Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 9

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 9

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inspiration to her five sons, all of whom be- came fairly successful.

Mr. Hooton, of this sketch, was reared at Lebanon, leaving school there when seventeen years of age to work in a grocery store. The financial circumstances of the family prevented him from resuming his studies under regular instructors, his education thereafter being vir- tually the result of self-discipline. As a means of self-support, his employments were varied, but eventually the youth obtained a position in a hardware store at Lebanon, which he held for seven or eight years. For a short time thereafter he was a traveling salesman for the Simmons Hardware Company of St. Louis, but left the road to assist his brothers, who had established a store in that line at Lebanon. Somewhat later he and a brother associated themselves in a grocery venture whose success was but of an indifferent nature. In January, 1896, Mr. Hooton married Miss Amelia Becker, of Indianapolis, and in December of that year established his residence in that city, soon afterward engaging in the real estate business, which he abandoned in 1899.

Throughout all these ventures and uncer- tainties in business Mr. Hooton kept in view his aim for a professional career in the law. As a final result of his night studies at the Indianapolis College of Law, he accomplished his purpose and received from that institution the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1900 and that of Master of Laws in 1901. With his admis- sion to the bar in the former years; he began that career which has been such a commend- able and gratifying success. At first he prac- ticed alone, but since 1903 has been in part- nership with Oran S. Hack and the professional combination makes one of decided strength. Mr. Hooton had been an active worker for democracy for some years before his party promoted him from the ranks, that event oc- cnrring in 1906, when he was elected prose- cuting attorney for Marion County. His first administration of legal affairs was so satisfac- tory that he was re-elected in1908 and, as the expressive phrase goes, is still "making good". He was the first secretary and later president of the Indiana Democratic Club, and is also an active member of the Commercial Club of Indianapolis; is further identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic order.

THOMAS R. MARSHALL, the present governor of Indiana, though incumbent of the highest executive position in the commonwealth, is es- sentially one in interests and purposes with his fellow citizens of the state of which he is a native son and in which he is a scion of a familv whose name has been identified with its annals since the early part of the nineteenth

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century. The governor is as thoroughly dem- ocratic in a generic sense as he is stanch in his adherence to the principles of the historic old party that bears the significant name. It would be inconsistent with the character and attitude of the man to indulge in fulsome com- pliment in a sketch of this nature, but his prestige as a member of the bar of the state and as incumbent of the high office to which he has been called by the people of the common- wealth, render it imperative that consideration be accorded to him in this publication. He is a man of broad mind and scholarly attainments and his well-ordered official policy as governor is winning him uniform commendation. It can not be doubted that he is giving the best of an essentially strong and loyal nature to the service of the people of Indiana, and this serv- ice will, in the passing of years, assume its due proportions in the perspective of Indiana history.

Thomas Riley Marshall was born at North Manchester, Wabash County, Indiana, on the 14th of March, 1854, and is a son of Dr. Dan- iel M. and Martha E. (Patterson) Marshall, both representative of patrician lineage and of families whose names have been prominently identified with our national history since the early colonial epochi. John Marshall, the illus- trious chief justice of the supreme court of the United States, was a grand-uncle of the present governor of Indiana. Riley Marshall, paternal grandfather of the governor, was the founder of the family in Indiana, whether he removed from Greenbrier County, Virginia, in the second decade of the last century, number- ing himself among the pioneer settlers, first locating in Randolph County and subsequently locating in Grant County, where he secured a tract of six hundred and forty acres of land, including the site of the present thriving city of Marion. He reclaimed much of his land and was one of the honored and influential citizens of that section of the state. He was the first clerk of the Circuit Court of Grant County. In the maternal line Governor Mar- shall is descended from a family that had prominent representation in the Continental line during the War of the Revolution. His mother was a direct descendant of Charles Car- roll, of Carrollton, Virginia, one of the sign- ers of the Declaration of Independence.

