Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 20

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 20

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Pliny Webster Bartholomew was born at Cabotville. Hampden County, Massachusetts. on the 4th of August, 1840, and is a son of Harris and Betsey (Moore) Bartholomew, of whom more specifie mention will be made in

following paragraphs, in which the genealog- ical line is traced.

William Bartholomew, son of William and Friswede Bartholomew, of Burford, England, figures as the original American progenitor of the family of which Judge Bartholomew is a member. This worthy ancestor was born in Burford, England, in 1602, and the date of. his arrival in America was September 18, 1634. He forthwith took up his abode in Boston, Massachusetts, and soon afterward was made a freeman of the colony. After a short in- terval he removed from Boston to Ipswich, having previously been granted the privilege of trading with visiting vessels. In 1635 he was granted several tracts of land near Ips- wich, Massachusetts, and he became one of the influential citizens of the Massachusetts col- ony. By popular election he retained for many years membership in the general court at Bos- ton, in which office he was prominently con- cerned in the historic trial of Mrs. Anna Hutchinson, who was banished on account of her offensive religious views. On the 11th of January, 1650, he and one other citizen re- ceived, under appointment, power and commis- sion to establish a public school in Ipswich, and he continued a member of this committee until his removal from the town. He and his brother Henry gave fifty shillings to estab- lish and pay the commissioners for the col- onies, and in 1666 he was elected trustee of the county, besides which he held other offices of public trust. He finally returned to Bos- ton, but upon leaving Ipswich he donated to the town all the land that had previously been granted to him at that place, with the pro- vision or suggestion that the same was to be used by the people for a "pasture". This land has been set aside in conformity with his gift and is now known as Bartholomew Hill. He died at Charlestown, Massachusetts, now a part of the city of Boston, on the 18th of Jan- uary, 1680, at the age of seventy-eight years. His active career was devoted to various kinds of mercantile enterprise, and the records still extant indicate that he was successful in busi- ness. He was a man of excellent mental equip- ment, having been graduated in a grammar school in his native town and having broad- ened his mental ken through the experiences and association of his long and useful life. In religion he was a "dissenter", and it is probable that at the time of his immigration to America he was a member of the Presby- terian church. In London, England, was solemnized his marriage to Anna Lord, sister of Robert Lord, who was one of the early set- tlers of Ipswich, Massachusetts.

William Bartholomew (II), son of William

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

and Anna (Lord) Bartholomew, was born at Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1640, and on the 17th of December, 1663, he was united in marriage, at Roxbury, Massachusetts to Mary, danghter of Captain Isaac and Elizabeth John- son and granddaughter of John Jonson, who held the title of "surveyor of all ve king's armies in America". Both her grandfather and her father represented Roxbury for ira years in the general court and they held high social rank. Capt. Isaac Johnson was killed on the 19th of December, 16:5, in the famous Narragansett Fort battle with the Indians, and he met his death while leading; his men over the bridge-a fallen tree-into the Indian stronghold. Mary (Johnson) Bartholomew was born April 24, 1642, but the date of her death can not be found in existing records. As a young man William Bartholomew (11) learned the trade of carpenter, and in 1662 he gained his initial experience in connection with the grist-milling business, with which line of enterprise he was afterward identified on an extensive scale. He assisted his father in the operation of the mill owned by William Brown in Boston, and later aided his uncle, Henry Bartholomew, in the building of the old South mills in Salem, Massachusetts. Rec- ords show that in the latter part of June, 1663, he was staying about ten miles from Medfield, and it is conjectured that at the time he was a millwright at Robert Hensdale's mill. In that locality he participated in a wolf hunt and the company of which he was a member on this expedition had trouble with a party of Indians, who demanded and were refused liquor. His testimony, given on the 5th of April, 1664, was as here noted: "John Levin, aged twenty-four years or thereabout, & Will- iam Bartholomew, aged twenty-three, both sworne .testiffie & saye that beinge at a ffarm at Mr. Richard Parker's, about tenn myles from Medfield about the latter end of June last, did see a company of Indians come to ve ffarm afforsaid and did request to have Liquors ffor saving of some wolves, but Na- thaniell Mott wd not give ym any, but ten- dered ym a pecke of Corne apeece to every vm ffor their paines in deliveringe the wolves, but they refused & were so earnest ffor Liquors that one of the deponcts ws fforced to thrust them out of doores & told ym yt they would not be orderly he would lave handes ym." At the time of the noted raid of the Indians on Hatfield, on the 19th of September, 1627, William Bartholomew was present. His daughter Abigail, aged four years, was taken. with twelve others, and carried through the forests and across the lakes into Canada, where she was kept eight months, being finally ran-

