Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 55

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 55


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909


HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.


1876, he purchased the hardware stock and business of the firm of Anderson, Bullock and Schofield. Upon entering this new field of enterprise Mr. Van Camp found that new methods were demanded to insure the effec- tive and profitable operation of the business. His plans were quickly and wisely formulated and within a comparatively short time he had placed the business upon a substantial basis. Satiety of accomplishment has never been in evidence at any point in his business career, and thus we find that he soon found means for expanding the scope of his enterprise. This was done by the consolidation of his business with the iron house of Hanson & Bergunthall. This consolidation was accom- plished in 1876 and in 1884 the business was incorporated under the title of the Hanson- Van Camp Company. In 1886 Mr. Hansou withdrew and thereupon a new corporation was formed, under the present title of the Van Camp Hardware & Iron Company, of which corporation Mr. Van Camp has been president from the beginning. The volume of trade was doubled within the three follow - ing years and the business of the company has continued to show a steady and substan- tial increase, so that the concern now ranks as one of the first of the kind in the west. The house does a wholesale business and its large and finely equipped establishment, one of the largest jobbing houses in the country, is located at 401-425 West Maryland street. In January, 1899, Mr. Bergunthall was com- pelled to retire from the business on account of impaired health, and Mr. Van Camp pur- chased his interest, since which time he has given the major portion of his attention to the supervision of this large and important business, of which he is the chief executive officer.


Meanwhile he achieved an equally notable business success. After entering the hard- ware business, in 1876, Mr. Van Camp, with his father, organized the Van Camp Packing Co., which by good management has devel- oped into one of the leading packing com- panies of the country. He remained with this enterprise until 1900, when he surren- dered the management to his brothers Frank and George.


Mr. Van Camp is not the type of man to vaunt his own success or accomplishments, and in view of this fact it is the more grati- fying to offer the following estimate paid him by a prominent banker and influential citi- zen of Indianapolis, who said: "I have known Mr. Van Camp intimately throughout his business career and consider him a born mer -. chant and financier. His is the leading hard-


ware and iron house in the state, and there are but few larger in the West. The concern is very aggressive and is constantly extending its trade into new territory. Mr. Van Camp is the man who deserves the credit for build- ing up the business and putting it on its present sound financial footing. In my opin- ion this has required greater ability and more energy and persistence, in an inland city like Indianapolis, than would be needed in a city such as St. Louis or Chicago. Though of a very retiring disposition, Mr. Van Camp is strong and self-reliant in meeting the mani- fold problems of business life."


A' man of broad mental horizon and of most practical ideas, Mr. Van Camp has been sig- nificantly liberal and public-spirited as a citizen, and his influence and capitalistic sup- port have been given to numerous enterprises and measures aside from the splendid busi- ness which he has built up in his chosen field. Thus we find that he was one of the organ- izers and a director since the organization of the Indianapolis Southern Railroad Company, whose line, from Indianapolis to Effingham, Illinois, at which latter point connection is formed with the Illinois Central lines, gives Indianapolis a through-route to the South. This had added materially to the precedence of the city as a railroad and distributing cen- ter whose commercial facilities are of the highest grade. He has contributed in many ways to the industrial, commercial and civic progress of the capital city and no citizen is more loyal to its interests.


One who has had the power to achieve so noteworthy success cannot fail to have definite conviction in regard to matters of public pol- ity, and thus Mr. Van Camp is found arrayed as a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor. His reverence for the spir- itual verities represented by the Christian re- ligion is of the most insistent and definite type, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Second Presbyterian Church, in which he has served as deacon and of whose board of trustees he is a member at the present time. He is a member of the Univer- sity, Columbia, Country and Commercial clubs, and the Board of Trade.


Concerning the personality of the man no better estimate could be asked than that given by one who has known him thoroughly as a citizen and as a man among men: "He is nobly generous, giving cheerfully and abun- dantly to every worthy philanthropy, but al- ways in a quiet way, shrinking from all osten- tation and display. He may be termed a si- lent worker, letting not his left hand know


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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.


what his right hand doeth, and true as steel to whatever cause he may espouse. I have never known a man in whom there is so lit- tle of the ego as in Cortland Van Camp."


