History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 33

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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The sunny days of life for thee are o'er, And thy dark eyes shall hail the light no more, --- The final sun is setting."

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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

They cease; and silent through the gate I glide, And down the shore unto the dismal river, That doth the lands of Death and Life divide, To find, I trust, upon the farther side Life, light, and love forever.

In 1871 the Superior Court of Marion County was created with three judges, from the decision of any one of whom an appeal lay to all of them in "banc." In 1877, March 5, the number of judges was increased to four, and reduced again to three by the act of May 31, 1879. One of the most noted judges of the Superior Court, though not of the first three, was Samuel E. Perkins, for many years a member of the Supreme Court.

SAMUEL ELLIOTT PERKINS was born in Brattle- boro', Vt., Dec. 6, 1811, being the second son of John Trumbull and Catharine Willard Perkins. His parents were both natives of Hartford, Conn., and were temporarily residing in Brattleboro', where his father was pursuing the study of law with Judge Samuel Elliott. Before he was five years old his father died, and his mother removed with her chil- dren to Conway, Mass., where she also dicd soon afterward. Before this, however, Mrs. Perkins being unable to support her family, Elliott was adopted by William Baker, a respectable farmer of Conway, with whom he lived and laborcd until he was twenty-one years of age. During this time, by the aid of three months' annual schooling in the frec schools in winter, and by devoting evenings and rainy days to books, he secured a good English education, and began the study of Latin and Greek. After attaining his majority he pursucd his studies in different schools, working for his board and teaching in vacation to provide means for tuition and clothing. The last year of this course of study was spent at the Yates County Academy, N. Y., then under the presi- dency of Seymour B. Gookins, Esq., a brother of the late Judge Gookins, of Terre Haute, Ind. Having obtained a fair classical education he commenced the study of law in Penn Yan, the county-seat of Yates County, in the office of Thomas J. Nevius, Esq., and afterward as a fellow-student of Judge Brinkerhoff, late of the Supreme Bench of Ohio, studying in the office of Henry Welles, Esq., since one of the judges

of the Supreme Court of New York. In the fall of 1836 he came alone, on foot, from Buffalo, N. Y., to Richmond, Ind., a stranger in a strange land, not being acquainted with a single individual in the State. His original intention had been to locate in Indianapolis, but on reaching Richmond he found the roads impassable from recent heavy storms, it being necessary to carry even the mails on horsc- back. Finding it impossible to proceed farther, and desiring to lose no time in qualifying himself for practice, he inquired for a lawyer's office, and was referred to Judge J. W. Borden, then a practicing attorney in Richmond, and now criminal judge of Allen County. He spent the winter in his office doing office work for his board. In the spring of 1837, after a satisfactory examination before Hon. Jehu T. Elliott, Hon. David Kilgore, and Hon. Andrew Kennedy, a committee appointed by the court for that purpose, he was admitted to the bar at Centreville, Wayne Co., Ind. He immediately opened an office in Richmond, and soon obtained a large and lucrative practice. The Jeffersonian, a weekly paper, had been established in 1837 by a Democratic club, with Mr. Perkins as editor. In 1838 the Jeffersonian was sold to Lynde Elliott, who conducted it about a year and failed. He had mortgaged the press to Daniel Recd, of Fort Wayne, for more than its value. Mr. Reed visited Rich- mond, after Elliott's failure, for the purpose of mov- ing the press to Fort Wayne. Unwilling that the Democracy of the place should be without an organ, Mr. Perkins came forward and paid off the mort- gage, took the press, recommenced the publication of the Jeffersonian, and continued it through the campaign of 1840. In 1843 he was appointed by Governor Whitcomb prosecuting attorney of the Sixth Judicial Circuit. In 1844 he was one of the electors who cast the vote of the State for Mr. Polk. In the winter of 1844, and again in 1845, he was nominated by Governor Whitcomb, a cautious man and good judge of character, to a seat on the Supreme Bench, but was not confirmed. Ou the adjournment of the Legislature, quite unexpectedly to himself, he received from the Governor the ap- pointment for one year to the office for which he

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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

