Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 117

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 117

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Concerning the children of Colonel Bunting now living the following brief record is given : Mrs. Louis B. McPherson resides in Wichita, Kansas; Mrs. J. A. Howland is a resident of Denver, Colorado; Miss Ella D. now resides in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio; and George W., who was associated with his father in business, has continued the same since the death of the latter, being also official architect for the Big Four Railroad. He was born at Bloomington, Illinois, and has been a resident of Indianapolis since his childhood days, having received excellent educational advantages. In the work of his profession the son is well upholding the prestige of the family name and he is one of the popu- lar business men of the Indiana capital and metropolis.

JOHN R. NEWCOMB, M. D. One of the rep- resentative physicians and surgeons of the younger generation in his native city, Dr. Newcomb has well established himself in the practice of the profession for which he has so admirably equipped himself, and, with ju- dicious discrimination, he has specialized in his work, confining his attention almost en- tirely to the treatment, both medical and surgical, of the diseases and congenital irreg- ularities of the eye. His success offers the most effective voucher for his ability and has been of the most unequivocal order.

Dr. John Ray Newcomb was born in, In- dianapolis, and is a son of Horatio C. and Kate (Ray) Newcomb, the former of whom was born in Vernon, Jennings County, In- diana, and the latter of whom is a native of Indianapolis, being a daughter of the late Colonel John M. Ray, who was a distin- guished member of the Indianapolis bar and also a prominent banker of the capital city. Horatio Cooley Newcomb, father of the doc- tor, bears the full patronymic of his honored father, Judge Horatio Cooley Newcomb, Sr., who was a pioneer of Indiana and a man of prominence and influence. The father of Dr. Newcomb has long maintained his home in In- dianapolis, where he has been known as a loyal and progressive citizen and representa- tive business man and where he is now suc- cessfully engaged in the insurance business.

Dr. Newcomb was reared to manhood in In- dianapolis, and its excellent public schools af- forded him his early educational advantages, which included a course in the high school, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1898. He then completed a special or elective course in Wabash College, at Craw- fordsville, Indiana, and after leaving this in- stitution h""began the work of preparing him- self for his chosen profession. He was

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matriculated in the Indiana Medical College, in Indianapolis, in which he completed the prescribed curriculum and was graduated in 1904, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He initiated the practice of his profession in Indianapolis, but he soon determined to avail himself of further technical discipline, for the purpose of fortifying himself for the special line of practice in which he has gained so distinctive success. He therefore went to the national metropolis, where he completed an effective post-graduate course in the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary, in 1905-6, and he then became house surgeon of St. Bartholo- mew's Hospital, in New York City, retaining this position, in which he gained most diversi- fied and valuable clinical experience, until 1907, when he returned to Indianapolis, where he has since given .his attention to the dis- eases and malformations of the eye. He is recognized as a skillful surgeon in his chosen field of practice and also as an authoritative diagnostician in the same line. He holds membership in the Indianapolis Medical So- ciety; the Indianapolis Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Society; the Indiana State Medical Society; and the American Medical Associa- tion. He is associate professor of physiology in the Indiana University Medical School, in Indianapolis, and is held in high regard by his professional confreres, enjoying distinctive personal popularity also in the city which has represented his home from the time of his birth. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Tabernacle Presbyte- rian Church.

CHARLES F. COFFIN. It has been given Charles Franklin Coffin to gain much of dis- tinction as one of the representative members of the bar of his native state and he has been engaged in the successful practice of his pro- fession in the City of Indianapolis for nearly two decades. He is a man of fine intellectual and professional attainments and of unques- tioned practical ability as a lawyer. The suc- cess which he has achieved stands in evidence of his ability and serves as voucher for his in- trinsic worth of character. He has gained high repute as an orator, as a versatile and effective trial lawyer, and as a business man of progressive ideas and distinctive initiative and administrative ability. As one who has conferred honor and dignity upon his profes- sion and upon the state of his nativity it is but consonant that a resume of his life his- tory be incorporated in this publication, which has to do with "Greater Indianapolis" and its representative citizens.

