USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > Evansville and its men of mark > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
Dr. Walker was married to Miss Elizabeth Clark, of Cin- cinnati, on the 23d of June, 1835.
Dr. Walker is a thorough gentleman, a man of high sense of professional honor, with the utmost benevolence toward his fellow men.
Hon. William Hall Walker,
HE brother of Dr. Walker, was also born in Salem, New Jersey, on the 18th of September, 1812. Mr. Walker received his early education at Cincinnati, and in due course of time engaged in mercantile pursuits. He continued in this manner until the year 1845, when he was appointed Auditor of Vanderburgh County. So faithfully were the duties of this office discharged, that for seventeen years he was successively re- elected. He was intimately associated, from 1845, with political movements and public enterprises. In the war he was a zeal- ous supporter of the Union, and did all in his power to uphold the cause. He organized a company of home guards, and was elected its captain ; he was also appointed by the County Com- missioners, in the early part of the Rebellion, to go East to negotiate the purchase of arms for the protection of the county. In 1868 he was a candidate for Mayor of the city, against the late William Baker, and was elected to this high position. He was twice re-elected by the people, and died while in office, on the 9th of September, 1870.
During his administration many memorable local improve- ments were made. The High School building was built, also the Fulton avenue School-house ; the Water Works enterprise was commenced, and the system of underground drainage ; the sewerage of the city was largely extended ; the Evansville por- tion of the St. Louis and Southeastern Railroad was also pro- jected and commenced during this period. In all these move- ments - although a majority of the City Council was opposed in politics to the policy of the Mayor, and maintained a most bitter opposition to it-their personal relations were on the most friendly and cordial basis; while his good intentions and high integrity were never so much as questioned.
199
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
On the 23d of May, 1836, soon after his arrival in Evansville, Mayor Walker was married to Miss Frances M. Spenning, who died a few weeks after the birth of her first child, in 1838. He was married a second time on September 15th, 1852, to Miss Elizabeth Ellison, of Mobile; and this lady died in 1857. Of the four children born to them, there were two girls and two boys - the youngest child living but a short time after the death of its mother.
Mayor Walker was beloved in every walk of life ; his pub- lic integrity aud private honesty were known to rich and poor alike, and a sorrow-stricken city followed his corse to its last resting-place in Oak Hill Cemetery, and his name will ever be mentioned with reverence in this city.
A. Hazen, Esq.
HAZEN, EsQ., was born in Hartford, Windsor County, Vermont, November 3d, 1822, and at an early age determined to seek his fortune in the Far West : accordingly, on the 10th of September, 1836, he left his native town and came direct to Newburgh, where he arrived October 10th. He was employed in the store of A. M. Phelps until the Summer of 1845. In this year he entered into business on his own account, buying a very complete line of dry goods, and opening a general dry goods establishment. This was in Sep- tember, 1845.
Mr. Hazen was married to Miss Eliza Ann Roberts, eldest daughter of Judge Gaines H. Roberts, on the 6th of December, 1846.
For almost thirty-four years he has lived in Newburgh ; and during the last twenty-five years has scarcely been sick a single day. For twenty-two years he has been an honored member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has only been able to claim one week's benefits, amounting to $3.00. He
200
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
has witnessed his native town's growth from 200 people to 1,800, and that of Evansville from 2,500 to 35,000.
Mr. Hazen is thus extensively known, not only along the banks of the Ohio-being associated in its navigation interests -- but also interior districts. His course in life has been straight- forward, honest and successful, in every respect.
Anthony Reis.
R. REIS is one of those men who illustrate in their lives the idea that labor is ennobling. Although the necessity for labor has long since passed from him, his active mind and body are almost constantly employed ; and although apparently one of the busiest of men, he is not absorbed for the love of gain, but his business is to him a field of study, in which his mind finds means to expand, while he improves in the art to which a great portion of his life has been devoted.
