Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 124

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 124

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Mr. Perrin, through his close study of finance has become a recognized authority and his reputation far transcends local limitations. He is a valued member of the Currency Com- mission of the American Bankers' Association. He has also served as a member of the Execu- tive Council of the association, as well as of that of the Indiana Bankers' Association.

In politics Mr. Perrin has affiliated with the Republican party, though he has never entered the arena of practical politics nor sought pub- lic office of any description. He enjoys marked popularity in the business and social circles of the capital city, where he holds membership in the Board of Trade, the German House, the Commercial, Columbia, University and Coun- try clubs. He is also a member of the Univer- sity and Bankers' clubs of Chicago and of the University Club, New York. He is a thirty- second degree Mason and a member of the Mys- tic Shrine.

On the 3rd of October, 1883, he married Ellenor Bates, the only daughter of Major Her- vey Bates, son of Hervey Bates, one of the most prominent and influential families in Indian- apolis from the early days. Mr. and Mrs. Per-

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rin have two sons, Ffervey Bates Perrin and John Bates Perrin, who graduated at Yale University in 1907 and 1909 respectively.

EDWARD R. L. TREAT. The family name borne by this representative business man of Indianapolis, his native city, is one that has been identified with the annals of American history since the early colonial epoch, and it has stood exponent of useful and enlightened citizenship as one generation has followed an- other on to the stage of life's activities. The lineage is of most interesting order and in connection with the same is found record of ancestors who have been men of large influence and of much prominence in connection with civic and business affairs. Loyalty and patriot- ism have been in distinctive evidence, and the family escutcheon has ever been a symbol of integrity and usefulness. We of this restless, vital twentieth century can not afford to hold in light esteem the names and deeds of those who have wrought nobly in the past and who have figured as the founders and builders of our great republic. He is, indeed, fortunate who can claim such worthy ancestry, and the statement of the great historian, Macaulay, was well justified when he said, substantially, that a people that take no pride in the achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything to he remembered with pride by remote de- scendants. He whose name initiates this para- graph has not failed in such appreciation, and it is therefore gratifying to be able to present in this sketch even a brief review of his ances- tral history and also a due tribute to his hon- ored father, who was long one of the success- ful and highly esteemed business men of In. dianapolis.

Edward Randolph Laidley Treat was born in Indianapolis, on the 16th of September, 1869, and is a son of Atwater J. and . Isabella L. (Laidley) Treat. The father was born at Orange, Connecticut, on the 14th of Novem- ber, 1838, and died at his home in Indian- apolis, on the 22nd of April,. 1902. His cher- ished and devoted wife was born at Northamp- ton, Massachusetts, February 26, 1837, and was summoned to eternal rest on the 11th of August, 1906, secure in the reverential regard of all who had come within the sphere of her gentle and kindly influence. The marriage of the parents was solemnized at Northampton, Massachusetts, on the 20th of November, 1861, in St. John's Church, Protestant Episcopal, and of the two children the first born, Carrie Belle, died in infancy, so that the subject of this sketch is now the only living representa- tive of the immediate family.

Records extant in New England archives show that the family name was originally spelled Trott, but the present orthography was

early adopted and will be used in this article even when referring to the original represen- tative in the new world. Richard Treat (or 'Trott), the American progenitor of the branch from which the subject of this sketch is de- scended, was a native of England and came to America about 1637, settling in one of the New England colonies. He and Matthias 'Treat were the first of the name in this coun- try and their descendants are now to be found in the most diverse sections of the Union. Richard Treat was baptized August 28, 1584, in Pitminster, and was a native of Somerset County, England. . His marriage to Alice Gay- lor was solemnized April 27, 1615, and thus it is probable that on their immigration to Amer- ica they were accompanied by a number of children. Robert Treat, from whom Edward R. L. Treat is a descendant in the direct line, was a man of much prominence and influence in the Connecticut colony, where he served as the royal deputy governor and later as governor of the colony for forty years preceding the War of the Revolution. He is said, however, to have been identified with the secretion of the historic charter in the famous old oak tree at Hartford. After the union of the New Haven and Connecticut colonies he was one of a party who removed to New Jersey and founded the City of Newark. In 1676 Robert Treat was elected deputy governor of Connecticut, an of- fice which he retained until 1683, when he was elected governor, retaining this incum- bency until 1698, when he resigned, having been seventy-four years of age at the time. His services were still demanded, however, and he accepted the office of deputy governor again, as the duties of the position were less onerous and exacting. From this latter office he retired in 1708, at the age of eighty-four years, his re- tirement being effected only because he felt that the infirmities of advanced years rendered it impossible for him longer to give due at- tention to his official duties. He died at the patriarchal age of eighty-nine years. His son Samuel Treat, a distinguished Massachusetts clergyman, was the grandfather of Robert 'Treat Paine, a signer of the Declaration of In- dependence. Later generations of the family have been identified more particularly with mercantile pursuits and (ther lines of business enterprise, but a high civil loyalty has ever been manifest on the part of these bearing the name.

