History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 29

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942

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WILLIAM JOHNSON .- Walter Johnson, the grand- father of William, was of German descent, and re- sided in Sullivan County, East Tenn., where he fol- lowed farming employments. He married and had children,-John F., Benjamin, James, Robert, Absa-

lom, Garrett, William, Looney, Polly (Mrs. Snod grass), and Betsy (Mrs. Snodgrass). Their son John F. was born in Sullivan County, Tenn., where he continued the pursuits of his father. On the 19th of January, 1806, he was married to Miss Nancy Curtin, of the same county, daughter of John and Margaret Snodgrass Curtin, who were both of Irish extraction. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson

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were Susannah, born in 1807, who became Mrs. Moser; Margaret, born in 1809, who was Mrs. Jones; Walter, whose birth occurred in 1810; William; Eleanor C., born in 1814, who became Mrs. Parr; Polly Ann, born in 1817, who was Mrs. Johnson ; Robert, whose birthi oceurred in 1819 ; John C., born in 1824; Elizabeth Jane, born in 1826, who was Mrs. Goodrich ; and Benjamin F., born in 1828. Mrs. Johnson died on the 13th of August, 1854, in Indianapolis, and Mr. Johnson November 5th, of the same year, in Benton County, Ind. The latter on his marriage removed to Hawkins County, Tenn., and remained twenty-six years, after which he returned to Sullivan County, and in 1834 made Boone County, Ind., his home, where he continued farming employ- ments until his later residence in Indianapolis. His son William, the subject of this biographical sketeh, was born in Hawkins County, East Tenn., on the 29th of September, 1812. He enjoyed but limited ad- vantages of education, and early acquired a knowledge of farm labor, which engaged his attention during the remainder of his aetive life. He was on the 28th of November, 1833, married to Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Lawrence and Mary Snapp, of the same State, who died Aug. 6, 1882, in her sixty-eighth year. After his marriage Mr. Johnson removed to Virginia, and there eultivated a farm. In 1857 he made In- dianapolis his home, and combined farming with general trading. He is still the owner of several farms in the vicinity of the city, and also a large holder of real estate in Indianapolis. A number of years ago Mr. Johnson retired from active business, though still maintaining a personal supervision over his varied interests. He is in polities a Democrat, and filled while a resident of Virginia the office of justice of the peace, since which time he has held no office. He is not identified with any religious denom- ination, but a willing contributor to all worthy causes.

In the wholesale hardware trade, Mr. S. B. Carey and the house with which he is connected hold a place among the foremost in the city.

SIMEON B. CAREY .- Jobn Cary, the ancestor of the family in America, came from Somersetshire, England, about the year 1634 and joined the Plym- outh Colony. His name is found among the origi-

nal proprietors and settlers in Duxbury and Bridge- water, the land he owned having been a part of the grant made by the Poekonoeket Indians in 1639. Some of his descendants of the eighth generation still occupy a portion of the original traet. John Cary was the constable of Bridgewater in 1656, the year of its incorporation, and also the first town clerk. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Franeis Godfrey, one of the first settlers of Bridgewater, in 1644, to whom were born eleven children. Of this number his son John, whose birth occurred in 1645, married Abigail, daughter of Samuel Allen, and had eleven children. In the direct line of descent was born in 1735, in Morris County, N. J., Ezra Cary, the grandfather of the subject of this sketeh, who married Lyda Thompson, and removed to Western Pennsylvania in 1777. Their children were Phœbe, Rufus, Cephas, Ephraim, Absalom, Elias, and George. Cephas, of this number, was born in New Jersey on Dee. 25, 1776, and accompanied his father to West- ern Pennsylvania, and subsequently to Oliio in 1790, stopping for a time on the Ohio near Wheeling, Va. From thence he repaired to a farm in Shelby County, Ohio, where he resided until his removal in 1840 to Sidney, in the same county. His death occurred at the latter place, at the age of ninety-four years. Mr. Cary was married first to Jane Williamson, to whom were born eight children, and second to Rhoda Je- rard, who was the mother of eight children. His son by the second marriage, Simeon B., was born Dec. 20, 1822, in Shelby County, Ohio, in a log house upon the farm of his father, where he remained until eighteen years of age, this period being occu- pied in labor upon the farm or in gaining sueh ad- vantages of education as could be obtained at the neighboring log school-house. His father then re- moved to Sidney, the county-seat, where the superior advantages of a grammar school were afforded. He soon after entered a store as elerk and acted in that capacity until 1844, when a copartnership was formed with his brother, under the firm-name of B. W. & S. B. Carey. He represented the firm in the purchase of goods in New York, being the youngest mereliant from that locality among the many buyers of that period. As an illustration of the difficulties

