USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 8
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CHARLES W. SMITH. It is signally con- sonant that in a publication of the province prescribed for the one at hand there should be entered a record concerning Charles W. Smith, an honored member of the bar of the capital city of Indiana, where he has been en- gaged in the practice of his profession for more than forty years and where he is senior member of the firm of Smith & Duncan, which represents the oldest law firm in the city and which controls a large and important busi- ness. Mr. Smith is a native son of Indiana and a member of one of its sterling pioneer families. It was also his to represent this commonwealth as a soldier in the Civil War. and in the work of his profession also has he honored his native state through his able and conscientious services.
Charles W. Smith was born on the home- stead farm in Washington Township, Hen- dricks County, Indiana, on the 3d of Feb- ruary. 1846. His father. Morgan Lewis Smith. was a native of the State of New York. of English lineage, and in the old Empire com- monwealth he was reared and educated. In 1832, when a young man, he came to Indiana and settled in Hendricks County, where he purchased a tract of land, which he eventually reclaimed from the forest, making it one of the valuable farms in that section of the state. In 1834 he returned to the East, and in that voar was solemnized his marriage to Miss Margaret Iliff, a resident of New Jersey. She was born in Pennsylvania and was of stanch Welsh ancestry. Shortly after their marriage the young couple set forth for their new home in Indiana, and they passed the residue of their lives on the homestead farm of which mention has just been made. Of their four children Charles W. was the second in order
affectionately
C
June truly Thomash Sulhwan
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of birth, and of the number two are now living.
Under the invigorating discipline of the farm, Charles W. Smith was reared to maturity, and after duly availing himself of the ad- vantages of the common schools of the locality and period he continued his studies in Dan- ville Academy, at Danville, Indiana. He thereafter completed a course in Asbury Uni- versity, now known as DePauw University, at Greencastle, Indiana, in which he was grad- uated as a member of the class of 1867. In the meanwhile, however, he had abandoned his studies to respond to the call of higher duty. In April, 1864, he enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, for a term of one hundred days, at the expiration of which he re-enlisted. Later he was transferred to a command of colored troops, in which he became an officer and with which he served until the close of the war. He was mustered out as first lieutenant and adju- tant of the One Hundred and Ninth United States Colored Infantry, and he duly received his honorable discharge after his return to Indiana. He has ever retained a deep interest in the "boys in blue" who aided in perpetuat- ing the integrity of the nation during the dark days of the great internecine conflict, and signifies the same by holding membership in George H. Thomas Post, No. 17, Grand Army of the Republic, in Indianapolis, of which post he is senior past commander, be- sides which he holds membership in the In- diana commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
Mr. Smith resumed his collegiate studies after the close of his military career, and aft- er his graduation in Asbury University he located in Indianapolis, where he became a student in the law office of the firm of Bar- hour & Jacobs, having previously devoted no little attention to preliminary study of the law. His acquirements were such /that in 1868 he was graduated in the Indiana Law School, in Indianapolis. In the same year he was admitted to the bar of his native state and was admitted to partnership with his former preceptors, Messrs. Lucian Bar- bour and Charles P. Jacobs, whereupon the name of the firm became Barbour. Jacobs & Smith. This alliance continued only one year, at the expiration of which Mr. Smith with- drew from the firm and became attorney for the Singer Manufacturing Company, of which position he continued incumbent for two years. In the autumn of 1872 he formed a professional partnership with Roscoe Hawkins, with whom he was associated in successful general prac- tice until May, 1877. On the 15th of the fol-
lowing month Mr. Smith entered into part- nership with John S. Duncan, under the firm title of Duncan, Smith & Duncan, which has obtained during the long intervening period of more than thirty years. Not only is this the oldest law firm in the Indiana capital, but it is also recognized as one of the most represen- tative and substantial. Its course has been marked by due conservatism and its members have observed most fully the ethics of their profession, of whose dignity and responsibili- ties they are deeply appreciative. Honor and reliability have characterized them in all de- partments of their professional work, and they have long controlled a large and important business, involving identification with various heavy litigations in both the State and Federal courts.
