Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 75

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 75


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Indiana, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1864 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Later his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Shortly be- fore graduation he enlisted in the One Hun- dred and Thirty-seventh Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, one of the hundred day regiments, and nis command was assigned to duty in middle Tennessee, for a period of four months. At the expiration of his term he re-enlisted for three years in the Seventieth Infantry, but was re- jected by the examining surgeon on account of too light physique.


In 1866 Mr. Holliday gave inception to his career as a practical newspaper .man, securing employment on the editorial staff of the In- dianapolis Gazette and later being employed in turn on the Indianapolis Herald and the Indianapolis Sentinel, besides which he was local correspondent for the New York Herald, and the Journal and the Republican of Chicago, as well as the Cincinnati Gazette. In 1869 he founded The Indianapolis News, which had the distinction of being the first two-cent paper es- tablished west of the City of Pittsburg. It is scarcely necessary to state that the exigencies and conditions of time and place did not render possible the exploiting of a paper according to the present metropolitan standards obtaining in the Indiana capital, but The News marked a distinctive advance in the local journalistic field and under his able and resourceful administra- tion it was brought to a place of distinctive precedence in comparison with papers in other cities of the middle west. Its. growth was con- secutive and substantial and under the active management of Mr. Holliday during the long period of nearly a quarter of a century it was developed into one of the essentially great dailies of the country. The mechanical and commercial facilities were kept up to the stan- dard demanded by the expansion of the business and the growth and progress of the city, and the editorial policy was ever definite and as- sured,-free from vacillation, marked by ex- alted public spirit and regulated by principle rather than expediency. For those who know or have known Mr. Holliday this statement needs no voucher. He continued in active asso- ciation with The News, as editor and principal owner, until 1892, when impaired health vir- tually compelled his retirement from the work in which he had been so successful and in which he had done much for the promotion of the best interests of the city, the state and the nation. The Indianapolis News today stands as a monument to the ability and fidelity of the veteran newspaper man who made its success possible.


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HISTORY. OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.


In May, 1893, Mr., Holliday effected the or- ganization of the Union Trust Company of In- dianapolis, which is now one of the most. sub- stantial and important institutions of its kind in the west and which, under the most effect- ive administration, exercises functions of un- equivocal value and beneficence. The Com- pany was incorporated under the laws of the state, with a capital of $600,000. Mr. Holliday became the first president of this financial, in- stitution and continued in tenure of the office until 1899, when he resigned the position and became associated with William J. Richards in the establishing of the Indianapolis' Press, of which he was editor until 1901, when the paper was consolidated with The Indianapolis News and Mr. Holliday servered his, active associ- ation with newspaper work, whose allurement never fails to appeal to those who have once been its devotees. In June of the same year Mr. Holliday was again called to the presi- dency of the Union Trust Company, of which he had continued one of the principal stock- holders, and his time and attention since that year have been given largely to the adminis- tration of the affairs of this corporation. Es- sentially a representative citizen of Indian- apolis and of the State of Indiana, Mr. Holli- day has ever directed his course in such' a way as to command to himself the unqualified con- fidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, and personal character is ever the basis of public approbation.


On the 4th of November, 1875, he was mar- ried to Miss Evaline M. Rieman, of Baltimore, Maryland. She was born in Baltimore, and is a daughter of Alexander and Evaline (Mac- farlane) Rieman. Her father was a prominent and influential citizen and merchant of Balti- more. Seven children were born to this mar- riage; Alexander Rieman, a civil engineer lately engineer on the Vincennes division of the Vandalia Railroad, now constructing en- gineer of the Indianapolis, Newcastle and To- ledo Traction Company ; Mrs. Lucia Macbeth, of Los Angeles, California; Mrs. Evelyn M. Patterson, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; John H. Holliday, Jr., a mechanical engineer with the J. G. White Company ; and the Misses Mary E., Elizabeth C. and Katherine A. Holliday. Mr. Holliday is one of the oldest members of the First Presbyterian Church and has been a ruling elder for many years. He is a member of Thomas Post, G. A. R., of the Board of Trade, Commercial Club, University Club, In- dianapolis Literary Club, the Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Gamma Delta fraternities, a thirty- third degree Mason, and a corporator of the Crown Hill Cemetery. He is and has been a member of the boards of numerous business,


educational, and benevolent corporations. He has been president of the Indianapolis Charity Organization Society, for fifteen years and is also a member of. the Board of State Charities.


