Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 49

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 49


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On the old homestead farm which was the place of his birth Dr. John C. Stephenson passed his boyhood and youth, and his early educational training was secured in the pub- lic school in the village of Zionsville. Later he entered the Central Normal College, at Danville, this state, in which he completed the course in natural sciences and also the preparatory medical course, being gradu- ated as a member of the class of 1885. At the age of eighteen years he began teaching in the district schools of his native county, and he continued successful work in the ped- agogic profession until he was twenty-three years of age .. In 1887-8 he was a student in the Medical College of Ohio, in the city of Cincinnati, and upon leaving this institu- tion he was matriculated in the Medical Col- lege of. Indiana, in Indianapolis, where he completed the prescribed course and was graduated in March, 1889, with the well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. He forthwith initiated the active work of his profession in Indianapolis, where his success has been of the most unequivocal order and where he has maintained his home in the same section of the city to the present time. His present residence and office is at 2025 East Tenth street. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Society, and the Indianapolis


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Medical Society. Though never active in, the domain of "practical politics", the doctor gives a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party; he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church; and in the Masonic fraternity he has attained to the thir- ty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, being affiliated with the various local organizations in this branch.


On the 26th of October, 1892, was solemn- ized the marriage of Dr. Stephenson to Miss Ida M. Murphy, who was born in Indianap- olis on the 19th of May, 1869, and who is a daughter of John W. and Anna (McGuire) Murphy, both of whom were likewise born in Indianapolis, members of sterling pioneer families of this state, and both of whom con- tinued to reside in the capital city until their death. Mrs. Stephenson is their only living child. Dr. and Mrs. Stephenson became the parents of two children-John H., who died in infancy; and Francis E., who remains at the parental home.


JOHN C. PIERSON. As a representative business man and popular and progressive citizen of Indianapolis Mr. Pierson is well entitled to consideration. in this compilation. He is one of the leading general contractors of the capital city, being senior member. of the well known firm of J. C. Pierson & Son, which controls a large and important business and holds an invulnerable reputation for correct methods in all transactions and for marked facility in the execution of contracts of ex- tensive order.


Though John Chanlers Pierson has been a resident of Indiana since his boyhood days, he claims the fine old Keystone state of the Union as the place of his nativity, having been born in Westmoreland County, Penn- sylvania, on the 2nd of October, 1841, and being a son of Salathiel Tudor Pierson and Mary (Weimer) Pierson, both of whom were likewise born in Pennsylvania, being repre- sentatives of sterling pioneer families of that state. The lineage of the Pierson family is traced back to stanch English origin and the Weimer family is of German extraction. Salathiel T. Pierson was born at Cookstown, Pennsylvania, and he died in Indianapolis in 1854, when but thirty-four years of age. His wife was born in West Newton, West- moreland County, Pennsylvania, and she was summoned to the life eternal in 1893, at the age of seventy years. Their marriage was solemnized at West Newton in 1839, and of their five children four are now living-John C., whose name initiates this article; David, who is a resident of Indianapolis; Cas Ann, who is the wife of William Spencer, of In-


dianapolis; and Levi S., who resides in In- dianapolis. Thomas died at the age of five years.


Salathiel T. Pierson was a successful con- tractor and builder in Pennsylvania. where he continued to reside until 1848, when he removed with his family to Indiana and took up his residence in Shelbyville, where he continued in the same vocation until the time of his death, at which time he held the con- tract for the erection of the court house of that county. He was an appreciative mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, under whose auspices his funeral was held. In politics he gave his support to the cause of the Whig party and both he and his wife were zealous members of the Baptist Church.