Isabella I .. (Laidley) Treat was a daughter of George and Marion (Bone) Laidley, both natives of Scotland. Her father was horn Oc- tober 3, 1795, and died December 6, 1863, at Northampton, Massachusetts. His wife, who died at the same place on the 16th of June, 1894, was born on the 8th October, 1797, and

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

thus attained the age of nearly a century. They were married at Ayr, Scotland, November 21, 1819, by Rev. John Black and of their nine children eight lived to years of maturity, Mrs. Isabella Treat having been the seventh in or- der of birth. . On the 1st of April, 1830, George Laidley and his family embarked at Glasgow on the sailing ship "Cassandra" under com- mand of Captain Grierson and landed in the port of New York City, June 5, 1830. The family settled at Northampton, Massachusetts, and there the parents resided until their death, as already noted.

Atwater J. Treat, who became one of the best known and most popular citizens of Indian- apolis, was a son of Alfred Treat and the lat- ter survived him, having died at Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1904, at the patriarchal age of ninety-four years. Atwater J. Treat secured his early educational training in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he was reared to man- hood. In that town he finally became asso- ciated with his uncle in the tailoring business and there continued to maintain his home until 1864, when he came to Indianapolis, where he initiated operations in the line of his trade in which he was ever known as a most skillful artisan, having for many years held distinctive precedence as one of the leading merchant tailors not only of Indianapolis, but also of the western country. About a year after his arrival in the capital city Mr. Treat became associated in the merchant tailoring business with Charles C. Claflin under the firm name of Treat & Claflin. This alliance continued until 1872, when Mr. Claflin retired from the business and Edward C. Eagan was admitted to partnership. Later Thomas Eagan also became a member of the firm and the business was then conducted under the title of Eagan, Treat and Eagan, with a well equipped establishment on Illinois street. The business was removed to the "Bates Block" on Pennsylvania street in 1873, where is was conducted for twenty years under the name of Eagan & Treat. Mr. Eagan retired from the firm in 1893 and Mr. Treat admitted to partnership his only son, whereupon the title of A. J. Treat & Son was adopted. This name has since been retained, notwithstanding the death of the honored father, and it is most consistent that his name should thus be per- petnated in the splendid business enterprise which he founded nearly half a century ago.

Atwater J. Treat was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, including the Scottish Rite bodies, was a charter member of the Co- lumbia Club, and held membership in the Com- mercial and New England Club. His political enpport was given to the Republican party and his religions faith was that of the Protestant

Episcopal Church, of which he was a communi- cant, holding membership in the Parish of Christ Church, of which his wife was also a de- vout communicant.

From the Indianapolis Sentinel of April 22, 1902, the day following his death, we take the following words of appreciation: "Mr. Treat was of a kindly and friendly disposition and was a man who readily made friends and re- tained them. In his business dealings he was perfectly straightforward and open and ac- cumulated a considerable fortune."

Mr. Treat was known as the father of base ball in Indianapolis. He was the leader in the organization of the famous Acme Club com- posed of John M. Spann, Aquilla Jones and other prominent business men and was consid- ered a good player himself. He was instru- mental in bringing the first National League team to Indianapolis and for years was actively interested in base ball in this city, while he was ever ready to lend his aid and influence to the furtherance of all measures and enterprises iending to advance the best interests of bis home city, to which his loyalty was of the most insistent type.

Edward R. I .. Treat, the only son, has con- tinned the business established by his father, and has well upheld the prestige of the name both as a citizen and as a business man in his chosen field of endeavor. He was reared to maturity in Indianapolis where he was afforded the advantages of the city and private schools, and later he continued his preparation for col- lege in Westminster School, at Dobbs Ferry, New York. He entered Harvard University in the class of 1895 and in this historic old in- stitution he was a student for two years, pur- sning a special English course to fit himself for newspaper work, which, he had intended fol- lowing. Returning to Indianapolis, in 1893, he hecame associated in business with his father as already noted in this context.