HERBERT . L. WHITEHEAD. There can be naught of inconsistency in referring to Mr. Whitehead as one of those who have contributed materially to the civic and material progress and development of. the capital, city of his native state, for he has been a factor in the upbuilding of various industrial and business enterprises, and is a citizen whose loyalty and liberality are of the most insistent type. He is a member of one of the honored pioneer families of the state and has maintained his home in Indianapolis from the time of his birth. His course has been guided and governed by the high principles which are his by inheritance and personal appreciation, and he holds a secure place in the confidence and esteem of the people of his native city.


Herbert L. Whitehead was born in Indianap- olis on the 17th of August, 1863, and is the only survivor of the three children of Rev .. Moses S. and Anna J. (Griffith) Whitehead. His father was born in Licking County, Ohio, and was reared and educated in the old Buck- eye state, where his parents took up their resi -. dence in the pioneer epoch. He came to In- dianapolis in 1858, when.a young man, and here his marriage was solemnized. He was a man of fine intellectual powers and he consecrated his life to the uplifting of his fellow men, having been a clergyman of the Congregational Church and having continued in the work of the ministry until his death, which occurred in Indianapolis in 1877, at which time he was forty-seven years of age. Thus his labors were. cut short while he was in the very prime of his manhood. His wife was born in Indianapolis and was a daughter of the late Humphrey Griffith, an honored pioneer to whom is dedi- cated on other pages of this volume a brief memorial tribute. She passed her entire life in the capital city of Indiana, revered by all who came within the sphere of her gracious and gentle influence, and here she died in 1900, at the age of sixty-seven years.


Herbert L. Whitehead was reared to matur- ity in Indianapolis, to whose public schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline, and he has never wavered in his appreciation of and affection for his native city, which has ever represented to him the gracious environ- ments and associations implied in the word home. He began his business career by assum- ing charge of the various real estate interests of the family, and thus he gained not only an excellent knowledge of local property values but also an inclination for the business to which


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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.


his attention was incidentally directed in the supervision of the various properties held by himself. He became one of the representa- tive real estate dealers of the city, and with this line of enterprise, which has important bearing upon the substantial upbuilding and develop- ment of every community, he has since contin- ued to be identified. He has bought and sold a large amount of city realty in an individual way, and has erected many houses of the better type, thus aiding materially in the development of the city. He was for some time a stock- holder in the Badger Furniture Company, and at the present time is a stockholder in the Lesh Paper Company and the Cottage Con- struction Company, two of the important in- dustrial concerns of Indianapolis, and in the latter he is a member of the directorate. He is the owner of valuable real estate in Georgia, where he has one of the largest pecan groves in the state.


In politics, though never an aspirant for pub- lic office of any description, Mr. Whitehead gives his allegiance to the Republican party. As a citizen, he is liberal, public-spirited and loyal, and he has put forth potent efforts in behalf of civic reforms and in bringing about better social conditions. Thus he is known as an uncompromising foe of the liquor traffic, and he has been specially active in temperance work, in connection with which he is secretary and a member of the Headquarters Committee of the Anti-Saloon League of Indiana. He has been identified with the upbuilding of the local Young Men's Christian Association and was one of its directors for a period of about twelve years. He is numbered among the zeal- ous and devoted members of the First Con- gregational Church of Indianapolis, is identi- fied with the Commercial Club and other repre- sentative civic organizations. He and his wife have traveled extensively throughout the United States, and he has also made tours of Mexico and the Canadian provinces, besides which he visited Panama in 1886. The fine modern residence of Mr. Whitehead, at 3440 Central. avenue, was erected by him and is one of the many attractive homes of the capital city, while it also has prestige as a center of gracious and generons hospitality.


