USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > Evansville and its men of mark > Part 16
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With a previous study of law, he finished his legal course at the Albany School, and graduated as L.L. B. at that institu- tion in the Spring of 1866.
In the Winter of 1865 he was married to the constant and true woman who had followed him with genuine devotion through his daring and dangerous career-Miss Nellie C. Fair- child, daughter of Hon. M. Fairchild, of Salem, New York. This lady died in this place, on the 14th of April 1873, leaving a husband and one daughter, with a wide circle of friends to mourn her loss,
Major Mattison practiced law with success at Salem, until March, 1868, when he came to Evansville. He formed a part- nership with George P. Peck, and in July following the two
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united with James M. Warren, in a law firm, which was dis- solved in January of the present year.
Governor Baker, in January, 1872, appointed Major Matti- son, Prosecuting Attorney of Vanderburgh County, and in October of the same year the people elected him to the same position by a large majority. He is now in the satisfactory discharge of the duties of this honorable position.
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Joseph K. Frick
S a native of Switzerland, having been born at Vilter's Canton, St. Gallen, in that country, January 15th, 1823. Up to his twelfth year he remained with his parents, who were Catholics,-his grandfather on his mother's side having been in Napoleon Bonaparte's army. His father was an architect and builder, and some of his ancestry were high priests at Basel and Rome, and were of noble birth.
The father of the subject of this sketch desired his son to learn all the mechanical branches in the line of building, from the work of the mortar-maker up to the finisher, and accord- ingly sent him to Munich, Bavaria, for that purpose. He also went to the drawing-school at the same time, where he displayed native-born qualities for the mechanical arts, learning very fast and advancing rapidly in the drawing-school. After a two years' apprenticeship he went to Milan, Italy, where his friends advised him to accept the invitation of Father Poreani, Supe- rior of a large Jesuit convent, with whom he became acquainted in Switzerland a few years before. This functionary agreed to take him as an apprentice, gratis, for one year. At the begin- ning of the second year the convent authorities wanted to shave a spot on the head of the young man, as a sign of their Order. This frightened him so that he ran away from the Convent Fatte Benne Fratilli and went directly to Alla Brarra Neli Belli Arti d' Architectura di Milano. Here he remained eight years, and
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during that time he received the best diploma and premium of his classes ; beside, spending a few months in Rome, Naples, Florence, Pisa, Pavia, Parma, Mantua, Verona, and Venice.
At Venice he was assistant superintendent of the stone railroad bridge over the Laguna to the city of Venece. After thirteen months he returned to Milan to superintend one of the towers on the dome of Milan ; and while thus engaged the peo- ple revolted, in 1847, against the Austrian Government. Be- fore the Italian Revolution he often spoke with General Radeski, Heinmann and Wierdisch gratz ; and during the first revolution met General Giuseppe Garibaldi, along the Lake of Como, with his little army. At the time the Revolution of 1847 broke out Mr. Frick left his government situation and went to battle with the people for Liberty and Freedom. He was commissioned to buy arms for the Italian soldiery. The revolution proved a failure, and the Austrinas surrounded the city Milan and again ruled it. Orders were given out that insurgents should be shot in the streets upon a certain day. The contractor who supplied the soldiers with bread got a government baker-wagon, put our subject into the bread-box, and brought him safe outside the military guard; and from there, in two nights, he walked to the line of Switzerland, near the Lake of Como, and was in the Canton Grigione, Switzerland. Here he commenced to super- tend the corrections on the river Rhine, for the Government.
About the same time two of his nephews came home from school ; the oldest, Kilian Frick, civil engineer, was a graduate of the Polytechnical School at Munich, Bavaria ; John Frick had a common high school education. Both of these young men informed him that they had permission from their father to go to America, provided he would go along ; and so, in 1853, they arrived in Chicago, but the financial crises there in 1856 and '57 forced them to look for another home, and in the Sum- mer of 1857 our subject, his brother, Peter Frick, and his two nephews, moved to Evansville. He was elected County Sur- veyor, but during his term of office the war broke out and they were all engaged in the war.
