Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 80

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 80

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Mr. Wilkins rendered loyal service to the Union during the Civil War. On the 6th of September, 1861, he enlisted as a member of the Thirtv-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in which he was given the office of quarter- master's sergeant. On the 23d of November, 1863, he was commissioned first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster of the Thirty-third Indiana Volunteers, and this dual office he re- signed on the 4th of October, 1864. While serving as quartermaster's sergeant he was as- signed to detached dutv as a recruiting officer at Indianapolis, where he was thus located at the time of receiving the higher commission mentioned. He had the privilege of serving his country in connection with military af- fairs many years later, as at the time of the Spanish-American war he received appointment as chief clerk in the quartermaster's depart- ment at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri.

Ile was a valued member of George H. Thomas Post, Grand Army of the Republic, in which he held various official positions.

Mr. Wilkins was a man of the deepest and most vital Christian faith, and he was one of the charter members of the Roberts Chapel Sunday school. For twenty-eight years he served as steward of the Roberts Park Meth- odist Episcopal Church and he was active in all departments of church work, including the Epworth League. In a fraternal way he was identified with the Masonic order.

John A. Wilkins was a son of John and Eleanor (Bruce) Wilkins. His father was born in the Shenandoah valley, Virginia, in 1797, a member of one of the old and honored fam- ilies of the historic Old Dominion. He was there reared to maturity and as a young man removed to Ohio, where he remained until 1821, when he came to Indianapolis, which was then a mere village, and numbered himself among its pioneer business men. Here he was asso- ciated in various business operations with the late and honored Daniel Yandes, of whom spe- cific mention is made on other pages of this work, and he was thus associated in the opera- tion of the first tannery established in Indian- apolis. His marriage was solemnized in Ohio, in 1825, and he and his wife became charter members of the Roberts Chapel Methodist Epis- copal Church. He was also one of the first- trustees of Asbury University, now DePauw University. He died in July, 1868, and his wife passed to the life eternal in 1889, at the venerable age of eighty-six years, having been born in 1803. Of their seven children all died in infancy except John A. and Elizabeth J., and the latter became the wife of Dr. William L. Heiskell, of Indianapolis, where they still maintain their home.

Mr. and Mrs. Lesh are identified with the best social activities of the capital city and their attractive home, notable for its hospital- itv, is located at 3640 Central avenue. They have three children,-Charlotte B., Perry W. and Helen L., all at home.

DR. LAFAYETTE F. PAGE. Among those who have gained distinctive recognition in the med- ical profession in Indianapolis is numbered Dr. Lafayette Page, a specialist in the dis- eases of the throat, nose and ear. Born at Columbia, Kentucky, May 21, 1863, he is a son of Robert Page, a former business man of prominence, and of Mary (Irving) Page, both born in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was edu- cated both privately and in the public schools of his native city, while later he pursued a classical course at Columbia College and ob- tained there the degree of A. B. During the two years following his college life he taught

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higher mathematics in Kentucky for one year and also in Texas, and in 1885 he went to Louisville and began the study of medicine in the medical department of the Louisville Uni- versity, but after taking the first course of lec- tures there he came to Indianapolis and en- tered the Indiana Medical College. He grad- uated from that institution in 1887 with the degree of M. D., and was awarded the Mears gold medal as a mark of special honor. At this same time he entered a competitive examina- tion for the position of interne at the City Dis- pensary and secured the appointment for one year, and following the close of that period he began the general practice of his profession. But after two years as a general practitioner he began devoting special attention to the dis- eases of the nose, throat and ear, and later pur- sued two post-graduate courses in New York and Vienna, Austria, with a view of perfecting himself in the knowledge of the pathology and treatment of his special lines. Since 1890 Dr. Page has given almost exclusive attention to the diseases of the nose, throat and ear, and has gained a reputation in his special line which has made him favorably and widely known for his skill and success. He is consult- ing physician for the diseases of the throat, nose and ear to the City Dispensary and City Hospital and clinical professor of diseases of nose, throat and ear, department of medicine, Indiana University. He is a member of the Marion County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society, the Academy of Oph- thalmology and Otolaryngology, the American Medical Association, American Laryngological. Rhinological and Otological Societies. And he has also made important contribution to the literature of his chosen field of practice, in- cluding a number of articles read before these societies which have been widely published and are worthy of special mention.