They ense ; and silent through the gale I glide,

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J 1-71 the Superior Court of Marion County mw created with three judges, from the decision of my we of whom an appeal lay to all of them in · ba: ' In 1877, March 5, the number of judges - increased to four, and reduced again to three by the art of May 31, 1879. One of the most noted judges of the Superior Court, though not of the first threc, was Samuel E. Perkins, for many years a member of the Suprem C

SAMUEL ELLIOTT PERKINS Was born in Biz boro', Vt., Deo. 6, 1911, being th Rond son of , 1937 John Trumbull and Catharine Willard Perkins. Dis parents were both natives of Hartford, Conn., and were temporarily residing in Brattleboro', where his father was pursuing the study of law with Judge Samuel Elliott. Before he was five years old his father died, and his mother removed with her chil- drou to Conway Masy., where she also died soon ferward. Before this, however, Mra. Perkins being unable t Family Elliott adopted by Willi

Conway, with whom he lived al !

was twenty-one years of age the , by the aid of three w uths' annul fooling in the free schools in winter, and by devoting evenings and rainy days to hooks, he secured a good English education, and began the study of Latin and Greek. After attaining his majority he pursued his studies in different schools, working for his board and teaching. of the Jeffersonian, and continued it through the in vacation to provide means for tuiti u and clothing. The last year of this course of study was spent at the Yates County Academy, N. Y., then under the presi- deney of Seymour B. Gookins, Esq., a brother of the lar Judge Gookins, of Terre Haute, Ind. Having obtalved a fair classical education he commenced the study of law in Penn Yan, the county-seat of Yates County, in the office of Thomas J. Nevius, Esq., and afterward as a fellow-student of Judge Brinkerhoff, late of the Supreme Bench of Ohio, studying in the office of Ilenry Welles, Esq., since one of the judges

da - end failed. He had d the pre ts ! Pd, of Fort Wayne, for more than its value. Mr. Reed visited Rich- mond, after Elliott's failure, for the purpose of mov- ing the press to Fort Wayne. Uuwilling that the -Democracy of the place should be without an organ, Mr. Perkins camo forward and paid off the mort- gage, took the press, recommenced the publication campaign of 1840. In 1843 he was appointed by Governor Whitcomb prosecuting attorney of the Sixth Judicial Circuit. In 1844 ho was one of the - electors who east the vote of the State for Mr. Polk. In the winter of 1844, and again in 1845, he was nominated by Governor Whitcomb, a cautions man and good judge of character, to a seat on the Supreme Bench, but was not confirmed. On the adjourument of the Legislature, quite unexpectedly to himself, he received from the Governor the ap- pointment for one year to the office for which he

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CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS.

had been nominated. He was then thirty-four years of age, and had been at the bar and a resident of the State but nine years. With much reluctance he ac- cepted the appointment, having to risk the re-election of Governor Whitcomb for a renomination to the Senate the following year. He was, however, re- elected, and Judge Perkins, having served on the bench one year, was renominated and confirmed by the Senate, receiving a two-thirds vote, seven Whig senators voting for him. In 1852, and again in 1858, he was elected, under the new Constitution, by the vote of the people to the same position, and was therefore on the Supreme Bench nineteen consecu- tive years. When, in the stress of political disaster in 1864, he left that court he did not therefore despair or retire, but entered at once into the prae- tice of his profession. In 1857 he accepted the appointment of professor of law in the Northwestern Christian (now Butler) University, which position he retained several years. In 1870-72 he was professor of law at the Indiana State University, at Bloomington. He felt much pride and gratification in the marked success of so many of his students. In addition to his immense labor as one of the judges of the Supreme Court and professor of law, he prepared in 1858 the " Indiana Digest," a book containing eight hundred and seventy pages, and requiring in its writing, arrangement, and compila- tion for the press a great amount of labor, involving the deepest research into the statutes of the State and the decisions of the Supreme Court. This work has received the approbation of the members of the Indiana bar as a work of great merit'and utility. In 1859 he also produced the "Indiana Practice," a work requiring an equal amount of labor. In 1868 he undertook the editorship of the Herald, formerly and since the Sentinel, the Democratic State organ. In August, 1872, he was appointed by Governor Baker, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Rand, to a seat on the Superior Bench of Marion County, a nisi prius and inferior tribunal, one of great labor and responsibility, and discharged its duties with all diligence and fidelity. He was subsequently elected to the same office in 1874 with- out opposition. Nor was there ever a juster act of

