USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 115
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He whose name initiates this sketch was reared to years of maturity in his native vil- lage, in whose schools he received his early educational discipline. In 1861 he came to Indianapolis and entered the Northwestern Christian University, now known as Butler
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College, in which institution he continued his studies for two years, at the expiration of which time he withdrew from the same to re- spond to the exigent call of higher duty to his country. On the 18th of May, 1864, he en- listed as a private in Company D, One Hun- dred and Thirty-second Indiana. Volunteer Infantry, with which command he continued in service until the expiration of his one hun- dred days' term of enlistment. then he was mustered out and received his honorable dis- charge. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland. He was subse- quently a member of the commission which took the testimonies and received the claims made by the citizens of southern Indiana who were injured or who suffered loss by reason of General John Morgan's army's raid through the state and who sustained losses by reason of General Hobson's command, the latter having pursued Morgan through In- diana.
After the close of his military service Mr. Foster resumed his studies in the college pre- viously mentioned, but in the spring of 1865 he withdrew from the Institution to accept an appointment as disbursing officer of the State Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in In- dianapolis, an incumbency which he retained during the ensuing six years. For two years thereafter he held the position of bookkeeper in the well known mercantile establishment of L. S. Ayres and Company. now one of the oldest and most important retail houses in the capital city. In 1872 he engaged in the lumber business in Indianapolis, and with this important line of enterprise he has since been continuously identified. He has had various associates, and there have been sev- eral changes in the title of the concern, but he has been the executive head during the long intervening years and has been primarily the force through which the large and sub- stantial enterprise has been built up-one of the most important of its kind in the state. The business is now conducted under the title of the Foster Lumber Company, and the same is incorporated with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Foster is president of the company and gives to its af- fairs his personal supervision, being still num- bered among the active and progressive busi- ness men of the capital city and having con- tributed his quota to the upbuilding of Greater Indianapolis. His interest in all that touches the welfare of his home city has ever been of the most vital and insistent type, and he has given his influence and tangible sup- port to the measures and enterprises advanced for the general welfare of the community.
For several years past Mr. Foster has been president of the Indiana Lumbermen's Mu- tual Insurance Company, whose affairs have been ably handled and whose business is large and substantial, based upon the active sup- port and co-operation of leading lumber deal- ers in all sections of the state. He is a mem- ber of the Indianapolis Manufacturers' Asso- ciation, was its vice president on two different occasions and is a member of its executive committee. He is also a charter member of the Indiana Lumbermen's Association, serv- ing one year as its president, and is a charter member of the Indianapolis Employers' As- sociation and served on its executive commit- tee until in 1906 he was made its secretary and at this writing (1910) is still the incum- bent of that office. He is a charter member of the Indianapolis Board of Trade and served two terms as its vice president.
In politics Mr. Foster is arrayed as a stal- wart supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and while he has maintained a deep interest in the promotion of the party success he has never had aught of ambition for pub- lic office of any order. He and his wife hold membership in the First Presbyterian Church, of which he has been an elder for many years. He was a charter member of George H. Thomas Post, No. 17, Grand Army of the Republic. He has been a member of the Commercial Club from the time of its or- ganization and was one of its first vice-presi- dents. He was also the first president of the Columbia Club after its incorporation, was one of the organizers and incorporators of the. Country Club and its first president, and re- tains membership in the Marion Club. All of these are recognized as representative social organizations of Indianapolis.
In 1873 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Foster to Miss Harriet MeIntire, daughter of the late Dr. Thomas McIntire, who was for twenty-six years the able and popular super- intendent of the Indiana State Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb of Indianapolis. Mr. and Mrs. Foster became the parents of three children. all attaining to years of maturity. and the two now living are: Robert Sanford. who is associated with his father in the lum- ber trade and who is one of the representa- tive business men of the younger generation in Indianapolis, and Martha Martindale, who remains at the parental home. Mary McIn- tire became the wife of Charles H. Morrison and her death occurred on June 13, 1905.
