USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 16
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From his youth to the present time Mr. Claypool has been unfaltering in his allegiance to the Republican party, and he early became an active and zealous worker in behalf of its canse. In 1888, in the month prior to the
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death of his father, he was elected joint repre- sentative of his native county in the state legislature, and in 1890 he was again chosen joint representative of Fayette and Henry counties. During both sessions he was a val- ued working member, both on the floor of the house and in the committee room, having been a' prominent member of important committee on ways and means. He continued in the active and successful practice of his profession at Connersville until 1893, when he removed to Indianapolis, where he has since maintained his home. The exactions of his extensive cap- italistic and real estate interests have rendered it expedient for him to withdraw largely from the practice of his profession in later years, and he now devotes his attention almost ex- clusively to the management of his farming and financial affairs. He is vice-president of the First National Bank of Connersville, is a stockholder in a number of important busi- ness corporations in that city, is the owner of a landed estate comprising fully 800 acres in Delaware County. Indiana, and also has much valuable realty' in the capital city. As a citizen he is essentially loyal and progressive and the ."Greater Indianapolis" finds in him one of its most public-spirited residents.
Mr. Claypool has by no means abated his active interest in the promotion of the cause of the Republican party, in which he has been a leader in his state for a long term of years. He has rendered material assistance in the preparation of several of the state platforms of his party in Indiana and has otherwise been a potent factor in its councils. In 1896 he was chairman of the advisory committee of the Republican state central committee, and since 1898 he has served consecutively as one of the board of state election commissioners. In the past fifteen years he has made many valuable contributions to the public press, his articles being principally on political and economic questions. Of him the following statement has been made: "He believes in clean politics, civil service and single gold standard, and with courage and force gives expression to his views. He hates the demagogue above all others, and is honored for his sineerity and straightforward- ness.
Mr. Claypool is identified with various clubs, and in 1905 he was president of the Indiana association of the Delta Kappa Epsilon col- lege fraternity; in 1909 he was president of Miami University Association of Indiana ..
In October, 1893, Mr. Claypool was united in marriage to Miss Mary Buckner Ross, the only child of Major John W. Ross, an honored and influential citizen of Connersville. The only child of this union is Benjamin F., who
was born in December, 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Claypool maintain their home at No. 1303 North Meridian street, Indianapolis.
JAMES E. MCCULLOUGH. A representative member of the bar of Indiana, Mr. McCul- lough has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Indianapolis for more than twenty years. Through his labors he has hon- ored the profession of which he is a member and his precedence in the same is the direct result of his profound knowledge of the minutiae of the science of jurisprudence, his ability in making practical application of the same, and his sterling character as a man among men. He has been prominent in pub- lie affairs and is recognized as one of the leaders in the ranks of the Democratic party in Indiana.
James E. MeCullongh, was born in Hamil- ton County, Ohio, on the 1st of April, 1847, and is a son of Jacob and Lucinda (Noble) MeCullough. Jacob MeCullough was likewise a native of Ohio and was a scion of one of the old and honored pioneer families of the Buckeye commonwealth. His wife was born in South Carolina, whence her parents re- moved to Ohio in the early pioneer epoch. In 1857, when the subject of this review was a lad of ten years. his parents removed from Ohio to Spencer County, Indiana, where his father purchased land and developed a valu- able farm. He was a man of strong individ- uality and impregnable integrity of character, and he wielded no little influence in public affairs of a local order. Both he and his wife continued to maintain their home in Spencer County until their death.
Mr. Mccullough gained his rudimentary ed- ucation in the common schools of Hamilton County, Ohio, and Spencer County, Indiana, and in 1868 he was matriculated in the lit- erary department of the University of In- diana. at Bloomington, in which he completed the prescribed course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1871, with the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts. He had simul- taneously pursued the studies of the law de- partment of the university, and his capacity for accumulation and assimilation of knowl- edge is indicated in the fact that he was graduated in the law school in the same year that marked his graduation in the literary department. He thus received at the same time his degree of Bachelor of Laws. For a short time after his graduation Mr. McCul- lough was in the law office of Hon. Samuel H. Buskirk. of Bloomington, Indiana, who later became an associate justice of the Su- preme Court of Indiana.
