Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 56

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 56

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attracted admiring attention, even as it did in his ordinary conversation. His literary contributions were highly valued by technical magazines and other publications.

Mr. Davis by no means confined his atten- tion to public affairs or private business in- terests. Notwithstanding the many and heavy exactions of his business affairs and his rather fragile physical powers, he accom- plished more than could commonly be expect- ed of any one man. In the field of religious work and practical philanthropy, his name will long be remembered and revered in Indian- apolis. As a church and Sunday-school worker he was indefatigable, and his earnest- ness was that of definite consecration. He was one of the organizers of the Riverside Mission Sunday school, on McCarty street, and for nearly fifty years he was the active superintendent of the same. On every Sab- bath he would set forth at an early hour for his mission work, and would remain busily engaged therewith until nearly noon. Hc was never happier than when engaged in this work. He made frequent visitations to the. more humble and poverty-stricken districts of the city, striving to bring children into the mission Sunday schools and also doing all in his power to relieve, by personal aid and sym- pathy, those whom he found in affliction or distress. Not satisfied with the scope and pos- sibilities of his own work, he induced num- bers of his friends to assume personal respon- sibility and labor in the mission field, and he was thus able to build up a strong organiza- tion and to maintain the efficiency of its gen- erous and noble work almost to the last day of his life. He was the friend of all humanity and was especially a lover of children, win- ning to himself the affection of the little ones of all classes and being most generous in providing for those in need. He held mem- bership in the Fletcher Place Methodist Epis- copal Church. His devoted wife, who sur- vived him, was his carnest coworker in all church and mission activities until the time when death severed the gracious ties that had united them for so many years.

In politics, though never a seeker of public office, Mr. Davis gave earnest support to the cause of the Republican party. His loyalty to the Union was of the most insistent order during the crucial period of the Civil War, and it was a matter of deep regret to him that his physical powers were such that he was ineligible for service at the front. Under these conditions it was his privilege, however, to do even greater service in behalf of the Union. It was largely through his assistance that Governor Morton was enabled to secure

loans to provide for the payment of the In- diana troops. The Knights of the Golden Circle and other northern organizations in sympathy with the southern cause made it virtually impossible for the governor to se- cure the requisite financial support at home, and in this emergency Mr. Davis, whose name was a power in financial affairs, aided the governor in securing loans from the banking house of Winslow, Lanier & Company, of New York City. He also did much in divers other ways to uphold the hands of Governor Mor- ton, and he was indefatigable in his efforts to further the cause of the Union. Governor Morton acknowledged that he had few more zealous and valued assistants than Mr. Davis during the time of the war. Mr. Davis was an active member of the Indianapolis Board of Trade, the Commercial Club and the Uni- versity Club. While he was essentially mod- est and unassuming, he left a definite and beneficent impress upon the history of In- diana's capital city, where his works consti- tute his most enduring monument.

In the year 1864, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Davis to Miss Elizabeth Ketcham, whose father was one of the pioneer business men and influential citizens of Indianapolis. Mrs. Davis survived her honored husband by only ten months, having been summoned to the life eternal on the 9th of February, 1910, at Covington, Louisiana, where she had a winter home. Of the children one son and one daughter are living-Lewis K., who is en- gaged in business in New York City, New York, and Suzette M., who is the wife of Hugh McK. Landon, of Indianapolis.

ORLANDO S. COFFIN, M. D. Not too often nor through the agency of too many vehicles can reference be made to the emphatic sig- nificance of the statement of Macaulay, that "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants". Dr. Orlando S. Coffin, one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Indianapolis, is not only a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of Indiana, with whose annals the name has been honorably identified for more than seventy years, but he is also a represen- tative of a lineage traced back in a dis- tinguished and patrician way through many generations in the history of England. While the necessary limitations of an article of this order render impossible the detailed record- ing of the line of direct descent through the various generations, it may be stated that the Coffin family in America is descended from Sir Richard Coffin, knight, who accompanied