Mrs. Chapin C. Foster founded the Indiana Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1894 and she was the first State Regent. holding that position for six
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years, and is now the first Honorary State Re- gent. From her early life in the Indiana State Asylum for Deaf and Dumb, Mrs. Fos- ter always had a deep interest in various phil- anthropical and literary organizations of the state and city. In 1878 she wrote by request of Rev. O. McCulloch, a pamphlet upon the education of the feeble minded that was ad- dressed to the legislature then sitting; this pamphlet changed the minority vote to a ma- jority vote in favor of building the school for this afflicted class in Fort Wayne. In 1888 Mrs. Foster wrote a paper on Indiana authors for the Indanapolis Woman's Club that con- tained beside personal reminiscences, a list of over two hundred and fifty Indiana writers. This paper was used in the public schools, In- diana University, Technical Institute and In- diana Library School. Mrs. Foster also wrote a memoir of her father, Rev. Dr. Thomas Mc- Intire, in 1885. She also wrote, in 1908, a memoir of Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, the first President General of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Foster is vice president for Indiana of the North West Genealogical Society.
Rev. Thomas McIntire, Ph. D., at the time of his death, September 25, 1885, had a na- tional fame and had been in the profession of educating the deaf and dumb a longer period than any other person then living. Thomas McIntire was born in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, December 25, 1815, and died in Indianapolis, September 25, 1885, as above stated. He mar- ried, September 26, 1843, Mary Elizabeth Barr. For two years Dr. McIntire was a stu- dent in Hanover College and was graduated from Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio, in 1840, from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1842. He was an instructor in the Ohio Deaf and Dumb Institute from 1842 to 1845, and founder and superintendent of the Ten- nessee Deaf and Dumb Institute, Knoxville, from 1845 to 1850. He owned a bookstore in Columbus, Ohio, between 1850 and 1852, was superintendent of the Indiana Deaf and Dumb Institute 1852 to 1879, and superin- tendent of the Michigan Deaf and Dumb and Blind Institute, Flint, Michigan, 1879 to 1882. He was the founder of the Western Pennsylvania Institute for Deaf and Dumb in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, in which he served from 1883 to 1885.
IRA M. HOLMES. In the personnel of the representative members of the bar of Indian- apolis a place of no slight precedence is con- sistently accorded to Ira M. Holmes, and in his native state he is a worthy member of the profession that was here dignified by the serv- ices of his honored father.
Mr. Holmes was born at Pendleton, Madi- son County, Indiana, on the 20th of Decem- ber, 1876, and is a son of Squire W. and Olive M. (Parsons) Holmes. The Holmes family, of stanch English origin, was, founded in Mas- sachusetts in the colonial era of our national history, and later generations became identi- fied with the pioneer settlement of the State of New York, and from the old Empire com- monwealth came Squire W. Holmes, great- grandfather of the subject of this sketch. This worthy founder of the Indiana branch of the family settled in Vigo County in the early pioneer days, and in this state he passed the residue of his life, as did also his son Arba W., who was born in the State of New York, and who eventually became one of the success- ful agriculturists of Vigo County, where was born Squire W. Holmes, father of him whose name initiates this article. Squire W. Holmes (II) was reared and educated in Indiana and here prepared himself for the legal profes- sion, to which he devoted his attention with much of ability and success, though he was in greatly impaired health from his youth un- til his death, in his thirty-fifth year. During the Civil War he showed his loyalty to the cause of the Union notwithstanding his phys- ical frailty, for he enlisted as a private in the Seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and through the hardships endured as a soldier such inroads were made upon his strength as to shorten his life. He was admitted to the bar after the close of the war and was there- after engaged in the practice of his profes- sion until the close of his life, at Madison, Indiana, where his death occurred on the 29th of November, 1878. His widow is still living and is now venerable in years. She has maintained her home in Indianapolis since 1880, and is held in affectionate regard by all who have come within the sphere of her gracious influence. All of her sons are members of the Indianapolis bar and all have achieved success and prestige in their profession. These sons are William A., Harry W. and Ira M.