After the death of his father Mr. Treat as- sumed entire charge of the merchant tailoring business and he has since continued the same under the title previously adopted-A. J. Treat & Son. The enterprise is the oldest of its kind in the city and its patronage is drawn largely from the representative business men, many of whom have been regular customers of the estab- lishment for a long term of years.

In politics Mr. Treat is a supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party. He is identified with the Columbia, Commercial and Marion Clubs and in the Masonic frater- nity he is affiliated with Ancient Landmarks Lodge No. 319, Free and Accepted Masons, and Keystone Chapter, Roval Arch .Masons. He is a communicant in the Episcopal Church.

On the 11th of January, 1900, Mr. Treat was

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

united in marriage to Miss Eva Pauline Hen- derson, who was born in the City of Kokomo, Indiana and who is a daughter of Howard and Isabella (Williams) Henderson, who still re- side in that city, where her father is editor and publisher of the Kokomo Dispatch., Mr. and Mrs. Treat have one child, Virginia Pauline.

NELSON AUGUSTUS GLADDING. Among those captains of industry who have made great ideas splendid actualities and have done more than their share toward making of Indianapolis one of the foremost cities of the Union, must as- suredly be numbered Nelson Augustus Glad- ding, vice-president and secretary of the E. C. Atkins Company, manufacturers of saws and tools, and vice-president of the American Motor Car Company, manufacturers of auto- mobiles, not to mention numerous minor inter- ests. In a country busily engaged in foreign assimilation, Mr. Gladding stands a thorough American, the . Gladding family having been founded in the United States but a few years after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers and its members have been identified with the his- tory of the nation in inany of its most stirring hours. The first of the family to cross the Atlantic to America was John Gladding, an Englishman born in 1640. He left his native home in early youth and located in Plymouth Colony where he lived for several years: In 1660 he came to Mount Hope Lands, part of the region now known as Rhode Island and assisted in founding the town of Bristol. He was one of the seventy-six electors at the first town meeting in September, 1681, and played a prominent part in the business life of the community. He died April 27, 1726, having attained the age of eighty-five years. The name of John Gladding's wife was Elizabeth Rogers, and their nnion was solemnized at New- bury, Massachusetts, in 1666. Her family were among the earliest who landed at Ply- mouth Colony to share in common the dangers, vicissitudes and peculiar inspirations of life in the new country.

Nelson Augustus Gladding is of the seventh generation in America, the line being traced as follows: First generation-John Gladding, founder. Second generation-John Gladding, married Alice Wardwell, October 13, 1693, the daughter of one of the founders of Bristol, Uzell Wardwell. Third generation-Jonathan Gladding, born at Bristol, June 5, 1701. Fourth generation-Timothy Gladding: Fifth generation-George W. Gladding, married Re- becca M. Hill of Providence, Rhode Island. This George W. Gladding became one of the leading dry goods merchants of Providence, his business being established in 1807. Sixth gen-

eration-John Hill Gladding, who succeeded his father in the dry goods business and mar- ried Lydia Maria Bowen of Providence. Sev- enth generation -- Nelson Augustus Gladding.

John Hill Gladding, the father of Mr. Glad- ding, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1819. He received his education in the public schools and chose a mercantile career as his life work .. He served his country at the time of the Civil war in the capacity of a member of the First Light Infantry. He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Providence and gave his political allegiance to the Republican party, taking a great interest in public affairs, but never seeking office. The mother, whose maiden name was Lydia Maria Bowen, was a daughter of Ethan Allen Bowen, and was born near Providence, February 22nd, 1832. On her mother's side she was descended from Christo- pher. Robinson, a captain of artillery in the Revolutionary war.

