Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 19

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 19

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surance Company. In 1837 he was the owner of an acre of ground now occupied by the fine government building, and thereon lie built a large but not ornate brick house of two stories, which was the family home there- after until 1863, when the property was sold to the First Presbyterian Church, whose edi- fice occupied the site until the same was sold to the government, nearly half a century later. In this home his cherished and devoted wife died in 1851, and he ever remained true to her memory, showing no desire to contract a second marriage.

When Mr. Yandes arrived in Indianapolis he had a capital of four thousand dollars, and the financial standards of the time may be realized when it is stated that this amount was sufficient to constitute the largest cap- italist of the embryonic city during the en- sning decade. Concerning him the following pertinent statements have been written : "He was, in common with pioneers generally, a man of rugged health, and was hopeful, con- fiding and enterprising. He was fond of building mills and manufactories and of in- troducing other improvements. On his ar- rival in Indianapolis he was associated with his brother-in-law in the erection of a saw and grist mill on the bayon southwest of the city where the MeCarty land now is, the dam being built across White River at the head of the island, which was opposite the old ceme- tery. This is said to have been the first mil! erected on the land purchased by the state for the new capital. About 1823 the firm of Yandes & Wilkins established the first tan- nery in the county, and they continued to be associated in that line of business for about thirty years. The active partner was John Wilkins, a man well known for his un- common merits. Afterward Daniel Yandes continued the same business with his nephew, Lafayette Yandes. After the death of the latter he formed another partnership, with his nephew, Daniel Yandes, Jr., and James C. Parmalee, and this firm conducted an ex- tensive tannery in Brown County and a leath- er store in Indianapolis. About the year 1825 he became a partner of Franklin Merrill, brother of Samuel Merrill, in a store, which, like others of the pioneer days in Indianap- olis, contained a miscellaneous assortment of goods, more or less extensive, including dry- goods, groceries, queensware, hardware, liats, boots and shoes, ete. About 1831 he became the partner of Edward T. Porter, and the store of the firm of Yandes & Porter was in a brick building on the site of the present State Life Insurance Company. At nearly the same time Mr. Yandes started Joseph

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Sloan in business as a merchant at Coving- ton, Indiana, and he continued for several years a member of the firm thus formed. In 1833 he and Samuel Merrill, treasurer of the state, dug a race along Fall Creek and built a grist-mill, a saw-mill and the first cotton- spinning factory in that region. A few years afterward he and William Sheets, who had shortly before been secretary of state, built on the canal west of the state-house grounds the first paper-mill in the county. About the same time he became the partner of Thomas M. Smith in a general store, and about 1838 he was the partner of John F. Hill in an- other store, both of which were on the north side of Washington street. a little west of Pennsylvania street. In 1839, under great difficulties, he alone built at Lafayette, In- diana, a grist-mill, saw-mill and paper-mill, and opened with his son James a large store. While engaged in this enterprise the financial panie was precipitated upon the country and Mr. Yandes found himself involved heavily in debt, both as principal and indorser, at Indianapolis and Lafayette. While he en- joyed the good will of his creditors he did not command their entire confidence as to his solvency, and during the years 1839 to 1844 judgments in Marion county accumulated against him to the amount of over twenty- two thousand dollars, under which conditions he sacrificed some of his most valuable prop- erty at much less than cost. At the same time he was under protest at the bank in Lafayette. In due time, however, he paid the full amount of his debts. and it is a matter of legitimate pride that he and his children have always paid in full individual and all other indebtedness. About the year 1847 he and Thomas H. Sharpe built the College Hall, a brick building, which preceded the Fletcher bank and store building at the corner of Washington and Pennsylvania streets, and a few years later he erected another brick build- ing on Washington street, west of Pennsyl- vania street. In 1847 he built ten miles of the Madison railroad. which was completed about September of that year and which was the first railroad to enter Indianapolis. In the same year he was associated in the build- ing of a grist mill at Franklin, this state. In 1852 he and Alfred Harrison built thirty miles of the eastern end in Indiana of the Bellefontaine railroad. Previously to this time he had twice ventured successfully in sending large cargoes of provisions by flat- boats from Indiana to New Orleans. About the year 1854, during the Kansas excitement, his desire for the freedom of that state im- pelled him to aid some young men to settle

there, and he accompanied them to the west. About 1860 he joined Edward T. Sinker as partner in the Western Machine Works, of Indianapolis, with which industrial concern he continued to be identified for a number of years.