HENRY C. MARTIN, M. D. Though he at- tained to unequivocal success in the work of the medical profession, Dr. Henry C. Martin is Lest known in the domain of life insurance, in which he gained wide reputation and marked precedence. He was the founder of "Rough Notes", which began its career as an insurance and literary journal published by the Rough Notes Company. This company was organized by him, and he was retained as editor of the publication and general manager of the com- pany. "Rough Notes" was originally a monthly publication, and later was changed to a weekly. The company also publishes various books re- lating to insurance and also deals in insurance supplies. Dr. Martin was for more than a score of years identified with the active opera- tions of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insur-

ance Company, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in which connection he long had charge of its affairs in Indiana, with headquarters in Indian- apolis, where he has maintained his home since 1864. He is one of the honored and veteran insurance men of this city and state and none is better known in this important field of en- terprise.

Dr. Martin is a native of the old Keystone state of the Union, having been born in Erie County, Pennsylvania, on the 15th of April, 1833. He is a son of Alexander Martin, who was born in County Armagh, Ireland, in the year 1800, and who was a son of Scotch-Irish parents of Presbyterian faith. Alexander Mar- tin was reared to maturity in his native land, where he endured many of the hardships com- mon to the working classes in the Emerald Isle. As a youth of nineteen years he severed the ties that bound him to home and native land and set forth to seek his fortunes in America. He landed in Philadelphia and thence proceeded to Westchester, Pennsylvania, where he maintained his abode until about 1826, when he removed to West Poultney, Vermont, where he was engaged in the work of his trade, that of weaver, for several years. There also was solemnized his marriage to Miss Lucy Marshall, whose ancestral line is traced back to the Sterns family in England-a family of which the author of "Tristam Shandy" was a member. Shortly after his marriage, Alexander Martin removed to Erie County, Pennsylvania, which was then an undeveloped section of the state and considered in the far west. There he became a citizen of prominence and influ- ence, devoting his attention principally to agri- cultural pursuits and ever commanding the unqualified confidence and esteem of all who knew him. He was a man of fine intellect and sterling integrity, and thus he wielded no little influence in public affairs of a local nature. He continued to reside in Pennsylvania during the residue of his long and useful life and was about eighty years of age at the time of his death. His wife preceded him to eternal rest, and of their two children the one surviv- ing is the subject of this review.

Henry C. Martin availed himself eagerly of the advantages offered by the common schools of his native state and after completing the curriculum of the same he continued his studies for one year in an academy in his home county. That he made good use of the scholastic op- portunities thus afforded him is evident when we revert to the fact that when eighteen years of age he proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors. For three years he taught successfully in the common schools-one year in his native county and thereafter near his mother's old

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home in Vermont, in which state he was also enabled to complete a two years' course in the Troy Conference Academy, a prominent and well ordered institution of high standing at the present time.

