Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 40

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 40

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

that time this attractive homestead has con- stituted the family domicile. The prime ob- ject -of the removal from Indianapolis, as al- ready stated in this context, was that the chil- dren might avail themselves of the advantages of the splendid university which has its seat in Greencastle. The family home is a center of gracious hospitality and is a favored ren- dezvous of a wide circle of friends, young and old.

JOHN R. WELCHI was born in the village of Warsaw, Gallatin County, Kentucky, on the 23rd of October, 1856; he is a son of Thomas and Anne Welch, both of whom were born and reared in Ireland. where their marriage was solemnized, in the City of Dublin, in May, 1855. In the same year the young couple set forth for America, severing the ties that bound them to home and native land, that they might find better opportuni- ties in the United States. They settled at Warsaw, Kentucky, in 1855, and came to In- dianapolis, Indiana, in 1875. and resided here until their deaths. Both were devout com- municants of the Catholic Church and their children were carefully reared in that faith. Of their twelve children the subject of this review was one of twins, the firstborn, and of the number five others are now living.

John R. Welch gained his early education in a parochial school at Carrollton, Kentucky, attending the same until he had attained the age of thirteen years, when, owing to the seriously impaired health of his father, he was compelled to go to work, that he might assist in the support of the family. He con- tinued to be variously employed in his native state until 1875. in May of which year he came to Indianapolis, which city has been his home during the long intervening years, marked by earnest toil and endeavor and hy the winning of success and prestige of no un- certain order. He had no friends or ac- qnaintances in the capital city, but he had been trained in the school of necessity and had well learned the lessons of self-reliance and indomitable courage, so that he was ready to turn his hand to any honest work that he might secure. Thus we find the future capi- talist and man of affairs employed as a com- mon laborer on the streets of Indianapolis during the summer and autumn of 1875, in the service of the Indianapolis Water Com- pany. Later he was for two years in the em- ploy of Kingan & Company, pork and beef packers, and for an equal period . was en- gaged with the old Woodburn-Sarven wheel works. In the meanwhile. realizing the need of further education, he showed that his am- bition and appreciation were those of action,

by entering the night class at one of the lead- ing commercial colleges of Indianapolis, where he completed an effective course of practical study. In 1880 and 1881 Mr. Welch endured the vicissitudes and trials that fall to the lot of a book agent, as he was a travel- ing representative in this line for the National Publishing Company, of Philadelphia, for which he worked in the state of Ohio. He returned to Indianapolis in 1882 and secured a position as bookkeeper, in which vocation he continued to be employed until 1888, when he opened an office on The Circle, now famil- iarly known as "Monument place", and established himself in the real estate, loan and insurance business, with which he has since been continuously identified and in con- nection with which he still maintains his of- fice in Monument place, the unique and dis- tinetive center of the city. He began opera- tions on a modest scale, but the same attri- butes of character that had enabled him to make the preceding steps toward the goal of success and independence, proved efficacious in the new field of endeavor. He brought to bear marked energy, initiative power and ad- ministrative ability and soon built up a pros- perous business, the while he gained popular confidence and esteem by reason of his in- tegrity of purpose ,and his adherence to cor- rect business principles. His agency, in each of its departments, is now one of the most important of its kind in the city and his transactions reach a large volume each year.

In 1884 Mr. Welch was elected secretary of the Celtic Savings & Loan Association, which was at that time a modest neighborhood or- ganization, whose members assembled one evening in each week to make their deposits and transact other requisite business. From this modest nucleus has been built up one of the large and substantial institutions of its kind in the state, and this advancement has been in no small measure due to the faith- ful and discriminating administration of Mr. Welch, who has continued secretary of the association to the present time. An idea of the growth of the association's business may be gained from the statement that its annual report for the year ending June 30, 1909, showed its total assets to be $1,182,715.60. In 1891 Mr. Welch was elected secretary and treasurer of Holy Cross Cemetery Associa- tion, and he still retains this inenmbency. Since 1906 he has been president of the In- dianapolis Fire Insurance Association, which ineludes in its membership all the local fire insurance underwriters and agents of the city. He was one of the organizers and in- corporators of the Union National Bank, of