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William the Conqueror from Normandy to England in the year 1066, being assigned to the manor of Alvington, in Devonshire. The famous Domesday Book gives ample record of illustrious service and relative distinction on the part of those who have borne the name in England, and the following excerpt from a record of the line is properly incorporated in this sketch: "The authorities respecting the County of Devonshire make honorable mention of Sir Elias Coffin, knight of Clist and Ingarby in the days of King John; Sir Richard Coffin, of Alvington, in the time of Henry II; of Sir Jeffery Coffin and Combe Coffin under Henry III, and other knights, descendants of these, during successive reigns, until the time of Henry VIII, when we find Sir William Coffin, sheriff of Devonshire, highly preferred at court and one of eighteen assistants chosen by the king to accompany him to a tournament in France in 1519. He was also high steward of the manor and lib- erties of Standon in Hertford. By his will he bequeathed his horses and hawks to the king and devised the manor of East Higgington, Devonshire, to his nephew, Richard Coffin, Esq., of Portledge." The ancient coat of arms of the family, is duly recorded in the College of Heraldry, and its motto is as fol- lows : "Pest tenebris speramus lumen de lumine", or "After the shadows we hope for the light of light".

Dr. Coffin is in the tenth generation in di- rect descent from Nicholas Coffin, of Butler, Parish of Brixham, whose will bore date of September 12, 1603, and was proved at Tat- ness, in Devonshire, November 3rd of that year. His son Peter was the next in line and the latter's son Tristam, who was born in Brixham Parish, Devonshire, in 1605, mar- ried Dionis Stephens. They immigrated to America in 1642 and first settled at Salis- bury, Massachusetts, whence, in 1660, they removed to Nantucket Island. Thus it is assured that this Tristam Coffin was the founder of the family in America. From Tristam ' Coffin the line is traced through John (fourth generation), Samuel (fifth gen- eration) and William (sixth generation). The last named was born in 1720 and mar- ried Priscilla, daughter of Nathaniel and Ann Paddock. He removed to New Garden. North Carolina, in 1773. His son Bethnel was born February 6. 1756. and married Hannah Dicks. They lived in Guilford 'County, North Carolina, where, on the 6th of April, 1782. was born their son Zacharias, who was the founder of this branch of the Coffin family in Indiana, and who died at Westland, Hancock County, this state, Au-

gust 21, 1845. His wife, Phoebe, daughter of William and Jane Starbuck, was born March 8, 1782, and died December 18, 1852. Of their eight children the youngest was Nathan Dix Coffin, father of him whose name initiates this article.

The following record concerning Nathan Dix Coffin is substantially that which ap- peared in a special memorial issued within a short period after his death, such para- phrase being made as to make the statements in keeping with the prescriptions of this article.

Nathan Dix Coffin was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, November 6, 1818, and died at his home near Westland, Han- cock County, Indiana, September 13, 1908, aged nearly ninety years. He was of Quaker (Society of Friends) parentage and had .a birthright in the Quaker Church, but having married outside the church, in opposition to its discipline at that time. he was expelled. Rather than say falsely that he was sorry for what he had done, he remained out of the church and afterward became a Universalist, having continued a firm believer in that faith for many years. Politically he was a Whig until the organization of the Republican party, with which he affiliated and remained until his death. His first presidential vote was cast for General William Henry Harri- son, and he never missed exercising his fran- chise as an American citizen down through all the intervening years to the time of Theo- dore Roosevelt's election. He did not aspire to office, but from 1859 to 1861 he was trus- tee of Blue River Township, Hancock Coun- ty. He was a progressive farmer, always interested in the introduction and use of new implements and appliances. By trade he was a cooper and during his early years of fron- tier life he followed his trade in Hancock county, as is evidenced by many specimens of his handiwork still in existence. In the later years of his life he became much inter- ested in bee-keeping, and by close application and study won the distinction of being one of the best informed apiarists in the state. For almost three score years and ten he labored and lived on one farm. From the forest and cabin of logs he lived to see wav- ing grain cover fertile fields and enjoyed the comforts of a modern home." Amidst ardnous duties he became a great reader, a clear thinker and guarded conversationalist. al- ways in touch with the happenings of the world and ever ready to extend a helping hand of sympathy to the needy. It was with care that he and his cherished and devoted wife reared their eight children and with

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inward pleasure saw them grow to maturity.