On May 28, 1876, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Van Camp to Miss Fannie A. Patterson, daughter of Samuel J. Patterson, who was a representative citizen of Indian- apolis until the time of his death. Of the five children of this union three are living. Ray- mond Patterson Van Camp, the eldest son, was educated in the Michigan Military Acad- emy, at Orchard Lake, and at the first call for troops upon the inception of the Spanish- American War he promptly tendered his services, enlisting in Battery A, Twenty-sev- enth Indiana Volunteers, and remaining in service with his command until the same was mustered out. He is now a vice-president of the Van Camp Hardware & Iron Company at Indianapolis. Ella D., the next in order of birth, is now the wife of John T. Martindale. Samuel Gilbert, the second son, is a vice-pres- ident and general manager of the Van Camp Hardware and Iron Company; and Cortland Malott died in 1909. The home of Mr. Van Camp is the handsome residence known as 1324 North Delaware street.


DOUGLAS A. LEATHERS, M. D. A physician and surgeon of distinctive ability, Dr. Leath- ers is one of the representative members of his profession in the capital city of his native state, where he controls a large general prac- tice and is held in unequivocal esteem as a leal and loyal citizen.


Dr. Douglas A. Leathers was born on a farm in Hendricks County, Indiana, on the 13th of September, 1859, and is a son of James M. and Martha J. (McDonald) Leath- ers, the former of whom was born in Ken- tucky, in 1813, and the latter was a native of Virginia, where she was born in the year 1818. Their marriage was solemnized in In- diana and of their nine children, five are liv- ing, the subject of this review being the eighth in order of birth. James Madison Leathers was a son of Charles Leathers and the lineage is traced back to stanch old Eng- lish origin. Five brothers of the name came to America from England. and one of the number, Paul, took up his residence in Ken- tucky. From him the subject of this review is a direct descendant. William McDonald, inaternal grandfather of the doctor, was a native of Scotland, and upon his immigration to America located in the State of Virginia, whence he later removed to Indiana, where he continued to reside until his demise. Charles Leathers became a successful farmer in Kentucky, where he continued to reside


until about 1833, when he removed with his family to Indiana and located in Morgan County, where he purchased a tract of land and developed a good farm, passing the re- mainder of his life in that. county.


James Madison Leathers was reared to ma- turity in Kentucky and he was twenty years of age at the time when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Morgan county, Indiana, where he was engaged in agricul- tural pursuits for a number of years, after which he removed to Hendricks County, where he was identified with the same line of industry for a period of about six years. He then returned to Morgan County, where he became the owner of an excellent landed estate and where he continued to reside un- til his death, which occurred in 1880, his de- voted wife having been summoned to the life eternal in 1873. Both were zealous mem- bers of the Christian Church, he was a Dem- ocrat in his political proclivities, and was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. He was a man of strong mentality and forceful individuality, and through his well directed endeavors as a farmer and stock-grower he attained to a large measure of success. Such was his integrity of character and his genial personality that he gained the friendship and good will of all with whom he came in con- tact, and his life was one of signal worthiness in all its relations.


Dr. Leathers was a child at the time of his parents' removal from his native county of Hendricks to Morgan County, in which latter he was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm, early beginning to lend his aid in its work and in the meanwhile availing himself of the advantages of the district school. This discipline he supplemented by a course of study in the high school at Mooresville, Morgan County, and at the age of twenty years he began reading medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Amos W. Reagan, of that place. During the session of 1881-2 he attended lectures in the Indiana Medical College, in Indianapolis, and he then entered the celebrated Jefferson Medical College, in the City of Philadelphia, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1886 and from which he received the de- gree of Doctor of Medicine. He came forth admirably fortified for the work of his chosen profession, and his initial labors in the same were made as a partner of his former precep- tor, Dr. Reagan, of Mooresville, where he continued in practice for five years, at the expiration of which, in February, 1891, he removed to Indianapolis, where he has since been engaged in general practice and where


911


HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.


he has built up a large and representative professional business, based alike upon his unquestioned ability and his personal popu- larity. He is a member of the Marion County Medical Society and the Indiana State Medical Society.