On the 30th of October, 1889, Mr. White- head was married to Miss Lavina Conner, who was born in Hamilton County, being the daugh- ter of the late John Conner, who for many vears was a well known resident of that county. He was the son of William Conner, one of the early pioneers of Indiana, within whose borders he took up his ahode in 1802 as a trader with the Indians. settling near Noblesville, a little hamlet in the midst of the untrammeled forest.


Mrs. Whitehead died in May, 1910. She had been in failing health for a number of years, having visited the leading sanitariums and traveled in the south with the hope of ultimate recovery. She was an earnest worker in the First Congregational Church and a member of the Philomathean Club. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Whitehead, namely: Laurence, Helen, Stuart, Jean and Marion.


HUMPHREY GRIFFITH. A publication of the province prescribed for the one at hand finds one of its most important and consistent func- tions in making permanent record concerning those who have wrought well in the past and have left their beneficent impress upon the annals of their period. In the City of Indian- apolis one worthy of distinction and honor as a sterling pioneer and influential though unos- tentatious citizen, is the late Humphrey Griffith, who died in this city in 1870, at the age of seventy-nine years, and it is to be regretted that there are not available more specific data in regard to his career. He was a man of fine character and strong personality, and it was his to attain a large measure of success in con- nection with various lines of enterprise. He may well be designated as one of the founders and builders of the fair capital city, and it is a matter of justice and satisfaction to offer in these pages as much as possible concerning his life and labors.


Mr. Griffith was born and reared in Wales and possessed in a significant degree the ster- ling attributes of the race from which he sprung. He came to America when a young man and first took up his residence in Lebanon, Ohio, whence he removed a short.time after- ward to Centerville, Indiana, from which vil- lage he came to Indianapolis and attended the first public sale of lots in the newly designated capital of the state. He purchased a number of lots in the village as then platted, and here he took up his permanent residence in the year 1825. Here he had the distinction of being the first resident watch and clock maker and here he opened the first jewelry establish- ment, which, as may be imagined, was one of modest order but on a parity with other busi- ness concerns in the embryonic city. He was successful in his business and in 1838, after having won a competency, according to the standards of the locality and period, he retired from mercantile pursuits. His energy and alert mentality did not, however, lend themselves to inactivity, and through various means he. em- ployed his ability and his financial resources with such discrimination as to become one of the influential capitalists of the town. He became the owner of a very considerable amount of local realty and upon much of this property


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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.


he made substantial improvements. At the time of the Civil War he made large invest- ments in government bonds, and from this source he realized good returns. For nearly two score of years he maintained his home on North Illinois street, and the site of his pleasant old homestead, a center of gracious hospitality, is now occupied by the fine modern structure known as the Terminal building, the same be- ing one of the finest office buildings of the city and also the terminal station of the many in- terurban electric railway lines entering Indian- apolis. He was one of the promoters and build- ers of the Indianapolis & Terre Haute Rail- road, now known as the Vandalia Railroad, and otherwise gave his support to enterprises hav- ing important bearing upon the development and progress of the city and state. He wielded much influence in local affairs of a public na- ture and ever commanded the most unequivocal confidence and esteem in the community which so long represented his home. He served as a member of the city council and later as city treasurer, and in politics he gave his support to the cause of the Republican party from the time of its organization until his death, taking a deep and intelligent interest in the questions and issues of the hour.


Soon after coming to America, Mr. Griffith was united in marriage to Miss Jane Stephen- son, a native of Scotland, and she survived him by about a decade, her death having occurred in Indianapolis, in 1879, at which time she was eighty-four years of age. Mrs. Griffith was a zealous member of the Third Presbyterian Church. Of their eight children, four attained to years of maturity, and one of the number was Anna J., who became the wife of Rev. Moses S. Whitehead, of whom mention is made in the sketch of the career of their son, Her- bert L. Whitehead, on other pages of this vol- ume. John E. and Josiah Griffith died many years ago, the only surviving child of Humph- rev Griffith of this memoir being Pleasant H. Griffith, a well known and highly honored citi- zen of Indianapolis.