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

which he is a director at the present time, and he was also one of the organizers of the Marion Title Guaranty Company, of whose directorate he is a valned member. He is a director and member of the executive con- mittee of the Citizens' Gas Company. Mr. Welch has been a member of the Commercial Club from the time of its organization, and this statement also holds true in connection with his identification with the Indiana Democratic Club. He is treasurer of Branch No. 22, Catholic Knights of America, a fra- ternal insurance order. In the centennial year, 1876, Mr. Welch became a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, with which he is still identified. He is a charter inember of Indianapolis Council No. 437, Knights of Columbus, and served two years as its grand knight, or chief executive officer. He was one of the organizers and is an appreciative mem- ber of the Indianapolis Canoe Club. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church, holding membership in the parish of Saints Peter and Paul.

In St. Bridget's Church, Indianapolis, on the 23rd of February, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Welch to Miss Alice Cal- lan, who was born and reared in Indiana and who is a daughter of Patrick and Mary Cal- lan, both natives of the fair old Emerald Isle. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Welch the following brief data are entered : Thomas, born November 28, 1886, died in in- fancy; Mary, born September 1, 1888, died at the age of ten months; Anna was born June 16, 1890; Leo. F., June 16, 1893; Law- rence J., February 4. 1895; John A., June 24, 1896; and Alice, who was born March 6, 1898, died in infancy.

The foregoing brief outline of the career of one of the representative business men and honored citizens of Indianapolis can not but move to appreciation and admiration. though its subject is a man essentially sim- ple and unostentatious in his tastes and hab- its. He has been one of the world's faithful and productive workers, and his success has been worthily won, so that he well merits the high esteem in which he is held in the com- munity that has witnessed his rise from ob- scurity to a position of independence and in- fluence.

VINSON CARTER. The family of which Judge Vinson Carter is a worthy scion was founded in Indiana in the territorial epoch of this commonwealth, with whose annals the name has linked for nearly a century. Each generation has accredited itself well in con- nection with the practical and social affairs of life, and there can be no measure of im-

propriety or exaggeration in referring to Judge Carter as one of the distinguished rep- resentatives of the name which he bears. He has long held prestige as one of the able members of the bar of his native state and was engaged in the active and successful prac- tice of his profession in Indianapolis for near- ly thirty years prior to his elevation to the bench of the superior court, in 1896, since which year he has served with distinction in this important judicial office.

Judge Carter was born at Mooresville, Morgan County, Indiana, on the 16th of July, 1840, and is a son of John D. and Ruth (Pickett) Carter. His father was born in North Carolina, on the 1st of March, 1811, and in 1813, when he was about two years of age, his parents removed to the wilds of the ter- ritory of Indiana, where he was reared to manhood and received such educational ad- vantages as were afforded in the common schools of the pioneer era. The family set- tled in Morgan County, where his parents passed the remainder of their lives and where his father reclaimed a farm from the forest wilderness. He himself became one of the influential citizens of that county, where the major portion of his active career was de- voted to farming, and where he continued to maintain his home until his death, which oc- curred June 10, 1900. He was a birthright member of the Society of Friends and throughout his life clung to the simple and noble religious faith exemplified by this de- nomination. In politics he was a supporter of the cause of the Whig party until the organization of the Republican party, when he transferred his allegiance to the latter, with which he continued to be allied until the close of his long and useful life. He was a man of strong mentality and sterling in- tegrity and while he ever manifested a loyal interest in public affairs he was never a seeker or holder of political office. He was a son of Nathaniel and Ann (Ramsey) Carter, both of whom were natives of North Carolina, where their marriage was solemnized in 1804 and where they continued to reside .until 1811, when they removed to Indiana, as al- ready noted. Nathaniel Carter was a son of Nathaniel Carter, who was the founder of the family in North Carolina, where he made settlement with others of the Society of Friends, of which he likewise was a birth- right member .. His father also bore the name of Nathaniel and was the original progenitor of the family in America, whither he immi- grated from Dublin, Ireland, between 1720 and 1730, settling in Pennsylvania, where he passed the residue of his life. He had be-

Vinson Carter

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

come a member of the Society of Friends prior to coming to America.