A man of broad views and loyal citizen- ship, Dr. Leathers naturally takes a definite interest in matters of public concern, though he has never sought or held political office. His allegiance is given to the Democratic party, and both he and his wife hold member- ship in the Christian Church. In the Ma- sonic fraternity he has attained to the thirty- second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in which he is identified with Indiana Sovereign Consistory, Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret. In the Blue Lodge of the order he is affiliated with Orien- tal Lodge No. 500, Free and Accepted Ma- sons.


On the 25th of September, 1895, was sol- emnized the marriage of Dr. Leathers to Miss Alice M. Morgan, who was born in Morgan County, Indiana, and who is a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Griggs) Morgan, the former of whom was born in Tennessee and the latter in Pennsylvania. . Mr. Morgan was of Welsh descent and his wife of German lineage. He died at the age of sixty-five years and she was summoned to eternal rest in 1909, at the venerable age of eighty-four years. Of the ten children Mrs. Leathers is the youngest, and of the number three are now living. Mr. Morgan became one of the successful farmers and influential citizens of his section and continued to reside on his fine homestead, near Brookland, Morgan County, until his demise. He was a stanch adherent of the Democratic party and both he and his wife held membership in the Christian Church. Dr. and Mrs. Leathers have but one child, Paul Reagan, who was born on the 28th of February, 1887.


JOHN ROBERTS has been a resident of In- diana since his boyhood days and has been prominently identified with industrial and business interesta in the capital city, where he now maintains his home and where he is living virtually retired, after many years of earnest and fruitful endeavor. He is the owner of much valuable realty in this city and in supervising his interests of this order he finda ample demands upon his time and attention.


Mr. Roberts is a native of the City of Cin- cinnati, Ohio, where he was born on the 13th of December, 1831, and he is a son of Joseph and Hannah (Miller) Roberts. both of whom were born in England. Of their four chil-


dren two are living, of whom the subject of this review is the younger. The father was reared and educated in his native land and came to America when a young man, locating in Cincinnati, where he continued to follow his trade, that of stone-cutter, until his death. In politics he gave his support to the Demo- cratic party.


Soon after his mother's death, John Rob- erts went to the home of his uncle, Philip Hyde, a successful farmer in Franklin County, Indiana. There he was reared to maturity, early beginning to assist in the work of the farm, and securing his early educational discipline in the district school, two and one-half miles distant from his home. He remained with his uncle until he was about twenty years of age after which he was employed for eight months as teacher in the little school house in which he himself had received his training. Though corporal punishment was the approved form of disci- pline in those days Mr. Roberts did not sanc- tion this method of correction, and during his entire service in the pedagogic profession he administered such chastisement to only one boy, whose incorrigibility made him a veritable "thorn in the flesh" to the patient teacher. After the conclusion of his labors as a teacher Mr. Roberts took up life as a farmer in Franklin County, whence he later removed to Wayne County, where he was engaged in the same industry, and where he was also engaged in the general merchandise business, as a country merchant, for a num- ber of years. After the Civil War he re- moved to Indianapolis, where he purchased an interest in a planing mill, on New York street. He was associated in the operation of the same several years, at the expiration of which he returned to Wayne County, pur- chasing a farm near Richmond and making substantial improvements on the property. He there remained, industriously engaged in agricultural pursuits, about seven years, and he then returned to Indianapolis, where he became associated with his son-in-law in the purchase of the Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine building, in which he and his part- ners continued the manufacturing of the woodwork for the Wheeler & Wilson ma- chines and also manufactured desks of vari- ous descriptions for about three years. Mr. Roberts disposed of his interest in this prop- erty and business, and he has since lived an essentially retired life, having an attractive home at 1404 Center avenue. He sold his farm in Wayne County after his return to Indianapolis. He has made extensive and judicious investments in Indianapolis real


912


HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.


estate, and to the management of his various properties he still continues to give his per- sonal supervision. He is a liberal and loyal citizen, taking a consistent interest in all that concerns the civic and material welfare of the community, and in political matters he main- tains an independent attitude. He is held in high esteem in the capital city and is worthy of much credit for the definite success to which he has attained through his own efforts as one of the world's workers. He and his wife are communicants of the Episcopal Church.


