held until stricken with his final illness. On November 25, 1851, Dr. Carey was married to Miss Mary E. Newman, daughter of Hon. John S. Newman, of Centreville, Indiana-the doctor having first met and become acquainted with Miss Newman at Cincinnati whilst both were students, and the nuptials were cele- brated in the house in which the bride had been born and reared. Four children came to bless their union. Of these, one, Sidney H., died in infancy. Those re- maining are: Gertrude N., wife of Dr. Henry Jameson; John N., who married Miss Mary Stewart; and Jacob Lowe Carey, who married Angeline Parmenter Brown, of Troy, New York. Both Dr. and Mrs. Carey were members of the Meridian
Street Methodist Episcopal church, of Indianapolis, in the building of which the doctor was instrumental, and with the interests of which he was identified dur- ing all of his mature life. Since his death, which occurred December 14, 1895, Mrs. Carey has been, as before, a faithful devotee to the cause of the church. Pos- sessed of a highly cultured mind and unusual executive ability, her activities are of acknowledged value in whatever direction she devotes them. She enters heartily into the spirit of all good work and is a generous contributor of material benefits to charitable enterprise. While most loyal to her church, she is a lover of the home as well. During her widow- hood she has continued to live in her home at the corner of Illinois and North streets, where much of her time is given to systematic reading and study. She has a natural aptitude for literary pur- suits, and the circumstances of her life have fostered intellectual development and achievement. Dr. Carey always felt a deep interest in, and exerted a substan- tial influence towards, educational prog- ress. The public schools are much in- debted to him, jointly with Professor 1. C. Shortridge and Mr. Austin H. Brown, these gentlemen having constituted the triple author of the law under which the public library of the city is so favorably operated. From the passage of this law, in 1871, to the date of his death, one term only excepted, Dr. Carey belonged to the board of school commissioners, and for the greater part of that time acted as
James &. Robertson
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treasurer of the board. In politics Dr. Carey was Republican, and had been a stanch adherent to the interests and principles of his party from the time of its inception. In all of his many fields of activity-professional, commercial, po- litical, educational, religious-Dr. Carey was always the same conscientious work- er for the best results, not only the best for himself, but the best for the commun- ity he represented and for humanity at large.
JAMES E. ROBERTSON.
James E. Robertson was born in Madi- son county, Kentucky, January 20, 1819, being one of a family of seven children, of whom two only are living. His father, Alexander Robertson, was of Scottish descent, while his mother sprang from a fine old Virginia family. His parents moved, in 1826, to Shelby county, Indiana, where his father, who was a farmer, pur- sued his rural occupation as before. On October 17, 1834, the senior Robertson died, leaving James, a boy of fifteen, at the mercy of circumstances. Although without fortune, and meagerly equipped with education, he was blessed with the inward resources of pluck and persever- ance, which brought him triumphantly through many a rough place. At sixteen he engaged to work at farming, his wages, at first six dollars a month, being increased until they reached a limit of nine dollars. At the end of four years he had saved from this small income one
hundred and fifty dollars, and in the meantime had been able to supplement such slender education as he had ob- tained in the short terms of a country school by six weeks under the tutelage of an accountant-a drill which proved of great value to him in later life. On Sep- tember 3, 1840, Mr. Robertson was mar- ried to Eliza, daughter of Jonathan Thompson, and of their six children, three boys and three girls, all are living. For several years after his marriage, Mr. Robertson continued at farm work, then joined with two other men in a contract for building a railroad between Edinburg and Shelbyville, Indiana. This enterprise resulted unfavorably, the little he had saved being swallowed up; but he cour- ageonsly accepted a second contract, for the construction of a road from Shelby- ville to Rushville, by which he partially retrieved his losses. The history of his business ventures for the next two years is one of vicissitude, yet not of discour- agement. In the autumn of 1849 he be- came engaged in making brick, and sub- sequently erected a business building in Shelbyville. In 1850, at the solicitation of Henry T. Gaines, he entered into a mercantile partnership with that gentle- man. Mr. Gaines shortly withdrew, how- ever, and Mr. Robertson continued the business alone. About this time, July 1. 1851, Mrs. Robertson died, the body be- ing laid at rest in Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis. In 1863 Mr. Robertson moved his family to Indianapolis and went into the dry goods business in what