Born in Cincinnati, May 11th, 1829, of German parents, who were in moderate circumstances, he early became a worker. While yet a boy, he entered the tannery of his brother-in-law as a volunteer worker, and after a time thus spent, he entered upon a regular apprenticeship and learned the trade of a cur- rier, at which he worked two years as a journeyman after his term as an apprentice expired. He then began business on his own account, and continued in the business until 1855, when he sold out and removed to Evansville, and in 1857 opened a leather store, and subsequently established a tannery to run in connection therewith.
In this tannery is where Mr. Reis' character is most forci- bly reflected. When he bought it, it was small, inconvenient, and had very little machinery ; but his own genius and a proper appreciation of the genius of others, as applied to the art of producing leather, have been freely used, until now his estab- lishment is at once one of the most convenient, best furnished,
MRS. SHARPE.
PETER SHARPE.
201
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
and most effective in the world. There is among old tanners a sort of prejudice against machinery, that for some years seemed almost insurmountable ; but Mr. Reis shares none of this, as will be seen by the cunning devices in his tannery by which work is done, that it has, time and again been declared it was impossible to do except with human hands.
In the study of his business Mr. Reis has perfected himself in the knowledge of the principles underlying the art of leather making, and in speaking of it, his conversation is not only in- telligent but highly interesting.
Mr. Reis is not only a successtul tanner ; he is an intelli- gent and cultivated gentleman, who, notwithstanding his busy life, has found time to store his mind with useful knowledge, and to gratify his taste for the beautiful. His elegant residence on Second avenue, is an evidence of the refinement of his taste and love of the beautiful, and his desire for the improvement of Evansville. With the same earnestness with which he pros- ecutes his business, he enters into any enterprise that promises to promote Evansville's interests and give her importance.
In person, Mr. Reis is of medium size, dark complexion, and of so rugged build, that he will, in all probability, far out- live the allotted three score and ten.
Peter Sharpe, Esq.
ETER SHARPE, EsQ., was born September 3d, 1798, at Wynantskill, in the town of Grensburgh, about four and one-half miles from the city of Troy, New York. His father, Frederick Sharpe, was well known in the State, being an extensive land-holder.
Mr. Peter Sharpe, the subject of this sketch was the eldest son of his family. He received a good education at Schenec- tady, New York, and graduated under the celebrated Professor Nott. After finishing his collegiate course and receiving his diploma, he took charge of an academy in New Jersey, not far 26
202
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
from Rahway. In the second year of his engagement his health failed him, and he was obliged to return home to recuperate. After being at his father's home for two years, in his twenty- second year, he went in company with David P. Baringer. About the time of the expiration of this partnership, Mr. Bar- ' ringer died, and after closing up the business of the old firm, | embarked in the wholesale grocery business with Elias Mur- man. When the firm was dissolved by limitation, his partner's health failed, and not wishing to extend the business, he sold it out in the year 1831.
-----
On the 26th of April, of the same year, he was married to Miss Emily Babcock, and in 1833 he entered upon the whole- sale tea and grocery business in New York City. Here he con- tinued in a very large trade until the Fall of 1839, when he returned to Troy and carried on an extensive flouring and mill- ing business, which was interfered with, however, in 1841, by the death of his partner, John Vandertine.
On June 23d, 1843, he removed to Evansville ; and since that period has been identified with its growth and mercantile prosperity. He entered, as a partner, the firm of Babcock & Brothers, remaining in the company for eighteen months. He then engaged in buying and shipping grain.
Mr. Sharpe was always guided in business by the rules of strictest integrity and mercantile honor ; and it was about this i time in his life that he united with the Episcopal Church, although he had been reared in New York in the Dutch Re- formed faith. He was a devoted, consistent professor of reli- gion, and discharged the duties of a warden for a number of years previous to his death.
In the latter portion of his life he retired from active pur- suits, his income having been won by the toil and sacrifice of his younger days He was, however, an active and useful citi- zen. He acted as Township Trustee and City Councilman for a number of years, and interested himself in, and lent his aid to, all public enterprises. He was prominent in the State fairs and gave some little attention to agricultural pursuits - pur- chasing fifty acres of ground, now within the city limits, and carrying on scientific experiments upon it He was a zealous, practical philanthropist, and gave up large portions of his time ;
1
JOHN INGLE, JR.