Mr. McCullough was admitted to the bar
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of Indiana in 1871, shortly after his gradua- tion in the law department of the state uni- versity, and he then opened an office in Petersburg, Pike County, where he formed a law partnership with Hon. John H. Miller, with whom he was there associated in the practice of his profession until 1875, when he removed to Princeton, the county seat of Gibson County, whither Mr. Miller soon after- ward followed him, whereupon the former partnership was resumed in the new location. The firm soon gained high prestige in its new field and Mr. MeCullongh secured recognition as one of the leading members of his pro- fession in southern Indiana. He has strong dialectie powers, a keen perception of the salient points in every cause presented and a thorough knowledge of law and precedent, so that he has marked facility as a trial law- ver and strength and authority as a counselor. Ile has admirably developed his oratorical powers, and thus gains added strength in presenting his cases before eourt or jury, be- sides which his services have been much in demand as a campaign speaker, in which field of service he has done most effective work. He has been identified with meh important litigation in both the State and Federal Courts, his elientage has been of representa- tive character. and his record in his profession has been marked by distinctive success, in wit- ness of which no further voucher is demanded than that offered in his high standing at the har of the state.
In politics Mr. MeCullongh is aligned as an uncompromising advocate of the princi- ples and policies for which the Demoeratie party stands sponsor, and in its cause he has rendered yeoman service. In 1882, he was elected to represent a senatorial district in the state Senate, said distriet comprising Gib- son and Posey counties. He proved a valu- able working member of the upper house of the state legislature, in which he served with distinction during the sessions of the general assembly in 1883 and 1885, being chairman of the judiciary committee during the latter session. The prestige gained by Mr. MeCullough while in the Senate undoubt- edly marked him further as a most eligible candidate for nomination, in 1886, as stan- dard bearer of his party for the office of representative in Congress from the first con- gressional distriet, and while he made a eam- paign he met defeat with the remainder of the party ticket in the election of that year.
In 1888, Mr. MeCullongh removed to In- dianapolis and formed a partnership with the late Livingston Howland, with whom he was associated in the practice of his profes-
sion until his partner was elected to the beneh of the Circuit Court of Marion County, in 1889. In 1890 Mr. MeCullough was again called to publie office, having been elected to represent Marion County in the lower house of the state legislature. He was assigned to various important committees, including the committee on the capital eity of the state, of which same he was chairman. As such he did most effective work in seenring to Indian- apolis its present admirable city charter and he also championed various other measures which have conserved the best interests of the city. Since his retirement from the legis- lature he has given his attention to his large and important professional business, whose exaetions leave to him but few hours of leisure. The only fraternity he is affiliated with is the college fraternity Sigma Chi.
In 1872, Mr. MeCullough was united in marriage to Miss Emma Turner, who died in 1877, leaving one child, Walter MeCullough. In 1881. was solemnized Mr. MeCullough's marriage to Miss Ella Welborn, of Gibson County, Indiana. a daughter of the late Sam- uel Welborn. Mr. and Mrs. McCullough have been members of the Presbyterian Church for a year, Mrs. MeCullough having perviously been a member of the Primitive Baptist Church.
WII.LIAM T. S. DODDS. M. D. One of the able and popular representatives of the med- ieal profession in the City of Indianapolis is Dr. William T. S. Dodds, who is here en- gaged in general praetiee as a physician and surgeon and who is giving special attention to his work as director of the tuberculosis movement in the capital city, under the direc- tion of the local board of health.
Dr. Dodds was born in Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio, on the 30th of December, 1873, and is a son of Rilus S. and Martha ( Kaylor) Dodds. His father, who was a successful con- tractor at Bellefontaine, died in that place in 1884, as the result of an accident, and was but thirty-three years of age at the time of his demise. His wife now maintains her home in the City of Springfield, Oho, and he is also survived by two sons and two daughters, namely: Dr. William T. S., Harry, Myrtle and Maud. He was a Repub- liean in his proelivities and was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which his wife also has long been iden- tified as a zealous member. He was of stanch Scottish aneestry and was himself a native of Cincinnati, having been a son of Rilus Dodds, who innmigrated with his family to America in 1852. loeating in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, in which state his wife passed the resi-
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due of her life. Ile died en route while making an overland trip to California in the early days. The mother of Dr. Dodds is a representative of one of the old and patrician families of the State of Virginia.