somed, with others, on the 23d of May, 1678, by the payment of two hundred pounds. lu this connection is made the following extract from a letter written by Samuel Partridge to the general court: "Att Eleven of the Clock in ye day time the enemy came upon Hatfield (When ye greatest part of the men belonging to the Towne were dispersed into ye meadows) and Shott down 3 men within ye Towne for- tification, killed and took women and children & burnt houses & Barnes ye number of which are as followeth,-Killed (male) 12; taken 13, including A child of Wmn. Bartholomew; wounded 4."

On the 5th of May, 1649, the town voted to William Bartholomew twenty acres of land on condition that he build a mill and settle in the town. On the "th of February, 1681, he was given permission to set up a saw mill. August 11, 1683, he was appointed to go to Massachusetts Bay to do his utmost endeavor to procure a minister for the town. On No- vember 1st of the same year he was appointed to keep ordinary in Branford. In 1684, in consideration of his endeavors for the procure- inent of a minister, he was granted twenty more acres of land, and in the following year he was associated with John Frisbie in laying out and staking the highway to Guilford. On March 28, 1686 or 1687, he entered into an- other mill agreement, and on January 2d of the latter year the town objected to his dam and wanted him to build a bridge. Ten more acres were laid out for him. April 27, 1687, the town of Woodstock was anxious to obtain his services and passed the following resolu- tion : "The committee in the town's behalf give and grant to William Bartholomew above said, on condition of his building a corn mill on the Falls below Muddy Brook ponds and finding the town with grinding good meal clear of gritt, as other towns have generally found these following particulars,-1. The place at the aforesaid falls to sott a mill wth the benefit of the streams. . . \ fifteen acres home lot with 15 acres right of upland and a thirty acre right of meadow. 3. One hun- dred acres of upland." The Woodstock people were also anxious to have the company of his good wife, Mary, and the following evidences were given: "September 29th. It was granted at a full meeting of the proprietors, that Will- jam Bartholomew should have twenty acres of land * * * provided he bring his wife and settle upon it by next June following."

On the 13th of July, 1689, William Bar- tholomew was commissioned, by the governor of the colonies of Massachusetts, ensign of the New Roxbury Company. In October, 1690, he was made chairman of the committee as-

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signed to the providing for the building of a house for the minister. In November of the same year he became one of the selectmen of the town. . May 21, 1691, he was made lieu- tenant in the militia company mentioned, and June 8, 1692, he was chosen representative at the general court or assembly at Boston. This was a very important session and he consti- tuted a committee on the distribution of pub- lie lands to the inhabitants. His popularity in Woodstock was even greater than it had heen in Branford. The people of the town conferred upon him nearly every honor at their disposal, including those already noted. Thus he was the first representative of the town to the general court and as lieutenant he com- manded all subject to military service in the town. He died at the age of fifty-seven years.

The next in the line of direct descent to Judge Bartholomew, of Indianapolis, was An- drew Bartholomew, son of William (II) and Mary Bartholomew, just mentioned. He was born at Roxbury, December 11, 1670. About 1698 he married Hannah, daughter of Samuel Frisbie, of Branford. He died between 1752 and 1755 and she died February 2, 1741. He managed his father's mills in Branford and Woodstock, and after the death of his father was associated with his brother Benjamin in the operation of the mills. January 11, 1711, the brothers divided their properties and Ar- drew turned his attention principally to agri- cultural pursuits, purchasing large tracts of land in Branford, Wallingford and adjoining towns. He removed to Wallingford prior to 1:29 and there passed the residue of his life. He was a prominent and influential citizen of Branford and held various offices of public trust. Both he and his wife joined the church in that town, in the opening years of the eighteenth century.