203
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
to visiting the poorer classes, advising them and rendering them pecuniary assistance in times of sore distress.
He was a member of the Masonic fraternity from his twenty-first year, when he had charge of the academy in New Jersey, up to the time of his death.
During his whole life, from his youth to his old age, his morals were above reproach - temperate and steady, his ambi. tion was to be of some use to the world and his fellow-men. And he was always patient in adversity ; bearing with Chris- tian fortitude the protracted sufferings attending his last illness. While he was honorable to the world, he was a kind husband and an affectionate father. His respected widow survives him. Of the three children which were born to them, one son is still living-a daughter having died in infancy, and a son dying in the thirty-first year of his age.
The name of Peter Sharpe, Esq., is one of the most respected in the annals of Evansville's worthy citizens.
John Ingle, Jr.,
PRESIDENT EVANSVILLE & CRAWFORDSVILLE RAILROAD.
HE success in life which our subject has attained was achieved by his own individual efforts. His en- ergy and studious habits have placed him high in the profes- sional and mercantile world. No one can glance at this brief sketch without feeling that similar energetic efforts may pro- duce as great results, if they will only work as earnestly as did JOHN INGLE, Jr., from his early youth.
John Ingle, Sr., was born in Somersham, Huntingtonshire England, in 1788. By profession a farmer, he had been in good circumstances till the close of the war with Napoleon with the Allied Powers. Having a strong belief in the success of the United States, he immigrated to America and arrived at Evans-
204
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
ville on the first Monday in August, 1818. He chartered a wagon and proceeded to Princeton, where he purchased a house. In a short time he returned to Vanderburgh County and bought a farm in Scott Township, at a point now known as Inglefield. He was appointed Postmaster by President Monroe, and retained that office for over forty-five years. Mr. Ingle was an intelli- gent gentleman, and "John Ingle's cabin " was a sort of half- way house for the traveling preachers who occasionally visited this section. The emigrants, too, often tested the hospitality of Mr. Ingle, and his reputation for keeping "open house " was well known for many years. The aged pioneer yet resides on the old homestead. Plain and simple in his habits, though at the advanced age of eighty-five, his health appears to be good, and we trust that his life may be spared for many years to come.
The eldest son, John Ingle, Jr., was born in Somersham, Huntingtonshire, England, on the 29th of January, 1812. He at- tended, for several months, a "dame" school, taught by an elder- ly lady, who tried to keep the children out of mischief, When about twelve years of age, he was a student for a year and a half in the common schools of Princeton. His father had a small but select library, and the young lad pored over the books hour after hour, while the wolves were howling on the outside of the cabin door. He worked for two years at the cabinet and furniture business at Princeton, and completed his apprenticeship at the trade at Stringtown.
In 1833 he started South, and first worked as a journey- man cabinet-maker at Vicksburg, at the time of the great chol- era excitement. He then went to New Orleans, and after working there eight weeks, engaged passage in the steerage of a sailing vessel bound for Philadelphia. Solitary and despond- ent, he walked the streets of Philadelphia for over two weeks; looking for employment. His hogskin cap and Kentucky jeans clothes made quite a sensation in the streets of the Quaker City.
He found a place where he worked earnestly ten hours a day at his trade, and also read law for eight more in an office where George R. Graham, the well-known editor of Graham's Magazine, and Charles J. Peterson, since publisher of Peterson's Ladies' Magazine, were also students. The lawyer, Thomas
205
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
Armstrong, Jr.,-since celebrated for professional success- was president of a debating society, of which the young men were members, and in the wide-awake debates of those early days, our subject was proficient for his skill in handling the unpopular side of many a knotty question.
After reading in the office for three years, he was admitted to the bar in March, 1838. He came to Evansville and opened and office with Hon. James Lockhart. The partnership contin- ued about a year. and then he was associated with Charles I. Battel. This professional association secured a large share of practice. Mr. Ingle's labors for his clients' interests obtained for him a leading position at the bar. His intelligent and hon- orable course made him popular with the people at large, and his reputation as a jurist was only equaled by the favor with which he was received by the citizens generally.