Mr. Roberts married Miss Mary A. Nyc, who was born and reared in Franklin County, this state, and who is a daughter of Joshua and Mary C. (Morehead) Nye, the former of whom was born on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and the latter in Oxford, Ohio. Mr. Nye became one of the successful farmers of Franklin County, Ohio, where both he and his wife continued to reside until their death. They were members of the Universalist Church and in politics Mr. Nye was aligned as a supporter of the cause of the Whig party. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have five chil- dren, namely : Flora L., wife of F. A. Coffin ; Lydia R., wife of William E. Coffin; Annie, wife of August E. Dietrichs; John N., the maiden name of whose wife was Amy W. Willard, and Daisy, the wife of C. M. Foster.


ENOCH WARMAN is the pioneer in the liv- ery business in Indianapolis, and his identi- fication with the business life of this city covers many years. He was born on his father's farm in Marion County, Indiana, the land being now embraced in the city lim- its of Indianapolis, December 29, 1836, a son of Henry and Nancy (Parsons) Warman, natives respectively of Virginia and of New Jersey. They were married in Wayne Coun- ty, Indiana, and of the nine children which blessed their union the following three are now living : Pheban J., Enoch and Amanda E., the daughter being the wife of Joseph Flock. Henry Warman, the father, moved with his parents to Ohio, and a number of years later to Wayne County, Indiana, where he was married in Hagerstown, and was engaged in farming there for some years. In 1833 he came to Marion County, and he spent the remainder of his life here, dying in 1854, when fifty-four years of age, and he was one of the pioncer farmers of the county. Mrs. Warman died in August of 1889.


The boyhood days of Enoch Warman were spent on his father's farm in Marion County, attending school during the winter months and helping on the home farm during the summers. and when he reached the age of


twenty-five years he engaged in farming for himself. Coming to Indianapolis in 1869 he embarked in the livery business here, and with the exception of the eight or nine years when he was engaged in buying and selling horses at the Union Stock Yards, he has been identified with this business ever since, be- ing the pioneer liveryman of Indianapolis. He is a member of the Board of Trade, and in politics is a Democrat, although he is an independent local voter. Mr. Warman in March of 1869 married Martha J. Hedrich, born in Iowa, and they have had three chil- dren, two daughters and a son, but Frank, the only son, was drowned at Seattle, Wash- ington, in July of 1904, when about thirty- two years of age. He had been engaged in the lumber and dry kiln business there, and was a young man of fine character and splen- did ability. The two daughters are Nancy E. and Alice, but the younger died at the age of seven years. Mr. Warman is highly esteemed as a business man, and is honored as one of the pioneers of Indianapolis.


FREDERICK A. W. DAVIS. A man of strong and noble character, a citizen of distinguished loyalty and public spirit, a kindly and gen- erous philanthropist. a business man of marked acumen and mature judgment- Frederick A. W. Davis gave much to the fur- thering of the best social and material inter- ests of Indianapolis, which city was his home for more than half a century and which was the theater of his able and successful efforts as a business man and as one who did more than all others to give the capital city its present admirable water system-a work of lasting benefit in that it insures abundant supply. of pure water for domestic purposes, protection from fire and conservation of pub- lic health. His liberal policy and progressive ideas caused him to spare no effort to bring the waterworks system of Indianapolis up to the highest standard of efficiency. His labors as president and treasurer of the Indianapolis Water Company transcended mere commer- cialism to become fruitful in good for the en- tire community. Self-aggrandizement was never the object of this sterling citizen, and to those in the least familiar with his long and useful career there must ever remain a feeling of appreciation and admiration for the man himself and of reverent tribute to one who was ever ready to "do good by stealth and blush to find it fame." Indianapolis was the center of his business activities during practically his entire career, and to the inter- ests of the city his loyalty was of the most earnest order. He passed the closing days of his life in the home of his only son, Lewis K.