Dr. Daniel M. Marshall was born in Ran- dolph County, on the 5th of March, 1823, and his death occurred in Columbia City, Indiana, on the 10th of October, 1892. He received thorough preliminary training of a technical order and was long numbered among the rep- resentative physicians and surgeons of north- ern Indiana. For a brief interval, just prior

to the inception of the Civil War, Dr. Mar- shall was engaged in the practice of his profes- sion at LaGrange, Missouri, and his uncom- promising opposition to the institution of hu- man slavery caused such antagonism in that section that he finally found it expedient to return to Indiana. He was a stanch supporter of the cause of the Union during the war be- tween the states, and was a Democrat in his political proclivities. For a long period he maintained offices in Wabash, North Manches- ter and Pierceton, and was known as one of the ablest and most popular physicians in north- ern Indiana. He was in the most significant sense humanity's friend, and he labored with much of intellectual and professional power in the uplifting of his fellowmen and in the alle- viation of suffering. He was a consistent and zealous member of the Presbyterian Church, as was also his devoted wife, and the death of the latter occurred on the 5th of December, . 1894. They became the parents of one son and one daughter, and of the number one son is now living.

Governor Marshall gained his preliminary educational discipline in the public schools and he then entered Wabash College, at Crawfords- ville, this state, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1873 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. It should be noted that he is a valued member of the board of trustees of his alma mater, and also that he is affiliated with the Phi Beta Kappa college fraternity, of which Chief Justice John Marshall was the founder.

After the completion of his college course Governor Marshall took up his residence in the City of Fort Wayne, where he began reading law under the able preceptorship of Judge Wal- ter Olds, who later became judge of the In- diana Supreme Court. On the day which marked the attaining of his legal majority, the future governor was admitted to the bar, in the year 1875. He had taken up his residence in Columbia City, Whitley County, in the pre- ceding year, and there he has since maintained his home. Concerning his work in his profes- sion the following statements were made in an appreciative article published at the time of his nomination for the office of governor : "His practice now extends throughout northern In- diana. He is a lawyer of note, who served corporations and all other clients alike, but is not of the sort that forgets principle and duty to his fellowmen in the furtherance of the in- terests of a corporate client who seeks to array greed against public interest. He has been an important factor in many of the most famous criminal trials in this part of the state, and

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

his pleading before juries always attracts throngs to the courtroom. He is well known as a political and court orator. Mr. Marshall is associated in the practice of law with W. F. McNagny and P. H. Clugston, under the firm name of Marshall, McNagny & Clugston. Mr. Marshall has been a candidate only once before in his political career. In 1880 he was induced to take the nomination for prose- cuting attorney in what was then a strong Re- publican district, and was defeated. As a party leader Mr. Marshall has always been known for his diligence. In 1896 and 1898 he was chairman of the Twelfth District Demo- cratic committee and did much hard work for the party, making speeches all over the northern end of the state. He has always been known for his liberality toward the other fellow's campaign fund, but when it comes down to his own campaign he stands squarely on the plat- form of anticurrency. He is called old-fash- ioned because of his ideas about a campaign fund for himself, but he declares it is a prin- ciple that is embedded in his soul."

Thomas R. Marshall was elected governor of Indiana in November, 1908, and in his guber- natorial policy and administration, it is suffi- cient to say he is fully justifying the confidence and suffrages of the voters of the state. He is a man of principle, and from the same ex- pediency or powerful influences cannot deflect him. He is essentially loyal as a man and as a citizen, and the interests of the people of Indiana are well confided to his care. The gov- ernor and his wife are steadfast members of the Presbyterian Church, and in the Masonic fraternity, in which he takes deep interest, he is one of the few men in Indiana who have attained to the ultimate and honorary thirty- third degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.

On the 2nd of October, 1895, Governor Marshall was united in marriage to Miss Lois Kimsev, of Angola, Indiana, a daughter of William E. Kimsey, one of the honored and influential citizens of Steuben County, where he has served in various positions of public trust. Governor and Mrs. Marshall have no children.