On the 30th of August, 1838, Nathan Dix Coffin was united in marriage to Miss Mary H. Wheeler, who continued his faithful help- meet and companion for fifty-three years, at the expiration of which the gracious ties were severed by her death, which occurred on the 22nd of December, 1891, at which time she was seventy-three years of age. She was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, October 25, 1818, and was a daughter of John and Keziah (Welch) Wheeler. In the early spring of 1839, only a few months after their marriage Nathan D. and Mary H. Cof- fin came to Indiana and located in Hancock County, settling on a farm-then a forest- where they began life's work with the strength and vigor characteristic of the pio- neer. Together they toiled, and they lived to enjoy the fruits of their labors, in a well improved farm and modern home. They were members of the First Universalist Church of Indianapolis, and at the time of his death Mr. Coffin was the only remaining charter member of Hancock Lodge No. 101, F. & A. M., at Greenfield, Hancock County, which he assisted in organizing fully sixty years pre- viously. Publie-spirited, interested in all civic matters, he was always actively identi- fied with every need of his community. In all the relations of life he worthily bore the character of God's noblest work, an honest man.

His memory is revered by all who knew him in the county which so long represented his home, and of his wife it may well be said that the deepest and most reverent affections was given by all who came within the sphere of her gentle and gracious influence. They became the parents of four sons and four daughters, all of whom are living except one son and one daughter. Of the twenty-one grandchildren eighteen are living, as is also one great-grandchild. Concerning the eight children the following brief record is entered : John Franklin, who resides at Westland, Hancock County, has been twice married and has three children. He was first married to Mary Rawls and two children were born to this union. He was again married to Mollie Stewart and one child was born of this union. Oliver Smith, who is a successful physician and surgeon of Indianapolis, has been twice married, first to Jennie Rawls and the second time to Caroline Thill, and he has three children; Anderson, a physician by profes- sion, died in Hancock County, as did also his wife and their one child: Elmina is the wife of Walter S. Luse. of Fairmount, Indiana, and of their ten children eight are living;

Emily never married and after the death of her mother she cared for her father with deepest filial solicitude until her death, on the 18th of June, 1904; Clementine is the wife of William P. Marsh, of St. Louis, Mis- souri, and they have two children; Orlando S. is the immediate subject of this review; and Mary Eldora is the wife of Ira Brothers, of Saxman, Kansas; she was first married to Lindley Newby, and of their two children one is living.

Dr. Orlando S. Coffin was born on the fine old homestead farm in Blue River Town- ship, near the village of Wheatland, on the 7th of November, 1857, and after availing himself of the advantages of the public schools he continued his studies in the well conducted academy at Spiceland, Indiana. In his youth he assisted in the work and management of the home farmn and his am- bition finally led him to seek a broader field of endeavor. He formulated definite plans and finally began the study of medicine un- der effective preceptorship. In 1881 he was matriculated in the Indiana Eclectic Medical College, in Indianapolis, in which excellent institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1883 and from which he re- ceived his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. He valiantly faced possible appli- cation of the scriptural aphorism that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country", for he began the active work of his profession in his native county, establish- ing himself in practice in Greenfield, the county seat, where he remained until 1887, when he removed to Carthage, Rush County, where he built up a large and representative practice and where he continued to reside un- til 1903, in the spring of which year he took an effective post-graduate course in New York Post-graduate Medical School. In Au- gust of the same year he took up his resi- dence in Indianapolis, where his success and prestige in his profession are on a parity with his recognized skill and versatility. While engaged in general practice Dr. Coffin has realized the broad and ever expanding scope of the work of his profession and has realized that concentration rather than dissi- pation of energy is effective in this field as in all others, so that he is giving special atten- tion to the treatment of the diseases of the stomach, in which connection he has gained marked success and precedence, being one of the representative exponents of his beneficent school of practice in the capital city. He is a valued member of the Marion County Eclec- tie Medical Society. of which he was presi- dent in 1909-10, and he is a former president