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of travel, it may be mentioned that his route was by stage from Sidney to Cincinnati, and by steamer from thence to Brownsville, where he traveled again by stage over the Alleghany Mountains, and thus by railroad to New York. During the time of this partnership he, with his brothers Thomas and Jason, made the overland journey with pack-mules and horses to California, tarrying at Salt Lake City, and reaching Sacramento three months from the date of departure. They soon after removed to the moun- tains and engaged in traffie between Sacramento and the mines. In the spring of 1851, after an absence of twelve months, the illness of Thomas Carey occa- sioned their somewhat precipitate return, via Istlimus of Panama and New Orleans. The death of his partner, Benjamin W., occurred in 1851, when Sim- eon B. closed the business, and two years later re- moved to New York, where a more extended field was opened to him. Mr. Carey first became a clerk in the hardware establishment of Messrs. Cornells & Willis, 36 Cortland Street, where, after an acceptable ser- vice of two years in that capacity, he in 1855 was made a partner, the firm becoming Cornells, Willis & Carey. In 1869, owing to various changes which had meanwhile occurred in the wholesale and jobbing trade, the firm was dissolved, when he removed to Indianapolis and again embarked in the wholesale and jobbing hardware business, under the firm-name of Layman, Carey & Co. This from a small busi- ness has become the most extensive and leading wholesale hardware establishment in the State, oecu- pying a spacious building at 67 and 69 South Merid- ian Street, equipped with two hydraulic elevators. Their trade is not confined to the limits of Indiana, but extends into Ohio and Illinois.

Mr. Carey is in politics a Republican, but not an aetive politieal partisan. He is in religion a sup- porter of the Second Presbyterian Church of Indian- apolis. He was married Nov. 2, 1854, to Miss Lydia, daughter of Eldad and Olive King, of West- field, Mass. Their children are Ida Fannic, born in New York, May 3, 1857, who died May 25, 1857 ; Nellie, whose birth occurred in New York, July 14, 1859, and her death Oct. 26, 1859; Jennie King, born Oct. 15, 1860, in New York ; and Samuel Cor-

nell, born in Brooklyn, Dee. 16, 1861, now associated with his father in business. Jennie King was mar- ried Oet. 26, 1881, to O. S. Brumback, of Toledo, Ohio, who was born Dec. 2, 1855, in Delaware County, Ohio, and graduated at Princeton, N. J., in 1877, receiving the degree of A.B., and in 1880 that of A.M. from the same college. He graduated at the Law Department of Ann Arbor University, Mieh- igan, receiving in 1879 the degree of LL.B, when lie located in Toledo in the practice of his profession.

In the stove and hollow-ware trade the house of the late Robert L. McOuat & Co. holds a first rank, and continues unchanged under the management of his brother.

ROBERT L. MCOUAT .- The family of MeOuats are of Seoteh ancestry. Thomas MeOuat, the father of the subject of this biographical sketch, having in 1830 removed from Lexington, Ky., to Indianapolis, lie married Miss Janette Lockerbie, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and had children,-William, Thomas, George, Annie, Robert L., Mary, Andrew W., Martha, and Jennie. Their son, Robert L., was born at Lexington, Ky., Ang. 8, 1827, and was but three years of age when Marion County became his home. He was educated under the tutorship of Thomas Gregg, William Sullivan, and James Kem- per, of the Marion County Seminary. At the age of seventeen he abandoned school to enter an ap- prenticeship at the tinner's trade with Samuel Wain- right. Having served his time as an apprentice, he was placed in charge of the business at the old stand by Mr. Wainright, who opened another storc. In 1850, during the gold excitement in California, he with a friend made the trip, overland, to the gold- mines, walking all the way from Salt Lake City, and carrying his provisions and baggage on his back, most of the time camping and traveling. Arriving in San Francisco, he immediately secured employment at his trade with one of the largest establishments, but find- ing the elimate uneongenial he returned to Indian- apolis, and opened a stove and tinware store with a small capital. Soon finding the room too small, his brother George built a room on the opposite side of the street, which was occupied for many years under the firm-name of R. L. & A. W. McOuat, during

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which time he was successful and acquired a little fortune. During the year 1880 he sold his interest in the business to his brother and partner, Andrew W. McOuat, to engage in the manufacture of car-wheels, forming a partnership with John May, under the firm-name of McOuat & May, and for a period of two years met with success. Having sold large bills to a manufacturing company outside the State who were unfortunate in their business operations, the firm was compelled to suspend. Mr. McOuat subse- quently secured or paid all claims, and also protected parties who were joint indorsers on paper with him.