John C. Pierson was six years of age at the time of the family removal from Penn- sylvania to Indiana, and he secured his early education in the public schools of Shelbyville and Acton, this state. He had begun to learn the carpenter's trade under the direction of his father and was but fourteen years of age at the time of the latter's death, after which he completed his trade under the supervision of his uncle, Levi S. Pierson, with whom he continued to be associated in contracting and building, at Indianapolis, this state, until the time of his marriage. Soon after this important event in his career Mr. Pierson established his permanent home in Indianap- olis, where he has been continuously engaged in general contracting since the spring of 1865, being now one of the pioneers in this line of industry in the city and here commanding unqualified popular confi- dence and esteem, based on public appre- ciation of his integrity and honor as a busi- ness man and as a representative citizen. In 1896 he admitted to partnership his eldest son, Chiron C., and they have since been as- sociated under the firm name of J. C. Pier- son & Son, controlling a general contracting and building business that in extent and im- portance is not exceeded by any similar con- cern in the city. It is needless to say that Mr. Pierson has contributed materially to the upbuilding and progress of Indianapolis, where his operations have been long contin- ued and of wide scope, and he has the distinc- tion of being now the oldest contractor en- gaged in business in the city, which has rep- resented his home since the year 1859-& period of a full half century. In politics he is a stalwart Republican and he and his wife are numbered among the oldest members of the Baptist Church in this city. He has been a member of the same for forty years, and he


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assisted in the erection of the First Baptist Church of Indianapolis.


On New Year's day of the year 1864, .was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Pierson to Miss Martha J. Fowler, who was born at Ox- ford, Ohio, on the 30th of August, 1843, and who is a daughter of Dr. John J. and Emma Fowler, the former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter in Indiana. Dr. Fowler was sixty years of age at the time of his death. The grandmother of Mrs. Pierson at- tained to the extremely venerable age of one hundred and three years, having retained a remarkable mental and physical vigor, as is evidenced by the fact that on her one hun- dredth birthday she walked half a mile. Dr. Fowler was a successful physician and sur- geon, having received his professional train- ing in Miami University, at Oxford, where he was engaged in practice for some time and whence he finally removed to Pleasant View, Shelby County, Indiana, where he continued in active professional work until within three years prior to his death. He was a Whig in politics, was affiliated with the Ma- sonic fraternity, and both he and his wife were zealous members of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. Of their large family of chil- dren four are now living, Mrs. Pierson hav- ing been the fifth in order of birth. Con- cerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Pier- son the following brief data are given: Chiron C., as already stated, is engaged in business with his father and is one of the representative business men of his native city ; Madoro Maud is the wife of Lynn Mil- Jikan, of Indianapolis; Ernest H. is engaged in contracting in Indianapolis; Marna M. is the wife of Dr. Albert E. Acher, of Fort Dodge, Iowa; and Mary died at the age of five years.


WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. A life conspicuous for the magnitude and variety of its achieve- ment was that of the late William H. Eng- lish, who died at his home in Indianapolis, on the 7th of February, 1896, and who was one of the most distinguished and honored figures in the history of Indiana. His influ- ence transcended such local limitations to per- meate the national life, and so great accom- plishment as was his, implies strength of character and inflexible integrity of purpose. He rendered service to the state and nation to the fullest extent of his powers; his la- bors were unsparing and his honesty of pur- pose beyond cavil. The reflex of the high honors conferred upon him was the honors he in turn conferred. It is not easy to de- scribe adequately a man who was as distinct in character and who accomplished as much


as did Mr. English, and the limitations of this article are such as to give only a cur- sory glance at the individuality and achieve- ments of the man-not permitting extended genealogical research or critical analysis of character. By his great ability he gained many political honors and much material success, and yet he was a man significantly free from ostentation-reserved, self-con- tained and master of himself-so that he was well fortified for leadership in thought and action.


William Hayden English was born at Lex- ington, Scott County, Indiana, on the 27th of August, 1822, and was the only son of Hon. Elisha G. and Mahala (Eastin) Eng- lish. The original American progenitor of the English family was James English, who was a son of Thomas English and who im- migrated to America about the year 1700, set- tling near Laurel, Delaware. His son, James English (II), was the great-grandfather of the subject of this memoir. Elisha Eng- lish, son of James (II), was born in Delaware, where was solemnized his marriage to Sarah Wharton (daughter of Capt. Revel Whar- ton). who likewise was a native of that state. In 1792 they removed to Kentucky, where their son, Elisha Gale English, was born, having been one of fourteen children. In 1830, when venerable in years, they removed to Greene County, Illinois, where several of their children had established homes. There they passed the residue of their lives, their wedded companionship having covered a pe- riod of more than sixty years. All of. their fourteen children married and had children of their own before this venerable couple passed to the life eternal, and at that time their descendants numbered about two hun- dred.