Andrew Bartholomew (H), son of Andrew and Hannah ( Frishic) Bartholomew, was born in Branford on the 7th of November. 1714. In Harwinton, Massachusetts, on the 29th of October, 1740, he married Sarah Catlin, of that place, and he died March 6, 1776. His wife was born June 16, 1719, and died De- cember 1, 1789. He was a clergyman and a man of fine intellectual attainments, having been gradnated in Yale College as a member of the class of 1731. He was called as min- ister of the church at Harwinton October 21, 1738, and for settling there he was given one hundred acres of land and one hundred pounds in labor, the latter annually. He accepted, and was ordained October 4. 1738, continuing his pastorate at Harwinton about thirty-five vears. In 1773 or 1774 he- released the inhabitants from paying his salary and they in turn re-

leased him and his wife from the payment of taxes. He there remained, a loved and honored pastor, until his death.

Andrew Bartholomew (ILI), son of Rev. An- drew and Sarah (Catlin) Bartholomew, was born in Harwinton on the 8th of Angust, 1745. December 27, 1769, he married Sarah Wiard, of Farmington. She was born November 25, 1745, and died September 5, 1813. As his second wife he married Eunice Clapp, and his death occurred July 9, 1821. He held the of- fice of key-keeper, sealer of measures, land ap- praiser, etc., for many years. He took the oath of fidelity April 13, 1778, and he served as captain of the militia. In 1796 he pur- chased one hundred acres of land in Mont- gomery, Massachusetts, whither he removed, and he later purchased other land, besides be- coming the owner of grist, saw, shingle and cloverseed mills.

Harris Bartholomew, son of Andrew and Sarah (Wiard) Bartholomew, was born in Montgomery, Massachusetts, on the 28th of May, 1785. On the 26th of January, 1809, he married Irene Parks, who was born March 14, 1789, and who died in Montgomery Octo- ber 25. 1853. He was one of the representa- tive farmers of Montgomery during his entire active career and held the inviolable esteem of the community, in which he was called upon to serve in various offices of public trust, in- cluding those of selectman and school com- missioner. He died in Montgomery on the 28th of March 1860.

Harris Bartholomew, Jr., son of Harris and Irene (Parks) Bartholomew, was born in Montgomery, Massachusetts, on the 11th of September, 1813. On the 16th of April, 1834, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Betsey Moore, daughter of Pliny Moore, of Mont- gomery. She was born May 22, 1808, and died September 3, 1846. On the 14th of Decem- ber, 1847, at Easthampton, Massachusetts, he wedded Miss Deborah Spaulding Coleman. She was born at Shelburne, Massachusetts, on the 11th of Angust, 1827. Mr. Bartholomew was for many years an influential citizen and leading merchant of Northampton, Massachu- setts, and he served as a member of the state legislature in 1850-51. From that place he removed to Watertown, New York, where he was engaged in the shoe business for some time and whence he finally removed to Canton, that state, where he engaged in the dry-goods busi- ness. Later he conducted a general store at Hermon, New York, and while a resident of that place he served as village trustee and school commissioner, besides holding other po- sitions of trust. In 1869 he disposed of his business in Hermon and removed to Indian-

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apolis, Indiana, where for some time he was associated with his son Harris M. in the whole- sale tea and tobacco business, under the firm name of Bartholomew & Son. At the time of his retirement from this line of enterprise the firm's place of business was at 23 East Mary- land street. Having thus severed his connec- tion with business affairs in the capital city, he removed to Cambridge City, this state, where he was engaged in the shoe business for some time and where he served as elder in the Presbyterian church. A few years prior to his death he returned to Indianapolis, where he became proprietor of a shoe store at the old No. 465 South Meridian street, where he continued in business until his demise, which occurred on the 27th of March, 1887. His second wife passed away on the 25th day of November, 1905, at Westfield, and was buried at Crown Hill, Indianapolis. Of the four children of the first marriage one is living, and of the children of the second union two are living. Mr. Bartholomew was a man of upright character, sturdy integrity of purpose and gracious personality, and to him was ever accorded the fullest measure of popular con- fidence and esteem. His political allegiance was given to the Democratic party and he was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian church, in whose work he took an active part.