Charles Franklin Coffin was born on a farm in Marion County, Indiana, on the 2nd of

June, 1856, and is a son of Dr. Benjamin F. and Emily J. (Harlan) Coffin. The Coffin family, of stanch English origin, was founded in America in the early colonial epoch of our national history and was prominent in the early annals of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The Harlan family was established in Vir- ginia in the colonial days, and the name has been one of distinction in the history of the Old Dominion and the nation. Of this family Judge Harlan, associate justice of the Su- preme Court of the United States, is a distinguished representative from the State of Indiana. Dr. Benjamin Franklin Coffin was born in the State of Ohio, in 1878, and his death occurred at Westfield, Ham- ilton. County, Indiana, in 1898. His widow is seventy-eight years of age at the time of this writing, in 1909. She was born in Indiana, and is a member of one of the old and honored families of this com- monwealth, with whose history the name has been identified from the early. pioneer days. Dr. Coffin was long numbered among the able and successful members of the med- ical profession in Indiana, and with all of zeal and devotion he labored in his humane voca- tion until he was summoned from the scene of mortal endeavors. He was the founder of a medical school in Indianapolis many years ago, and was known as a physician and sur- geon who, during the long years of his able service to suffering humanity, ever kept in close touch with the advances made in both departments of his exacting and noble profes- sion. He was engaged in practice at West- field, Hamilton County, for years, and there his memory is revered by all who knew him and had appreciation of his exalted character and self-abnegating labors. He was animated by the highest principles of integrity and honor and thus wielded an influence for good in all the relations of life. He was an earnest and zealous member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, and this is also true of his cher- ished and devoted wife, who, now venerable in years, continues to take an active interest in the various departments of church work. Dr. Benjamin F. and Emily J. (Harlan) Coffin became the parents of three children.

Charles F. Coffin gained his preliminary educational discipline in the public schools of the village of Westfield, Hamilton County, and was matriculated in Asbury University, now DePauw University, at Greencastle, In- diana, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1881 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in addition to securing first honors of his class in philosophy and oratory. In his

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college days Mr. Coffin gained distinctive prominence by reason of his ability as an orator, and in this respect he brought also high honors and prestige to his alma mater, as, during his university course, he won thir- teen prizes in oratory and recitation. He was the first representative of DePauw to win an Indiana state oratorical prize and was the first student of Indiana to secure the inter-state oratorical prize, in a competition in which were represented leading educational institu- tions of seven different states. . It is not nec- essary to state that Mr. Coffin's power as an orator has been of significant value and ef- fectiveness in his services as a member of the bar, for he has made special impression as an advocate, bringing to bear not only broad and exact knowledge of the science of jurisprudence but also the graces of pleasing address, diction of signal purity and perspi- cuity and distinctive dialectic facility. He has a thoroughly logical mind and though his diction is invariably chaste and classical, it is never labored or profuse, and thus his pow- ers as an orator have been broadened and ma- tured through his labors in his chosen pro- fession.

After his graduation Mr. Coffin located in Indianapolis, where he held a position as teacher in the city schools for four weeks, at the expiration of which he accepted a posi- tion as instructor in the high school at Con- nersville, this state. In the autumn of 1882 he became superintendent of the public schools of New Albany, Indiana, where he was most successful in his pedagogic labors, having been elected superintendent for a third year but having finally resigned to begin the work of preparing himself for the profession of his choice. In 1885 he began reading law .under the able preceptorship of Judge Alex- ander Dowling, of New Albany, who is now a member of the Supreme Court of the state, and he made rapid progress in his absorption and assimilation of legal lore. He was duly admitted to the bar of his native state. Soon afterward he secured admission also to the bar of the State of Kansas, and he was en- gaged in the successful practice of his profes- sion in the City of Wichita, that state, from 1887 until 1893. During the last three years of this interval he maintained a professional partnership with Charles H. Brooks, under the firm name of Brooks & Coffin.