"One of Mr. Yandes' most curious traits was the manifestation of unusual energy and labor for a series of years, until an enter- prise could be placed upon a solid basis, after which he evinced unusual indolence and in- attention to details for several years, until he became again enlisted in a new enterprise. As a consequence, after new enterprises were fairly started and tested he lost interest in them, and in a few years would usually sell his interest. He was senior partner and in most cases the capitalist in connection with the various business enterprises with which he thus concerned himself. Although he ma- tured his plans carefully and patiently, he was nevertheless too fond of hazard."

From the foregoing statements it will be seen that Mr. Yandes was a man of magnifi- cent initiative power and constructive ability, so that he was well fitted to become one of the founders and upbuilders of a city and state. He gave generously of his superb pow- ers in furthering the industrial and civic de- velopment of Indiana, and his name is one that merits a conspicuous place on the roll of those who have worthily conserved such progress. His integrity was of the most in- sistent and unswerving type and no shadow rests upon any portion of his career as an active business man and sterling citizen. He had his limitations, as do all, but he gave of the best of his great talents to the world and to aiding his fellow men. His wonder- ful vitality and personal enthusiasm, together with too great confidence in the integrity and ability of others, caused him to be placed in his advanced age in a far less secure finan- cial status than was his just due. In this connection the following words have been written by one appreciative of his great worth and familiar with his career: "If his bnsi- ness career had terminated when he was seventy-five years of age he would have been a successful business man, but an undue fond- ness for enterprise and a hopeful enthusiasm, together with the fascination of the far west, an over-confidence in others, and the de- terioration incident to old age, with his un- willingness to be advised, resulted in disaster. He lost a considerable amount in mines in the west and a large sum in the Brazil fur- nace, at Brazil, Indiana. stripping him in ef- fect of his property when he was past the age of eighty years."

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Mr. Yandes was a man of impressive per- sonality, was broad of mental ken and had the characteristics which ever beget objective esteem, confidence and friendship. Viewing his life in its perspective none can fail to have appreciation of his great accomplish- ment at a time when such powers as his were at a premium, and he should ever be remem- bered as one of the noble, kindly and gen- erous pioneers of Indiana.

In politics Mr. Yandes was originally an old-line Whig, but he gave his support to the Republican party from the time of its incep- tion until his death, and at the climacteric period leading up to the Civil War he was uncompromising in his advocacy of the aboli- tion of human slavery. He was essentially without ambition for public office, though he had the distinction of serving as the first treasurer of Marion County, and in 1838 re- ceived from Governor Noble the unsolicited ap- pointment as a member of the State Board of Internal Improvements, to which was assigned the control of the varied and extensive system of internal improvements provided for by legislative action in 1836. His religious faith was primarily that represented by the Luth- eran Church, but as Indianapolis had no or- ganization of this denomination in the early days, he identified himself with the Presby- terian Church. For a number of years he served as one of the first elders and trustees of the Second Presbyterian Church, to whose upbuilding and support he contributed in generous measure. From 1823 onward for a period of more than twenty years his home was the leading hospice of the Presbyterian clergy, several of the most prominent of whoin in the pioneer days of the state were enter- tained at his home for long periods. He was liberal in his contributions to normal chari- ties, as well as to the various departments of church work, and prior to 1865 his donations along these lines had reached a total of about sixty thousand dollars,-an amount whose ef- ficiency and value at that time would not be equalled by twice the sum today.