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was then called Blake's Row. He formed a partnership with Mr. Geisendorft, after the dissolution of which he continued in the same line at No. 10 East Wash- ington street. In 1868 he sold out and purchased a half interest in the whole- sale grocery concern of Aquilla Jones, J. C. Perry at the same time obtaining an interest in the business. Two weeks af- terward Mr. Jones disposed of his inter- est to Amos Burchard, who withdrew a year later, selling his share to George T. Evans, a son-in-law of Mr. Robertson; and Mr. Evans disposed of his interest at the end of the year to Alexander M. Robert- son, son of James E. On January 1, 1874, his health having become enfeebled, Mr. Robertson sold his entire interest in the business to his son and J. C. Perry, and retired, investing a part of his capi- tal in the Meridian National Bank, of which he became a director and with which he was connected until its absorp- tion by the Merchants' National Bank in 1894. In 1873 Mr. Robertson had become a stockholder in the Franklin Fire Insur- ance Company, being three years later ap- pointed its president. His efficient ad- ministration soon put this institution on a thriving basis, assuring regular and substantial dividends. In business Mr. Robertson was always a conscientious ob- server of details, and this thoroughness, added to his native integrity and daunt- less perseverance, won for him the promi- nence he enjoyed. His own early strug- gles made him appreciative of those of other earnest young men, to whom he
was always glad to extend a helping hand, and this sympathetic quality bound him warmly to many friends. On Sep- tember 29, 1852, at Franklin, Indiana, Mr. Robertson was united to a second wife- Susan A. Gwinn, widow of William Gwinn, a lady of high character and a lifelong devoted worker in the temper- ance cause. There were four children born of this marriage, three of whom are living. Their mother died November 9, 1893. Mr. Robertson's life has been crossed by many hardships and losses, yet he has preserved through all a sanguine and even jovial temper. He is a social man, heartily appreciating a good story, and with a childlike fondness for inno- cent sports and games. Cribbage and euchre furnish a favorite pastime, and he is a skilled backgammon player. Mr. Robertson's early religious training was in the Baptist faith. Latterly, however, he has become interested in Spiritualism, yielding as a convert to that belief, in which he finds consolation and happiness.
JOHN C. SHOEMAKER.
John C. Shoemaker, the veteran jour- nalist, was born in Perry county, Indi- ana, on the 8th of April, 1826. His youth was passed in agricultural pursuits in southern Indiana. He turned his atten- tion almost exclusively to the growing of fruit, in which industry he was remark- ably successful. Mr. Shoemaker was raised a Whig and continued in that doc-
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trine until the disintegration of that party in 1852, when he cast his influence with the Democratic party, to which his steady and undeviating allegiance has continued until this day. His abilities as a politician of integrity were early rec- ognized, and he was known as one com- petent to discharge his duty in any im- portant office. Quick to avail themselves of a servant so loyal and conscientious regarding his connections, his friends elected him treasurer of Perry county when he was but twenty-one years of age. He succeeded himself in a second term and at the close of this six years of serv- ice as county treasurer was elected county auditor. At the age of thirty-two, in 1858, he was elected State Senator for the counties of Perry, Spencer and War- rick, in opposition to Hon. David J. Laird. Ten years later he was elected a member of the House of Representa- tives, in which body he became distin- guished for his practical views and marked success in procuring the enact- ment of wholesome legislation, mainly upon theories which he had originated and given strength to during his service in the Senate. During his Senatorship party feeling was at full tide. The great War of the Rebellion was in embryo and was rapidly acquiring form and volume. The question of secession-that crucial test which disintegrated many families and wrecked the warmest friendships- found Mr. Shoemaker prepared for it without a moment's vacillation. His every act and vote and his entire personal