GEORGE VAN CAMP. Among the great in- dustrial concerns that have conserved and are admirably maintaining the commercial prestige of the city of Indianapolis is the Van Camp Packing Company, whose well directed and widely disseminated operations have carried the name and fame of Indianapolis into the most diverse sections of the Union as well as into foreign lands. Of this great concern, whose facilities are on a parity with those of similar industrial corporations in Chicago and other cities most noted in connection with this im- portant line of enterprise. George Van Camp, a son of the founder of the business, the late


and honored Gilbert C. Van Camp, is now the vice-president, and he is numbered among the essentially representative business men and in- fluential citizens of his native city. Concern- ing the family history and the career of his father, specific mention is made elsewhere in this publication, so that further review of such data is not demanded in the sketch at hand.


George Van Camp was born in Indianapolis, on the 29th of January, 1861, being the fourth in order of birth of the five children of Gil- bert C. and Hester J. (Raymond) Van Camp. He is indebted to the public schools of the capital city for his early educational discipline, and his business training, initiated in his youth, was of the most through order, having been one of practical and intimate identification with the packing and provision business established by his father many years ago and continued by the great corporation of which he is now vice- president. He has been an active and potent factor in connection with the building up of the magnificent industrial enterprise now con- trolled by the Van Camp Packing Company, and his thorough knowledge of practical details has been coupled with distinctive executive ability in such a way as to materially figure in connection with the development of a business which has had great influence in commerical ad- vancement of the Hoosier capital and which is todav one of its most important industrial in- stitutions. Mr. Van Camp still gives the major part of his time and attention to the affairs of the company, in which his two brothers also are actively associated, as will be noted by refer- ence to individual sketches appearing in this volume. He has not only honored the name which he bears but also the city of his nativity through his well directed endeavors as a man of affairs and as a loyal and progressive citizen, and he holds a secure place in public confidence and esteem in the community which has ever represented his home and the center of his in- terests.


In politics Mr. Van Camp is aligned as a stanch supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and while he is loval to all civic duties and te- sponsibilities he has never sought or desired public office. He is identified with various civic and fraternal organizations of representative order.


In June, 1879, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Van Camp to Miss Nancy J. Sinks, who likewise was born and reared in Indianapolis, and who is a daughter of George and Laura (Rude) Sinks, both of whom are now deceased, and of whose four children three are living. Mr. Sinks was for many years engaged in the


Des Van Camp


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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.


grocery business in this city and was numbered among its honored and influential citizens. All of his four children-one son and three daugh- ters-are living, and of the number Mrs. Van- Camp is the youngest. Mr. and Mrs. Van Camp have three children-Elmer S., Laura Belle, and Bert Rude. The two sons are en- gaged in the packing business at Westfield, In- diana, where operations are conducted under the title of the Hamilton County Packing Com- pany, and they are numbered among the pro- gressive and representative young business men of their native state. They are thus of the third generation to represent the name in con- nection with the one important line of indus- trial enterprise. Mr. and Mrs. Van Camp occupy a position of prominence in connection with the leading social activities of the capital city, and their beautiful home is one notable for its gracious hospitality.


JOHN R. ELDER. On April 27, 1908, when John R. Elder departed for a well deserved rest after the cheerful bearing of worldly re- spcnsibilities for some eighty-seven years, In- dianapolis sorrowed deeply over the loss of its venerable citizen, who, by his kindness and ability, had obtained so strong and close a hold upon its heart and mind. In the progress of its journalism, its education, its public works and its charities, his wholesome enthusiasm and his practical activities had been inspiring and reliable forces. Whatever position he occupied in private life or the public affairs of the com- munity, John R. Elder was the personification of the "right man in the right place" for, al- though he had commendable ambition, he also possessed the common sense which can nicely measure one's own capabilities and curb unrea- sonable aspirations.