Mr. Smith has been unwavering in his devo- tion to his chosen profession, and in the same his labors have been fruitful and beneficent, as his record at the bar well attests. He has had naught of ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office, but is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor. He and his wife hold membership in the Merid- ian Street Methodist Episcopal Church and are active in various departments of its work. He is well known in the community which has so long represented his home and here he com- mands the unequivocal confidence and esteem of his professional confreres and the general public.
On the 12th of October, 1869, was solemn- ized the marriage of Mr. Smith to Miss Mary E. Preston, of Greencastle, Indiana, and they have four children-Margaret, who is the wife of Professor W. C. Abbott, a member of the faculty of Yale University; Mary Grace, who is the wife of Henry H. Hornbrook, an attor- ney, associated in practice with the firm of Smith, Duncan, Hornbrook & Smith; Albert P., who is likewise a representative lawyer of the younger generation in Indianapolis, where he is associated with his father's firm, which is now known under the title of Smith, Duncan, Hornbrook & Smith; and Kate P., who is the wife of S. P. Minear, a representative mer- chant of Greensburg, Indiana.
THOMAS L. SULLIVAN. One who has lent dignity and honor to the bench and bar of In- diana is Hon. Thomas L. Sullivan, of Indian- apolis, who is one of the essentially represen- tative lawyers of the capital city, who has served with distinction as judge on the bench of the circuit court of Marion County, and who also was incumbent of the office of mayor of Indianapolis for two terms. The family of which he is a member has been prominently
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represented in the legal profession for a num- ber of generations, both in Ireland and Amer- ica, and the ancestry in the Emerald Isle is traced through a long and sterling line.
Judge Sullivan is a native of Indianapolis, where practically his entire life thus far has been passed. He was born on the 6th of Oc- tober, 1846, and the family home at that time was located on the corner of North Capitol avenue and West Ohio street, now in the heart of the business section of the city,-the site of the fine interurban terminal building. He is a son of Thomas L. and Latitia A. (Smith) Sullivan. His father was born in Madison, Indiana, where he was reared to maturity and received good educational advantages. He pre- pared himself for the legal profession and after his admission to the bar of his native state he was for a number of years engaged in the practice of his profession in Indian- apolis. He served as captain of a company which took an active part in the Mexican war, in which he made a gallant record, and a short time before the inception of the Civil war he removed to Memphis, Tennessee, where he con- tinned in practice until his death, which oc- curred prior to the close of the war. His wife was a daughter of Oliver H. Smith, who was one of the honored and influential citizens of Indianapolis in the early days and who rep- resented Indiana in the United States senate. Of the five children Thomas L. of this review was the second in order of birth.
Thomas L. Sullivan, Sr., was a son of Jere- miah and Charlotte (Butler) Sullivan, both of whom were born and reared in Virginia. Jere- miah Sullivan was born at Harrisonburg, that state, on the 21st of July, 1794, and after due preparatory training he was licensed to prac- tice law by the commonwealth of Virginia, hav- ing completed his law course in 1816, prior to which he had served as a soldier in the War of 1812, in which he was captain of his com- pany. Concerning the career of this honored founder of the family in Indiana the follow- ing pertinent statements have been previously published : "Tempted by the opening west, he started, in the company of two young friends, for Louisville, Kentucky, making the journey on horseback. On his arrival in Cincinnati he was advised to go to Madison, Indiana. which was recommended to him as a location in every way desirable for a young lawyer. Acting upon the advice, he was so well pleased with the prospect that he opened an office, and he was soon one of the recognized leading spirits of the legal fraternity of the then new state. Throughout the remainder of his life he was prominently identified with the growth and progress of his adopted home, going back
to Virginia, however, to marry Miss Charlotte Butler, of his native town. In 1820 he was elected to the state legislature, which at that time met in Corydon, and to him belongs the honor of having selected the name of Indiana's present capital. He was one of the commis- sioners appointed to choose a site and name for a more convenient capital of the growing state, and it was at his suggestion that the new center of government was called Indian- apolis. His standing in his profession was never impaired by his extraneous public serv- ice and he was a member of the first supreme court of Indiana."