In Morgan County, Indiana, was solemn- ized the marriage of John D. Carter to Miss Ruth Pickett, who was born and reared in that county, where her parents, Benjamin and Patience (Hadley) Pickett, were pioneer settlers. Her mother was a granddaughter of Simon Hadley, founder of the Hadley family in Pennsylvania, and of this worthy ances- tor the Hadleys of both Morgan and Hen- dricks counties, Indiana, are descendants. Mrs. Ruth (Pickett) Carter was summoned to the life eternal in 1888, having, like her hus- band, been a consistent member of the So- ciety of Friends. Of the ten children, of whom five are living, Judge Carter, subject of this review, was the third in order of birth.

Judge Vinson Carter passed his childhood and youth on the homestead farm of his fa- ther, in Brown Township, Morgan County, this state, and after duly availing himself of the privileges of the common schools of the locality and period he entered Earlham Col- lege, at Richmond, Indiana, where he studied for two years. In 1865 he was matriculated in the University of Indiana, at Blooming- ton, in which he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1867 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Science.

In the meanwhile Judge Carter had subor- dinated all other interests to manifest his youthful patriotism as a loyal son of the re- public, for it was his to render valiant serv- ice in defense of the Union when its integ- rity was thrown into jeopardy through armed rebellion. On the 7th of August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company E, Twelfth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to the front. In the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, on the 30th of Au- gust, 1862, he was wounded, and he was thereafter incapacitated for field service. From May, 1863, until the close of the war he held special assignment to duty as In- diana military agent in Tennessee and Geor- gia. He received his honorable discharge from the Union army about April, 1863.

Judge Carter was first admitted to the bar in 1867, in Bloomington, where he was in the office of General Morton C. Hunter. On Oc- tober 23, 1867, after graduation, Judge Car- ter came to Indianapolis, being shortly aft- erward admitted to the Marion County bar, where he practiced until 1896 as noted.

After thus amply fortifying himself for the work of his chosen profession, Judge Car- ter opened a law office in Indianapolis, where he continued in active practice of a general

order from 1867 until 1896, since which time he has held the office of judge of the superior court of Marion County. Both as a trial lawyer and as a counselor he won distinctive success and precedence, and while engaged in active practice he was not only concerned in much important litigation in the state and federal courts in Indiana, but was also re- tained as counsel for important corporations and representative business men. Upon the bench his record has been one notable for fidelity and for the exemplification of true judicial acumen, the while it is recognized by his professional confreres that his is a con- prehensive and profound knowledge of the minutiae of the science of jurisprudence, so that his rulings are invariably fair and equit- able and his decisions such as to meet with very few reversals by the higher courts.

In politics Judge Carter has ever been ar- rayed as a stalwart in the camp of the grand old Republican party, and he has been an ef- fective exponent of its principles and poli- cies. In 1881-3 he was a member of the state legislature of Indiana, in whose house he represented Marion County, and in the session of 1881 he was chairman of the ju- diciary committee of the house, besides hold- ing membership in other important commit- tees. He and his wife are zealous and promi- nent members of the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, and he is also a mem- ber of the session of this denomination. The only fraternal organizations with which he is identified are the Grand Army of the Repub- lic and the Sigma Chi college fraternity. He is an active and valued member of G. H. Thomas Post, No. 17, Grand Army of the Republic.

On the 1st of October. 1867, was solemn- ized the marriage of Judge Carter to Miss Emma Maxwell, daughter of Dr. James D. and Louisa (Howe) Maxwell, of Blooming- ton, Indiana. Mrs. Carter was born at Bloomington, where she received her early ed- ucation, which was supplemented by a course in Glendale Female College, at Glendale, Ohio, in which institution she was graduated as a member of the class of 1864. Her father was one of the leading physicians and sur- geons of Bloomington and followed the pro- fession of his honored father, Dr. David H. Maxwell, who likewise was an able physi- cian and who served as a surgeon in the United States army in the War of 1812; he was a prominent and influential citizen and honored pioneer of Indiana and a member of the convention that adopted the present constitution of this commonwealth. Judge and Mrs. Carter have but one child, Anna,

Vol. II-13

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

who was born at Bloomington, Indiana, on the 5th of August, 1870, and who is now the wife of Herbert S. Wood, teller in the In- diana National Bank, in Indianapolis.