Of the eleven children of the honored sub- ject of this brief memoir five died young. His daughter Mary Y., who became the wife of Rev. John T. Wheeler, died in 1852. James W., a successful business man of In- dianapolis, died in 1885. Simon, who was a representative citizen of Indianapolis, died on the 5th of October, 1903. Elizabeth, who became the wife of Joseph R. Robinson. died in May, 1904. The two surviving children are Catherine C., wife of Eliiah T. Fletcher, of Indianapolis, and George B., who likewise resides in the Indiana capital, which has rep-

resented his home from the time of his birth. To the son Simon, a distinguished lawyer and honored citizen of Indianapolis, a special me- morial tribute is accorded on other pages of this work.

SIMON YANDES gave the best of an essen- tially strong, noble and loyal nature to the service of his fellow men; his life course was guided and governed by the highest prin- ciples of integrity and honor; he was hu- manity's friend and labored with all of zeal and devotion for the uplifting and aiding of his kind; he attained to marked distinction as a member of the bar of Indiana; he cov- eted success but scorned to attain it except through industry and honest means; he ac- quired wealth without fraud or deceit, and, with a high sense of his stewardship, he dis- pensed it with well ordered generosity and benevolence. The results of his life are full of incentive and inspiration, and thus every publication touching upon the lives and deeds of those who have honored the City of In- dianapolis and the State of Indiana through their services should imperatively give con- sideration to this distinguished citizen, who passed practically his entire life in the cap- ital city, where he died on the 5th of Octo- ber, 1903, at the venerable age of eighty- seven years. In this brief tribute to this man of great ability and exalted character recourse will be had to a previously pub- lished sketch of his career, as the same was written by one who knew him well and whose words are thus worthy of perpetuation. In said connection such paraphrase as seems ex- pedient will be used. Mr. Yandes was a son of Daniel Yandes, and as a memoir of the latter appears on other pages of this work it is not demanded that in the sketch at hand be entered further review of the family his- tory.

Simon Yandes, one of the world's practical philanthropists. was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, on the 5th of January, 1816,- the year which marked the admission of In- diana to the Union. In 1818, when he was but two years of age, his parents removed from his native county to Fayette County, Indiana, where they continued to reside un- til 1821, in March of which year they took up their abode in Indianapolis, which was laid out as a village in that year, after hav- ing been selected as the perpetual center of the state government. Thus from the age of five years until he was summoned to his reward, at a patriarchal age, he continued a resident of Indiana's capital, where he made his life count for good in all its relations

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and where his memory is revered by all who, knew him.

In the little pioneer village from which has grown the City of Indianapolis, Simon Yandes was reared to maturity, and though the edu- cational advantages in the locality and period were somewhat meager, the boy and youth made the best possible use of such as were afforded, and in due time there matured one of the finest of intellectualities. His prelim- inary discipline was secured in a private school conducted by Ebenezer Sharpe, and eventually he was enabled to attend the Uni- versity of Indiana for one year. In 1838 he was matriculated in the law school of Har- vard College, in which he was graduated in the following year and from which he duly received his degree of Bachelor of Laws. There was a notable list of young men who were his fellow students in the law school, and among the number may be mentioned William M. Evarts, E. Rockwood Hoar, Charles Devens, William W. Story, Charles T. Russell, Nathaniel Holmes, James Russell Lowell, Richard Henry Dana, Marcus Mor- ton, Rufus King and George V. Lothrop. Upon no less an authority than that of James Russell Lowell rests the early impression that Mr. Yandes was one of the best men in his class, and Judge Story, who was then one of the members of the faculty of the law school, predicted for him a successful future in his profession, besides which he manı- fested a deep personal interest in the young student, with whom he corresponded for s eral years after the latter had left the law school.