The birth of Mr. Gladding occurred at Providence, Rhode Island, July 8, 1863, he being the fifth of seven sons. He attended the public schools . of his native town until his father having died, his mother with her fam- ily moved to Champaign, Illinois, where he also attended the public school. At the age of thirteen years he was ready to enter high school, but was urged to enter the employment of Mr. J. Norman, who was starting a general store at Paxton, Illinois, and thus at a very early age his education was cut short, a deficiency which he has since amply remedied by his own efforts. During the winter of 1876-77 he learned bookkeeping under special tutelage and was bookkeeper and chief clerk during the bal- ance of his term of employment by Mr. Nor- man. In 1878, although very young to go forth alone to seek his fortunes, he came to In- dianapolis and for a time secured employment with Hunter & Company and L. S. Ayres & Company, dry goods houses. In 1879 he re- turned to Paxton, Illinois, again to work for Mr. Norman, but that gentleman had the mis- fortune to fail in business and in the fall of 1879 Mr. Gladding returned to the capital city of Indiana to take charge of the books and office of Owen Pixley & Company. This asso- ciation was maintained until January 1, 1883, at which time Mr. Gladding on account of poor health, resigned and removed to Kansas City. He had in the meantime studied and mastered shorthand and took a position as private secretary to the Secretary-Treasurer of the Missouri & Kansas Telegraph & Telephone Company, of Kansas City, of which the late E. T. Gilliland, a gentleman noted in the tele- phone world, was president. Mr. Gladding's rise was speedy. Only a few months after accept-

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ing the above-mentioned position he became one of the original incorporators and chief ac- countant of the United Telephone Company, and was afterward appointed to the position of traveling auditor, serving in that capacity for six months.

In August, 1883, Mr. Gladding returned to Providence where his mother was living and while there he was offered a position as special correspondence clerk for Brown Brothers & Company who dealt extensively in machinery and mill supplies. Having remained in this . entitles him to the membership he holds in the capacity for two years, Mr. Gladding made an- other climb upward by accepting a position with E. C. Atkins & Company, saw and tool manufacturers, with headquarters situated in Indianapolis. In August, 1886, he was ap- pointed manager for the newly established branch house of E. C. Atkins & Company, lo- cated at Memphis, Tennessee.

For twelve years Mr. Gladding remained in this southern city as manager of the business of the affairs of the company. In December, 1897, he was elected secretary of the firm and came back to Indianapolis to assume the duties of this high executive office. In 1901 he be- came vice-president as well, and at the present time he holds this dual office and is recognized as one of the sound and representative men of the industrial world. - He is also vice-president of the American Motor Car Company, manu- facturers of automobiles, but acts only in an advisory capacity in the management of that business. For several years he has been a mem- ber of the advisory board of the American Sup- ply & Machinery Manufacturers' Association, and was formerly a member of the executive committee of the American Hardware Manu- facturers' Association, his service being of two terms duration.

Politically Mr. Gladding gives his heart and hand to the Republican party. He was a mem- ber of the Indiana Commission of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, at St. Louis, in 1903-'04, representing the seventh district. He and his family hold membership in the First Baptist Church of Indianapolis and give their generous support to its good causes. Mr. Gladding is a valued member of the board of directors of the "Boys' Club," a charitable institution for the care of bootblacks, newsboys, and other voung American citizens upon whom Dame Fortune has not smiled.

Mr. Gladding takes great pleasure in his fraternal relations which are varied and of an important nature, bringing him into associa- tion with virtually all the prominent men of the city, not to mention his affiliations in the two greatest metropoli of the country. He belongs to the Columbia, University, Country,

Commercial, German and Dramatic Clubs of Indianapolis ; to the Lotus Club and the Hard- ware Club of New York City; he is a member of the Illinois Athletic Club of Chicago and a life member of the Press Club of that city. He stands high in Masonry, having member- ship in the following Masonic bodies: Mystic Tie Lodge; Keystone Chapter; Raper Com- mandery, Knights Templar ; 32nd Degrec Scot- tish Rite; and Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine. His distinguished national ancestry Sons of the American Revolution, and his name is written upon the roll of the Concatenated Order of Hoo Hoo (a fraternal organization of lumbermen, dealers in machinery and kin- dred "lines), it being his honor to serve as "Snark," or supreme head of the order from September 9, 1899, to September, 1899.

Mr. Gladding was married on the 20th of December, 1888, at Indianapolis, to Miss Mary Dolbear Atkins, daughter of Elias C. and Sarah Frances Atkins. The former, a leading manufacturer of saws and tools, founder and president of E. C. Atkins & Company, limited, with whom Mr. Gladding has been associated in business for so many years, came originally from Bristol, Connecticut. Mrs. Gladding is descended on her mother's side from Roger Sherman, American patriot and jurist, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- ence. This union has been blessed by the birth of two daughters. Frances Marea, was born September 5, 1889, at Memphis, Tennes- see. She was educated in Indianapolis at Briar Cliff, New York, and in Florence, Italy. She is talented, having particular proficiency in music, art and literature. The younger daughter, Mary Elizabeth Gladding, was born November 3, 1891, also at Memphis, received her education in Indianapolis, Briar Cliff, New York City, and Florence, Italy. Her procliv- ities are in the direction of mathematics, lan- guage and music.