influence was for the preservation of the Union and continued so during the coun- try's attempted disruption. In 1870 Mr. Shoemaker was elected Auditor of the State. It is not too much to say that Indiana never had a more efficient State Auditor than John C. Shoemaker. A highi order of practical usefulness character- ized his entire term of service in this im- portant office. When he had retired therefrom he had held office in his native State for eighteen years. Ten of the best years of his life he devoted to the pub- lishing and the editing of the Indianap- olis Sentinel. From 1876 to 1886 this well-known sheet led the Democracy through three Presidential campaigns and finally it triumphed in the election of Cleveland. After participating in this most satisfactory achievement Mr. Shoe- maker retired from the editorship of the Sentinel and became engaged in other business. Personally Mr. Shoemaker is a man of great influence and yet his nature is apparently contradictory. While emo- tional and susceptible of the deepest feel- ing, his phlegmatic temperament fre- quently causes him to be misunderstood and misjudged. His quiet and ostensibly indifferent bearing is often misinter- preted as a cold indifference and a cal- culating selfishness. Those who know him best, however, are always ready to aver how completely in touch he is with every philanthropic motive and how spontaneously his sympathies are given to needy and worthy people. To refuse to befriend such is entirely out of the
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power of Mr. Shoemaker or to refuse to lend his untiring advocacy to what he conceives to be the right side of every question, be it political or moral. Mr. Shoemaker has given the flower of his years to the service of his country and his State. He is one of that class of citi- zens who do much to mold the economic welfare of the commonwealth in which they happen to live. Courageous and of high aim, they press on to the desired goal, achieving both by example and by personal effort great good for their party, and-better still-for their country. Mr. Shoemaker has served well in all his va- ried capacities and deserves from his fel- low citizens the tribute of their respect and admiration. Mr. Shoemaker was married to Mahala Stephenson of Perry county, October 13, 1850. She was a daughter of Judge John Stephenson. This lady exercised a most gracious in- fluence over his subsequent life, possess- ing a sweet, amiable disposition. She was all that a devoted, affectionate wife and mother could be. Of seven children born to them but one (Emma), wife of George C. Pearson, survives.
JOHN COBURN.
General John Coburn was born in In- dianapolis, Indiana, October 27, 1825, the son of Henry P. and Sarah (Malott) Co- burn. His father was a native of Massa- chusetts, having been raised on a farm, from which he went to Harvard College,
graduating in 1812. He studied law, was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts, and came West soon afterwards, lo- cating first at Corydon, then the Capital of the State, the first year after its ad- mission in 1816. He removed to Indian- apolis in 1824 and continued in the prac- tice of law and as clerk of the Supreme Court the greater part of his life. He died in Indianapolis in 1854. The mother of General Coburn died in 1866. His paternal ancestors came to America with the Puritans in the latter part of the seventeenth century and settled in Dracut township, on the east bank of the Merrimac river. Some of General Co- burn's relatives own and are still living on the farm in Dracut which was pur- chased from the Indians more than two hundred years ago. The title was from "John Thomas, a Sagamore of Natic." Peter Coburn, the great-grandfather of our subject, was a captain in the Con- tinental army and was in command of his company at the battle of Bunker Hill. His grandfather, also named Peter Co- burn, then a boy of sixteen or seventeen, was likewise engaged in this memorable battle, though too young for regular en- listment. General Coburn's mother, Sarah Malott, was a native of Jefferson county, Kentucky. Her ancestors came originally from France, settling first in Maryland, whence their descendants moved to Kentucky, locating in the vi- cinity of Louisville. After a creditable course of study in the schools of his na- tive city John Coburn entered Wabash
The Century Publishing & Engraving to Chicago
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College and graduated with honor in 1846. He then read law and was admit- ted to the bar of the Supreme Court in 1849. From this time Mr. Coburn's life became that of a public servant and a patriot. With a single-heartedness worthy of emulation he gave himself to the furtherance of his country's prosper- ity in city, in state, and in the larger affairs of the government. He served as a representative in the Legislature in 1851 and the following year he was on the Whig electoral ticket in the Scott campaign. He practiced law in Marion and adjoining counties until 1859, when he was made Judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas, which position he resigned in September, 1861, and was appointed colonel of the Thirty-third Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, Infantry. In com- mand of his regiment he participated in the battle of Wild-cat, the first fought on Kentucky soil, the enemy, led by Gen- eral Zollicoffer, being repulsed after a severe engagement. In the spring of 1863 he, with a part of his command, was captured by an overwhelming force under General Van Dorn at Thompson's Sta- tion, Tennessee. He remained a prisoner for two months and was then exchanged and resumed active duty with the Army of the Cumberland in Tennessee and Georgia. His brigade distinguished itself in the Atlanta campaign at Resaca, Cass- ville, Peach-tree Creek, Culp's farm and Atlanta. Advancing into Atlanta, the mayor attempted to surrender the city to Colonel Coburn while a rebel brigade