popular gratitude and recognition than when the people of the State, in 1876, almost without action upon his part, took him from this place and returned him to a higher station in the courts of the common- wealth which he had formerly so long adorned with his presence. To his studious application, which supplemented the natural qualities of his mind, much was due for the reputation of the Indiana Supreme Bench in the days when it was honored for its wis- dom. He helped to give it the name it had in the days of Blackford and Dewey, his first associates in the court, and not the smallest part of the loss occa- sioned by his death is, that it deprives the bench of the quality it needs most and has least. Shortly after Judge Perkins' appointment to the Supreme Beneh he became a resident of Indianapolis, where he con- tinued to live until the time of his death. He took a lively interest in the development of the material interests of his adopted city, and during his long residence there assisted with his means and influence in many enterprises looking toward the prosperity of Indianapolis. As he was familiar with adversity in his early days, and often experienced all that was bitter in poverty, his heart continually prompted him to acts of benevolence toward the unfortunate of his neighborhood. It was a mystery to many how he could apply himself professionally with such unre- mitting diligence, and at the same time take such a lively interest in everything looking toward the pros- perity of Indianapolis ; but the fact is he knew no rest ; he was indefatigable; he never tired when there was anything to be done. His life was an unceasing round of labors which he never neglected, and which he pursued with a devoted industry from which more robust constitutions might have recoiled. On politi- cal subjects the judge was a pertinent and forcible writer, and when his pen engaged in miscellany its productions possessed a truthful brevity, perspieuity, and beauty which ranked them among the best liter- ary productions of the day. His eulogy on the late Governor Aslıbel P. Willard, delivered in the Senate chamber during the November term (1860) of the United States District Court, does ample justice to the character and memory of that distinguished man ; and the sentiments that pervade the entire address

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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

bear testimony to the soundness of the head and goodness of the heart from which they emanated. The pith and fibre of his mental faculties are not by anything better attested than by the very evident growth and progress of his judicial style. His mind was of that finest material which does not dull with age or become stale with usage. He improved steadily and constantly to the very last. His last opinions are his best. There is in these a manifest terseness, a cautious, careful trimming and lopping off of all superfluousness ; the core only, the very kernel of the point to be decided, is presented. But for this tacit acknowledgment of a fault in his earlier writings he is not to be upbraided, but commended rather for the moral courage necessary in the avowal and avoid- ance of such fault. The first, and not the least, quality in a judge is thorough integrity of purpose and action. In this great qualification he was fault- less. In a long and diversified course of public life no charge was ever made against him of corruption or oppression, or even of discourtesy or unkindness. In his intercourse, whether with his colleagues of the bench and bar, or with the people at large, no stain was ever found upon the ermine which he worc. Too much praise can hardly be bestowed upon the firmness with which he maintained his political integrity. In early life an ardent friend and sup- porter of the principles of Jackson and Jefferson, he remained faithful in his adherence to them to the end. There were many notable examples in his day of political apostasy ; there were many of his contem- poraries who, yielding to what was called the force of circumstances, did

" Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee, That thrift might follow fawning."

But he was not of the number. At the grand assizes of the future, posterity will award to the late chief justice of Indiana the white glove of purity, in token of a lengthened term of publie ser- vice in which justice was administered without fear, without favor, and without reproach. Judge Per- kins died of paralysis of the brain, at his residence on West New York Street, Indianapolis, at mid- night, Dec. 17, 1879, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He died full of years and honors.

It seldom falls to the lot of a single individual in these feverish and changeful times to fill a position of such high honor and trust in the State such a length of time. As is customary on the death of a member of the profession, a bar mecting was called, and, after appropriate remarks, the following memo- rial was reported by Governor Baker, as chairman of a special committee :

" Again, in the history of the State, death has entered the Supreme Court and made vacant a seat upon its bench. The chief justice is dead. We meet to do suitable honor to the name and memory, and mourn the death, of Judge Perkins. His eminent success is an encenragement, his death an admo- nition. Endowed with strong and active facultics, he pursued the purposes of his life with fortitudo and determination, and at the elose ef his career he stood among the distinguished ef a professien in which distinctien must be incrited to be achieved.

