Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 101

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 972

USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 101

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In 1888 Mr. Harlan established himself in the practice of law in the capital city of the state, and from the beginning he has occupied his present offices, at 110 East Washington Street. As a general practitioner he has at- tained to success and prestige, having been iden- tified with important litigation in both the State and Federal courts and being recognized as a well fortified advocate and counsellor. He is a careful and painstaking lawyer in the prepa- ration of his cases and is a fluent and convinc- ing speaker before court or jury.

Senator Harlan has been a potent factor in the furthering of the cause of the Democratic party, of whose principles and policies of generic order he is an uncompromising advocate. In 1904 he was the candidate of his party for rep- resentative of the Seventh district of Indiana in congress, but he met defeat with the remainder of the party ticket in the somewhat precipitate Republican landslide of that year, although his popularity was attested by a vote of more than eleven hundred in excess of that received by the presidential candidate in his congres- sional district. On the 3rd of November, 1908, he was elected a member of the state Senate, as representative of the senatorial district, com- prising the County of Marion. In the Senate he has exerted a beneficent influence and his services are certain to redound to his credit and to the furtherance of the best interests of the commonwealth. In 1889 Senator Harlan served as president of the board of equalization of Marion County ; he served for a year as chair- man and several years as secretary of the ,County Superintendents' Association of the State of Indiana, and in 1882 he was chairman of the Executive Committee of the Indiana State Teachers' Association ; in the same year he was

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chairman of the Democratic central committee of Marion County, and from 1882 until 1890 was a member of the Democratic executive com- mittee of the county, besides which he has been incumbent of various other offices of minor im- portance along political and civic lines. Mr. Harlan resides in a comfortable home in that part of his city known as Irvington. He spends much of his time in his library, his collection of books being varied and extensive. His travels have not only covered more or less thoroughly his own country but he has visited Europe twice, spending much time in the study of foreign peoples, customs and industrial conditions.

On the 3rd of October, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of Senator Harlan to Miss Sarah L. McVey, who was born and reared in Marion County, being a daughter of the late John F. McVey, and her death occurred December 3, 1897. Of the five children of this union four are living, namely: Horace P., Helen E., Clara J., and Loren P. The second marriage of Senator Harlan was celebrated in 1902, when he wedded Mrs. Lillian (Franklin) Carter, who was born in Plainfield. Indiana, and is a daugh- ter of James K. P. Franklin, Esq., a leading farmer of that section of the state.

CHARLES N. THOMPSON. A representative and honored member of the Indianapolis bar, a scion of sterling pioneer stock in the State of Indiana, and a citizen whose influence has been potently exerted in connection with the civic advancement and material upbuilding of the capital city, Charles N. Thompson is well entitled to consideration in this historical com- pilation. He has served as a member of the state Senate, in which he made an admirable record, has been counsel for large and impor- tant corporations, and is an interested principal in several of the leading financial institutions of Indianapolis.

Charles Nebeker Thompson was born at Cov- ington, Fountain County, Indiana, on the 7th of July, 1861, and is a son of William and Hannah (Nebeker) Thompson, both of whom died in Fountain County, where the father was a merchant and farmer and an honored and influential citizen. He was a scion of stanch Scotch-Irish Presbyterian stock, and was a native of Painesville, Ohio, where he was born in the year 1802, a son of James and Jane (Allen) Thompson, and his death occurred in 1877. His wife, Hannah Nebeker, was born in 1821. was a native of Pickaway County, Ohio, and her death occurred in the year 1904. She was of German and English lineage and was a daughter of Lucas and Hannah (Morris) Nebeker, the former of whom was born in 1772 and died in 1839. and latter of whom was born in 1784, in Piekaway County, Ohio, and

died in 1841. Lucas Nebeker was a son of John and Mary (Steely) Nebeker, whose mar- riage was solemnized in the old Sweden church in Wilmington, Delaware, on the 30th of No- vember, 1750. Hannah Morris was a daughter of Richard and Nancy (Seals) Morris. Lucas Nebeker came to Indiana in 1823, passing through the section now the site of the capital city, which was then represented principally by forest and swamp, and passing on to the valley of the Wabash River, which gave far better attractions as a section in which to initiate the development of a farm. He became one of the pioneers of Fountain County, where he re- claimed a large tract of land to cultivation and became an influential citizen. He was one of the early judges of that county and figures as the progenitor of the now numerous Nebeker family of western Indiana.