Dr. William T. S. Dodds is indebted to the public schools of the old Buckeye state for his early educational discipline, which in- eluded a course in the high schools at Zanes- field, in which he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1889. After leaving sehool he was variously engaged until August, 1895, when he removed from Bellefontaine, Ohio, his native city, to Indianapolis, where he was matriculated in the Indiana Medical Col- lege, in which he completed the prescribed technical course and was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1898, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. After his graduation he engaged in practice in the capital city, where he has been most faithful and successful in his chosen vocation and where he now con- trols a large and representative professional business, based alike upon his skill and his personal popularity in the community. Soon after his graduation Dr. Dodds was appointed deputy coroner under Dr. A. W. Brayton, who was then serving his first term as coroner of Marion County, and he held this position of deputy during a period of one year. Dr. Dodds received from Governor Mount the ap- pointment of physician to Camp Mount Hos- pital, maintained in Indianapolis for the care of the ill and wounded Indiana soldiers upon their return from the Spanish-Ameriean War, in the antumn of 1898. On the 13th of October, 1908, Dr. Dodds was one of the organizers of the Indianapolis Tuberculosis Clinic, and in May of the following year he organized and established the Indianapolis tuberculosis colony, on the grounds of the City Hospital. He has made a most careful study of the "white plague", and is most earnest and enthusiastic in the work of bring- ing about proper preventive and palliative agencies for its subjection. He is the repre- sentative of the Indianapolis board of health as director of the tuberculosis movement in this city .. The local tuberculosis colony, in which excellent provisions are made for the care of the afflicted, opened with eleven pa- tients, in the incipient stages of the dread malady, and the facilities of the camp will be much improved within the coming year. Dr. Dodds is a stanch adherent of the Repub- lican party and has taken an active interest in the promotion of its cause. He is identi- fied with the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medieal Society, and the Marion County Medical Society. He and his
wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in which they are members of St. Paul's parish. In the Masonic fra- ternity the doctor is affiliated with Ancient Landmarks Lodge, No. 319, Free & Accepted Masons; Keystone Chapter, No. 6, Royal Areh Masons; Raper Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templars; Indiana Consistory, Ancient A(- cepted Scottish Rite; and Murat Temple, An- cient Arabie Order of the Nobles of the Mys- tie Shrine.
On the 15th of April, 1897, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Dodds to Miss Margaret M. Johnson, who was born at Bellefontaine, Ohio, on the 11th of August, 1874, and who is a daughter of George M. and Kate (Hayes) Johnson, both of whom were born and reared in Ohio, where the former died in 1902, at the age of fifty-nine years. He was one of the honored and prominent citizens of Belle- fontaine, where he was engaged in the jewelry business for many years. Ile served during four years of the Civil War, and was cap- tured by the enemy, who held him as a pris- oner of war on Belle Isle, Virginia, for a period of four weeks. His widow now resides in Indianapolis. Dr. and Mrs. Dodds have two daughters-Margaret and Jean.
WILLIAM A. BRISTOR. Prominent among the business men of Indianapolis is numbered William A. Bristor, who was born in this city September 4, 1843, a son of Samuel M. and Estra A. (Kellum) Bristor, the father being born in Washington County, Pennsyl- vania, in 1811, and the mother on the present site of the City of Indianapolis. They were married in this city, and two children were born to them, William A. and Elizabeth M., the daughter being the wife of John M. Han- let. Samuel M. Bristor spent his boyhood days in Washington, Pennsylvania, where he learned and followed the carriage-maker's trade. Coming to Indianapolis in 1840, he obtained employment with Howard Foltz, and later was engaged in the manufacture of wagons and earriages for himself until his retirement at the age of fifty-seven years. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church (Roberts Park Church), and was one of its trustees for a number of years. At the time of the Civil War he left the ranks of the Democratic party and transferred his allegiance to the Republicans.