In 1893, Mr. Coffin returned to Indiana to accept the previously proffered and distin- guished office of dean of the law department of his alma mater, DePauw University, of which position he continued incumbent for one year, at the expiration of which he re-

signed. He had in the meanwhile, in In- dianapolis, associated himself in the practice of law with Judge Daniel W. Howe, under the firm name of Howe & Coffin. This alli- ance continued during Mr. Coffin's incum- bency of the position of dean of the law school and upon retiring from this office he established his home in the capital city, where for the ensuing two years he was a member of the law firm of Gavin, Coffin & Davis. Since the dissolution of this partnership Mr. Coffin has conducted an individual generai practice, in connection with which he has appeared in much important litigation in both the State and Federal courts. While he has given ample evidence of his superior powers as a trial lawyer his preference has been for the work of the counselor, and in this branch of his profession he has gained a specially high reputation, particularly in the domain of corporation law, in connection with which he has been retained as counsel for a number of the leading business corporations of the Indiana metropolis.

In 1894, Mr. Coffin was one of the chief promoters of the organization of the State Life Insurance Company, and he was one of its incorporators. He has had much influence in directing the administrative affairs of this important and beneficent insurance corpora- tion and as its general counsel from the be- ginning has done much to further its success and to regulate its policy along progressive and yet duly conservative lines. In addition to serving as general counsel of the company he has also been its vice-president. Mr. Coffin has other local-interests of a capitalistic order and as a citizen he is essentially loyal, liberal and public-spirited.

In politics, while never ambitious for the honors of public office, Mr. Coffin has given an unequivocal allegiance to the Republican party and has rendered effective service in the promotion' of its cause. He is a member of the Marion Club, the University Club, and the Century Literary Club, representative or- ganizations of the capital city. In the time- honored Masonic fraternity his affiliations are as here noted : Southport Lodge, No. 270, Free & Accepted Masons; Keystone Chapter, No. 6, Royal Arch Masons; and Raper Com- mandery, No. 1, Knights Templars. He · is one of the prominent members of Knights of Pythias, in which he has passed the various official chairs and which he represented for four years in the grand council of the order in the United States.

Mr. Coffin and his wife have long been zealous and valued workers in the Methodist Episcopal Church, holding membership in the

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

Central Avenue Church of this denomination. For three years Mr: Coffin was president of the Indiana Inter-denominational Sunday School Association, and he has the distinction of having been one of the first persons in the United States to organize a men's class in connection with Sunday school work. In 1904 he organized the first class of this order, in the church of which he is a member, and the original membership numbered only twelve persons. From this initiative on his part has come a splendid record, as is evident when it is stated that within the limits of Marion County at the present time there are to be found forty men's classes, in the vari- ous church denominations, with a member- ship of more than seven hundred men. Mr. Coffin's zeal in other departments of church work has been equally pronounced and well- directed, and he has shown an abiding inter- est in all that tends to further the moral welfare of the community and the world at large. Thus, both through private influence and labor and also through court proceed- ings, he made a most vigorous protest against the permitting of baseball playing in Indian- apolis on Sunday, and he has been uncompro- mising in his antagonism to the liquor traffic. While in college he was an active and influ- ential member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and he represented his chapter of the same in the national convention of the fraternity in 1880.

On the 26th of October, 1887, was solem- nized- the marriage of Mr. Coffin to Miss Sallie Dowling, daughter of his former pre- ceptor, Judge Alexander Dowling, of New Albany, and now a judge of the Indiana Su- preme Court, as already stated. Mr. and Mrs. Coffin have three children-'Charles F., Jr., who is a student in his father's alma mater, DePauw University; and Jean and Natalie, who are attending school in Indian- apolis.

WILLIAM N. HARDING is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of Indiana and is one of the representative members of the bar of the capital city of the state, where he has been engaged in the active and successful practice of his profession for nearly thirty years. He has served as prosecuting attorney of Marion County and has been influential in the ranks of the Republican party in the state, while as a citizen he has at all times exemplified the utmost loyalty and public spirit.