Charles N. Thompson, whose name initiates this article, gained his early educational train- ing in the public schools and then was matricu- lated in Indiana Asbury University, now De- Pauw University, at Greencastle, in which in- stitution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1882 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in which he was a member of the Greek fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. After his graduation, Mr. Thompson came to Indianapolis and entered the office of his brother-in-law, Francis M. Dice, reporter of the Supreme Court of the state. He became clerk to Judge William E. Niblack, of the Su- preme Court, and in 1885 he entered the law office of the firm of Duncan, Smith & Wilson, under whose preceptorship he prosecuted the study of law for the ensuing year, prior to which he had given no little attention to tech- nical reading in this line, so that he came well equipped when he was admitted to the bar of his native state, in 1886. He then entered into partnership with John F. Carson, and they have since been associated in the successful practice of law, under the firm name of Carson & Thompson. Mr. Thompson has gained marked prestige both as a versatile and effect- ive trial lawyer and as a discriminating coun- selor of broad and exact knowledge of the sci- ence of jurisprudence and its practical applica- tion.

Mr. Thompson was one of the organizers and incorporators of the Marion Trust Company and is at the present time a member of its di- rectorate. He was also one of the incorporators of the Indianapolis Fire Insurance Company, of which he was a director, as well as general counsel, until its interests and business passed into the hands of the firm of Mever & Kiser. He was one of the incorporators of the Marion Title & Guaranty Company and the Citizens'

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Trust Company, the latter having been recently absorbed by the Union Trust Company, and is a director of each of these important corpora- tions, as is he also of the Indianapolis Light & Heat Company.

In politics Mr. Thompson gives a stalwart allegiance to the Republican party and while he has been a zealous and effective advocate of its cause he has never been ambitious for polit- içal office, of which he has been only once incumbent. He served as a member of the state Senate from 1901 to 1903, inclusive, and was a valued working member in both sessions of his term. He was assigned to various important committees and one of the most beneficent efforts that stands to his perpetual credit and honor was the introduction and able champion- ing of the juvenile-court bill, which was duly enacted. He also introduced and ably argued in favor of the primary-election and elevated- track bills. In the nominating convention which brought him forward for the state Sen- ate he was the only candidate that was opposed by the professional politicians, and he had the distinction, in face of this opposition, of receiving a larger vote than any other candi- date in the convention. He is identified with the Columbia. the Indianapolis Literary. Com- mercial, Marion and Country clubs, and both he and his wife hold membership in the First Presbyterian Church.

On the 7th of October, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Thompson to Miss Julia Alice Conner, daughter of John Cogswell Con- ner and Alice (Finch) Conner. Her father was horn at Noblesville, Indiana, on the 27th of October, 1842, and was educated in Wabash College. In 1862 he tendered his services in defense of the Union, enlisting and becoming a lieutenant in the Sixty-third Indiana Volun- teer Infantry, with which command he served until the close of the war. He was an unsuc- cessful candidate for representative in the state legislature in 1866, and upon the reorganiza- tion of the United States army, in the fall of that vear. he was appointed captain of a com- pany in the Forty-first United States Infantry. with which he served in the State of Texas until nominated for Congress. from Sherman. that state. He was elected to the Forty-first Congress, as a Democrat, receiving 6,378 votes against 4.355 for Grafton (Republican). 3,540 for Johnson (Republican). and 994 for Taylor (Republican). Mr. Thompson had the distinc- tion of being the youngest member of the Forty- first Congress. He was elected as his own suc- cessor and died within his second term in Con- gress. His career in Texas was interesting and dramatic, and he wielded a large amount of influence in its affairs up to the time of his