Pliny Webster Bartholomew, the immediate subject of this review, was the third in order of birth of the children of Harris and Betsey (Moore) Bartholomew, and when he was about nine months old his parents removed from his native town of Cabotville, Massachusetts, to Easthampton, that state, where they main- tained their home for several years, after which they located in Northampton, Massachusetts, where they resided until Pliny W. was about fifteen years old, so that it was in that place that he received his rudimentary education. At the age noted, owing to the business re- verses of his father, who then removed from Northampton, Judge Bartholomew was thrown largely upon his own resources, under which conditions he bravely faced the responsibilities devolving upon him, and he initiated his in- dependent career by securing employment as clerk in a grocery and meat market in North- ampton. where he was thus engaged about two years. In the meanwhile his father had taken up his residence and engaged in business at Canton. New York, and the subject of this review was there employed in his father's store about one year, at the expiration of which the family removed to Hermon, that state.

Endowed with an alert and receptive mind. Judge Bartholomew was early animated with ambition to secure a college education, of whose

advantages he was fully appreciative. With this end in view he passed the required exam- ination which made him eligible for pedagogic honors, and by his labors as a teacher in the country schools he carned the money which enabled him to initiate his college work. In 1861 he was matriculated in Union College, at Schenectady, New York, in which he was graduated in 1864, with the honors of his class. He received at this time the degree of Bachelor of Arts and three years later his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Throughout his collegiate course he defrayed his own expenses by teach- ing school at intervals and by working at various occupations during his vacations.

After leaving college Judge Bartholomew located in the village of Ballston Spa, New York, where he devoted somewhat more than two years to reading law under effective pre- ceptorship. He passed the required examina- tion for admission to the bar, at Schenectady, New York, on the 3d of May, 1865, and forth- with he entered into a professional partner- ship with his honored preceptor, Judge Jesse L'amoreaux, of Ballston Spa, an alliance which obtained until the latter part of November, 1866, when he came to Indianapolis, Indiana, which city has since represented his home and the field of his able and successful endeavors in his profession. Here he has been continu- ously engaged in practice during the long in- tervening period, save for such time as he has served on the bench of the superior court, and his professional business has been large and varied and of important order. As counsel he has been identified especially with many cele- brated cases presented in the courts of the state, as well as in the federal courts, and he is known for his profound and exact knowl- edge of the law and precedents. He has labored with all of ardor and fidelity in his chosen profession, ever showing a deep appre- ciation of its dignity and responsibility and ever observing its ethical tenets in the minutest details. The chief elements of character con- tributing to his success at the bar and upon the bench are. his sound common sense, his knowledge of human nature and clear intui- tion of the credibility and force of evidence, his intellectual integrity and rectitude, his force of will and steady, untiring perseverance, and the conscientious thoroughness of his in- vestigation. Upon the bench his statement of facts is condensed and lucid; his reasoning upon the questions of law or fact is terse, logical and forcible-expressed in language of simplicity and directness and entirely free from ambiguity. With an essentially judicial mind, his record on the bench has been most

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admirable. In 1890 he was elected judge of the superior court of Marion County, and his terin expired on the 26th of October, 1896. On the 3d of November, 1908, he was again called to the bench of the superior court, upon which he is now presiding, and his term will expire on the 12th of November, 1912.

In politics Judge Bartholomew is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, in whose cause he has given most ef- fective service, and he is now a member of the Indiana Democratic Club. . He and his wife are zcalous members of the Memorial Presbyterian Church, in which he has been an elder for a number of years past. He is also a member of the National Presbyterian Brotherhood. He is identified with American Bar Association and the Indiana State Bar As- sociation, which latter he has represented as a delegate to the conventions" of the former, in which he was at one time vice-president for Indiana. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, of which he is past grand represen- tative in the grand lodge of the state, and he is also a past grand dictator and supreme representative of the Knights of Honor, of whose grand lodge in Indiana he is now treas- urer. As a citizen he is essentially pr?

sive and public-spirited, and he has shown a lively interest in all that has tended to con- serve the civic and material advancement of the fair capital city in which he has so long maintained his home and in which he is hon- ored as an able lawyer and jurist and as a man leal and loyal in all the relations of life.