Born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, De- cember 7, 1820, Mr. Elder came to Indianapolis with his parents in 1833, attended the city schools and was apprenticed to the printer's trade in the office of the old Indianapolis Jour- nal. Before making a permanent start in the practical affairs of life, he decided to obtain a more complete education, and in the prosecu- tion of this plan, bought a horse and took the old National Road from Indianapolis to Car- lisle, Pennsylvania, where. he attended Dickin- son College. After leaving college, he secured employment with the publishing house of Rob- ert Craighead, New York City, where he re- mained until his return to Indianapolis in 1848. In the following year, he began his career as a newspaper publisher bv establish- ing The Locomotive, a little weekly, of which he was everything. The paper, which became the medium for literary Hoosierdom, is yet re- membered by elderly writers and thinkers for


its bright and broad views of life. Mr. Elder continued the publication of The Locomotive until 1860, when the firm of Elder, Harkness and Bingham bought the Indianapolis Sentinel and conducted it until 1864. Throughout his journalistic career and thereafter, Mr. Elder was unwavering in his devotion to Democratic principles, but was so humane and warm that his friendships embraced men, women and chil- dren of all beliefs and no beliefs.


To the cause of public education, Mr. Elder ever contributed to the utmost limit of his means, time and influence. First, he was an untiring member of the Indianapolis Board of School Trustees, which preceded the Board of School Commissioners, serving continuously in the latter body from April, 1869, to July, 1876. During that period he was made president, and it was in his administration that the City Library was established. It is characteristic of his enthusiasm in all matters which promised improvement to the people he loved that he him- self held the first card issued by the Library management and drew the first book from the circulation department.


The Indiana & Illinois Central Railroad Company had many hundreds of acres of land come into their possession through subscription to their stock. They were located principally in Indiana and Illinois and were all deeded to John R. Elder, Trustee, and were disposed of by him over a period of from eight to ten years. This was, at that time, a very respon- sible trusteeship.


Naturally interested in the important ques- tion of a pure and adequate supply of water for the city, he was largely instrumental in bringing about this necessity to the public health, both as an insistent private citizen, and as president of the Indianapolis Water Com- pany. He was at. one time treasurer of the Indianapolis, Decatur & Springfield Railroad- in fact, there was nothing which concerned the good of Indianapolis which did not appeal to him and which he did not attempt to further. The charities of the city and state never ap- pealed to him without practical results, and for nearly two decades he was officially connected with their management and development. Mr. Elder was one of the original appointees on the Board of State Charities. serving from 1860 to 1864 ; was again a member of that body from 1889 to 1902, unwillingly retiring in the latter year only because the natural burden of years made such responsibilities too heavy for his shoulders to bear. He died as an old and revered attendant of the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, all the acts and ten- dencies of his life being founded on Christian principles.


Vol. II-24


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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.


The deceased was twice married; in 1848 to Miss Julia Ann Orr, who died in 1853, and in 1854 to Miss Amelia A. Line, who died in 1899. The surviving children are William L. Elder, a leading real estate dealer of Indian- apolis (a sketch of whom appears elsewhere) ; Mrs. Frank H. Blackledge, also of this city, and Dr. Edward C. Elder, a resident of Chi- cago.


As a just epitome of the character and works of John R. Elder, the following from the In- dianapolis News, published at the time of his death, is presented as a fitting conclusion to this memorial: "In the death of John R. Elder, Indianapolis loses a citizen who was one of the sturdy body that constitutes the strength of a community. In his long and honorable life-three quarters of a century of it, from his boyhood, lived here-he was active in business and political affairs. With the ad- vantage of an education obtained at Dickinson College -- which was a rare advantage in those days-he was better equipped than most young men. It was natural that he should be found editing a newspaper which then was a literary medium beyond present parallel. From this little weekly paper he came into the publication of The Sentinel, the state newspaper organ of the Democratic party. He was long prominent in educational affairs and public charities. He was successful in business. He wrought well in all ways. and illustrated in his long life the steady attainment that makes the useful and respectable citizen, which he was in the full sense of the term. He was of a genial nature; liked people young and old, apart from the ac- cident of station or association. And so he was a kindlv influence in his personality, as well as in the successive discharge of his duties. He passes among the very last of the genera- tion that knew Indianapolis when it was voung. and the sturdiness of whose purpose and con- stancy of endeavor have gone to the making of the community."




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