Kilian Frick was Topographical Engineer, with General Sherman. He came home in the Spring of 1864, sick and worn
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out from the effects of overwork in the war, and died soon afterward.
John Frick was a Captain in the Eleventh Indiana Volun- unteers. He was wounded in his right knee in one of the last engagements in the Shenandoah Valley, received his discharge and came home. He complained of a pain in his knee, and was persuaded by our subject to go to Chicago for medical treatment. From there he went to several places East, and at last to Dr. Pope of St. Louis, where, after three months' trial with the Captain's case, he informed him that his injuries were past the curing-point. He came home to Evansville, and his limb being amputated, he soon died - after a suffering of four years duration.
Jacob Frick was a soldier in the Eleventh Indiana, and was killed in the battle of Vicksburg ; and the bones of the three heroes all rest in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Our subject cared for his relatives from the time of their leaving Switzerland until they were dead. It took all his means for years to get them a practical education; and, as he was not married, he gave up much of his time in attending to their wants while in the army. He often visited them, provid- ing them with money, clothing, and other things, which showed the noble generosity of his nature.
Mr. Frick is recognized as one of the most scientific archi- tects in this section ; and many large and elegant public and private structures attest the force of his mechanical genius.
WHOLE SALE
FANCY DRY GOODS
NISHING
NOTIONS &c.
NOTIONS &
UMI H.M. SWEETSER
H.M.
H. M. Sweetser,
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HE mercantile annals of no city in America contain the record of a more honorable and successful
career than that of H. M. SWEETSER, Esq., the leading wholesale notion dealer, of Evansville. The imagination can easily conceive of a poor boy, with stray scraps of information laid away in a head full of brains, climbing, step by step, his way to affluence and influence But to actually be such a one - to strive in the race, and to conquer - has been the experi- ence of Mr. Sweetser. Take away this extensive establishment from the city to-day, and one department of its mercantile life would be virtually dead. Such success has seldom been reached in the experience of the thousands of American merchants.
Henry M. Sweetser was born at Hartford, Connecticut, in the year 1839. His parents dying when he was yet a child, he was early compelled to rely upon himself ; and his ambition, together with his necessities, laid the foundation for his energy and self-reliance. Even at the age of nine years, he worked upon his uncle's farm during the Summer, and attended school during the Winter.
In this way his early life was passed until the age of six- teen. When, in 1855, he arrived in the city of Evansville from Hartford, Connecticut, with Mr. E. S. Alvord, and first engaged in the general store of Willard Carpenter & Co., as their porter, and stayed with them in that capacity until they retired from business, and then went with their successors, Jewell & Benja- min. Next lie was emyloyed in the house of Archer & Mackey, dealers in dry goods, boots, shoes, hats and caps. About this time Evansville became more prominent as a point for jobbing goods; and as an evidence of this, the separation of different
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lines of business began, and instead of such establishments, general stock stores began to open out in separate lines. In 1862, then he started the first wholesale notion house in the city, in conjunction with W. H. McGary and S C. Woodson, in the second story of the house now occupied by Nolte, Brink- meyer & Co., on Main street. They passed six months in that house, but the business having greatly increased, they removed to the house where Healy, Isaacs & Co. are now situated ; and at the end of the year Mr. Sweetser retired from the firm and formed a new copartnership with A, H. Edwards, under the firm name of Sweetser & Edwards-buying out the firm of Mil- ler & Witt, in the house which J. O. Flickner now occupies. At the end of another year, Mr. Sweetser purchased the inter- est of Mr. Edwards in the business, and since that time he has " played it alone," occupying that stand until February 9th, 1872, when he moved to his present excellent location - one of the most elegant and best-appointed establishments to be found in the West.
Mr. Sweetser's establishment, situated as it is, at the junc- tion of First and Sycamore streets, occupies a most command- ing position. The house is of brick, and built in metropolitan style, four stories high, with a basement, one hundred and fifty feet long by twenty-five feet wide, and has probably more floor room than any business house in the city of Evansville. The front of the building is graced by handsome French plate glass doors and windows, as clear as a polished mirror.