fled for safety. He was brevetted a briga- dier for gallant and meritorious conduct in this campaign. Returning home, he resumed the practice of his profession and soon after received the appointment as the first Secretary of the Territory of Montana in the spring of 1865. This honor he declined, and in the fall of 1865 he was elected, without opposition, Judge of the Circuit Court for Marion and Hendricks counties. He served in this office until nominated for Congress in 1866, when he resigned immediately and took the stump as a candidate. He was elected to Congress four times in succession, serving continuously until the 5th of March, 1875. So versatile were his talents that, either in the committee room or on the floor, he proved himself to be ever the accurate, capable and honorable man of affairs. His services as a com- mitteeman were distinguished by acu- men, justice and extreme good sense. He served upon various committees, such as Public Expenditures, Banking and Cur- rency, Military Affairs, the Kuklux inves- tigation, and the Alabama Election in- vestigation. Upon questions of recon- struction-then of the utmost import- his views were very decided and were adverse to a temporizing policy. His course upon the relief bills for individual rebels, the impeachment of President Johnson, the Georgia question, the Ku- klux law, the acts to enforce the Con- stitutional amendments, the questions of suffrage and elections, showed clearly his belief that the general government should
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exercise its full powers. In common with hundreds of patriots throughout the country, General Coburn was vigorously opposed to the bill for the relief of the rebels. In 1868 he made a speech in op- position thereto which was replete with the logic of patriotism. He believed that the old rebellion leaders should be rele- gated entirely to private life as an ex- ample to posterity and a reminder that rebellion to the government cannot be so soon forgotten. General Coburn also constantly opposed the movement to bring about a contraction of the cur- rency. He believed that too much legis- lation on the currency questions was an error; that prosperity could never be re- stored and maintained by mere legisla- tion on this point. He strongly urged the refunding of the public debt, then immense and bearing a high rate of in- terest, and in debate exposed and con- demned the many fallacious schemes pro- viding for a return to specie payment. He opposed further land grants to the railroads, claiming that the amount al- ready devoted to that purpose was all- sufficient. General Coburn was among the earliest advocates of the reduction of the high duties levied under the tariff laws during the war and for a time after- ward, insisting upon protection at a mod- crate rate and arguing that this was a matter which Congress should be ready at all times to modify in accordance with the trend of business and the conditions of commerce. As chairman of the com- mittee on military affairs, he served four
years and made a notable record. The system of army pay was put upon a new basis as reported by him and adopted by Congress without amendment. The Army Prison at Fort Leavenworth was estab- lished upon the strength of a bill which he drafted and reported. This made the prisoners, then scattered at great expense in States' prisons and jails, self-support- ing and secured them the humane treat- ment they, as old soldiers, deserved. One most interesting episode in General Co- burn's congressional life seems, in the light of recent events, almost prophetic and evinces a penetration into national affairs possessed alone by the higher type of statesman. In February, 1873, a dis- eussion arose in the House over a bill making an appropriation for the Military Academy at West Point, in which it was proposed to drop the teaching of Spanish. General Coburn, then chairman of the committee on military affairs, at onee opposed this proposition, although it had the approval of President Grant, the Sec- retary of War, and the Board of Visitors, mainly composed of college professors. He urged most strenuously that the study of the Spanish language was of prime importance, and especially to our military officers, since our national neighbors who do not speak English use the Spanish language, and that our soldiers might be brought into contact with Spanish peo- ples, either by conquest or annexation. His speech concluded as follows: "Let the standard of our military academy be made so high that its graduates will be
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