In 1853, when twenty years of age, Dr. Mar- tin began the study of medicine, and for two years he had as his preceptor Dr. Alexander, one of the representative physicians and sur- geons of Vermont. Under the advice of Dr. Alexander he had taken a course of lectures in the old Castleton Medical College, at Castle- ton, Vermont, now the medical department of the University of Vermont at Burlington, Ver- mont. In 1856, he was matriculated in the medical department of the University of New York, and so thorough had been his previons study and practical work that he was gradu- ated in that institution in the same year, re- ceiving therefrom his degree of Doctor of Med- icine. Shortly after his graduation, Dr. Martin started for the west, in search of an eligible location for practice. He finally took up his residence at McGregor, Iowa, where he was en- gaged in the work of his profession for a period of about seven years. During the last three years of this interval he was employed by the Mutual Life Insurance Company of Wisconsin, now the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, as its special medical examiner and solicitor, and in 1864, with due appreciation of his ability and previous effective service, the company appointed him its general agent for Indiana, in which state the company controlled no business whatever at that time. In the capacity noted, Dr. Martin continued to repre- sent the company until 1878, and he made an unusually successful record. His undivided en- ergies, coupled with his thorough management and marked business acumen. proved potent in the upbuilding of a large and substantial busi- ness for the Northwestern within the eleven years during which he was its manager in In- diana, as it became one of the leading life insurance companies in the state, in points of magnitude of business and profits thereon. It was within this period also, and at the earnest solicitation of Dr. Martin, that the company elected a trustee for Indiana and began making loans on Indiana real estate a branch of the business that assumed large proportions and, de- spite the real estate boom and panic which fol- lowed, yielded a return of all the money in- vested, together with upward of six per cent. interest thereon, after deducting all expenses and the cost of foreclosures and sales of prop- erty under foreclosure proceedings. For twenty- one years Dr. Martin was connected with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. and it may readily be understood that he is an

authority in connection with the theoretical and practical details of this important line of busi- ness.

In 1899 Dr. Martin 'became one of the or- ganizers of the Indianapolis Fire Insurance Company, and he was its secretary during five years of its successful period of operations under this corporate title. In 1905 its policies, under new management, were transferred, by reinsurance, to the German-American Fire In- surance Company. Dr. Martin waa also the instigator of and was largely instrumental in securing the passage of the reserve-deposit law as an integral part of the Indiana life insurance code adopted in 1899 by the state legislature. This resulted in the organization of the many life insurance companies operating in this state under its provisions with legally designated securities exceeding fifteen million dollars, now deposited with the state insurance department in trust for the sole security of policy-holders.

In 1880, Dr. Martin determined to retire from active insurance work and to institute the publication of an insurance and literary maga- zine in Indianapolis. He thus became the founder and editor of "Rough Notes", which was later changed from a monthly to a weekly insurance journal. It is now published by an incorporated company and has a large circula- tion in all parts of the United States. In addi- tion to publishing this alert and valuable weekly journal, the company is extensively en- gaged in the issuing and sale of insurance-law publications, blanks and insurance supplies of all kinds.

As a citizen, Dr. Martin is essentially loyal and public-spirited, and he has shown a deep interest in all that has tended to foster the welfare of his home city, where he is well known and held in unqualified esteem. His political faith was originally that of the Demo- cratic party, under whose tenets he was reared, but at the climacteric period of the Civil War, he found that the Republican party offered principles and policies eminently worthy of his support, and he has since been enlisted under its banner-an unswerving advocate of its cause. He and his wife are members of the First Baptist Church, and he is identified with the Commercial Club, the Indianapolis Literary Club and the Shakespeare Club.

In the year 1857, at Waukesha, Wisconsin, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Martin to Miss Hannah K. Marshall, daughter of Ichabod Marshall. who removed to that state from Ver- mont, where the doctor and his wife had been previously acquainted for a period of fully six years. Dr. and Mrs. Martin became the parents of four children, of whom only one is now living-Louis H., who is now advertising

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manager for the Globe-Wernecke Company, one of the extensive furniture manufacturing con- cers of Cincinnati, Ohio.

SAMUEL MERRILL, who died in Indianapolis, on the 24th of August, 1855, was an honored pioneer who left a large and beneficent im- press upon the history of Indiana and its cap- ital city, and it is most consonant that in this work be incorporatetd a tribute to his memory.