death, which occurred in 18:3; his wife sur- vived him by five years. He was a son of William W. Conner, who served as a member of the state Senate and who was the owner of flour and woolen mills at Noblesville. The latter was a son of John Conner, who was the founder of the town of Connersville, Indiana. John Conner and his brother William were Indian traders at Connersville and Noblesville and became the owners of large tracts of land in central Indiana, where they were numbered among the first settlers. Both were twice cap- tured by the Indians, among whom they lived for many years. Their father, Richard Conner, and his entire family, of whom John was the youngest, were all captured by the Indians at the historic massacre in the Wyoming Valley and they were taken by the Indians to Canada, where they were finally ransomed by the Mo- ravians, who had been driven from Ohio by the British during the progress of the War of the Revolution and who had founded the settle- ment of New Gnadenhutten, near the present City of Mount Clemens, Michigan, which set- tlement these worthy missionaries were like- wise compelled to abandon, as their land was claimed by the Chippewa Indians after the close of the Revolution. To these worthy people, then established in Michigan, the Conner fam- ily owed its release from captivity. Richard Conner died and lies buried in the old Mo- ravian settlement near Mount Clemens. Both John and William Conner served as members of the state legislature of Indiana and held other offices of distinctive public trust, having bech men of much influence in the pioneer days and having commanded the unqualified confidence and regard of its settlers. Both were active in the founding of Noblesville, both were well acquainted with the great Indian chief, 'Tecumseh. and his brother, known as The Prophet. Both were able to speak many In- dian dialects. as well as French and Spanish. John married Miss Lovina Winship, at Brook- ville, Indiana, on the 13th of March, 1813, and he died in Noblesville, in 1826.

PHILIP WILKINSON. Among the representa- tive members of the bar of the capital city of his native state is numbered Philip Wilkin- son, who has here been established in the prac- tice of his profession since 1890 and who con- trols a substantial business as a practitioner in both the State and Federal courts. An able advocate and well fortified counselor, he has gained a representative clientage and his pres- tige is the direct result of his abilities and well directed efforts.

Philip Wilkinson was born in the City of Poru, Miami County, Indiana, on the 12th of October, 1867, and is a son of Daniel and

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Fidelia (Walker) Wilkinson, the former of whom was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on the 27th of July, 1830, and the latter of whom was born at Newark, that state. The father was summoned to the life eternal, at Peru, this state, on the 11th of January, 1890, and the devoted mother now resides in Peru, Indiana. They became the parents of four children, and of the two living the subject of this sketch is the younger; his brother Alonzo W. is a resi- dent of the City of Chicago. The parents of Daniel Wilkinson immigrated to America from Yorkshire, England, in the early years of the nineteenth century, and they made their way through to the wilds of Ohio, becoming pioneer settlers 'in the vicinity of Zanesville, where they' passed the residue of their lives and where the father reclaimed, a farm from the virgin forest.

Daniel Wilkinson was reared to manhood in Ohio, where he secured a common-school edu- cation and where he learned the trade of me- chanical engineer, becoming a skilled artisan. He had the distinction of constructing the first locomotive built by the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road Company, this work having been done in the company's shops at Zanesville. In 1860 Daniel Wilkinson removed with his family from Zanesville, Ohio, to Peru, Indiana, where he erected a saw and planing mill and engaged more especially in the manufacturing of black- walnut lumber, which in the early days he shipped by canal to Toledo, Ohio, and thence by rail to Boston, Massachusetts. He continued to be identified with this line of enterprise until his death and was one of the honored and influential citizens of Peru, which city represented his home for more than a quarter of a century. In politics he was a stalwart adherent of the Republican party, and he was prominently identified with the local bodies of the Masonic fraternity. His religious faith was shown by his membership in the Baptist Church.