In 1882 he received the nomination for clerk of the court of Marion County at the hands of the Democratic party, whose principles he supported, and although the county was largely Republican, lacked but a few votes of an election.

He married in 1850, Ellen C. Wallace, whose death occurred in 1863. He was a second time married on the 1st of August, 1865, to Eugenia F., daughter of Miles W. Burford, of Missouri. Their children are Effie B., Robert, and Burford. Mr. McOuat was an active member of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows. In religion he was an Epis- copalian, and formerly senior warden and later a vestryman of St. Paul's Cathedral, Indianapolis, of which he was one of the originators, having first sug- gested the organization and personally presented the first subscription-paper to raise necessary funds for the salary of the rector of the parish that afterwards built the cathedral, in which he continued an earnest worker and liberal supporter. He was a man of large and liberal views and indomitable energy, a close applicant to business, but always taking pleasure. in fishing and hunting, of which he was very fond. He was strongly attached to his family and home, where his evenings were invariably passed. In all his relations, both at home and abroad, he was the Christian gentleman. Mr. McOuat's death occurred June 28, 1883, in his fifty-sixth year.

Among the early merchants of the city whose stocks were not so miscellaneous as those of the dry- goods or general merchant were the dealers in clocks, watches, and jewelry,-a trade proportionally more important now than then,-and among the earliest of

these was Humphrey Griffith, and the most extensive in later years W. H. Talbott. Both have been dead some years now.

HUMPHREY GRIFFITHI .- The parents of Mr. Griffith were Evan and Mary Ellis Griffith, the former having been a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the latter of the Congrega- tional Church. Their son Humphrey was born in Dolgelly, Merionethshire, Wales, Dec. 23, 1791. His mother died when he was eleven, and his father when he was twenty years of age, leaving him to carve for himself by his own unaided efforts a career of independence. He served an appren- ticeship of seven years at his trade of watch- maker and clockmaker at Shrewsbury, England. He then worked for a time in London, and in the spring of 1817 emigrated to America, experi- encing some difficulty in embarking, owing to the prohibition then existing against skillful workmen leaving the country. Having sailed from Dublin, he landed in New York, and was employed first in Hunt- ingdon, Pa. In Pittsburgh, with two others, he purchased a skiff, with which he came down the Ohio. He settled in Lebanon, Ohio, and in 1821 visited Indianapolis, where, at the first sale of town lots, he purchased property on Washington Street. In 1822 he left Lebanon and removed to Centreville, Ind., and while there made additional purchases of land in the vicinity of Indianapolis, to which place he removed in 1825, having ordered a shop built and ready for occupancy on his arrival, in which he established himself as the first clock and watch- maker in the city. The clock made by him for the old State-House fifty years ago has, it is said, never since run down or necded regulating. In the summer of 1836 he retired from business with a competency, which he increased by judicious investments. He avoided bold speculations, and scrupulously shunned contracting a debt. He felt great interest in the growth of the city, and was always prominent in every scheme of substantial improvement. In early days he was an active member of the Common Council, and also served for a term or more as city treasurer. His Icading characteristics were punctuality in all things, great or little, and an investigating mind.