THOMAS C. HOWE, A. M., PH. D. Butler College. located at Irvington, which is now an integral part of the city of Indianapolis, may well be said to represent the crown of the fine educational system which the capital of Indiana claims as its owl, and at the head of this splendid institution stands Dr. Thomas C. Howe, who has been long identified with its work and who has been its president since 1908. He has gained noteworthy prestige as an able and enthusiastic educator, as a man

of high scholarship and has proved himself a most discriminating and effective adminis- trative officer. Further interest attaches to his career as one worthy of representation in this publication from the fact that he is a native son of Indiana and the scion of one of its honored pioneer families.

Thomas Carr Howe was born on a farm in Charlestown township, two miles west of Charlestown, Clarke County, on the 5th of Au- gust, 1867, and is a son of Rev. Robert Long and Elizabeth (Carr) Howe, the former of whom was born in Wilmington, Clinton Coun- ty, Ohio, in 1832, and the latter near Charles- town in Clarke County, Indiana, in 1844. Rev. R. L. Howe was a son of Thomas Howe, who became a pioneer and influential citizen of Clinton County, Ohio, where he took an active part in public affairs and where he' was a stanch Abolitionist in the period leading up to the Civil war. He continued his residence in that county until his death. The Howe family was founded in America in the Colonial days, and so far as authentic data determine the original representatives in this country settled in the vicinity of Sudbury, Massachu- setts. Later generations found representation in Pennsylvania and Ohio, as well as in south- ern Indiana. Mrs. Elizabeth (Carr) Howe was the twelfth in order of birth of the chil- dren of Joseph and Nancy (Drummond) Carr. The Carr family settled in Clarke County, Indiana, very early in the nineteenth century, and was closely identified with the civic and industrial development of that sec- tion of the state. Joseph Carr was a son of Thomas Carr, who was one of the framers of the original state constitution of Indiana. Two of his sons were valiant soldiers in the war of 1812, and were active participants in the battle of Tippecanoe, in which conflict the brother of Mrs. Nancy (Drummond) Carr also participated ; he was wounded in the engage- ment and, as the result of his injuries, died on the succeeding day. The Drummond fam- ily was also one of prominence in Clarke Coun- ty in the pioneer days.

Rev. Robert Long Howe was a man of strong individuality and of fine mental gifts. He be- came a clergyman of the Christian or Disciples church and for many years was engaged in active ministerial work, in connection with which he also owned and supervised the opera- tion of two well improved farms in the vicin- ity of Charlestown, Clarke County. He served for some time as postmaster of that village, having been appointed to this office by Presi- dent Garfield, and throughout his life was a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor.

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

He died at Irvington, a suburb of Indianapolis, in 1892. His widow still resides in Irvington. They became the parents of three children, of whom two sons and one daughter are now liv- ing. Will David Howe, Ph. D., the younger son, was born on the 25th of August, 1873. He graduated from Butler College with the degree of A. B. in 1893, from Harvard Col- lege with the degree of A. M. in 1897, and from the same institution with the degree of Ph. D. in 1899. He was professor of English at Butler College from 1899 until 1906, and then became the head of the department of English at the Indiana University. He is the author of the Howe Readers which have been adopted in the schools throughout the state. Carrie Rebecca, the only daughter in the fam- ily of Rev. and Mrs. Elizabeth (Carr) Howe, was born on the 25th of August, 1876, and is a graduate of Butler College with the class of 1897. She is the wife of Professor John Cum- mings, a member of the department of eco- nomics at Chicago University.

Dr. Thomas C. Howe is indebted to the pub- lic schools of Charlestown, Indiana, for his preliminary educational discipline, which in- cluded a course in the high school. In 1884 he entered Butler. College as a senior prepara- tory student, and was graduated as a member of the class of 1889 and with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. In the following an- tumn he became instructor in Latin and Ger- man in his alma mater, and in June, 1890, he was married and in company with his bride went to Europe, where they passed the sum- mer in travel, after which he entered Berlin University as a student of Germanic language and literature. Dr. Howe passed two years in Berlin, after which he returned to Indian- apolis and assumed the duties of the Arm- strong chair of Germanic languages in Butler University, a position to which he had been appointed prior to his departure for Berlin. In 1896 he entered Harvard University, from which he received the degree of Master of Arts in the following year. and in 1899 that univer- sity granted him the degree of Doctor of Phil- osophy. In the year last mentioned Dr. Howe made a sojourn of a few months in Europe. and then resumed his labors as a member of the faculty of Butler College. In the spring of 1906 he was made chairman of the endow- ment committee to which was assigned the completion of the raising of the endowment fund of two hundred and fifty thousand dol- lars for Butler College. This work was sue- cessfully completed in 1907. in the autumn of which year Dr. Howe became dean of the institution, its president, Scott Butler, A. M., LL. D., having retired on a Carnegie pension.