William Newton Harding was born on his father's farm in Wayne Township, Marion County, Indiana, on the 6th of September, 1852, and is a son of Laban Harding, who

was born in Fayette County, this state, on the 8th of October, 1817, and when he was but five years of age, in 1822, his parents removed to Marion County, becoming pioneer settlers in Wayne Township, where his father essayed the herculean task of reclaiming a farm from the virgin forest. He is a son of Ede and Mary Harding, and his father not only became one of the successful farmers and influential citizens of Wayne Township, but was also the owner of one of the first grist mills in that part of the county, having operated the same for a number of years, in connection with his agricultural enterprise. He was one of six brothers who were early settlers of Marion County, and the other five took up their abode here one year prior to his removal to the county. Their names are Eliakim, Samuel, Robert, Laban, and Israel.

Laban Harding, father of him whose name initiates this review, was reared to manhood on the old homestead farm in Wayne Town- ship, and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the schools of the pioneer days. He never withdrew his allegi- ance to the great basic industry of agri- culture, through which he gained a position of independence and definite prosperity, and for sixty-five years he resided on the old homestead, where his death occurred in March, 1903, at which time he was in his eighty-sixth year. He was a man of the high- est principles of integrity and honor, of strong mentality, and of generous attributes of character, so that he not only held the confidence and esteem of the community in which practically his entire life was passed, but also wielded not a little influence in pub- lic affairs, the while he contributed his quota to the civic and industrial development of his native state. His political support was given to the Republican party. His wife died in 1883. This honored couple became the parents of eleven children, all save one of whom attained to years of maturity.

William N. Harding, the immediate sub- ject of this review, was reared on the old homestead farm which was the place of his nativity, and after duly availing himself of the advantages of the district schools he prosecuted his studies for two years in the Northwestern Christian University, now known as Butler University, located in Irvington, an attractive suburb of In- dianapolis. He thereafter was engaged in teaching in the district schools for a few, terms and then was matricu- lated in Hanover College in which insti- tution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1876, with the degree of Bachelor of

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

Arts. He then resumed his work as a teacher and in the meanwhile began the study of law under effective preceptorship, with the result that in 1879 he secured admission to the bar of his native state. In the following year he entered into a professional partner- ship with Alfred R. Hovey, and engaged in the practice of law in Indianapolis, where it has been his good fortune to attain to marked prestige and success as an able advocate and counselor. The partnership alliance has con- tinued unchanged during all the long inter- vening years and the firm controls a large and representative professional business. In 1884, Mr. Harding was elected prosecuting attorney of Marion County, and in this re- sponsible office he made an admirable record and added materially to his reputation as a discriminating and versatile trial lawyer. He continued incumbent of the office for two years and did not become a candidate for re- election. In 1897 he was the candidate of his party for the office of mayor of Indianapolis, but met defeat with the rest of the party ticket. He has been an active factor in con- nection with political affairs and has been influential in the local councils of the Repub- lican party, of whose principles and policies he is an uncompromising advocate. He is a Master Mason, is identified with various civic and social organizations, is a member of the Indiana Bar Association and the Indianapolis Bar Association.

In 1882 Mr. Harding was united in mar- riage to Miss Mary E. McConnell, who was born and reared in Indiana.

ELIJAH B. MARTINDALE. With the history of Indianapolis the name of Elijah Bishop Martindale has been conspicuously identified for a period of more than two-score years. During that period (1862-1910) he won a reputation in this community as a man of energy, integrity, and professional and busi- ness acumen, and especially for his interest in the upbuilding of the city which he loved and of which he was justly proud. Many men excel in achievements along some given course, but to few is it permitted to follow several lines of endeavor and stand well to the front in each. In the subject of this brief sketch is given a striking illustration of such excep- tional accomplishment. As a lawyer he achieved distinction and public recognition ; aa a journalist he made his influence felt throughout the Central States, and known nationally ; as a public official he served with fidelity and ability, and as a business man ex- hibited capacity which brought his ventures to success.