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of the Indiana Eclectic Medical Association, in whose affairs he is prominent. He is also a member of the National Eclectic Medical Association and an honorary member of the Wisconsin Eclectic Medical Society. In the Masonic fraternity Dr. Coffin is a past master of Rush Lodge No. 580, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, at Carthage, this state, and his original capitular and chivalric affiliations were respectively with Knightstown Chapter No. 16, Royal Arch Masons, and Knights- town Commandery No. 9, Knights Templar, at Knightstown, Indiana. His present Ma- sonic affiliations are all in Indianapolis and are here designated: Mystic Tie Lodge No. 398; Keystone Chapter No. 6, and Raper Com- mandery No. 1. In politics he accords a stanch allegiance to the Republican party and he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church. As a physician and as a citizen he is held in high esteem in the Indiana metropolis and he is well upholding the prestige of a name long honored in the history of this state.

On the 14th of April, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Coffin to Miss Mary Blacklidge, who was born in Rush County, Indiana, on the 24th of October, 1862, and who is a daughter of Jacob S. and Elvira (Buell) Blacklidge, sterling pioneers of that county. Dr. and Mrs. Coffin have one son. Kenneth Dix, who was born on the 11th of October, 1894.

GEORGE J. MAROTT. The great American republic owes its magnificent upbuilding to the fact that it has developed men of distinct initiative power. There has been room for such men in every progressive business, how- ever crowded it might be. The strength of the man with initiative is one both of ideas and the ability to shape those ideas into con- crete accomplishment. Such a man in the commercial life of the city of Indianapolis is George J. Marott, whose name has long been prominently identified with mercantile and financial interests in the capital city and whose advancement has come through his own ability. his own mastery of expedients. As one of the honored captains of industry in Indianapolis, he is especially entitled to rep- resentation in this publication.

Mr. Marott is a scion of one of the old and honored families of England, where the lin- eage is traced back through many genera- tions. and he is himself a native of what Max O'Rell was pleased to term the "right little, tight little isle". He was born at Da- ventry. Northamptonshire, England, on the 10th of December. 1858, and thus is in the very prime of life. having made splendid

achievement while still a comparatively young man. He is a son of George P. and Elizabeth (Webb) Marott, being the second in order of birth of their six children. The names of the other children are here noted in order of birth: Elizabeth, Ellen, Frederick Currlia, Joseph E. and Katherine. Of the number, all are living excepting Frederick Currlia.

The parents continued to maintain their home in England where the father was manu- facturer of boots and shoes, until the year of 1875, when his father came to the United States and took abode in Indianapolis, estab- lishing himself in the shoe business at 16 N. Pennsylvania street, which he continued until retiring in the year of 1900.

George J. Marott gained his early educa- tional discipline in the common schools of his native place, also having one year of college education in the grammar school at Northampton, England. George J. Marott and brothers and sisters were brought up Episcopalians, being baptized in that faith at Daventry, Northamptonshire, England. He initiated his association with practical business affairs when a mere boy, as he began work in his father's shoe factory before he had attained to the age of eleven years. He learned the business in every detail and by his merit won his advancement through the various departments. Save for the year in college, he continued to be thus actively as- sociated with the business until 1875, when he joined his father in America, having been sixteen years of age at the time. He there- after was employed as clerk in his father's store until 1884, when he gave inception to his independent business career, and that along the line in which he had been so thor- oughly trained. He opened a retail shoe store at 22 East Washington street, Indian- apolis, where he initiated operations on the diminutive capital of one hundred and sixty- seven dollars. From this small inception, he has built up a business that in its line, admittedly takes precedence of other repre- sentative concerns of the sort in the capital city. The finely appointed establishment now affords employment to a corps of nearly forty salesmen, and the trade controlled is . of essentially representative order. His long and prominent identification with this line of business has caused him to be known to the local public as a successful shoe merchant of the capital city, but his business interests have by no means been confined to the one field of endeavor, and indeed, these other in- terests are of even greater importance. He is president of the Kokomo, Marion & West

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ern Traction Company, and built the road in which he owns a controlling interest. This corporation not only owns and operates a fine electric line between Kokomo and Marion, Indiana, but also the local street car system and electric light plant in the City of Ko- komo.