In the spring of 1908 Dr. Howe was formally elected president of Butler College, and his administration has been such as not only to uphold but also to advance the prestige long enjoyed by this worthy institution, which was originally known as the Northwestern Chris- tian University.

Dr. Howe has practically devoted his entire aetive career to educational work. He has been a very close student of all that is best in litera- ture; and his intellectual attainments are of a high order. He is identified with the Modern Language Association of America, the Indian- apolis Literary Club, the Irvington Athenaeum, the German House, the Commercial Club and the University Club of Indianapolis. For a number of years he has been one of the in- terested principals in the Armstrong-Landon Hardware Company of Kokomo, this state, of which he is now the vice president, and he is also a member of the directorate of the In- dianapolis Water Company. In politics Dr. Howe gives unequivocal allegiance to the Re- publican party, and in 1905 he represented Marion County in the state legislature. He and his wife hold membership in the Downey Avenue Christian church, of whose official board he is the chairman. He is also a mem- ber of the Board of Ministerial Relief of the Christian Church in the United States and of the American Christian Missionary Society, the national church board for home missions.

In the city of Kokomo, Indiana, on the 5th of June, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Howe to Miss Jennie Etta Armstrong, who is a daughter of Addison F. and Mary Smith (Brandon) Armstrong. the former of whom was born in Clinton County, Ohio, and the latter in Henry County, Indiana. The Arm- strong family was early settled in Pennsyl- vania, and members of the same were promi- nent in public affairs during the Revolutionary war and the period immediately subsequent thereto. From Philadelphia, that state, came the founders of the family to Ohio. Addison F. Armstrong was one of the prominent busi- ness men and honored and influential citizens of Kokomo, Indiana, to the development . of which along both civic and material lines he contributed in generous measure. He was en- gaged in the hardware business in 1855. and with this line of enterprise he continued to be actively identified until his death in 1903. For many years he was a member of the city council and the board of education. His wife survives him and still maintains her home in Kokomo. She is a member of a family that came to Indiana from Kentucky and early settled in Henry County, this state. Dr. and Mrs. Howe have four children, whose names

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and respective dates of birth are here indi- cated: Mary Elizabeth, March 23, 1895; Charlotte Brandon, November 2, 1900; Thomas Carr, August 12, 1904; and Addison Arm- strong, December 10, 1906.

WILLIAM FORTUNE. The history of William Fortune's activities in behalf of civic progress contains in large measure the history of the most important movements in the municipal growth of Indianapolis during the past two decades. The breadth of this assertion seems justified by a review of his work, and is also affirmed by a statement made in a public ad- dress in 1902 by Mr. A. L. Mason, who said: "I undertake to say that William Fortune has contributed more individual energy and has achieved greater success in building organiza- tions for the carrying out of public reforms than any man of his age in the Middle West."

Before narrating the more personal facts of his interesting career, a review of his pub- lic activities may be written as a valuable con- tribution to the history of modern Indianap- olis.

What may be called the modern era of In- dianapolis had its beginning about 1890. At that time .Mr. Fortune was editorial writer on the Indianapolis News, then under the manage- ment of John H. Holliday. The extreme conservatism which then hindered the physi- cal improvement and commercial development of the city became the object of attack in sev- eral articles written by Mr. Fortune, who nrged the organization of the progressive citi- zens to overcome this obstacle to the city's growth. The articles were written opportune- ly and received hearty approval, as shown by the manv individual letters sent to the News commending the suggestions and offering other ideas for the needed work.