After his graduation Mr. Yandes returned to Indianapolis, where, in the same year, 1839, he became associated in practice with Fletcher & Butler, the leading law firm of the state at that time. With this firm he continued his alliance for a period of four years, at the expiration of which Mr. Fletcher retired therefrom. Later he conducted an individual practice for four years, and he then formed a partnership with Oliver H. Smith. The firm of Yandes & Smith thereafter held lead- ership at the bar of the state for four years, when Mr. Smith retired and Mr. Yandes as- sociated himself with Cyrus C. Hines, who later was long associated in practice with Gen. Benjamin Harrison. In 1858 Mr. Yan- des was a candidate for the office of asso- ciate justice of the supreme court of the state, but he met with defeat with the re- mainder of the party ticket. Just prior to the war of the rebellion he retired from the active practice of his profession, as he had accumulated what was then considered a for-

tune, and thereafter he gave his attention principally to the management and super- vision of his business affairs. He gained prestige as one of the most able, versatile and distinguished members of the bar of In- diana and was identified with much important litigation in both the state and federal courts. Concerning his equipment for his profession one of his confreres has made the following pertinent and appreciative statements : "He was precise, but not technical; logical but not coldly analytical; well read in the law, but not embarrassed by precedents. His moral integrity was a granite rock and his intel- lectual poise was akin to it. He did not have that large imaginative power that is needed for the making of an orator, but his full information, happy humor and power of accurate statement made him a strong speak- er. As a counselor he was at his best. His fair-mindedness, his wide foresight and his strong mental grasp qualified him to see all sides of the question, and to advise a course which always proved to be the right one. In- tellectuality was the dominant characteristic of his mind. His moral fiber was without a flaw or twist. His mold was the mold of Abraham Lincoln. Under an exterior of re- serve he kept an equable and generous na- ture and courageous spirit."

As a business man Mr. Yandes showed great perspicacity and ability, and after his retirement from the active work of his pro- fession he made such investments and so hus- banded his resources as to accumulate money very rapidly. Concerning this phase of his career the following statements are worthy of reproduction : "In this he had a definite purpose to accomplish: this was to accumu- late a sufficient sum with which to accom- plish effective work in educational and re- ligious matters. He avoided, therefore, the frittering away of his accumulations in little matters. Some years ago he was asked by an acquaintance for a contribution of a small sum to a cause that one would have thought appealed to him. This he refused, saying that the man who was diffuse could not con- centrate; if he chose to aid by bits everything that appealed to him, he never could reach the position where he could do a thing great- ly, and one or the other of these all men should do. In other words, there could be no diffusion and identification in small de- grees with everything, and concentration for the purpose of larger effort. He chose the latter as his course."

Mr. Yandes held to the opinion that the average man reached the ultimate of his pow- ers of accomplishment by the time he had

HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

attained to the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, and he ordered his own course in harmony with this conviction. Thus, when he reached the age of seventy years he be- gan to administer his large estate, "with great care, caution and critical examination". He considered himself in the light of a stew- ard and realized to the full the responsibili- ties which success and financial prosperity impose. Thus he matured his plans with ali of care, that his benefactions might be cumu- lative in their results and that their influ- ence might continue in an ever widening angle of beneficence. "Modestly, quietly and even secretly, he began to make his gifts," says the writer from whose memoir previous quotations have been made, "and for fifteen years only those closest to him had any knowl- edge of his large benefactions. In the latter part of the spring of 1902 some of the facts concerning his gifts began to leak out. Curi- ously inaccurate and even untruthful state- ments were published in the newspapers, --- caricatures of the man and of his doings. One of the results was that hundreds of beg- ging letters came to him from persons of whom he had never heard, and for objects of which he knew nothing. It vexed him much, and he was advised to put an end to this by a published statement of his donations, and thus let the people know that he had prac- tically given away his fortune. He objected, on the ground that these were private and confidential matters. The pressure, however, became too great, and he dictated a short statement concerning his benefactions. This statement was as here noted: ‘When I got to be seventy years old I thought I ought to be settling up my estate, and in the course of a few years thereafter I gave to Wabash College one hundred and fifty thousand dol- lars. Later I gave a small sum to another college; and I have given away, from time to time, about four hundred thousand dollars to church and charities. During the period from 1886, when I was seventy years old, to the present time I have given to relatives at least four hundred thousand dollars. Dur- ing this time I was accumulating what I could, and reducing my funds by gifts. And while I gave away eight hundred thousand dollars, or thereabouts, I have not had eight hundred thousand dollars at any one time. Among these donations I have given sixty thousand dollars to the Indiana Missionary Society; I have given at least one hundred thousand dollars to the foreign missionary societies, -Presbyterian, Methodist and Bap- tist. I have given forty or fifty thousand

dollars to home missionary societies, - Pres- byterian, Methodist and Baptist.'"