In 1846 he was associated with E. Q. Wheeler. In 1849, Asa Iglehart was admitted as junior member of the firm.
In 1850 Mr, Ingle bid farewell to professional engagement and took hold of the Evansville & Crawfordsville RR. enterprise, which had been started by Judge Lockhart, Judge Jones, him- self and others. Judge Hall was afterward associated with the movement. Evansville was then a collection of shanties ; the Wabash and Erie Canal had utterly failed ; and some outlet was wanted to the country. The leading citizens thought if anything was to be accomplished for Evansville, it must be done immediately. There was no money ; but the city issued bonds for one hundred thousand dollars, and the county contributed an equal amount. With these as collateral, the iron was ob- tained and the road-bed to Princeton was soon finished, the track laid, and business on a small scale commenced to ply be- tween Evansville and the North. Mr. Ingle at first acted as Superintendent, and in that capacity proved an invaluable offi- cial. His ability as a financier added to his skillful marage- ment, was the means of his being elected President of the corporation, in which official capacity he continues at the date of writing
How our subject toiled year after year in finishing and stocking the road is a matter of history, and which will never be forgotten. Indomitable in his labors for the welfare of the
206
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
road, cautious, possessing a well-balanced judgment, very de- cided in the execution of his plans, his business capabilities were eminently calculated to insure success. There was not a perplexing trial from which he shrank, no labor which he could not perform, and no kind deed which he was not ever ready to do for the interest of the road and its employees. Though somewhat enfeebled by his labors of the past twenty years, we . trust that his life may be long preserved to the city, and that the benefit of his labors and experience may be of service to the " future metropolis of Indiana."
Mr. Ingle was married in 1842, at Madison, Indiana, to Miss Isabella C. Davidson, daughter of William Davidson, for- merly of Scotland. Seven children are the result of the union, all of whom are living.
! 1 1
Major Blythe Hynes.
HE Bar of the State has no better representative than in the person and high qualifications of Mr. BLYTHE
HYNES. He was born at Bardstown, Nelson County, Ken- tucky, on the 10th of November, 1833. His father, Dr. A. M. Hynes was an old settler and practitioner in that section, and was both largely and favorably known.
Our subject entered St. Joseph's Jesuit College in 1846, and graduated in 1850, on the 10th of April. He entered im mediately afterward the office of Jones & Blythe, of this city, and after a most thorough course in legal studies, was admitted to practice in 1855. Two years subsequently he formed a part- nership with John Jay Chandler, which lasted till 1864, and
A. M. PHELPS.
:
207
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
the firm enjoyed the patronage of an extensive list of clients.
In 1860 Mr. Hynes was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and during his two years' term of office added largely to his reputation, by the earnest and vigorous discharge of its duties. The people appreciated his efforts, and elected him, in 1864, as County Clerk, which he held for four years. This was a flattering testimonial to our subject, as he was absent in the army at the time of his first candidacy.
He was appointed Provost Marshal by President Lincoln, and resigned the office to go into the hundred-days' service, as Major of the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Indiana Infantry.
Major Hynes was married, in 1858, to Miss Mary E. Jones, daughter of Colonel J. G. Jones.
Time has dealt lightly with the strong physical frame of our subject ; and his good health, in addition to his well-trained and capacious intellect. will be of vast aid to him in the close application with which he attends to his professional duties.
An affable gentleman he is a strong man before a jury and a very sagacious and far-sighted counselor.
A. M. Phelps.
M. PHELPS, EsQ., was one of four children of Cad- well and Margaret Phelps. His father was married to Margaret Hamilton, February 19th, 1795.
Mr. Phelps was born January 6th, 1798, in Hartford, Wind- sor County, Vermont, where his father had settled in 1796, when the country was almost a wilderness - being of English descent. His father, being an early settler, had but limited means ; and there being but poor opportunities for him to give his children an education, young Phelps did not acquire much of an education while at home. On one occasion, while yet but fourteen years old, his father said to him : " Abram, I must go to work and try to make money enough to buy this farm "-refer-
208
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
ring to the land that lay south of them, and which was then for sale -- " for you, when you become of age." " No," said Abram ; "I'm bound for the West, when that day arrives."