Without doubt, the prime movement creat- ing the Citizens' Gas. Company, was fathered by Mr. Marott, and without his leading work and personal expenditure of thousands of dollars, creating the organization of the Citi- zens' Gas Company, paying salaries for agents and legal fees, fighting the opposition, and causing mass meetings in the interest of creating the Citizens' Gas Company, where- by the citizens' support and that of the news- papers, with the association of prominent men assisting the canse, brought about the successful organization of the Citizens' Gas Company, which here has over a million and a half dollars capital subscribed by the people of Indianapolis, and the company is a pro- nounced success, selling gas for sixty cents per thousand feet while the people of Indian- apolis were formerly compelled to pay ninety cents per thousand feet, to the competing company, and beyond question, millions of dollars will be saved to the people of Indian- apolis, through the creation of the Citizens' Gas Company, and Mr. Marott looks with pride upon the success of the company and the citizens' ownership.

Mr. Marott. in 1890, became owner of the street railroad system of Logansport, In- diana, and assumed the office of president of the company, in which position he continued until 1902, when he disposed of the property. Mr. Marott is also vice-president of the Se- curity Trust Company of Indianapolis, one of the important financial and fiduciary insti- tntions of the state : is the owner of valuable real estate in the city; is interested in a num- ber of large and successful industrial and business enterprises in Indianapolis and other cities of the state. His business interests have a total valuation of more than two mil- lion dollars. These statements are significant, as indicating the fine business and adminis- trative ability of Mr. Marott, whose advance- ment from the position of owner of a small retail shoe store to that of controller of vast capitalistic interests has been accomplished within the past quarter of a century.

Mr. Marott became the owner of the Enter- prise Hotel building, located on Massachn- setts avenue, which was built in 1870, and which hotel was prominently known. He be- ing convinced that Massachusetts avenue af- forded a great opportunity for a department

store, tore down the hotel building and built a modern store in 1906, and after comple- tion, owing to the panie of 1907, the building laid idle, and in the year of 1908, he organ- ized the Marott Department Store Company and occupied the building, making one of the best up-to-date department stores in In- dianapolis, having a capital of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

The elements that have led to the splendid success of this thoroughly representative and distinctively popular citizen of Indianapolis have been noted in appreciative estimates of the man made by John L. Holliday, one of the leading financiers of the state and founder of the Indianapolis News, and Volney T. Ma- lott, president of the Indiana National Bank of Indianapolis and known as one of the most able financiers of the west. The statements of these two eminent citizens are here per- netuated as a proper supplement of this brief review of the career of Mr. Marott.

Mr. Malott has written as follows :

"George J. Marott is one of the leading business men of Indianapolis and through his active ability and foresight has placed him- self in the foremost ranks of the merchants of the middle west. Starting with meager beginnings, he has by the strict observance of good business principles accumulated a large fortune. His operations have not been entirely confined to mercantile pursuits. but he has also been a heavy investor in real es- tate and in public utilities with the state."

An equally appreciative estimate is that given by Mr. Holliday, who has spoken. as follows: "Mr. George J. Marott is one of onr snecessful men and owes that success to his persistent energy, good judgment and close adherence to good business principles and methods. As a merchant. he has taken a comprehensive view of modern conditions and adapted his business accordingly. As an investor and promoter of enterprises. he has been shrewd and daring. yet at the same time conservative, putting money only in such things as promised well in the future and managing those concerns with extreme care and efficiency. He always calenlates the cost. never goes beyond his depth. and makes no engagements that he does not keep.

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Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 56

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