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He was a great reader and thinker, and developed more than ordinary mechanical ingenuity. He was modest and sensitive, always truthful and perfectly reliable. He married, March 13, 1819, Miss Jane Stephenson, a native of Scotland, and had nine chil- dren, four of whom died in infancy, and three, John E., Josiah R., and Mary Isabella, in mature years. John E. and Josiah R. each loft families. There are twelve grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. The two surviving children of Mr. and Mrs. Griffith are Pleasant H. and Mrs. Anne J. Whitehead, both living in Indianapolis. The eldest son, John E., accompanied David Dale Owen in his geological sur- veys in Illinois, Kentucky, and some of the Terri- tories. He and his brother Josiah were exemplary citizens. Mary was an active Christian, and a snc. cessful teacher in the Sunday-school of the Third Presbyterian Church, of which she was a member. Mr. Griffith twice visited the country of his nativity and the old homestead at Dolgelly in which his birth occurred. He was confirmed in the Protestant Epis- copal Church in his fourteenth year, but did not con- tinue his membership, though always a liberal con- tributor to all worthy religious causes. His death occurred June 2, 1870. Mrs. Griffith's childhood was passed near the home of Sir Walter Scott, whom she distinctly remembered, and of whom she related many interesting reminiscences. She was a lady of retiring manners and disposition, quiet in her habits, but firm in her views of truth and duty. An active member of the Presbyterian Church, she was warmly attached to ita doctrines and ordinances. Her death occurred July 23, 1879, in her eighty-fourth year. Rev. M. S. Whitehead, son-in-law of Mr. Griffith, was born in 1831, and died in 1877. He was in 1868 licensed to preach by the Congregational Asso- ciation of Indiana, and was one of the founders of the Mayflower Church of Indianapolis, which pulpit he filled at times acceptably. His work was not con- fined to one locality, and several churches of different denominationa were established out of Sunday-schools organized and fostered by him. Mr. Whitehead's influence was wide-spread, and the desire to make the ministry the work of his life was completely realized.

WASHINGTON HOUSTON TALBOTT .- The earliest members of the Talbott family came from England and settled in Talbot County, Md. The parents of Washington Houston were William and Mary (Hous- ton) Talbott. Their son was born in the State of Kentucky on the 29th of March, 1817, and at an early age removed with his parents to Charlestown, Ind., where his father owned an extensive milling property. After enjoying ordinary advantages of education, he in 1835 became a resident of Indian- apolis, and established a jewelry and book business. In 1848 he married Miss Elizabeth Coram Tinker, daughter of Capt. William and Elizabeth Tinker, of Cincinnati, though formerly residents of Maysville, Ky. Their surviving children are William H. and Mary Cleves. Mr. Talbott continued the business of a jeweler for many years, meanwhile embarking in other commercial ventures. During the year 1863 he was elected president of the State Sinking Fund, and subsequently filled the same office in connection with the Indiana and Illinois Central Railroad. He was also president of board of trustees of the State benevo- lent institutions. Mr. Talbott was closely identified with the Democratic politics of Indiana, having for several years filled the office of chairman of the State Democratic Committee. He was on successive occa- sions delegate at large to National Conventions. He was president of the Gatling Gun Company, and while directing the interests of that company in Europe contracted a severe cold, which occasioned his death at his home in Indianapolis.

The first extensive drug house in the town, and the first to put up a soda fountain, was that of Mc- Dougal & Dunlap, to whom succeeded the late William Hannaman and his partner, Caleb Scudder, the pioneer cabinet-maker, in whose shop the first Sunday-school was held. Both were largely con- cerned in the establishment of some of our early manufactures, as tobacco, wool, and oil, and Mr. Hannaman survived to an advanced age, dying within a few ycars past.

WILLIAM HANNAMAN .- The Hannaman family are of German nationality, Christopher, the grand- father of William, having been a native of Prussia. He married Mary O'Neal, whose birthplace was Dub-

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lin, Ireland. This union transmitted to their descend- ants the sturdy qualities of both the German and the Irish races. William Hannaman, the father of the subject of this biographical sketch, was a resi- dent of Cherry Valley, N. Y., and married Mary Fletcher, of Harrison County, Va. Their son William was born Aug. 10, 1806, at Adelphia, Ross Co., Ohio, and at the age of twenty-two removed to Indian- apolis, where, having previously acquired the trade of a printer, he was for several years employed in the office of the Indiana Journal. In 1833 he em- barked with Caleb Scudder in the drug business, which was continued uninterruptedly until 1863. He also, with his partner, erccted a carding-machine and oil-mill on the arm of the canal at its junction with the White River, and manufactured the first flaxseed oil in the locality. Mr. Hannaman was for many years school commissioner, a director of the State Bank of Indiana, located at Indianapolis, trustee of the State University, and identified with many benevolent and charitable enterprises. He was made president of the Indiana Branch of the Sanitary Commission dur- ing the late war, and disposed of his interest in the drug business that he might devote his time and energies exclusively to this humane work. The ad- mirable management of his department and the good it accomplished is in a large degree due to the gra- tuitous and efficient service of Mr. Hannaman, who on retiring from his labors in behalf of the soldiers was appointed by Governor Morton State military agent for the purpose of collecting soldiers' claims. In 1871 he became a member of the firm of Smith & Hannaman, brokers, and continued this business connection until his death, which occurred of pneu- monia, at the Hot Springs of Arkansas, on the 6th of December, 1880. Mr. Hannaman was married on the 28th of August, 1833, to Rhoda A. Luse, whose birth occurred Feb. 25, 1812, and her death Sep- tember, 1876. In the summer of 1879 he was again married to Mrs. A. F. Berry, who is still living. Of seven children but two survive their father, Henry G., of Indianapolis, and Mary E., of Dakota.