Elijah Bishop Martindale was born on a

farm at Walnut Level, Wayne County, In- diana, on the 23rd of August, 1828. Both on the paternal and maternal side his ancestral line was founded in America in the early colonial period. His great-great-grandfather, James Martindale, was born in England and came to Philadelphia some time prior to 1753, in which year at Philadelphia was born a son, William Martindale, the great-grandfather of Judge Martindale. This William Martindale removed from Pennsylvania and settled in Charleston district, South Carolina, in 1762, and there the grandfather and father of Judge Martindale were born. The family removed to Indiana in 1812 and the great-grandfather, William Martindale, died at Miami County, Indiana, in 1854, having attained the age of more than one hundred years.

Judge Martindale was the son of Elijah and Elizabeth (Boyd) Martindale, the former of whom was born in South Carolina, November 10, 1793, and the latter of whom was born in the same commonwealth, November 25, 1792. Both were residents of Henry County, Indiana, at the time of their death, the father having passed away on the 21st of June, 1874, and the mother on the 3rd of June, 1884. Elijah Martindale was the son of John Martindale and Mary (Burns) Martindale. His wife, Elizabeth, was a daughter of Rev. Samuel and Isabella (Higgins) Boyd. They were married in 1815 and there were fifteen children born to them, all of whom lived to mature age. Elijah B. Martindale was their tenth child and fifth son.

Elijah Martindale resided in Wayne County. Indiana, until 1831, having there entered and reduced to cultivation a farm on Martindale Creek. He then sold his farm and removed to a new farm which he had purchased on Flat Rock Creek in Henry County where he and his wife remained until near the close of their lives, when they removed to New Castle, the county seat. He was gentle and deeply re- ligious. An elder or preacher of the Christian

Church who in his youth had known Barton Warren Stone and Alexander Campbell, apos- tles of that sect, he became widely known and respected throughout the state. He was op- posed to slavery and in politics was a Free Soil Whig and later Republican.

Samuel Boyd, the father of Elizabeth (Boyd) Martindale, was born in Virginia in 1763. His father, James Boyd, was also born in that colony, the family having emigrated from England and established in the Old Do- minion early in its history. James Boyd re- moved to South Carolina and he and his three sons, John, Samuel and Abraham, entered the Continental army from that colony. He was

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an elder or preacher of the Christian Church, widely known for his vigorous eloquence and for .his piety. Before coming to Indiana he bad established a plantation near Maysville, Kentucky, and was the owner of a number of slaves. Under conviction that human slavery was wrong, he manumitted his slaves and re- moved to "free soil" in Wayne County, In- diana.

Elizabeth (Boyd) Martindale was a woman of remarkable physical strength and energy. She fulfilled the ideal conception of the pio- neer woman. In her girlhood she had assisted in the defense of the frontier blockhouse against Indian attack. She washed, carded and spun the homegrown wool. The home- grown flax she helped to reap, cured and "broke" it and spun it into yarn. Upon her loom she wove of wool and flax the "linsey- woolsey" from which . she made all her chil- dren's clothing. She had a mind of exceptional grasp and executive ability of a high order. From her the subject of this sketch inherited many of those qualities which most dis- tinguished him throughout his career.

Elijah Bishop Martindale was four years old at the time of the removal of the family to Henry County. From childhood he was taught, not only the necessity, but the dignity of labor. At seven years old he was working in the fields. In the winter he was sent to the country sohools. These winter terms at the district school and a year at Winchester Seminary, Winchester, Indiana, constituted all of his schooling. Beyond this he was self-educated. He continued to work on the farm until he was sixteen years old when he entered upon an apprenticeship at the saddler's trade at New Castle. The county seat was the place of court trials and the bar of that circuit was dis- tinguished by many of the ablest lawyers of the time. The eloquence of these lawyers fired the imagination of the young saddler, who in- herited a tendency to oratory from both sides of his ancestry. While working at his trade he applied himself to study and well directed reading and in 1847 he left the saddler's shop to attend Winchester Seminary. During the years 1848-9 Judge Martindale at Indian- apolis prosecuted the study of law under the able perceptorship of Hon. Lucian Barbour, who was then one of the representative mem- bers of the Indianapolis bar, and in May, 1850, upon examination before Judges Blackford. Dewey and Sullivan, members of the Supreme Court of the State, he was licensed to practice before that tribunal as well as in the inferior courts.

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Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 117

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