A matter of gratifying comparison at this time was that made in the Boston Globe, which offered the following comment: "An- drew Carnegie has given millions of dollars to found free public libraries, but he con- tinues to receive sufficient dividends from steel stock to pay for a first-class passage to his castle in Scotland. He has millions left in his possession. John D. Rockefeller ha- contributed magnificently to educational and religious institutions, yet never has he re- duced his principal or his income to a point where he would lose his power and prestige in the financial world. The Indianapolis law- ver, however, has, to all intents and purposes, stripped himself of an entire fortune, which he might today have counted in seven figures, and is content to live among his books, in a city block, on plain food, and clothed in rai- ment just fine enough to be respectable. The Hoosier philanthropist practiced economy, as well as law, maintained his integrity, and has thereby been enabled to help the poor, edu- cate aspiring boys and girls of parents who are strangers to him, spreading the gospel at home and abroad, and, without forgetting his own worthy relatives, making the world bet- ter and brighter."

Pure, constant and noble was the spiritual flame that burned in and illumined the mor- tal tenement of Simon Yandes, and to the superficial observer can come but small ap- preciation of his intrinsic spirituality and profoundly religious nature. His faith was fortified by the deepest and most critica! study, and the Christian verities were to him the matters of deepest concern among all the changes and chances of this mortal life. Here are the sentiments that have been expressed concerning this feature of his character: "No man with his intellectual vigor and the love of truth which marked him, could live long without inevitably being brought to inves- tigate the great moral laws governing life, and few men studied more critically and carefully than did he these matters. Few theologians had his learning on theology. Not many of the professors teaching the science of econoni- ics has his attainments on the latter subject. Simon Yandes was a strong man,-a strong man intellectually, a strong man morally. Successful in all he undertook, at the bar he rose rapidly to the first place; in business in an inland town he accumulated a large for- tune; and as a philanthropist he acted so wisely and judiciously as to merit the ap- proval of all interested in the welfare of hu- manity."

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

Though so significantly gifted in an intel- lectual way, Mr. Yandes had naught of in- tellectual bigotry or intolerance. His very heart was attuned to sympathy, and to those who were granted appreciation of the man as he was must ever remain a feeling of rev- erenee and admiration. His love for his mother continued one of the most ideal type throughout the course of his long and use- ful life, and a more tender filial solicitude could not have been accorded while she was living, nor a more loyal sentiment of affec- tion and veneration after she was summoned to the life eternal. It could not be wished to lift the veil that guarded the inmost sanctu- ary of the heart of the man, the good, the noble man, but reference to this dominating love of his gracious mother can not prove malapropos.

Even this brief sketch, it is hoped, may serve to leave upon the mind of the reader some definite impress as to a worthy life and one that has its full measure of inspiration. The life itself signified more than mere words can express, and only may we say that favored were those whose privilege it was to know and appreciate the great, true soul of Simon Yandes. Mr. Yandes never married, and his affections went forth in all of char- acteristic sympathy and loyalty to those of his own family, for whom he made every pos- sible provision and for whom his solieitude remained constant until the end of his life.

PLINY W. BARTHOLOMEW. Among those who have lent dignity and honor to the bench and bar of the State of Indiana a place of distinction must be accorded to Judge Bar- tholomew, who is now presiding on the bench of the superior court of Marion County and who has been a member of the bar of the cap- ital city of this commonwealth for more than forty years,-a period marked by large and distinguished accomplishment in his exacting profession and as a member of the judiciary. He is a scion of one of the old and honored families of our great American republic and by his life and services has well upheld the prestige of the name which he bears. As one of the representative legists and jurists of the state and as one of the leading members of his profession in the city of Indianapolis. Judge Bartholomew is most consistently ac- corded recognition in this historical compila- tion.

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Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 19

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