Among the carlier merchants of the city were the late John F. Ramsay, in furniture, and Jacob S. Walker.

JOHN F. RAMSAY, retired merchant, was born in Lebanon, Ohio, Dec. 2, 1805. His parents, Wil- liam and Martha (Dinwiddie) Ramsay, were of Scotch descent, and born in Kentucky, their parents being among the earliest settlers of that State. Wil- liam with his family came to Indiana Territory in 1810, landing at the site of the city of Madison, there being but one house crected at this early period, which was occupied by the ferryman. They settled near the site of the village of Hanover, about two miles from the block-house, to which they were compelled to resort every night for protection from the Indians. In 1812, the latter becoming very troublesome, John was sent to his grandparents, . near Georgetown, Ky., where he remained a year. His boyhood was spent in helping to clear the forests and in farm labors, the lad being subjected to all the hardships aud privations of pioncer life. Educational advantages in the new country were very limited. He attended school six months when in Kentucky and a few terms in Indiana, walking a distance of three miles to the school-house. At the age of sev- entcen he removed to Cincinnati, and was appren- ticed to Charles Lehman, at that time the leading furniture manufacturer in the West. Serving out his apprenticeship, he worked a year in the shop, after which he repaired to Louisville, and from thence to New Orleans and St. Louis, pursuing his vocation for a time in each place. Returning to Indiana, he carried on his trade near Madison and at Paris, Ind., and. removed to Indianapolis May 15, 1833. Purchasing the property adjoining the ground now occupied by the Occidental Hotel (which at that time was inclosed with a rail fence and was planted with corn), he crected a building, opened a cabinet-shop, and by close attention to business' became the leading furniture dealer in the place. With the advent of railroad communication with Cincinnati, he abandoned manufacturing and dealt exclusively in furniture made at the latter place. After a successful career, having obtained a handsome competency, he retired from business in 1870. He has been twice married, his first wife, Elvira (Ward) Ramsay, having died in 1846. Five children were born to this union, all of whom are

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now deceased. He married his second wife, Lealı P. Malott, widow of W. H. Malott, of Salem, Ind., in 1848. Five children have been born to them, four of whom are now living.

Mr. Ramsay was an ardent Whig during the ex- istence of that party. Upon its dissolution and the organization of the Republican party, his strong anti-slavery sentiments led him to become identified with it. He has never held any political office other than as a member of the Common Council, elected by the Whigs. He has always taken a decp interest in matters affecting the welfare and growth of the city, and in building and otherwise he has done much toward advancing its material in- terests. He has been a faithful and leading mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church during his entire fifty years' residence in the city, and, with others of the early settlers, has aided in giving an impulse to its moral and religious sentiment, that has caused it to be noted as " the City of Churches."

JACOB S. WALKER .- The grandfather of Jacob S. Walker was a soldier of the war of the Revolu- tion. He married Miss Mary Hazelet, and had among his children a son Thomas, who married Mrs. Mary Rutherford, of Dauphin County, Pa., and had two sons, Jacob S. and James, and two dangh- ters, Susan and Eliza. Jacob S. Walker was born in January, 1814, at Harrisburg, Pa., where the early years of his life were spent. At the age of sixteen, after enjoying such advantages of education as the common schools offered, he determined to render himself independent by acquiring a trade, and became master of the carpenter's craft. In 1835 he removed to Indianapolis as a builder and contractor, and during a period of ten years erected many impor- tant edifices and built dwellings, which were afterward sold by him. He then embarked in the lumber business, and continued thus engaged for twenty years, after which he retired from active employ- ments. Mr. Walker was a man of modest demeanor and of humane instinets, who cared little for mere display and esteemed highly the more substantial pleasures to be derived from books. He was a ju- dicious reader of the best literature, and possessed a mind well informed on all subjects. He conferred

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History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 29

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 942

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942