William A. Bristor attended public school and the Northwestern Christian University, now known as Butler College, and from 1866 until 1902 he was prominently identified with the business life of Indianapolis as a shoe merchant. In 1902 he retired from the shoe trade. In 1906, he organized the Arizona
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Climax Mining Company of Arizona, and has since served as its president.
On the 16th of February, 1871, Mr. Bristor was married to Emma Burton, also born in Indianapolis, a daughter of Martin and Sarah (Nichols) Burton. The father, born in New Hampshire, came to Clinton County, Indiana, in 1822, and became an Indian trader and he also laid out a part of Russiaville. Coming to Indianapolis in 1826 he engaged in the mill- ing business, later in the shoe business and still later became a manufacturer of trunks. Selling his interest in the latter business, he became a real estate dealer and an extensive land holder. He was a member of the Uni- versalist Church and of the Whig and later of the Republican parties. He died in the year of 1908, when ninety years of age, and his widow still survives him and has reached her eighty-sixth year. She was born in Clin- ton County, Indiana. Their three children are: Addie, the widow of John D. Campbell ; Emma, who became the wife of Mr. Bristor; and Ora, wife of II. H. Condit. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bristor, Birdie and Albert M. Bristor. The daughter is the wife of Charles E. Field, general claim agent for the Monon Railroad Company, and the son is a prominent attorney in Indianap- olis. Mr. Bristor, Sr., gives his political sup- port to the Republican party.
DR. FLAVIUS J. VAN VORHIS, of Indianapo- lis, who, both by education and practice, is a thorough physician and lawyer, is a leader in the public affairs of the state. From the fact that he drafted the bill which resulted in the establishment of the first State Board of Health of Indiana and that he was prominent in or- ganizing it in detail, he is called the "father of Indiana health legislation"; has also played a large part in solving the intricate problem connected with the systematic, legal and just appraisal of railroad property and, in other wavs. been identified with important reforms of vital concern to the city and state. Mr. Van Vorhis is a native of Pike Township, Ma- rion County, born on the 31st of December, 1840, and is a son of Isaac N. and Sarah (Cotton) Van Vorhis. His father was born in Ohio of Dutch ancestry and his mother in Virginia of English lineage, so that his stock is of the most persistent, sturdy and practical type of ability. The Van Vorhis family early settled in New Jersey, migrating thence to Ohio and Indiana and in 1813 becoming a fixture in Wayne County, of the latter state. Isaac W. Van Vorhis, the future father, was then a child and spent most of the years of his maturity as a farmer and mechanic of Marion County.
Flavius J. was rcared in the family home- stead in Eagle Township, Boone County, at- tending select school at Zionville, Indiana, and the Northwestern Christian University (now Butler College), and later teaching school- all in preparation for a professional life. The first inclination of his ambitions in that field was toward medicine and his first systematic studies were conducted under Dr. H. T. Cot- ton, of Clinton County, Indiana. In 1865 Dr. Van Vorhis graduated from Rush Medical Col- lege, Chicago, and began the practice of med- icine in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. His desire to adopt that profession was doubtless strengthened, if not formed, by his experience in the Civil War. In 1862 he had entered the Union army as a private ; was assigned to hospital duty; became assistant surgeon in the Eighty-sixth Indiana Regiment and later, for eighteen months, had surgical charge of the command, being discharged in 1865 at the termination of the war. In 1871-2 Dr. Van Vorhis took a post-graduate course in Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, and after- ward became a permanent resident of Indian- apolis. He was superintendent of the Indian- apolis Hospital in 1876-7, and about this time began the study of law, graduating from the Central Law School and being admitted to the bar in 1880. The same year he was elected state senator, and has since been prominent as a public man and an attorney, although he is still known as Dr. Van Vorhis.