Mr. Fortune's articles had suggested that the proper organization to undertake the work was the Board of Trade. But when a resolution to that effect was brought before the board it was defeated. Col. Eli Lilly was one of the few members of the board of governors who sup- ported the resolution. As soon as this action of the Board became known, Mr. Fortune ar- ranged by telephone for a meeting of business men at the Bates House the following day. The twenty-seven men who attended this meeting became the nucleus of the Commercial Club of Indianapolis, which was regularly organized two days later with eighty charter members. With Colonel Lilly as president and Mr. For- tune secretary, the club entered vigorously upon its work, and within a month had a thousand members. The important undertakings which marked the beginning of a new era for In- dianapolis were projected while Colonel Lilly

and Mr. Fortune were officials of the club. For a history of this movement after it had passed from the individual to the organized stage, the reader is referred to other pages. After serving in their respective offices five years, Colonel Lilly and Mr. Fortune retired, but the latter continued two terms as first vice-president and rounded out his career in the work with one term as president, finally severing all official connection in February, 1898.

In 1890 the National Paving Exposition, the first exposition of the kind ever held, convened · in Indianapolis, with Mr. Fortune in charge. Its original purpose was to interest the people of Indianapolis in good street pavements, and to afford them the opportunity of complete in- formation as to materials and methods. The enterprise, however, attracted such wide atten- tion throughout the country that it quickly grew into national importance and official dele- gates were sent from municipalities in all parts of the United States. This exposition marked the beginning of modern paving in Indianap- olis, not to mention any of its more extended benefits elsewhere.

In 1891 he proposed that a systematic effort be made to bring large conventions and meet- ings to Indianapolis. He argued that this was the best method of advertising the city, and also had the substantial immediate benefit of bringing a large revenue to the citizens. A plan was adopted and a large fund raised for the work, which has been continued to the im- mense advantage of the city.

Mr. Fortune was elected executive director of the G. A. R. national encampment which was held in this city in 1893. Greater re- sponsibility devolved upon him than was ever put upon one man in the management of these encampments, and his work involved every de- tail of the expense. That was the panic year, and the difficulty of raising money caused a fear of a deficit. The expenses of the previous year at Washington had been $157,000. The total amount raised at Indianapolis was $120,- 000, of which $75,000 was appropriated by the city council. Although the Indianapolis en- campment was conducted on fully as large a scale as in Washington and the accommoda- tions for veterans were the best ever provided anywhere, at the close it was found that the total expense was only about $63,000. Over $42,000 of the city appropriation was returned and about $12.000 of the amount raised by the Commercial Club was left in the treasury.

An Indiana "good roads movement" was started in 1892 through the efforts of Mr. For- tune. A Good Roads Congress assembled in Indianapolis, with delegates from nearly everv county. One of the important results of this

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congress was the formation of the Indiana Highway Association. Mr. Fortune declined the presidency of the congress, but his work in behalf of good roads was made the subject of a testimonial from the meeting. He also took a prominent part in the Good Roads Congress at the World's Fair in 1893.

The committee of three which had charge of the relief for the unemployed in Indianapolis during the winter of 1894 consisted of Mr. Fortune, H. H. Hanna and Col. Eli Lilly. The "Indianapolis plan" of relief, adopted and successfully carried out by this committee, at- tracted wide attention among charity workers, and became the subject of several magazine ar- ticles and is described at length in a pamphlet entitled "Relief for the Unemployed". Food, fuel and clothing were provided for unemployed people in need under conditions which elim- inated as far as practicable the pauperizing in- fluences of charity. The plan embraced the establishment of a food market, where, after investigation, worthy persons were given credit for supplies, issued in regular rations, in pay- ment for which they performed labor under the direction of the committee. Over five thou- sand people were supported in this way, and the plan was so successful in avoiding the usual results of free charity that for some time after the close of the relief work in the spring of 1894 there were fewer people than usual 'de- pendent upon the Charity Organization So- ciety.

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Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 9

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