When nineteen, his father gave him his time, and he went to work for ten dollars a month, which was then consid- ered high wages. He worked for about two years. After this he went to school about one year in Royalton Academy, in Vermont.
On the 10th of June, 1820, with all the goods he had, on his back and only thirty-three dollars in his pocket, he started on foot and alone for Cleveland, Ohio. He set out on Monday. On Sunday following he came to a church where the people were worshipping, and a large number of boys near the house playing ball, which seemed very strange to him, after having been accustomed to the strict observance of the Sabbath where he was raised. This was on the Mohawk River, New York. In a few days after he passed through the Gennesee country, New York, where Governor Clinton had been instrumental in hav- ing a canal built, which they were then at work on, and which was so frequently called " Governor Clinton's Ditch "- being now the Great Western Ship and Barge Canal.
Shortly after, he arrived at Lake Erie, at what was then called Black Rock, four miles below Buffalo, where the steamer " Walk-in-the-Water,"-the first and only vessel that was built on the Western waters-was to sail from next day. But before venturing out "to sea" next morning, four yoke of oxen were hitched to the steamer to pull it about three miles, for fear she might go over the falls. Although steam was up and the wheels were in motion, she did not move faster than the oxen could travel. After the oxen were loosed from her she only moved four or five miles an hour. In about fifty-six hours she reached Cleveland, Ohio, a distance of about two hundred miles.
He had an uncle and aunt living about six miles from Cleveland, at a little town called Newburgh, where he visited about two weeks, and then started farther West, reach- ing Franklin, thirty-five miles north of Cincinnati, on the Big Miami River, where he taught school in one school-house two years and six months. He then hired as a hand to go on a flat- boat to New Orleans. Before starting he laid out all his money
209
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
in purchasing flour and chickens, which enabled him to secure forty barrels of flour and about thirty dozen of chickens. This was in April, 1823. They had to wait for a rise in the river, so as to cross the mill-dams, which were about twenty-four in number between that and the Ohio River.
He had a pleasant voyage down the river, which gave him a good opportunity to examine the country and towns along the banks ; and on his way down he made Evansville his choice for a residence. While in the South-Louisiana and Mississippi- he learned that reeds to weave with were very scarce and com- manded a high price. In June following he returned to Evans- ville, and from his ingenuity he went to work making reeds- there being an abundance of cane growing on the opposite side of the river, out of which these reeds were made. Between that time and the middle of November he made about one hun- dred, and built a large skiff, covering it over with canvass, and started the second time for the South, with a boy named Jones, whose mother's name was Abbot, where he peddled out the reeds at from two to five dollars apiece, and took for part pay beef hides, deer skins and beeswax, which he sold in New Or- leans. After he had sold his reeds he purchased a lot of dry goods, boots and shoes, had his skiff brought up on a steamboat to Memphis, and then peddled out his goods in his skiff going down. This he did five successive trips. By this time he had about one thousand dollars ; this he laid out in dry goods, boots and shoes, and returned to Evansville in June following.
On July 17, 1827, he was married to Miss Frances John- son, with whom he had formed an acquaintance about a year previous.
In October following he put all his goods in a small flat- boat, and employed a yellow man, named " Dave," who formerly belonged to Hugh McGary, and again started down the river and peddled out his goods-reaching New Orleans in January, where he again purchased goods and returned to Evansville. After his return he commenced business in a frame house where the Marble Hall now stands, where he did business in a small way. His first clerk, who commenced with him when he was fourteen years old, was James Jones - afterward Judge, then Colonel-who lived with him two years, when he sold out.
27
210
Evansville and its Men of Mark.
While in business he took in pork and nearly all kinds o produce, which he run to New Orleans in flat-boats, makin, two or three trips a year, selling and buying goods. He had then about two thousand dollars in United States paper. I. 1830, after being absent ten years, he visited his old home il Vermont; but before he returned home he went to New York and purchased goods with what money he had, and purchased some on credit. On his return he moved to Newburgh, Indi ana, where he went into business again-being about the 1st o October, 1830.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.