Major Elisha Gale English, father of Hon. William H. English, was the founder of the family in Indiana and was one of the earliest settlers in Scott County, where he took up his abode in 1818. He was a man of great prominence in his day and generation and no pioneer of the state was held in higher pop- ular. esteem. He served several terms as sheriff of Scott County ; for nearly a score of years he was in almost continuous service as a member of either the House of Represen- tatives or the Senate of the Indiana legis- lature; and later he held the office of United States marshal for the district of Indiana. When he first removed to Scott Connty that section of the state was still the rendezvous and habitation of large numbers of Indians. and only a few years previous had occurred in that county the brutal Indian massacre .


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known in history as the Pigeon Roost mas- sacre. Concerning this honored pioneer the following pertinent statements have been made: "Coming into the state shortly after its admission to the Union, Major English had an important part in the making of her early history. His name was known and re- spected over a wide territory and his influ- ence in the formation of the early laws and institutions of the state is felt to this day. Major English never gave up his home in Scott County, but he spent most of the time during the closing years of his life at the home of his son, William H. English, in In- dianapolis, in which city his death occurred November 14, 1874. Major English married Mahala Eastin, a native of Kentucky, whither her parents, Lieutenant Philip and Sarah (Smith) Eastin, removed from their native state of Virginia, and she was one of their family of seventeen children."


In the maternal line William H. English was a direct descendant of two notable char- acters in the colonial history of the nation- Louis DuBois, the Huguenot patentee and colonist of the Kingston and New Palz dis- tricts in the state of New York, and Jost Hite, who established the first settlement west of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, where he received from King George II of England, a grant of more than one hundred thousand acres of land, upon which he lo- cated his colony of fellow German emi- grants. Lieutenant Philip Eastin, grandfa- ther of the subject of this memoir, served as an officer in the Continental line in the War of the Revolution, in the Fourth and Eighth Virginia Regiments, and continued his serv- ice in the cause of independence until the close of the war. Captain Charles Smith, great-grandfather of Mr. English in the ma- ternal line served under George Washington, then a colonel, in the French and English colonial war and was severely wounded in the battle of Great Meadows. Mr. English was also of the fifth generation in direct descent from Colonel John Hite, who was an officer in the colonial forces previous to the Revo- lution. Although advanced in years, he be- came an active patriot and following the Declaration of Independence became a mem- ber of the first board of justices of Frederick County, Virginia, under the new government and administered the oath of allegiance to the other members. Captain Revel Whar- ton, another direct ancestor, commanded an American privateer during the Revolution. was captured in action and died on board of an English prison ship.


Under the conditions and influences of the


early pioneer epoch in Indiana William Hay- den English was born and reared, and as may well be understood, his specific advan- tages for gaining an advanced education were most meager. He was ambitious and appre- ciative even as a boy and after attending the primitive district school at irregular intervals he was finally enabled to complete a three- years'. course of study in Hanover College,. one of the early and prominent educational institutions of the state. He had early pos- sessed an ambition to study law, and upon the completion of his college course he gave all possible attention to delving into such legal books as he could obtain, and his splen- did powers of absorption and assimilation may be realized when it is stated that when but eighteen years of age he proved himself eligible for and was admitted to the bar, with the privilege of practicing in the circuit court. At that time examinations in law were very rigorous, and the young man must have possessed a very thorough knowledge of his subject to have secured the requisite grade for admission to practice. At no point in the distinguished career of Mr. English did he reach satiety, and thus his ambition was not content with the limitations of his field of labor after he had progressed thus far. Soon afterward he applied to the Supreme Court for examination, and he successfully passed the rigid test of that period and was admitted to practice before that tribunal. One who knew him long and well has spoken of Mr. English in the following statements, which are apropos in this particular connection : "He possessed a mind noted for its logic and clearness of reason, and his marked success at the bar could not but have been assured had he chosen to remain in that profession. For a short time he was associated in the practice of law with the famous Joseph G. Marshall, but his ambitions were always in the line of politics, and he soon accepted an office in one of the departments at Washing- ton, which he held four years. This seemed to divorce him entirely from his old practice of the law. After returning to Indiana from Washington he commenced a very active in- terest in politics, always identifying himself with the Democratic party and assisting in fighting its battles. with the highest vigor and ability. Even before he waa of age he was chosen a delegate from Scott County to the Democratic state convention which nomi- nated General .T. A. Howard for governor. At that time there were no railroads, and his trip to the capital was made on horseback. requiring six days. When Tyler was elected president Mr. English was made postmaster