Ira M. Holmes, the youngest of the three children, was about two years old at the time of his father's death, and when he was four years of age his mother removed to Indian- apolis, where he was reared to manhood and where he was afforded the advantages of the excellent public schools of the capital city. He was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1895, and in prepara- tion for the work of his chosen profession he entered the Indiana Law School, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1898 and from which he received his degree
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of Bachelor of Laws. He was forthwith ad- mitted to the bar of his native state and he has since been engaged in the active practice of his profession in Indianapolis, where his energy and effective efforts as a trial lawyer and able counselor have gained him a due measure of success. He was appointed deputy prosecuting attorney of Marion County in 1903 and he made an excellent record as a public prosecutor, having thus added mate- rially to his professional reputation. He is a stalwart in the local camp of the Republican party and has rendered effective service in the promotion of the party cause. He is affiliated with the lodge and chapter of the Masonic fraternity and also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Knights of Pythias and the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan. He and his wife hold membership in the Third Christian Church of their home city, where they are also popular in connection with representative social activities.
In 1902, Mr. Holmes was united in mar- riage to Miss Josephine Satterthwaite, daugh- ter of Mertillis Satterthwaite, of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.
CLARENCE A. KENYON. One of the suc- cessful representatives of the legal profession in the capital city of Indiana, where he has been engaged in practice since 1891, is Mr. Kenyon, who came to Indianapolis from Kan- sas City, Missouri, where he had previously followed the work of his profession for more than a decade. and where he had gained a secure and enviable standing at the bar.
Mr. Kenyon was born in the City of Kala- mazoo, Michigan, on the 9th of May, 1858, and is a son of Thomas W. and Mary (Brew- er) Kenyon, the former a native of the State of New York and the latter of Ohio. Thomas W. Kenyon was born in Gloversville, New York, to which place his father, Russell B. Kenyon, had removed from his native State of Rhode Island. Russell B. Kenyon became a representative manufacturer of gloves and mittens in Gloversville, which city gained its name from its prominence in connection with this branch of industrial enterprise, and from that place he finally removed to Kalamazoo, Michigan, near which city he established and operated a glove factory, becoming one of the leading business men and influential citizens of that place, where he passed the residue of his life. The mother of him whose name in- itiates this article was a daughter of Paris Brewer, who removed from the State of New York to Ohio in the early pioneer epoch in the latter commonwealth. and for several years he was government Indian agent at Little San-
dusky, that state. He was a representative of the fine Holland Dutch stock that was early planted on Manhattan Island.
In 1859 Thomas W. Kenyon removed with his family from Michigan to Illinois, making the journey in one of the old-time "prairie schooners", as the wagons used for such mi- grations were aptly termed, by reason of their peculiar conformation. He settled in the vi- cinity of Lincoln, Illinois, and there he be- came a successful farmer and stock-grower and a man of influence in his community, where he ever commanded unequivocal confi- dence and esteem.
Clarence A. Kenyon was about one year old at the time of his parents' removal to Illinois, and he was reared to maturity at Lin- coln, that state, to whose public schools he is indebted for his preliminary educational dis- cipline. In 1875 he entered Illinois College, at Jacksonville, where he continued his studies until 1878, when he was matriculated in the literary department of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which institution he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1880, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In the same year he lo- cated in Kansas City, Missouri, where, after his admission to the bar of the state, he en- gaged in the active practice of his profession. in which he there continued most successfully until 1891, when he came to Indianapolis, as vice-president and attorney of the Western Paving & Supply Company, from which he subsequently withdrew, after which he ef- fected the organization of the Hoosier Con- struction Company, of which he became presi- dent and treasurer. He continued to be iden- tified with this corporation until 1907, when he disposed of his stock in the same, after having been a potent factor in promoting the success of the enterprise. He is one of the stockholders of the Granite & Bituminous Paving Company, of St. Louis, Missouri, and he has shown marked initiative and adminis- trative talent in connection with industrial and commercial affairs of importance, but he is now giving practically his entire time and attention to the work of his profession.