The first floor is lighted from one side by oval windows over the shelving, which give a strong flood of light to the salesroom, and cause the neat and cleanly-painted counters and shelving to look cheerful and inviting, either to the customer or the visitor. In the rear of the first floor may be found the accountant's office, well arranged with oil-walnut furniture, and its walls decorated with paintings and photographs of many of the leading manufactories of the country. Near by the count- ing-room is one of Reedy's patent elevators, running from the basement to the fourth story. The basement is a very orderly apartment, indeed, and is paved with brick, lighted with gas, and has water-works and a cistern holding water for general use, or for precaution in case of fire. The second, third and
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fourth stories, although not exactly, are similarly arranged as the first. Throughout the entire building there is the most perfect adaptation of the different departments to the conveni- ence of their immense trade, and we present it as a model Wes- tern mercantile palace.
From this house goods are shipped to nearly all of the prominent cities and towns in Southern Indiana, Southern Illi- nois, Kentucky and Tennecsee, and his sales thus far for the season are nearly fifty per cent. over a similar period of last year ; thus indicating the rapid growth and increasing prosper- ity of the city's commerce.
From an obscure and humble beginning, Mr, Sweetser, by strict attention, energy, and perseverance in business, has pros- pered ; and to-day his credit in New York is such that he is enabled to buy goods as cheap os any house in the country, and he has shown by the extent of his trade that he can compete with Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis and Chicago, in selling goods at the very doors of the above cities. In this way he has helped to draw trade to this city, and has benefited other lines of business as well as his own thereby. Besides devoting him- self to his business, he has been one of Evansville's most prom- inent citizens, in the promotion of every enterprise that has been brought forward for her advancement, contributing means and working energetically to help them along. As an instance of his high and noted liberality, it may be mentioned that only a few weeks ago he proposed to give one hundred dollars toward the purchase of new volumes for the Public Library, and the thor- re-establishment of that institution. He called upon others to join him in this donation. And this is only one of the many instances wherein he has shown a generosity as broad as his understanding, and as large as his heart.
Mr. Sweetser was one of the original movers in getting up the St. Louis and Southeastern Railroad, and was one of the committee that went over the ground to estimate its importance and locate it. He has long been an active stockholder in the Evansville and Cairo Packet Company, is, and has been for a number of years, its Secretary and Business Manager ; he is also a director in the German National Bank, and the Evansville Street Railroad Company.
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Mr. Sweetser has not yet reached his prime, and is a noble specimen of the Western merchant - a vigorous, energetic and capable business man.
John William Compton, M. D.
AS born near Hardenburg, Breckinridge County, Kentucky, on the 22d of July, 1825. His father, J. D. Compton, was a farmer, and arrived in Kentucky from Virginia with his parents when but a small child. Our sub- ject's education was obtained partly in the very common schools of a sparsely-settled country neighborhood, and also, for a few months, in a private school, taught by a Professor Fabrique-a man of letters, who had located in the vicinity of his native village. John worked on the farm. and in a saw-mill operated by his father, till about sixteen years of age ; and then, wish- ing to adopt the medical profession as a means of livelihood, he commenced teaching, and laying aside the proceeds of his labor for that purpose. After four years service in the educational field, he entered the office of Dr. Norton Green, then of Duncan Springs, now of Louisville. The young man proved an apt student, After his association with Dr. Green, he was also a student in the office of Dr. S. G. Scott, of Cloverport, Ken- tucky, and then attended a full course of lectures at the Medi- cal Department of the University of Louisville, and was admitted to practice in 1849.
Dr. Compton first located in Knottsville, Davis County, Kentucky, and here his practice was such as to gain for him an enviable reputation. In 1852 he removed to Owensboro, the county-seat, where he continued in active practice till the breaking out of the war. He was then commissoned Assistant Surgeon of the Seventh Kentucky Infantry, and remained in the field about six months, being stationed at Nashville and Clarksville, Tennessee, and Russellville, Kentucky. In the
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Spring of 1862 he was commissioned Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment of the Second District of Kentucky, and was ac- tively engaged in that capacity till the close of the war in 1865.