Philip Wilkinson, whose name initiates this article, gained his early educational discipline in the public schools of his native city, where he duly completed the curriculum of the high school. His initial study of law was prosecuted under the able preceptorship of John L. Farrar, a leading member of the bar of Peru, and he was admitted to the bar of his native county in 1888. His desire to fortify himself more thoroughly for the work of his exacting profes- sion led him to enter the law department of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and in this institution he was gradu- ated as a member of the class of 1890. with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Ou Christ- mas day of the same year Mr. Wilkinson took

up his residence in Indianapolis, and here he has since been engaged in the general practice of his profession, in which his fidelity, energy and ability have been the potent factors in gaining to him marked. precedence and success.

Though never ambitious for the honors or cmoluments of public office, Mr. Wilkinson gives a stanch allegiance to the Republican party and has rendered efficient service in the promotion of its cause. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he is affiliated with Mystic Tie Lodge, No. 398, Free & Accepted Masons; Keystone Chapter, No. 6, Royal Arch Masons ; Raper Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar ; Indiana Sovereign Consistory, Ancient Ac- cepted Scottish Rite, in which he has attained to the thirty-second degree; and Murat Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and holds membership in the Commercial Club, of whose high civic ideals he is deeply appreciative. He is a mem- ber of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Wilkinson still clings to a life of celibacy.

MAJOR TAYLOR Was born in Dundas, province of Ontario, Canada, on the 22d of February, 1841, and is of English-Scotch parentage, his father, William Taylor, having been born in Dorking, Surrey, England, and his mother in Dumfries, Scotland. His education was of the common-school variety, and was received in part in Dundas, Ontario, after which he con- tinued to attend school in the states of New York and Ohio. He was apprenticed to learn the trade of marble and stone cutter at the age of fifteen years, in Defiance, Ohio. Having completed his apprenticeship, at the age of eighteen years he went west and assisted in driving a herd of four hundred cattle to the Pacific coast, leaving Omaha, Nebraska. May 19, 1859, and arriving in California on the 8th of the following September. He worked in the mines and lumber camps until August, 1860, at which time he went to Marysville, California, and took service in the Marysville steam laundry. From that place he finally removed to San Francisco, where he secured employment in connection with the same line of business, his last position having been in the Contra Costa laundry, in Oakland.

Mr. Taylor then returned to Defiance, Ohio, where he was engaged in the marble business for a short time, after which he was identified with the same line of business in Toledo, that state. Finding it unprofitable he, in the. spring of 1869, engaged in the laundry business. es- tablishing the Toledo steam laundry. Selling his interests in 1876 to his partner, he went to St. Louis, Missouri, and, associated with Mr. Dolph, of Cincinnati, Ohio, he established

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the Excelsior laundry of that city, the enter- prise proving highly successful. Leaving St. Louis in the spring of 1878, he came to In- dianapolis and established the Excelsior steam laundry, the first public steam laundry in In- diana and one that has maintained a reputa- tion second to that of no laundry in the coun- try. In the years between 1884 and 1894 Mr. Tavlor was also engaged in the men's fur- nishing-goods business, at. 38 East Washington street, Indianapolis. This business he sold to G. A. Archibald & Company in September, 1894. He still retains the Excelsior laundry and is its active manager. He is a member of the Columbia Club, all of the Masonic bodies and Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine. His family consists of his wife and two daughters, both of the sons being deceased. The elder daughter is the wife of Blaine H. Miller, late City Engineer of Indianapolis, and the younger daughter, who is not married, remains at the parental home.

Mr. Taylor has the record of being next to the oldest laundry man, in point of years and service, in the United States. The only one outranking him is his old shopmate, who is living in and actively engaged in the laundry business in San Francisco, California, and who is eighty-three years of age (1910).

WILLIAM A. KETCHAM has long been recog- nized as one of the strong versatile and essen- tially representative members of the bar of his native city and is now numbered among its oldest active practitioners. He is a scion of one of the well known and sterling pioneer families of Indiana and one that was founded in America in the colonial epoch of our national history. The lineage is traced back to stanch English origin and the progenitors in America first settled on Long Island in the seventeenth century. One branch of the family removed first to Maryland and thence to Virginia and in the old Dominion commonwealth was born Daniel Ketcham, great-grandfather of him whose name initiates this sketch.