Judge Jeremiah Sullivan was a son of Thomas and Margaret (Irwin) Sullivan, the former of whom figures as the founder of the family in America. He came to the new world to escape the rigors of the oppressive laws forbidding members of the Catholic church to hold any office of honor or trust in Ireland,- laws under which his father, a prominent bar- rister and a man of high intellectual attain- ments, had suffered the loss of an official posi- tion of importance. Thomas Sullivan inherited the alert and receptive mentality ever char- acteristic of the family. and after coming to America he made his influence felt in a benefi- cent way in connection with industrial and civic affairs. He married Margaret Irwin, a daughter of James Irwin, who removed with his family from the vicinity of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, to Augusta City, Virginia, in 1780. The young couple settled in Harrison- burg, Rockingham County, Virginia, and both passed the residue of their lives in the Old Dominion. They became the parents of one son and one daughter, but the latter died in childhood. Of the son Jeremiah, mention has already been made in foregoing paragraphs.
Thomas L. Sullivan, the immediate subject of this review; was reared to maturity in his native city of Indianapolis, and though his father resided for some time in Memphis, Ten- nessee, as already noted, he himself remained in Indianapolis, being reared in the home of his maternal grandfather, Judge Oliver H. Smith. After duly availing himself of the advantages of the schools of the capital city he entered Racine College, at Racine, Wis- consin, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1869. He forth- with returned to Indianapolis and began read- ing law. He was favored in being able to prosecute his technical study under the ef- fective preceptorship of the firm of Rand & Hall, whose members were numbered among the leading members of the bar of the state. He further fortified himself for his chosen profession by taking a course in the Indiana
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Law School, and in 1872 he was duly admitted to the bar. He at once engaged in the prac- tice of the profession which his father and grandfather had so signally honored through their lives and services, and he himself soon attained to distinctive prominence and success as an able advocate and well fortified coun- selor at law. He has continued in the practice of his profession during the long intervening years and in the same has well upheld the prestige of the name which he bears. He has appeared in connection with much important litigation in the state and federal courts and his course has been such as to retain to him at all times the unqualified respect and esteem of the profession in which he has been so dis- tinctively successful.
It may well be supposed that a man of so broad mental ken and so 'distinct individu- ality could not be lacking in civic loyalty and in public spirit. Thus he has shown a deep and abiding interest in all that concerns the welfare and progress of his native city,-a city that owes its name to his distinguished grandfather. In politics he has ever been arrayed as a stanch advocate of the generic principles for which the Democratic party
stands sponsor, and to his well directed labors in the cause the party in Indiana owes not a little. Gov. Isaac P. Gray appointed him judge of the circuit court of Marion County, to fill out an unexpired term of two years, and he made an admirable record on the bench, show- ing a clear apprehension of justice and equity in the concrete as well as the abstract sense, a thorough knowledge of the minutiae of the science of jurisprudence and of precedents, and bringing to bear a mind of marked judi- cial acumen. Though his party honored him with its nomination to succeed himself, he met defeat with the rest of the party ticket, though! he had the support of many of his professional confreres who were of the opposing political faith. In 1889 he served as mayor of the city of Indianapolis, and the popular confidence and esteem in which he is held in the com- munity is signified when it is stated that he was the first Democratic candidate to have been elected mayor of the capital city within a period of more than twenty years. He gave a business-like and progressive administration and continued as chief executive of the munici- pal government until 1893, when he retired. At present he is the president of the board of trustees of the Citizens' Gas Company, to which he was appointed by Mayor John Holtzman for life. the office being without compensation. Judge Sullivan is identified with various fra- ternal and civic organizations in his home city. including the various bodies of the time-hon-
ored Masonic fraternity, in which he has at- tained to the thirty-second degree in the An- cient Accepted Scottish Rite. He and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church, in which they are valued members of St. Paul's parish.