In October, 1865, he removed to Evansville and formed a partnership with Dr. J. P. DeBruler, which terminated in 1869, by Dr. Compton's removal to the village of McCutchanville and endeavoring to carry out his favorite project of uniting farming with the practice of medicine After five months' experience he returned to this city, and has since been busily engaged. His work is laborious and extends over an exceedingly exten- sive territory.
Dr. Compton's reputation as a successful practitioner is well established, and his many patients and acquaintances can testify as to his uniform courtesy of manner toward the poor as well as the rich.
The social element predominating in the character of Dr. Compton caused him to join the Masonic fraternity as soon as his age would admit him to membership. He filled all the offices in succession, from Junior Deacon to Master of the Lodge, and once represented his Lodge in the Grand Lodge of Ken- tucky. A greater part of his early life he was connected with the Sons of Temperance and Temple of Honor, and has been a member of the Baptist Church for thirty years.
Dr. Compton was married on the 29th of November, 1853, to Miss Sallie Morton, daughter of David Morton, an old mer- chant of fifty years standing in Davis County. Kentucky,
Hon. D. T. Laird.
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ESSE LAIRD, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Ireland, and emigrated to this country with his parents, while a small boy, about the year 1799, and settled in the State of Pennsylvania. In the year 1807 Jesse Laird was married to Miss Mary Tharp, a lady of Green County, Pennsylvania, and of German parentage. In 1813 the young
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couple removed to the county of Dearborn, in the Territory of Indiana, and settled there-building a cabin where that part of the town of Lawrenceburgh called Newtown now stands. A few years before the father's death he could point out, and often did so, the exact spot where the cabin formerly stood. The land at that time overflowed and was very unhealthy, and a few years afterward Mr. Jesse Laird moved about three miles west of Lawrenceburgh, to Wilson Creek, where he had entered land and where he continued to live, pursuing the occupation of a farmer up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1867 -the mother having died in 1837.
It was in the cabin above referred to, on the 20th day of February, 1816, while Indiana was yet under a territorial gov- ernment-she having been admitted in the Union as a State on the 11th day of December, 1816 - that Hon. D. T. LAIRD was born. We have found but few persons now living in the State who were born in the Territory prior to her admission as a State. Our subject is not only a native Indianian, but he has always resided in this State. When young, his means and op- portunities for obtaining an education were very limited-his father, like most of the early settlers, being poor, with a large family and no means of support except his own labor. In 1830, at the age of sixteen, David left home and commenced work in a printing office-the Western Statesman, published at Law- renceburgh, by Milton Gregg-without education, except that he could read and spell. The education he afterward acquired was obtained by his own efforts, without the assistance of schools of any kind. With great diligence he pursued his studies on Sundays and in the evenings and mornings before he was re- quired to go to work.
When about twenty years of age, having read all the stand- ard histories, ancient and modern, within his reach, and studied English Grammar, as well as it could be done without a master, he commenced reading law ; the Hon. Geo. H. Dunn having kindly given him the use of his law library and his advice as to the books he should read at the outset.
In 1833 he was employed as assistant engineer in surveying the Lawrenceburgh and Indianapolis Railroad. It was about the first railroad surveyed and commenced in the State under
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what was then known as the General Internal Improvement System.
Among his associates there were many young men who have since acquired distinction and eminence, of whom are General Don Carlos Buell, Hosea H. Durbin, Henry Ward Beecher and James H. Lane, beside many others. The distinguished men who yet live in his earliest recollection are Hon. John Test, Hon. Geo. H. Dunn, Hon. Amos Lane, Hon. Ezra Ferris, Hon. James Dill, Hon. Pinckney James, Hon. Abel C. Pepper, and Governor Noah Noble, General W. H. Harrison, Rev. Allen Wiley, Rev. John P. Durbin and Rev. John N. Moffett.
On the 8th day of August, 1838, Hon. D. T. Laird was married to Clarrissa P. Hayden, of Boone County, Kentucky, who is still living. They have six children-two boys and four girls - all of whom are married except Anna, the youngest daughter.