This worthy ancestor removed to Kentucky before the close of the eighteenth century and in that state was born John Ketcham, grand- father of Williamn A. Ketcham, of Indianapolis, and he was reared to manhood in the old Blue- grass state and became one of the influential pioneers of Indiana, whither he removed in the territorial epoch of its history. He was a member of the first state legislature, under the constitution of 1816, and he was a founder of Brownstown, the county seat of Jackson County, conveying the land for that purpose from his own estate. It is worthy of note in this connec- tion that as late as 1895, at which time a bill was pending in the legislature for the removal

of the county seat to Seymour, the question of the reversion of the title to this site was raised and was referred to the attorney-general of the state, who, by a peculiar coincidence, happenedl to be the grandson of the original proprietor. William A. Ketcham.

William A. Ketcham was born in Indianap- olis on the 2nd of January, 1846, and is a son of John L. and Jane (Merrill) Ketcham. The father was a native of Kentucky and was one year of age at the time of the family removal to the territory of Indiana, where he was reared and educated and where he effectively prepared himself for the profession of the law. He took up his residence in Indianapolis in 1834 and became one of the leading members of the bar of this city, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1869. His wife, who still lives, was born and reared in Indiana and was a daughter of Samuel Merrill, who was the first treasurer of the state and the first president of the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, having been one of the most promi- nent and influential factors in connection with the pioneer annals of this commonwealth. The early education of the subject of this review was secured in the schools of Indianapolis,, which he continued to attend until he was thir- teen years of age, when, in 1859, he was sent to Germany, where he continued his studies under effective conditions until 1861. He then returned home and shortly afterward was mna- triculated in Wabash College at Crawfordsville. where he continued his studies for two years. He was a member of the junior class in this institution when, in February, 1864, he laid aside his studies to tender his services in de- fense of the Union. He enlisted as private in Company A, Thirteenth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, and after nine months of service as a private, he was assigned to the lieutenancy of Company E of the same regiment; later he was placed in command of Company C, in the meanwhile retaining the same rank. In May, 1865, he was commissioned captain of Company 1 of the same regiment, and it is worthy of note that he assumed this office when but nine- teen years of age. His regiment was part of the Tenth Corps of the Army of the James until that corps joined the Army of the Po- tomac in the battle of Cold Harbor. He served with his company in the engagements at Ber- muda Hundred and around Petersburg and Richmond. Thereafter he accompanied his regi- ment to North Carolina and assisted in the reduction of Fort Fisher, after which the com- mand remained in that state until the close of the war. He was mustered out in September, 1865, and duly received his honorable dis- charge. So great had been the exodus of

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patriotic students from Wabash College that class associations had been broken up and the students had become widely scattered. On re- turning home, therefore, Captain Ketcham de- cided that it was inexpedient for him to return to Wabash College and immediately entered historic old Dartmouth College, in which he was graduated as member of the class of 1867, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then returned to Indianapolis, where he forthwith began the study of law under the able precep- torship of his honored father and Judge David MeDonald, and through close application and effective powers of assimilation he proved him- self eligible for and was admitted to the bar of his native city in 1869. He then became associated in practice with his father and the late Major James L. Mitchell. His father died shortly afterward and was succeeded in the firm by Judge Iloratio F. Newcomb, who retained his connection therewith until his appointment to the bench of the Superior Court, two years later. In 1876 Judge Newcomb again became a member of the firm, with which he continued for the ensuing four years. Upon the election of his able confrere, Major Mitchell, to the office of mayor of Indianapolis in 1873, Captain Ketcham associated himself in practice with the late Judge Solomon Claypool, under the firm title of Claypool & Ketcham. This mu- tnally agreeable and potent alliance continued until 1890 and the firm gained prestige as one of the strongest in the state. Since the year last mentioned Captain Ketcham has con- dueted an individual practice. He has long been known as one of the strongest trial law- vers in the state and has been concerned in a large amount of important litigation in both the State and Federal courts.

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Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 101

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 972

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 972