" He was successful in life, and attained exalted position and enjoyed the admiration and approval of his countrymen, not only because of his excellent uaturat endowments, but also because his facnitics were cultivated and developed by diligent labor, and beautified by extensive and useful learning, and also because his motives were pure and his conduct npright. In this we have a lesson and an encouragement.

"The people gave him high honor, and made it as enduring as the laws and the records of the State. His name is forever interwoven in our judicial history. So long as society shall remain organized under the government of law wilt the student ef laws consult his opinions and decisions. Through coming generations will his lahor and learning influence both the legis- later and the judge.

" He was an able and faithful judge, and bronght hener on eur professien. We will cherish his memory.

"In his death we are admonished that ne earthly distinction can defeat or postpone the 'inevitable hour.'

'The paths of glory lead but to the grave.'

" To his family and kindred we extend our sympathy."

Judge Perkins was married, in 1838, to Amanda Juliette Pyle, daughter of Joseph Pyle, a prominent citizen of Richmond, Ind. By this marriage there were ten children, three of whom lived to maturity. Mary married Oscar B. Hord, and died in 1874, leaving four sons,-Samnel E. P., Henry E., Frank T., and Ricketts Hord. Emma married H. C. Hol- brook, and died without children. Samuel Elliott, Jr., the only one now living, married Sue E. Hatchi, and has two little sons,-Samuel Elliott and Volney Hatch Perkins.

In the three " rooms" or divisions of the Superior

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CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS.

Court is now transacted much the larger proportion of all the civil business of the county, except probate business, which all goes to the Circuit Court. The sessions run on almost continuously from one year's end to another. The succession of judges will be found in the appended list of county officers. Among those who have served with efficiency and high credit none have left the bench with a more desirable record and reputation than Judge John A. Holman.

JOHN A. HOLMAN comes of English stock. His great-grandfather, George Holman, was born in Mary- land, Feb. 11, 1762. When sixteen years of age he went with his uncle to Kentucky, where they settled near the site of the city of Louisville. In February, 1781, while going to Harrodsburg, he with his com- panions were captured by the Indians, carried as a prisoner into what is now the northern part of Ohio, where he was compelled to run the gauntlet and barely escaped death. Not long afterwards he was sentenced by a council to be burned at the stake, but was rescued by a warrior who adopted him as a son. He was in captivity three years and a half when the tribe consented that he might return to Kentucky to obtain supplies for them, in company with some of their number. Returning through the forest they struek the Ohio River a few miles above Louisville, and, with guns and blankets lashed to their backs, swam the river. Young Holman was at onee ran- somed and immediately entered the service of Gen. George Rogers Clark, and served under him in the following campaign.

On his return from captivity he had passed down the White Water, and was delighted with the coun- try. In 1804 he, with two friends, returned to the White Water country and selected a home on the east bank of the river, about two miles south of where the city of Richmond now stands, to which he removed his family in the following spring. They were the first settlers in Wayne County, where he resided the remainder of his life.

His son William was a captain in the war of 1812, and afterwards became a Methodist preacher on the frontier, and was widely known for his zealous devo- tion to the establishment of the principles of Meth- odism. James, another son of the old pioneer, was

well known for his steady integrity. His youngest son was George G. Holman, who married Mary, the daughter of Governor James Brown Ray. He was a leading merchant in Centreville for many years, from whence he removed to Indianapolis.

John A. Holman, the subject of this sketch, is the youngest child of George G. and Mary Holman. He was born in the city of Indianapolis on April 16, 1849. He was educated at the Northwestern Chris- tian University, graduating at the age of seventeen. Even before this he had determined to devote his life to the profession of the law. Immediately after com- menecment-day he began his studies under the in- struction of those eminent jurists, Samuel E. Perkins and David McDonald, and was admitted to the bar, ex gratia, upon their recommendation, when but nine- teen years of age.