In 1847 Mr. Laird removed from Lawrenceburgh to Perry County and settled at Troy. At the September term, 1848, of the Perry Circuit Court, held then at Rome, the Hon. Jas. Lockhart presiding, our subject made application to be admit- ted to practice as an attorney at law ; and on the motion of Hon. John A. Breckinridge, the court appointed Hon. John A. Breckinridge, Hon. Samuel Frisbee and Judge H. G. Barkwell a committee, who, after an examination, filed in court their cer- tificate of qualification, and he was licensed and admitted as an attorney at law, and commenced the practice at the age of thir- ty-three years. In 1853 he was admitted as an attorney in the Supreme Court of the State and the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Indiana.
In 1857 he removed from Troy, in Perry County, to Rock- port, in Spencer County, where he has ever since resided. In politics, to which he has devoted much study and thought, and has been highly honored by his fellow-citizens, he was a Whig until that party ceased to exist ; and since 1858 he has voted and acted with the Democrats.
In 1852 he was elected to the office of Representative in the Legislature from the county of Perry, and served as such during the session of 1853.
In 1856 he was the Filmore elector in the Second Congres- sional District. In 1860 he was a candidate for the office of
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Representative of Spencer County. General J. C. Veatch was his opponent, and our subject was defeated by thirteen votes. Shortly afterward General Veatch was appointed Colonel of the Twenty-fifth regiment, Indiana Volunteers, creating a vacancy in the office of Representative. Hon. D. T. Laird was again a candidate, and was elected to hold out his unexpired term as a Representative.
In 1862 Mr. Laird was elected Judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas in the Third Common Pleas District, composed of the counties of Spencer, Perry, Orange, Crawford and Dubois. He was again elected to the same office in 1864, and again in 1868. In 1870 he resigned the office of Judge of the Common Pleas, and the same year was elected Judge of the Circuit Court in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. By the act of the Legislature of 1873, abolishing the Court of Common Pleas and re-district- ing the State for judicial purposes, and increasing the number of circuits, the Second Judicial Circuit, composing the counties of Warrick, Spencer, Perry and Crawford, was assigned to him and he is still discharging the duties of this high position, hav- ing raised himself from an humble position by the force of his own worth and industry. Our subject is well known in this section for his high legal attainments, his judicial integrity, and the respect which he enjoys from the members of the legal fraternity.
Dr. George Brinton Walker.
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R. WALKER, the subject of this sketch, was born December 6th, 1807, at Salem, New Jersey. His father. William Walker, was a resident of Delaware, but was marrried to Miss Catharine Tyler, a highly accomplished lady of Salem, at which place the then young couple took up their abode. Dr. Walker was educated in the common schools of that city and Cincinnati, and afterward, at the latter city, pur- sued an extensive medical college course, graduating at the
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Medical College of Ohio in 1830. For the five following years he engaged zealously and successfully in the practice of medi- cine in Cincinnati, when, in 1835, he removed to Evansville.
For over forty years his professional skill has been put to the test in this city. Each year has added to his increasing fame.
In politics, Dr. Walker has been a Democrat; though he favored the Union cause during the war. His first vote was cast for General Jackson. Our subject did efficient service for two years during the Rebellion, as Hospital Surgeon, at the soldiers' hospital at this place. He has also been connected with all the prominent movements of the medical fraternity of this section ever since he began his practice here. As trustee of the hospital, as President and member of the Board of Health for several years, his sphere of usefulness has been of the widest nature. He was a member of the old medical col- lege faculty, and is at present Dean and Professor of Obstetrics in our city's Medical College. During the construction of the Evansville and Crawfordsville Railroad he was a director. He was a State Director of the Evansville Branch of the State Bank of Indiana, and is now a member of the Board of Direct- ors of the Public Hall Company, and of the Evansville Street Railway. He was a delegate to the Democratic Convention which met at Baltimore in 1856 and nominated Franklin Pierce for the Presidency. He has been a member of the Evansville Medical Society, the Drake Academy of Medicine and the Ind- iana State Medical Society since they were first started.
In company with Judge Battele, Dr. Walker was appointed by the citizens of Evansville in 1856 to visit Indianapolis to request the Governor of the State to provide means for supress- ing the riotous proceedings in Clay County, in the cutting of the banks of the canal. The delegation was entirely successful in the accomplishment of its mission, and the result was the breaking up of what was called the " Clay County War."
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