GEN. BENJAMIN A. RICHARDSON is one of the veteran representatives of the real estate and insurance business in Indianapolis, which city has been his home for more than two score of years and with the civic and business interests of which he has been identified prominently and worthily. No citizen holds a more secure place in popular confidence and esteem and few are better known or more highly honored in the capital city. General Richardson, who gains his military title from his conspicuous identification with the In- diana National Guard, was a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil War, and in the "piping times of peace" his loyalty has been of the same insistent type that prompted him to go forth in defense of a righteous cause when the integrity of the nation was jeopardized by armed rebellion. An earnest, upright and honored citizen, General Rich- ardson is well entitled to consideration in this work, devoted to "Greater Indianapolis" and its representative people.

Benjamin Austin Richardson was born at Wolcott, Wayne County, New York, on the 30th of April, 1840, and is a son of Lewis and Mary Jane (McElroy) Richardson. The father was born in Oneida County, New York, in November, 1813, where he was reared on a farm and where he received a common-school education. A few years after his marriage he removed with his wife and their three children to Wayne County, New York, where he purchased a tract of land and engaged in agricultural pursuits. The locality is known to this day as Richardson's Corners. In 1859 he removed with his fam- ily to Delaware, Ohio, which thereafter rep- resented his home during the greater portion of the time until his death, which occurred at the home of his son Benjamin, in Indian- apolis, in 1890. During the Civil War the family resided in Wayne County, Indiana, where the loved wife and mother died, at Dublin, in 1862. The father later returned to Delaware, Ohio, where he was engaged in insurance for many years. Mary Jane (Me- Elroy) Richardson was born at Trenton Falls. Oneida County, New York, on the 20th of April, 1813, and was a daughter of William and Esther ( Austin) MeElroy. She was a woman of gentle and gracious person- ality and one of deep Christian faith, having been a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church, with which the family had been iden- tified for many generations. She died in

Wayne County, Indiana, in 1862, as has al- ready been stated. Lewis and Mary J. (Me- Elroy) Richardson became the parents of five sons and two daughters, and of the number three sons and two daughters are now living.

The original progenitor of the Richardson family in America was Samuel Richardson, who was born in England, in 1610, and who came to this country in 1635 or 1636. He was a surveyor by profession and it is a matter of record that he surveyed and laid out the town of Woburn, Massachusetts, of which he was one of the first settlers and in which he was one of the founders of the first church. His son Samuel, who was born at Woburn, Massachusetts, on the 22nd of May, 1646, was four times married. His last marriage was with Sarah Hayward, daughter of Na- thaniel Hayward, and their nuptials were solemnized on the 6th of September, 1680. Their son David was born at Woburn, Massa- chusetts, on the 14th of April, 1700, and on the 19th of October, 1726, he married Remem- ber Ward. Their son, Captain Aaron Rich- ardson, was the next representative in the line of direct descent to the subject of this sketch, was born at Newton, Massachusetts, on the 2nd of October, 1740, and he married Ruth Stingley. Their son, Nathan Henry Richardson, grandfather of him whose name initiates this article, was married on the 24th of January, 1813, to Mary Roberts, daughter of Eben and Mary (Higbee) Roberts.

Benjamin A. Richardson, to whom this record is dedicated, was born and reared on a farm, and he early began to assist in its work and in aiding in the support of the large family. His early educational privi- leges were those afforded in the district schools of Wayne County, New York, and his scholastic training was secured mainly through attending these somewhat primitive institutions of learning during the winter terms, as his services were demanded in con- nection with the work of the home farm dur- ing the summer seasons. He was sixteen years of age at the time of the family re- moval to Delaware, Ohio, where he attended a ward school for two winters. In the autumn of 1861 he was a student in the schools at Dublin, Indiana, for three months. With the thundering of rebel guns against the ramparts of old Fort Sumter, the youth- ful patriotism and loyalty of General Rich- ardson were raised to the ntmost protest, but he was at first unable to secure the parental approval of his enlistment in the Union ranks. He finally prevailed upon his loved mother to consent to his wishes, and he went to Richmond. this state, where, in August,