At Crawfordsville, Indiana, on the 30th of January, 1873, Judge Bartholomew was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Belle Smith, a daughter of George W. and Mary (Cromwell) Smith, the latter of whom was a daughter of Colonel Joshua Cromwell, of Lexington, Ken- tuckv. In conclusion is entered a brief record concerning the children of Judge and Mrs. Bartholomew.

Belle Isadora was born in Indianapolis April 2, 1876, and in this city, on the 27th of October, 1897, she was united in marriage to Allin Wright Hewitt. They now reside in Hackensack, New Jersey, and have four chil- dren, namely: Arthur Cromwell, born at East St. Louis, Illinois. August 17, 1898; Helen Louise, born in. Indianapolis, Indiana, June 8, 1900: Sarah Lucile, born at Bogota, New Jersey, February 10, 1905 ; and Dorothy Belle, horn at Hackensack. New Jersey, August 13, 1907. Pliny Webster Bartholomew, Jr., was born October 4, 1880, and died Octoher 13. 1884. Harris Sherley Bartholomew was born April 25, 1885. is now employed in the audit- ing department of the Bruswick-Balke-Collen-

der Company, of New York City, and resides in Hackensack, New Jersey.

LOUIS G. DESCHLER. Among those who have rendered a due quota of aid in the up- building of the "Greater Indianapolis" Louis G. Deschler occupies a position of no minor importance, since he is identified, in a cap- italistic and executive way, with a number of important industrial and commercial en- terprises and is known as one of the alert, progressive and public-spirited citizens of the fair capital city. His precedence as one of the representative business men of Indian- apolis is the more gratifying to contemplate not only by reason of the fact that he is a native son of this city, but especially also on the score that he has attained to success and influence through his own well directed ef- forts, having initiated his association with practical business affairs when a mere boy.

Louis G. Deschler was born in Indianapolis on January 24, 1865, and is a son of Fred- erick Joseph and Louise (Lease) Deschler, both of whom were born in Germany. The former passed the closing years of his life in Indianapolis, where he died October 6, 1897, and here the mother still maintains her home. The father took up his residence in Indianapolis in 1853 and he was long one of the prominent German business men of this city, where he was held in high esteem and where he was an active member of many of the leading German societies. He was a member of the Democratic party till Bryan was first nominated for president, at which time Mr. Deschler joined the Republican ranks, not being a believer in free silver. Both he and his wife were communicants of the Catholic Church.

Their son was reared to manhood in In- dianapolis, which has ever represented his home and which has witnessed his rise from obscurity to a position as one of the substan- tial capitalists and successful business men of the state. As a child he attended a private German school and for a time was a student in a Catholic parochial school, but his edu- cation has largely been gained through self- discipline and under the direction of that wisest of all head-masters, experience. When but thirteen years of age Mr. Deschler left school and initiated his independent career by becoming salesman in a cigar stand. He soon gained a discriminating knowledge of the business and finally assumed charge of the cigar stand in the old Bates House, which occupied a portion of the site of the present metropolitan Claypool Hotel. In June, 1883, when eighteen years of age, Mr. Deschler pur- chased the cigar stand in the Bates House,

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

borrowing the money with which to effect this transaction, and he devoted himself as- siduously to the work of promoting the busi- ness by every legitimate means. His genial personality and careful and courteous service gained to him still stronger hold upon the esteem of the traveling public as well as that of the local trade, and he made his business very successful, as is evident when we revert to the fact that in the ownership of the eigar stand mentioned is to be ascribed the nucleus of the ample fortune which Mr. Deschler has since gained through his energy, aggressive business poliey and sterling integrity of pur- pose. He is now one of the leading whole- sale and retail tobacco dealers in Indiana, and from his wholesale establishment is main- tained a corps of six traveling salesmen. In 1907 he erected his present fine building, known as the Desehler building, at 135 South Illinois street, at a cost of sixty thousand dollars, and this is the headquarters of his

wholesale business. The building is eon- strueted of briek and stone, is thoroughly modern in architectural design and equip- ment and is one of the handsome business bloeks of the eity, being three stories in height. Mr. Deschler maintains six retail cigar stores in Indianapolis, and among the number is the one in the Claypool Hotel, the lineal successor of the business he there main- tained when he began his independent busi- ness eareer. He also has a well equipped re- tail store in the City of Lafayette, Indiana.

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Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 20

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