Mr. Gladding is an enthusiastic student of history, literature and dramatic art, and is es- pecially fond of music. He has indeed fared kindly at Nature's hands, his remarkable busi- ness and executive gifts not precluding him from the most subtle insight into the finer things of life.

JACOB PIATT DUNN, the author of "Greater Indianapolis", is a native of Indiana, born at Lawrenceburg, April 12, 1855. Both of his parents were also natives of Indiana, and of Lawrenceburg. His father, Jacob Piatt Dunn, Sr., born June 24, 1811, was a son of Judge Isaac Dunn, who was born in . Middlesex County, New Jersey, September 27, 1783, and was one of the earliest immigrants to the White-

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

water Valley. His father, Hugh Dunn, came west in 1788, arriving with his family at Fort Miami in December, and moving over into the Whitewater Valley as soon as General Wayne's defeat of the Indians at the Fallen Timbers made it at all safe .* The Dunns of Middlesex were descendants of Hugh Dunn, an Irish Baptist exhorter, who was one of the founders of the Baptist Church of Piscataway Township, in 1689,t and who left to his family a legacy of Bible names. There were twenty-three Dunns in the New Jersey Revolutionary troops from Middlesex, eight commissioned officers and fifteen privates, and every one of them had a Bible name except Capt. Hugh Dunn.# The family tradition is that Hugh Dunn, the father of Judge Isaac Dunn, immigrated from Ireland, and married his cousin, Mercy Dunn, of the Middlesex family.

On November 22, 1804, Judge Dunn mar- ried Frances Piatt. also of a New Jersey Revo- lutionary family, her father, Jacob Piatt, and her uncles Danicl and William Piatt, being officers in the Continental Line, and members of the Society of the Cincinnati. The New Jersey Piatts were descendants of John Piatt (or Pyatt), son of a French Huguenot, who took refuge in Holland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. John Piatt immigrated to New Jersey prior to 1760, and settled in Middlesex County. He left five sons, of whom Jacob was the youngest.

On November 28, 1837, Jacob Piatt Dunn, Sr., married Harriet Louisa Tate, a daughter of William Tate, who came from Boston,. Mas- sachusetts, to Lawrenceburg, and there, on March 27, 1816, married Anna Kincaid, daugh- ter of Warren Kincaid, a Revolutionary soldier from New York. Jacob Piatt Dunn, Sr., was a "Forty-Niner" in California, and in 1861 located in Indianapolis, where he was a well- known business man till his death on Novein- ber 21, 1890. His four surviving children, Mrs. Louisa M. Tutewiler, Catherine Dunn, Dr. Isaac Dunn, and Jacob Piatt Dunn are all resi- dents of Indianapolis.

After several years in private schools, Jacob Piatt Dunn entered the public schools of In- dianapolis in 1867, and after four years en- tered Earlham College, where he was graduated in the scientific department in 1874. He was graduated in law at the University of Michi-

gan in 1876, and pursued his studies in the office of McDonald & Butler, after which he entered the practice. He went to Colorado in the Leadville excitement of 1879 as a prospec- tor, and drifted into the newspaper business, serving on the Maysville Democrat, Rocky Mountain News, Denver Tribune, Leadville Chronicle and Denver Republican. Returning to Indianapolis in 1884 he resumed the prac- tice of law, but took up newspaper work again on the Journal, in 1888. In the fall of that year he was put in charge of the literary bureau of the Democratic State Central Committee, and in 1889 was elected State Librarian by the legislature and re-elected in 1891. During his term he wrote regularly for the Sentinel, and at its close, in 1893, he took a position as editorial writer on that paper. This he re- tained until 1904, with the exception of three months in 1901, when he filled the unexpired term of Eudorus M. Johnson as city controller, under Mayor Taggart. In 1903 he was ap- pointed city controller by Mayor Holtzman, and served through his term to January 1, 1906. He then acted as auditor for Winona Assembly for six months, and as an editorial writer for the Indianapolis Star for a year and a half. For the next two years he was en- gaged in the preparation of "Greater Indian- apolis," and in special work on the Miami lan- guage for the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology. On January 1, 1910, he was appointed to his pres- ent position of chief deputy by County Treas- urer Fishback.

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Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 124

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