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1862, he enlisted as a private in Company C, Eighty-fourth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, forthwith proceeding to the front. His elder brother, Nathan, had enlisted in April, 1861, and had died in the service, and this shock, together with the anguish caused by the enlistment of the younger son, proved too severe a test upon the devoted mother, who died three weeks after the subject of this sketch had gone to the front. General Rich- ardson served, as a private and later as a non- commissioned officer, until the close of the war, and was mustered out, in the City of Indianapolis, on the 10th of May, 1865, duly receiving his honorable discharge. Upon his return to Indianapolis General Richardson was appointed clerk in the office of Major Dunn, chief mustering officer, in old Wash- ington Hall, on Washington street, and of the fifty clerks there employed in attending to the mustering out of returning soldiers he was the last to be dismissed. He closed the business for Major Dunn and made the lat- ter's final report to the government. There- after General Richardson was employed as a bookkeeper in the wholesale leather estab- lishment of John Fishback until the spring of 1866, when, through the kindly mediation of the late William N. Jackson, he secured a position as collector for the Indianapolis Gas Light & Coke Company, in whose offices he was finally given the position of cashier. He continued a trusted and valued employe of this company until 1876, when, at the advice of his physician, he gave up office work and turned to a line of enterprise that did not entail habits of so sedentary a nature. He engaged in the insurance business and later expanded the functions of the same to in- clude a general real estate business. To these important lines of enterprise he has con- tinued to devote his attention during the long intervening years, and he controls a large and representative patronage in both departments of his business. His operations in the real estate field have involved the handling of a large amount of valuable city and farm property, his knowledge of real estate values is recognized as authoritative, and his course has been so guided and governed by the high- est principles of integrity and honor that he has ever maintained an inviolable hold upon popular confidence and esteem. During the first years of his residence in Indianapolis General Richardson came to a realization of the importance of securing more technical knowledge if he hoped for definite success in the business world, and he thus attended night school in the Bryant & Stratton and the Purdy business colleges in Indianapolis,

in the latter of which he was graduated, hav- ing there received instructions in penman- ship from Robert Spencer, a son of the author of the Spencerian system.

General Richardson became a member of the first military company organized in In- dianapolis after the close of the Civil War, the commander of the same having been Gen- eral Daniel McCanley, who had served as a colonel in the Civil War and had received the brevet rank of brigadier general. This company became a part of the battalion com- manded by Colonel Frederick Knefler. After- ward, when the military spirit began to run high, a company of Zouaves was organized by the young men of Indianapolis, and Gen- eral Richardson was elected captain of the company, which was named in his honor, the "Richardson Zouaves". This company gained a reputation of national order and won honors in 'every competitive drill in which it was entered, both in fancy Zouave and strictly United States army tactics. The company was regularly mustered into the In- diana National Guard, and in May, 1882, it entered the competitive drill in the national encampment at Houston, Texas, being the first northern company to go south of the Ohio River for such a purpose after the close of the Civil War, as prior to that occa- sion northern military organizations believed that a blue uniform would not be well re- ceived in the south. The reception given to the Richardson Zouaves in Houston was cor- dial in the extreme, and the result was that many other northern companies went to the south the following year, thus promoting the entente cordiale that has since obtained be- tween the two sections. General Richardson was commissioned major and made inspector of rifle practice on the staff of Governor Chase, and in 1897 Governor James A. Mount conferred upon him the well merited appoint- ment of quartermaster general of the In- diana National Guard, with the rank of brigadier general. Within his term of office occurred the Spanish-American War, and in connection therewith it devolved upon him to provide the equipment for the Indiana soldiers who volunteered for service in that conflict. Under his direction also was effected the reorganization of the state militia after the close of the war, and this was accom- plished with no loss of property to the state. the while the full approval and acceptance of his reports and returns was made by the national government. General Richardson is still actively identified with the Indiana Na- tional Guard, and is one of its most honored veteran members.

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Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 40

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