Martin M. Ray, his kinsman, then practicing at the Indianapolis bar, was so well pleased with the boy that he took him into his office at once as an as- sociatc, with whom he remained in active practice until the sudden death of Mr. Ray, in August, 1872. Although now only twenty-two years of age, he had already taken high rank at the bar, and continued to practice alone with eminent success until 1876, when, on Judge Perkins being again elected to the Supreme Bench, young Holman was at the age of twenty- seven appointed by Governor Hendricks to the va- cancy on the Superior Bench of this city. His carly training and profound knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence eminently fitted him for the discharge of judicial functions. He knew the source and his- tory of the law. He was familiar with the origin and development of the rules of property and busi- ness, whether found in statutes or recorded only in the treatises and reports. His knowledge was so thorough and his faculties so well disciplined, that from the beginning he presided with dignity and even justice. He remained upon the beach until the end of the year 1882, when he again returned to the bar.

The bar of Indianapolis has had the good fortune to be steadily recruited from the local bars of the State, and it has thus become possessed of no ineon- siderable share of their ability and reputation. It has in a measure swallowed them as fast as they

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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

showed force enough to be felt beyond their local limits. A lawyer in a county town attraets atten- tion, in time gets to be prominent in politics, is elected to a State office, comes to the capital, and stays. Others, for the advantages offered by the Su- preme and Federal Courts, come and settle here perma- nently. Thus came here Governor David Wallace, William J. Brown, Oliver H. Smith, Caleb B. Smith, Ovid Butler, Samuel E. Perkins, Oliver P. Morton, Thomas A. Hendricks, Conrad Baker, Joseph E. McDonald, John M. Butler, Jonathan W. Gordon, Ralph Hill, William Henderson, Oscar B. Hord, Benjamin Harrison, and others. Among members of the city bar of national reputation, professionally and politically, are ex-Governor and Senator Oliver P. Morton, ex-Governer and ex-Senator Thomas A. Hendricks, and ex-Senator Joseph E. McDon- ald.

OLIVER PERRY MORTON .- In the little village of Saulsbury, Wayne Co., Ind., on the 4th day of August, 1823, Oliver Perry Morton was born. He was of English descent, his grandfather having emi- grated from England about the beginning of the Revo- lutionary war, and settled in New Jersey. His mother died when he was quite young. After the death of his mother the most of his boyhood days were spent with his grandparents in Ohio, and with his widowed aunts in Centreville, Ind. His op- portunities for education were rather limited, and at the age of fifteen he was put to learn the hatter's trade with his half-brother, William T. Morton. At this occupation he worked four years, employing all his spare time in study. Early in 1843 he entered Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio. He remained there two years in hard study. While there he was counted the best debater in the University, and dis- played the powers of presenting an argument that afterwards made him so famous.

from their marriage until his death an influence that did much to advance his fame.

He went into the study of the law as he did every- thing else-with all the energy and industry he had. His preceptor said of him that he was a most labori- ous student, oceupying all his time in mastering the fundamental principles. He did nothing half-way. He centred all the powers of his mind on his study, and his intense application brought its reward. In 1847 he was admitted to the bar, and entered the practice of the law in Centreville. Although Indiana then had not attained to the powerful position she has since occupied, the bar of Wayne County was an ex- ceptionally strong one, and one that would have ranked high in any State. It numbered among its members such men as John S. Newman, Caleb B. Smith, James Rariden, Samuel W. Parker, Jehu T. Elliott, and others. It was among these men young Morton ex- pected to try his fortunes. They were the men he was to meet and combat. They were men learned in the law, men of high character, with reputations already established, and a young man to occupy a place among them had to be possessed of more than ordinary ability. Among these men he soon came to be acknowledged a sound lawyer, and they found that in him they met one able to cope with them before the beneh or jury. Business multiplied, and he was retained in many important cases in all the neighbor- ing counties. In 1852 he was appointed judge of the circuit. He had only been practicing five years when he received this high honor. In a circuit com- posed of such distinguished lawyers as those men- tioned above, this appointment at so early an age was ne light honor, and is but an evidence of the ability he was recognized as possessing. He only remained on the bench a year, when he relinquished it to again enter active practice, in which he continued until 1860.

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History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 33

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