In 1888-91 Dr. Van Vorhis was engaged by the commissioners of Marion County to assist in securing a proper appraisement of rail- road property, and this service resulted in the increase, in 1891, of the assessment of rail- road property in Indiana of about $100,000,000, and led to his connection with subsequent valu- able legislation in the same line. As stated, the State Board of Health owes its existence to him, and, although he has been independent in politics, he has acquired a wide and strong influence among all parties and classes. Until 1896 he was a Republican, but in that year he supported William J. Bryan on the financial question and served as chairman of the Indiana State Silver Republican party. He continued his support of Mr. Bryan in 1900, campaigned for Thomas Watson in 1904, and has always had the courage to abandon any political or- ganization when its platform was not in ac- cord with his private views. In his special rela- tions to Indianapolis, he has been classed as among its stanch and enterprising citizens, and has been in many ways a contributor to the upbuilding of the city. His legal practice has greatly contributed both to the increase of his reputation and his financial strength, and he is
Flavius Blantorhis
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the builder and proprietor of the Van Vorhis office block, as well as the owner of other. valu- able property. In 1864 Dr. Van Vorbis mar- ried Miss Emma Burton, daughter of John C. and Naney (Wall) Burton, and their daughter, Carrie, is now the wife of Herman F. Spran- del, of Indianapolis.
JACOB C. SIPE. A representative busi- ness man and sterling citizen of "Greater Indianapolis" is Jacob Corpenny Sipe, whole- sale and retail and manufacturing jeweler and diamond importer, with headquarters at 181/2 North Meridian street. He has built up a large and substantial enterprise and the same is based on fair and honorable dealings as well as his personal popularity as a citizen.
Mr. Sipe is a native of the old Keystone state of the Union, having been born in Con- nellsville, Pennsylvania, on the 27th of Oc- tober, 1863, and being a son of Aaron and Rosa A. (Corpenny) Sipe. The father was a native of Pennsylvania, in which state the family was early founded, and was a repre- sentative of stanch German lineage. The father was born in 1826 and died in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1872, at the age of forty-six years. His wife was born in 1829, in Virginia, and was a resident of Kokomo at the time of her death, which occurred in 1903, when she was seventy-six years of age. Of the nine chil- dren of this union seven are living, and the subject of this review was the sixth in order of birth. Aaron Sipe was a cabinetmaker by trade, and for a number of years he was en- gaged in contracting and building in the City of Pittsburg. Pennsylvania, whence he even- tually removed to Kankakee County, Illinois, where he purchased a farm and where he continued to devote his attention to agricul- tural pursuits until his death.
Jacob C. Sipe was about one and one-half years of age at the time of the family re- moval from Pennsylvania to Illinois, and his educational advantages were those afforded in the public schools of that state and the In- diana State Normal School at Terre Haute, in which institution he was a student for two years. When fifteen years of age Mr. Sipe entered upon a practical apprenticeship to learn the jeweler's trade and business, and his advantages for effective training in this line were of the best order, as he began his work in the establishment of John W. John- son, of New York City. He became a skilled workman and when nineteen years of age he became a traveling salesman for the jew- elry house of Sipe & Sigler, of Cleveland, Ohio, with which concern he was thus identi- fied for eighteen months. In March, 1884, Mr. Sipe took up his residence in Indianap-
olis, where he engaged in business on his own responsibility, and here he has gained precedence as the leading diamond importer and dealer of the state, while he also con- duets a large and prosperous enterprise as a manufacturing jeweler and a wholesale and retail dealer in jewelry. Since the year 1890 he has personally visited at intervals the lead- ing diamond markets of Europe, and has there selected stock to meet the demands of his large and discriminating trade, the while he has kept in close toneh with all the mod- ern ideas in the cutting of precious stones and the manufacturing of the most artistic and original jewelry. Three of his brothers are engaged in the same line of business- one in Buffalo, New York: one in Cleveland, Ohio; and the third in Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania. Mr. Sipe buys precious stones in the rough and the cutting and manufacturing of the same is done in his own finely equipped establishment and under his personal super- vision, so that he has unexcelled facilities for catering to his large and appreciative patron- age, which is of essentially representative or- der. In 1902 he and his wife made an ex- tended trip through Great Britain and the European continent, visiting all the principal cities and points of historie interest.
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