Samuel Merrill was born at Peacham, Ver- mont, on the 29th of October, 1792, and he was .a scion of one.of the old and honored families of New England, where he passed his boyhood and youth on the home farm, which, encumbered with stones and rocks and with soil of somewhat meager fertility, like the majority of the farms of the section and pe- riod, rendered grudging returns for the stren- nous labors put forth by a vigorous and indus- trious father and his six sturdy sons. The early associations of Mr. Merrill, however, were of generous order, as he was reared in an intelli- gent community and in a home in which books and other refining influences were not lacking. His parents were folk of sterling character and the son early learned the lessons of industry, integrity and tenacity of purpose. He duly availed himself of the advantages of the well conducted school in his native place, later at- tended Dartmouth College and for a time de- voted himself to teaching in the schools of his native state, and also in Pennsylvania. At York, Pennsylvania, he began the study of law, becoming well versed in the science of jurispru- dence and manifesting marked ambition in his study and work. His eldest brother, as well as Thaddeus Stevens and John Blanchard, all natives of Peacham, were pupils in the same school and fellow students in college, and the friendship of the young men continued through- out their lives. The names of Stevens and Blanchard are written prominently on the pages of American history.

At the age of twenty-three years Mr. Mer- rill came to Indiana, and after some investiga- tion as to the prospects of the various river towns, he bought a skiff at New Albany and thence rowed himself down the Ohio River to Vevay, transporting in the little boat his trunk, in which he had a few standard law books. At Vevay he established himself in the practice of law, and in the following year he was united in marriage to Miss Lydia Jane Anderson, daughter of Robert and Catherine (Dumont) Anderson. He soon gained prestige in the pioneer community and he represented Swit- zerland County for two years in the state legislature. While making his canvass of the county he made his way on foot, visiting every house within its borders. In 1821 he removed

to Corydon, then the capital of the state, hav- ing previously been elected to the office of state treasurer. Concerning his early life in the Hoosier commonwealth the following perti- nent statements have been made: "The sala- ries of that day were small; so were lawyers' fees. For ten years of his professional life Mr. Merrill did nothing more than pave the way for future operations. If he had used spirits or tobacco it is not unlikely that the small sums required for these indulgences would have interfered with his ultimate suc- cess."

Mr. Merrill was incumbent of the office of state treasurer at the time when the capital of the commonwealth was removed to Indian- apolis, and in October, 1824, he consumed eleven days in making his official journey to the new seat of government. After a period of twelve years and while still holding the office of state treasurer, Mr. Merrill was elected president of the State Bank of Indiana, an executive office which demanded great adminis- trative ability and acumen as a financier, as well as close application to clerical duties and much of journeying about the state. Once a vear, never once omitting the duty, Mr. Mer- rill gave every bank in the state careful, per- sonal, private examination, turning out for this purpose all of the officials of the respective branch institutions and locking himself in while he prosecuted his careful examination of accounts and ledgers. Concerning his labors at this time the following statements are significant and worthy of perpetuation : "He usually made his Indiana journeys on horseback, often through roads that were in- describably bad, so bad that more than once a horse was sacrificed, though Mr. Merrill was remarkably humane to animals, as to every liv- ing thing. When he went in the stage it is said that his good humor, his fund of anec- dote, the flow of thought, playful or serious. furnished by his richly stored mind, shortened to his fellow passengers the hours of dreary dragging through swampy woods. Once he walked all night, carrying a lantern, nineteen miles before the coach, reaching home at day- break, mud from head to foot, but apparently more diverted than annoyed. His journeys cast and south, if not so laborious, were more anxious. Returning at one time from New York with a number of boxes of coin, he char- tered the stage coach and, fortified with pis- tols, was prepared to defend his charge in passes of the Alleghanies that were then in- fested by robbers. He was never molested, however, and suffered nothing worse than a broken leg, as the result of being hurled from the top of the stage in an upset occasioned by

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runaway horses. While he was president of the State Bank of Indiana, although but three other state banks in the Union were able to preserve their integrity, Indiana paper was al- ways worth its face. Everywhere it was as good as gold, and no defalcation or any kind of dishonesty occurred in any of the branch banks."