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at his old home, Lexington, the then county seat of Scott County. In 1843 he was elected principal clerk of the state House of Repre- sentatives, although his competitors embraced some of the most influential and talented men in the state.


"Directly after the session ended, the presi- dential canvass in which Henry Clay and James K. Polk were pitted against each other opened with vigorous enthusiasm on both sides. Mr. English took the stump in this campaign, in behalf of Polk, and after the election of the latter he was appointed to a position in the treasury department at Wash- ington. During the next presidential cam- paign he was a vigorous opponent of General Taylor, and consequently, on the day before the latter's inauguration, he sent to Presi- dent Polk a vigorous letter of resignation, which was copied by the press all_over the country. In the Democratic national conven- tion of 1848, Mr. English's father and his un- cle, Revel W. English, were vice-presidents, and two other uncles were delegates. In that convention he first met Samuel J. Tilden, be- tween whom and himself there existed a strong friendship until the death of Mr. Til- den.


"During the memorable session of Con- gress in 1850 Mr. English was clerk of the claims committee in the U. S. Senate, and listened to the famous speeches made by Webster, Benton, Calhoun, Cass and Clay. At the close of that session he resigned his position and returned to his Indiana home. At that time the question of the revision of the old state constitution was being agitated, and to that end the people of the state had decided to call a constitutional convention. In October, 1850, the representatives who had been chosen for that purpose met in Indian- apolia, and Mr. English had the honor of be- ing elected secretary. At the adjournment of the convention he was delegated to per- form the important duty of supervising the publication of the constitution, the journals and addresses."


From the foregoing statements it will be seen that Mr. English, though not yet thirty years of age, had become an important fac- tor in connection with political affairs in In- diana. In 1851 he was chosen to represent his native county in the state legislature, al- though the opposition was in the majority and its candidate one of the strongest and most influential men in that part of the state. Mr. English was thus a member of the legis- lature during its first session after the adop- tion of the new constitution, and in the race for the position of speaker of the house the


young legislator was defeated by only nine votes, the victory having gone to John W. Davis, who had previously served as speaker of the national house of representatives at Washington and who later served as minister to China. Before many days had elapsed, however, a disagreement arose between the speaker and the house and Mr. Davis re- signed. The next day an election was held and Mr. English was chosen speaker by a majority of twenty-eight. During a term of three months not a single appeal was taken from his decisions, and at this session many radical and important changes were effected in the laws of the state, being made necessary following the adoption of the new constitu- tion.


The admirable record made by Mr. Eng- lish in the legislative assembly marked him for higher official honors and gave him pres- tige as one of the leaders in public affairs in his native state. In October, 1852, after an effective personal campaign, he was elected to represent his district in Congress, and he entered the national legislature at the begin- ning of the administration of President Pierce, of whose political measures and poli- cies he was ever an earnest supporter. The following brief estimate of his services in Congress must suffice for this necessarily cir- cumscribed narrative of the career of Mr. English.