Mr. Kenyon is a Republican in politics and he is identified with the following named representative civic clubs of Indianapolis : The Columbia. Marion, Commercial and Country, and also with the unique organiza- tion known as the German House. He has attained to the thirty-second degree in An- cient Accepted Scottish Rite Masonry, and is also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in which
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his affiliation is with Murat Temple, of In- dianapolis.
In 1884 Mr. Kenyon was united in mar- riage to Miss Mary A. Hunt, of Kansas City, Missouri.
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. . To offer within the necessarily circumscribed limitations of a publication of this order an adequate review of the life of the loved "Hoosier poet", is, of course, virtually in the realm of the impossi- ble, but in every publication touching the personnel of Indianapolis citizenship there is imperative consistency in according at least a brief tribute to Mr. Riley. It is much to have felt a touch of gentle thought and to have glorified and idealized the common things of life. James Whitcomb Riley has marked with gentle appreciation the true and genuine phases of human life and has touched with the brush of fancy those things which are cus- tomarily recorded only in the "short and sim- ple annals of the poor". He has realized that poverty and riches are of the spirit. He has been thankful for life and for memories that are good and sweet and through these it has been given him more nearly than to the aver- age man to come within sight of the castle of his dreams. Of him it may well be said that he has "shed a something of celestial light 'round the familiar face of every day".
A native son of the fine old Hoosier com- monwealth whose life and manners he has so admirably depicted in song and verse and whose fame he has thus carried wherever the English language is spoken, Mr. Riley is a son of one of the old and honored families in In- diana. He was born in the gracious little City of Greenfield, Hancock County, about twenty miles distant from Indianapolis, in 1854. His father, Captain Reuben Alexander Riley, was the son of a Scotch-Irishman who had come to this country from the north of Ireland and who had settled in Bedford County, Pennyslvania, where he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. Here was solemnized his marriage to Miss Margaret Schleich, a member of a prominent family of that county and a young woman who had at- 'tained no little personal fame as a talented ex- horter of the Methodist Episcopal Church and as a writer of verse. In that locality and period it was unusual for a woman to exhibit such talents and the mother of Captain Riley was possessed of 'a beautiful and noble char- acter and of deep appreciation of the best in literature. It has been said that her son, Captain Riley, inherited her facility of speech and there can be no measure of doubt that the Hoosier poet himself owes somewhat of a debt to her in this respect.
Captain Reuben Riley was reared to ma- turity in the old Keystone state where he se- cured a common school education and where he also gave careful attention to the study of law. He came to Indiana in the early days and after settling in Hancock County, he be- came one of the distinguished lawyers of that section of the state and also wielded much in- fluence in public and civic affairs. Concern- ing him the following appreciative estimate is well worthy of reproduction and perpetua- tion in this connection. "Captain Riley was noted for his bravery and gallantry as a sol- dier and his success as a stump speaker made him widely known in this section of the state which he represented in the legislature. Pos- sessed of a fine mind and a right sense of humor, he had personal attractions which gained him as much popularity as his legal abilities and he commanded a large practice. Of him the late General John Coburn of In- dianapolis once wrote under date of January 10, 1905: 'I knew him after he became a prac- ticing lawyer in Hancock and neighboring counties. He was a good speaker, eloquent, argumentative, and witty and would entertain a crowd as a stump speaker in Central In- tral Indiana as well as any one. He served as a representative from Hancock County in the legislature of Indiana and he was also state's attorney for this circuit. He was a good lawyer, of a kind, friendly disposition and made many warm friends. He was a brother of Frank Riley, treasurer of Marion County. Captain Reuben Riley was a sol- dier in the War of the Rebellion, first captain of the Eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry in a three months' service, then re-enlisted and was made Captain of Company G, In- diana Cavalry Volunteers. He was a patri- otic man and citizen and had very few, if any, enemies.' "
As a young man Captain Riley was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Marine, a de- scendant of a North Carolina family celebrat- ed for culture and poetical talents. To his mother and her gracious influence James Whitcomb Riley ascribes much of his success in literature and he holds her memory in rev- erent affection. The parents of Mr. Riley continued to maintain their home in Green- field until their death.