In the year 1875 was solemnized the mar- riage of Judge Sullivan to Miss Alice D. Moore, who was born and reared at Madison, Indiana, a daughter of Joseph Moore, long a prominent banker and honored and influential citizen of that section of the state. Judge and Mrs. Sullivan have four children: Regi- nald H. is following the profession with which the family name has been so long and honor- ably linked and is one of the representative younger members of the bar of Indianapolis, where he is a member of the firm of Sullivan & Knight; Catherine M. is the wife of John E. Hollett, of Indianapolis; Miss Mary L. re- mains at the parental home, and Thomas L., Jr., M. D., is engaged in the practice of his profession. The family holds a position of prominence in connection with the representa- tive social life of the city and the name is one that has been linked with the history of the state in a most distinguished way since the pioneer epoch of the commonwealth. The father of Judge Sullivan was secretary of the State Historical Society.
CHARLES R. SOWDER, M. D. One of the distinctive incidental functions of this publi- cation is to take recognition of those citizens of "Greater Indianapolis" who stand distinc- tively representative in their chosen spheres of endeavor, and in this connection there is emi- nent propriety in according consideration to Dr. Charles R. Sowder, who is one of the able and popular physicians and surgeons of the capital city, where he has also been preminent in the educational work of his profession, be- ing at the present time a valued member of the faculty of the medical department of In- diana University.
Charles Robert Sowder is a scion of fami- lies founded in America in the colonial era of our national history and is himself a native of the fine old State of Kentucky, having been born near Mount Vernon, Rockcastle County, on the 16th of February, 1870, and being a son of Daniel R. and Eliza (Cummins) Sow- der, both of whom were born and reared in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, where the re- spective families took up their abode in the pioneer days of the history of that common- wealth. Madison and Sibbie Sowder, the grandparents of Dr. Sowder, were natives of western Pennsylvania and were of stanch Ger- man lineage. From the old Keystone state they immigrated to Kentucky . and numbered
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themselves among the sterling pioneers of Rock- castle County, where they passed the residne of their lives. In the maternal line Dr. Sow- der is of Scotch-Irish genealogy, being a grand- son of and Mahala (Owens) Cummins, who likewise were pioneers of Rockcastle Coun- ty, Kentucky. Mr. Cummins enlisted in the service of the Union at the time of the Civil War and was killed in an engagement in the State of Tennessee. His' wife was a member of a family that removed from Lee County, Virginia, to Kentucky, in 1785.
Daniel R. Sowder was reared to manhood in his native county and there he became a suc- cessful farmer, owning a well improved landed estate near Mount Vernon. Through his ar- dnous service as a soldier in the Civil War his health became much impaired, and by rea- son of this fact he was compelled to retire from active labors while still a comparatively young man. When the dark cloud of Civil War cast its gruesome pall over the national horizon, he manifested his intrinsic loyalty and patriotism by enlisting in Company K, Four- teenth Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry, which gal- lant command rendered memorable service in defense of the cause of the Union. He con- tinned with his regiment in the field until 1864, when he received his honorable discharge, on account of physical disability. He made a fine record as one of the valiant soldiers of the republic, but his service made permanent in- roads on his health and curtailed his business career. Since 1885 he has lived virtually re- tired in the City of Indianapolis, where he is held in high regard by all who know him. He is independent in politics and is a consistent member of the Christian Church, as was also his cherished and devoted wife, who was a woman of most gracious personality and who was summoned to the life eternal in the year 1888. Of their four children Dr. Charles R. is the eldest; Ralta is the wife of Oliver Gra- ham, a representative farmer of Hendricks County, this state: Balta is the wife of O. A. Tomlinson, of Indianapolis ; and Elizabeth died in 1905, at the age of twenty-six years.