At that session the famous Kansas-Nebras- ka bill was introduced in the house and was referred to the committee on territories, of which Mr. English was a member. He was strong and vigorous in his views on this ques- tion and did not agree with the other mem- bers of the committee in the propriety of the measure at that time. While they were agreeing on the majority report he waa busy formulating a minority report, in which he advocated, some very important amendments.' They were not adopted, but without doubt they led to modifications of the bill in the Senate, and the Senate bill was finally adopted as an amendment to the House bill and en- acted into a law. In his position on that question Mr. English was the pronounced champion of the popular sovereignty idea, leaving to the inhabitants of the territory the privilege of determining such laws as they desired to make in relation to the institution of slavery. His amendment was voted down, but one almost exactly similar in purport was formulated in the Senate and became a provision of the law as enacted.


During all the period Mr. English was in Congress he was prominently identified with all of the measures relating to slavery. His


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position on that question was set forth in one of his speeches, which is now a part of the Congressional Record: "I am", he said, "a native of a free state and have no love for the institution of slavery. Aside from the moral question involved, I regard it as an injury to the state where it exists, and if it were proposed to introduce it where I re- side I would resist it to the last extremity." His position, however, was not that of the abolitionist. He believed with the leading men of that period that the question of slav- ery ought to be left to the people of the lo- calities were it existed or would have to be.


Mr. English was one of the three represen- tatives from a free state who were able to secure re-election to Congress in the face of their position on the Kansas-Nebraska bill. At this time his opponent was Judge Thomas C. Slaughter, a bitter partisan, and for that reason, perhaps, Mr. English was elected by an increase of one hundred votes over his previous majority. About this time know- nothingism had a remarkable hold on the po- litical sentiment of the country, and, although it seemed at the time to be little less than political suicide to do so, Mr. English entered upon a campaign against the secret organiza- tion of such vigor and determination that he undoubtedly contributed as much as any other man in the nation to the downfall of that un-American element in American poli- tics.


For eight years Mr. English was a regent of the Smithsonian Institution, and in the course of an arraignment of the management of that institution he made a highly com- mendable speech in defense of the accused. For that he received letters of gratitude and friendly regard from many of the renowned scientists in the country. In the capacity of regent he had a great deal to do in controll- ing the finances of the institution.


At the close of his second term in Congress Mr. English was not a candidate for re- election, but the convention, after taking for- ty-two indecisive ballots, determined unani- mously to insist on his accepting the third nomination, which he finally agreed to do, and he was elected by a much larger major- ity than ever before. At the beginning of the session Speaker Orr appointed him chairman of the very important committee on post- offices and post roads. The agitation of the slavery question continued, and application waa made to admit Kansas as a state, under the Lecompton constitution, which did not prohibit slavery. This was opposed ardently by Mr. English, on the ground that there had been no satisfactory declaration by the peo-


ple of Kansas in its favor. During the entire session he steadfastly opposed the admission of Kansas until the Lecompton constitution had been ratified by a vote of the people. For five months this was the all-absorbing topic in Congress. The Senate passed a bill ad- mitting Kansas under the Lecompton consti- tution, but this bill, owing in a measure to Mr. English's vigorous antagonism, failed to receive the sanction of the House of Repre- sentatives. The House passed a bill as a sub- stitute for that of the Senate, but the latter body would neither accept this nor the presi- dent approve it, and thus a seemingly irrep- arable breach was forced between the two houses of Congress and the president. At this stage, when the whole country was ex- cited over the situation, it devolved upon Mr. English to propose a remedy, which he did by moving for concurrence in the proposi- tion of the Senate asking for a committee of free conference. When it came to a vote in the House the excitement was intense. The result was a tie, but the speaker voted in the affirmative and the motion carried. Mr. Eng- lish, together with Alexander H. Stevens of Georgia and W. A. Howard of Michigan, constituted the House committee. At first the two committees could not get together, but finally Mr. English submitted a proposition, afterward known as the "English bill", which finally passed both houses and furnished the solution of the long standing difficulty. The effect. of this new law was that the people of Kansas were to come into the Union under the Lecompton constitution or not, as they chose. Mr. English had in his possession at the time of his death a letter from President Buchanan earnestly thanking him for his services in settling this vexed problem.




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