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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.


Davis, at Pelham, New York, where he died on the 9th of April, 1909.


Frederick A. W. Davis was born at Jack- son, Missouri, on the 24th of September, 1836. His parents were numbered among the worthy pioneers of that state. He received but limited educational advantages in his youth, but his receptive mind, his ambition and his well directed reading in later years proved conclusively that he had the power to make good the early handicap, for he became a man of broad and exact general informa- tion, acquired a wonderful command of cor- rect English and gave the impression of ex- cellent scholarship-an impression that was fully justified, even though he had been de- nied higher academic advantages.


In 1852, when but sixteen years of age, Mr. Davis came to Indianapolis, where he hoped to secure employment as a machinist. He was unsuccessful in his quest for a position of this order on account of his delicate physique and under these conditions he assumed a clerkship in the store conducted by John M. Talbott, at the corner of Washing- ton and Meridian streets. Later he was simi- larly employed by Mr. Pernell, another of the early merchants of the city, and still later he was a valned salesman in the dry-goods es -. tablishment of G. G. Holman, on West Wash- ington street. The industrious and honorable young salesman had in the meanwhile gained the confidence of the local business com- munity, and larger opportunities soon opened to him. After leaving the employ of Mr. Holman he secured a position in the Indian- apolis branch of the Bank of the State of In- diaria, and he eventually became a well known and valued factor in connection with financial concerns in the Indiana capital. For some time he was both paying and receiving teller in the Fletcher & Sharpe Bank, from which was eventually evolved the present Fletcher National Bank. Later he became cashier of the Indiana Banking Company, a position of which he continued incumbent until the bank became insolvent. This unfortunate result came about through no fault of his, but was the outcome of the misguided ambition of some of his associates. The stern, honest and deep human sympathy of Mr. Davis were well exemplified at this time, for it became known that, though no obligation of the kind could legitimately be placed upon him, he voluntarily reimbursed from his private means many of the small creditors of the bank who would otherwise have lost their all in this failure of the bank.


In 1881 Mr. Davis was elected vice-presi- dent and treasurer of the Indianapolis Wa-


ter Company, and of this dual office he con- tinued in tenure until 1904, when, upon the death of General Thomas A. Morris, he suc- ceeded the latter in the office of president, which he held, together with that of treas- urer, until his death. Mr. Davis' connection with the Indianapolis Water Company was brought about from the fact that the Indiana Banking Company, of which he was cashier, as already noted, had extended loans on the stock of the water company, and it was for the purpose of protecting the interests of the bank that he assumed active association with the affairs of the water company. His services in this connection, marked by broad and liber- al policy and clear vision as to. future de- mands, enabled him so to enhance the value of the bank's holdings that its loans, which were large, were to a considerable extent made good. In conserving the bank's inter- ests Mr. Davis actively identified himself with the affairs of the water company, and in 1881 he assumed practical charge of the plant. He thus faced a work demanding superior ad- ministrative and constructive ability, and he well proved his resourcefulness and power in handling successfully the heavy and ever-in- creasing business burdens thus placed upon his shoulders. He not only reorganized the financial system of the company, but by his wise executive policy and determined progres- siveness brought the waterworks of Indian- apolis to the high metropolitan standard that is in evidence to-day-when Indianapolis has a water system that is excelled by those of few, if any, cities in the Union. Through his careful and wisely directed labors throughout a period of more than a quarter of a century the city has come into an abundant supply of water of unquestioned purity, and the people of the city are insured excellent service at reasonable rates. For his efforts in this one department of public utility Mr. Davis' name merits a place of lasting honor on the roll of those who have contributed to the advance- ment and upbuilding of "Greater Indianap- olis". He was an active member of the American Water Works Association, of which he was president in 1898. He took a deep interest in both the technical and practical work of this organization. At nearly every meeting of the association he presented a pa- per upon some relevant subject, and his con- tributions in this line were recognized by ex- perts as being specially valuable in connection with progressive work in providing the most effective water systems. Not only did his ar- ticles show a broad and exact grasp of scien- tific and practical details. but it was also true that the purity and clarity of his diction ever




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