Dr. Charles R. Sowder passed his boyhood and youth on the old homestead farm, assisting in its work during the summer seasons and at- tending the public schools during the winter terms until he had attained to the age of eighteen years. He then gave evidence of the fact that he had made good use of his edu- cational opportunities. for he proved himself eligible for the pedagogic profession, to which he devoted his attention for seven years, prin- cipally as a teacher in the public schools of Hendricks County. Indiana. He then, in 1889, was matriculated in DePauw University, at
Greencastle, this state, in which institution he continned his academic studies for two years, after which he was a successful popular teacher in the, public schools until 1896, gaining still further prestige and more pronounced success in this line of occupation. In the year last mentioned Dr. Sowder went to the City of Chicago, where he attended the Illinois Medi- cal College for one term. He was then ma- triculated in the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons in the City of Indianapolis, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1898 and from which he received his well-earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. Soon after his graduation he entered the medi- cal department of Johns Hopkins University, in the City of Baltimore, and after the comple- tion of an effective post-graduate course in that admirable institution he returned to Indianap- olis, where he engaged in the practice of his profession and where he also became professor of physiology and lecturer on internal medica- tion in his alma mater, the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, in which he later became incumbent of the chair devoted to the diseases of children. Early in 1906 Dr. Sow- der became associated with several other rep- resentative physicians in the organization of the State College of Physicians and Surgeons, which, through proper affiliation, became the medical department of the University of In- diana. In this school he held the professorial chair of medicine and medical diagnosis, and through his able services as a member of its faculty he greatly furthered his prestige as a physician and surgeon and as an able factor in the educational work of his profession. In 1908 was effected the consolidation of the State College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Indiana Medical College and the coalition brought about the adoption of the present title of the Medical Department of Indiana Uni- versity, the institution continuing as the offi- cial medical department of the state univer- sity. In this admirably equipped and ably conducted school Dr. Sowder is one of the most valned members of the faculty, being clinical professor of medicine and through his services contributing materially to the success and pop- ularity of the institution, which has been brought up to a specially high standard. He is a member of the board of trustees of the State College Hospital and in addition to the exigent demands placed upon him in connec- tion with his educational work and the labors of his large and representative private practice, Dr. Sowder has been a valuable and frequent contributor to the standard and periodical lit- erature of his profession, besides which he has
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served as visiting physician to the Indianap- olis City Hospital.
He is essentially enthusiastic in the work of his profession and all that pertains thereto, and he has prosecuted much original research and experimentation in both medicine and sur- gery, while he is known as somewhat of a specialist in the domain of internal medica- tion. He holds membership in the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medi- cal Society and the Indianapolis Medical So- ciety, and his popularity in his profession is of the most unequivocal type, being based upon his fine attainments, his close observ- ance of the unwritten code of ethics and his genial and gracious personality. In politics he is aligned as a supporter of the cause of the Republican party, he is identified with va- rious civic organizations of local order, and both he and his wife are members of the Third Christian Church of Indianapolis. His fraternal affiliations are with Oriental Lodge, No. 500, Free and Accepted Masons ; the Royal Arch Masons; Lodge No. 56, Knights of Pythias; and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
On the 24th of November, 1897, was sol- emnized the marriage of Dr. Sowder to Miss Orra Bartley, who was born and reared at Avon, Indiana, and who is a daughter of R. Madison and Catherine (Barker) Bartley. The mother, Mrs. Bartley, is dead and Mr. Bartley is a resident of Indianapolis. Dr. and Mrs.' Sowder had one son, John R., who was born on the 29th of March, 1903, and died in Sep- tember, 1909.
ELLIOTT R. HOOTON, prosecuting attorney for Marion County, in his private practice has been associated with Oran S. Hack for a num- ber of years, and in both relations has become a leader of the Indianapolis bar. A native of Hendricks County, Indiana, born September 7, 1867, he is a son of John and Catherine Matilda (Worrell) Hooton. His parents were also natives of Hendricks County and have spent their lives within its limits. Thomas Hooton, the paternal grandfather, was a pio- necr Kentucky preacher who came to Indiana at an early day. The father was a farmer in early life, served in the Civil War and for years was a clothing salesman. He was too easy-going and generous to save money and make a business success, but always beyond any suspicion of dishonesty and highly respected, as well as thoroughly liked. In 1872, when Elliott R. was five years old, the family lo- lated at Lebanon, Indiana, where the father still resides. The mother, who was a woman of strong character, was a splendid source of
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