In 1843 Mr. Merrill was defeated for re- election to. the office of president of the state bank, and in the period of leisure which fol- lowed he compiled the Indiana Gazetteer, a third edition of ten thousand copies of which was published in 1850. A year later Mr. Mer- rill was chosen president of the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, of which office he con- tinued incumbent for four years. In 1850 he bought out a book store and in the connection established a publishing house with which the family name has been long and prominently identified, being perpetuated in the extensive publishing house of the Bobbs-Merrill Com- pany, now one of the best known in the United States and of which his grandson, Charles W. Merrill, is now secretary and treasurer. With this business enterprise Mr. Merrill contin- ned to be actively identified until his death, and he was a dominating force in the business and civic life of Indianapolis, where he ever stood exponent of the highest type of loyal and progressive citizenship and where his name is held in lasting honor. He was a man of high intellectual attainments and of great capacity for the handling of business affairs of broad scope and importance. A man of lofty ideals, of generous attributes of character and of abid- ing human tolerance and sympathy, his influ- ence permeated in many directions and always with good results. He took an active interest in all that tended to conserve the general wel- fare, was an active though modest worker in the church, and one who knew him well gave the following appreciative estimate of the man: "He maintained in sublime combination the sternest ideas of instice with the most beanti- ful simplicity and childlike sweetness of man- ners."

The domestic relations of Mr. Merrill were of the most ideal type. and his gracious and noble wife was ever his sympathetic compan- jon and adviser. She survived him bv a num- ber of years, having been summoned to the life eternal ahout 1830. They became the parents of ten children. and of the number five are now living. namely: Jane Merrill Ketcham. widow of John Lewis Ketcham : Julia Merrill Moores. widow of Charles W. Moores: Mary Merrill Graydon, widow of William M. Graydon : Mina Merrill. all of Indianapolis : and Samuel Mer- rill of Long Beach, California.

SAMUEL MERRILL, JR. On other pages of this publication is incorporated a brief memoir concerning the honored father of Samuel Mer- rill, Jr., of this sketch, and to that review of the career of that sterling pioneer, the late Samuel Merrill, Sr., reference should be made for supplemental information concerning this well-known family of Indiana and its capital city.

Samuel Merrill. Jr., has admirably upheld and furthered the prestige of the honored name which he bears and has been distinguished in connection with public, civic and business af- fairs in his native state and city. After many years of prominent identification with business affairs in Indianapolis he is now living vir- tually retired in his attractive home on the slopes of the Sierra Madre Mountains, twelve miles north of the city of Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, where he is the owner of a fine orange and lemon ranch, to which he gives his per- sonal supervision.

Mr. Merrill was born in the City of Indian- apolis. Indiana. on the 30th of May. 1831. and his early educational discipline was secured in this city. where he attended the Marion County Seminary for a period of seven years, after which he continned his studies for two years in Peacham Academy, at Peacham, Vermont, the native place of his father. In 1851 he was graduated in Wabash College, at Crawfords- ville, Indiana, from which institution he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1854 he received from his alma mater the de- gree of Master of Arts, and in the following vear he studied in excellent schools in Europe. After his return from Europe he assumed charge of the book and publishing house which had been founded in Indianapolis by his father in 1838, and was prominently identified with the upbuilding of the great publishing house now conducted under title of the Bobbs-Merrill Company and representing one of the most im- portant business concerns of Indianapolis. The name of Merrill has been continuously con- nected with the enterprise for more than sev- enty vears and has ever stood exponent of in- flexible integrity and honor. Mr. Merrill con- tinued to be an active executive of the concern until 1890. in March of which year he was ap- pointed, by President Benjamin Harrison, as United States Consul General at Calcutta, In- dia. where he remained until 1894, proving an able and diplomatic representative of American interests in that oriental land. Upon his re- turn to the United States he established his residence in California. where he has since maintained his home. though he still has im- nortant business and capitalistic interests in Indianapolis.

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

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Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 80

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