James Whitcomb Riley, a lad of alert men- tality and irrepressible spirits, is indebted to the public schools of his native town for his early educational discipline and as it was his father's desire that he follow the same profession as did his honored sire, at the age of sixteen years he began the study of law. To those who have appreciation of the nature
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of the man will come a ready understanding of how little the intricacies and musty tomes of the law appealed to a young man of dis- tinctively Bohemian instincts who found his greatest pleasure in the study of nature and humanity. It was not surprising, therefore, that young Riley took "French leave" of the parental domicile and set forth to find new fields of exploit. When discovered by his father he was engaged in the laudable work of entertaining a mixed crowd from the vantage point of a patent-medicine and concert wagon which had passed through his native town and on this primitive stage he was assisting in the singing of songs and the offering of character impersonations and general come- dian work incidental to lecturing on the cura- tive properties of certain Indian remedies. He was allowed to follow his bent and at the end of the summer he found himself far dis- tant from his home and with no funds with which to pay for his return trip. Such ad- versity rested lightly on the shoulders of the future poet and by painting signs and adver- tisements upon fences, buildings, etc., he was successful in working his way through the country to his home. It is a matter of record that he had special genius in the field of en- terprise which enlisted his attention at this time and concerning this period in his life the following words have been written: "For a period of years he continued to follow the bent of his own inclinations, traveling around the country and following various callings and during that period he gained no little reputation as a sign painter, becoming a master hand at that trade. Naturally, with his inborn love for harmony rhythm and his keen appreciation of the life he saw daily about him, he drifted into journalism and kindred fields, revising and recasting plays and songs, and was himself a strolling actor for a time, before he began to devote himself to serious literary efforts. His first work as a journalist was done on the Anderson Demo- crat at Anderson, Indiana, and it was while he was thus engaged on this journal that he perpetrated the now famous Hoax-a publi- cation of his poem 'Leonainie,' a hitherto un- known production of Edgar Allan Poe."
It is entirely unnecessary to enter into de- tails as to the progressive stages in the career of Mr. Riley, for his work is known and suf- ficiently indicates the man as he is. With a heart imbued with deep human sympathy and tolerance, he has viewed life with gentle for- bearance and has found in the most unpro- pitious surroundings the hidden beauties which have made his poems so effective in touching the hearts of their readers. In re-
gard to his special writings concerning peo- ple and places in Indiana, both in prose and verse, the following words have been written : "His sympathetic observation of the Hoosier people as revealed in verse and through writ- ings that appeared in the public press from time to time soon began to attract favorable notice and he found his place in the public favor as the most popular exponent of Hoo- sier days and scenes that has yet sung the songs of her typical early times. Like most artists who have attained note, he has ac- quired his greatest renown in the faithful and vivid depiction of common scenes. His ex- tensive knowledge of the Hoosier state and its people, his memory for detail, his famil- iarity with their dialect and idioms, their virtues and their peculiarities, give his word pictures a local color of undisputable quality. Simple, direct and appealing, his verses have a touch of humanity which reaches the hearts of all."
When about twenty-three years of age, Mr. Riley began giving to the press regular con- tributions of dialect verses and in these are clearly manifest the joyous warm heart and appreciative disposition of the youth who made friends wherever he went and whose love of nature showed itself as clearly as it has in his maturer compositions. Again we have recourse to a previously published sketch of his career, from which are taken the following excerpts with but slight para- phrase :
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