USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana > Part 37
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JOSEPH EWING MCDONALD was born in Butler County, Ohio, on the 29th of August, 1819. His
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father, John MeDonald, was of Seotch extraction, a native of Pennsylvania, and by occupation a farmer. He was a man of sterling worth, determined and self- sacrificing. He died when Joseph E. was still in his infancy, thus depriving him of support and counsel, and casting upon him many burdens and responsi- bilities. His mother, Eleanor Piatt, was a Pennsyl- vanian, her ancestors being French Huguenots, who located first in New Jersey and afterwards perma- neutly in Ohio. She was a woman of superior intel- leet, her standards all high, her influences always elevating. Her highest ambition-a mother's-was to educate her children and make them useful mem- bers of society. She and her husband were both earnest members of the Presbyterian Church. She later married John Kerr, of Butler County, Ohio, a native of Ireland, and a frugal, industrious farmer. He with his family moved in the fall of 1826 to Montgomery County, Ind., Joseph E. then being seven years of age. While still a mere boy he de- termined to make the profession of law his life-work. At twelve years of age he was apprenticed to the saddler's trade at Lafayette. For nearly six years he served as an apprentice, being released from the last three months for fidelity to the interest of his em- ployers. These three months he spent in studying. During his apprenticeship he had access to the library of a government official, and what leisure he com- manded was devoted to the English branches. He entered Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind., in 1838, supporting himself by plying his trade. Two years later he was a student at; Asbury University, Greeneastle. Mr. MeDonald did not graduate. A diploma and degree were given him, however, while he was a member of the United States Senate. His first preceptor in law was Zebulon Baird, one of the first lawyers of the State, and a resident of Lafayette. In 1853 he was admitted to practice upon an exami- nation before the Supreme Court of the State. Four years later he began practicing in Crawfordsville, and in 1859 removed to Indianapolis. His first law part- ner at Indianapolis was ex-judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana, Addison L. Roache. His present partners are John M. Butler and A. L. Mason.
Mr. MeDonald, with the late Judge Black, was
counsel for the defendants in the celebrated ease of Bowles, Horsey, and Milligan, tried for treason and conspiracy by a military commission at Indianapolis, and sentenced to be hung. The case was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, wliere a number of important constitutional questions arose as to the relations of the general government to the States, the war power of the government, and the rights of the citizen. The defendants were released by the Supreme Court. In the case of Beebe vs. the State, in which the Supreme Court decided that the enactment known as the Maine liquor law was un- constitutional, Mr. MeDonald was of the counsel for the defendants. He was also one of the attorneys for the parties who assailed the constitutionality of the Baxter liquor law. He has taken an active part in many other important cases before the Supreme Court of the State and the Federal Court.
The senator is most successful in his pleading be- fore a jury, and is a shrewd examiner. He is not an eloquent talker, but has the ability to influence those who listen to him by the fairness of his arguments.
Before he had received his license to practice law, Mr. MeDonald was nominated for the office of prose- cuting attorney, and eleeted the following fall over Robert Jones, Whig, and a prominent member of the Lafayette bar. This was the first election of that elass of officers by the people, they having been for- merly chosen by the Legislature. As prosecuting at: torney he served four years. He was elected to the Thirty-first Congress from the district in which Craw- fordsville was then situated, having removed to that place during his official term as prosecutor at Lafay- ette.
Returning to the State after his congressional term, he was elected attorney-general of Indiana five years later. He was the first choice of the people for this office, and held it two terms. With Oliver P. Mor- ton as an opponent, he made the raee for Governor of Indiana in 1864. He ran ahead of his ticket, but Mr. Morton was elected by nearly twenty thousand votes. Eleven years later Mr. MeDonald took his scat in the United States Senate as a successor to Daniel D. Pratt. He was chairman of the Commit- tee on Public Lands and the second member of the
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Judiciary Committee. He visited New Orleans to investigate the count of the vote of Louisiana in the contest of 1876, and made the principal argument for the objectors before the Electoral Commission. The senator was also a member of the Teller-Wallace committee to investigate the frauds in elections in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. At the expiration of his senatorial term he returned to Indianapolis, where he has since been engaged in the active prae- tiec of his profession. He is and always has been a firm and consistent Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, as personified in the political life of Andrew Jackson. He believes the true idea of American democracy is to preserve unimpaired all the rights reserved to the States, respcetively, and to the people, without infringing upon any of the powers delegated to the general government by the Constitution, and that constitutional government is of the first impor- tanee and a necessity to the perpetuity of the Amer- ican Union. He believes in the virtue of the people, and in their ability and purpose to maintain their institutions inviolate against the assaults of designing men. As an orator, both at the bar and on the hust- ings, Mr. MeDonald is cool, logical, and forcible ; as a citizen, he has the confidence and respect of all who know him, regardless of political creeds. He is re- garded by all parties as a statesman of acknowledged merit. His views are broad and comprehensive on all questions of public interest,-not a man of expe- dients, but stating his views elearly and boldly, leav- ing the result to the candid judgment of the people. The opinions of his most bitter opponents are never treated with disdain. His steadfastness of purpose, his honest desire to accomplish what was best for the people have given him a home in their hearts and won for him high honors at their hands. Their confidence has never been betrayed or sacrificed for personal aggrandizement. Mr. McDonald is in religion an attendant and pew- holder, but not a member, of the Second Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis. He has been three times married. On the 25th of No- vember, 1844, he was united to Miss Naney Ruth Buell, to whom were born children,-Ezekiel M., Malcolm A., Frank B., and Annic M. (Mrs. Cald- well). Mrs. McDonald died Sept. 7, 1872, and he
was again married on the 15th of September, 1874, to Mrs. Araminta W. Vance, who died Feb. 2, 1875. On the 12th of January, 1881, he was married to his present wife, Mrs. Josephine F. Barnard, née Farnsworth, of Indianapolis, daughter of Joseph Farnsworth, formerly of Madison, Ind.
GOVERNOR DAVID WALLACE was born in Mifflin 1 County, Pa., April 24, 1799. His parents removed to Ohio when he was a boy, and from that State, through the influence of Gen. Harrison, he received a cadetship in West Point Academy, where, after graduation, he was for some time a tutor in mathe- matics. He removed to Brookville while still a young man, and began the practice of the law there. Hc represented the county in the Legislature some years, and in 1834 was elected Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with Governor Noble's re-election. In 1837 he was elected Governor and removed to the capital, which was thenceforward his home. He married, as his second wife, Zerelda, eldest daughter of the eminent physician, Dr. Sanders, and in 1839 the Legislature purchased for the official residenee of the Executive the house then recently built by Dr. Sanders on the northwest corner of Illinois and Market Streets. In 1841, at a special election to meet the demand of President Harrison for an extra session of Congress, he was elected over Judge Wiek, and served till March 4, 1843. In Congress it was his fortune to be the last man on the roll of the committee to which had been referred the petition of Professor Morse for forty thousand dol- lars to make an electric telegraph line from Washing- ton to Baltimore. The vote on recommending such an appropriation was a tic till Governor Wallace gave the casting vote for it. He saved that just appro- priation, and it beat him in his contest for re-elec- tion. His opponent, the late William J. Brown, used the idleness and waste of spending money on such schemes with disastrous effect. After the es- tablishment of the Court of Common Pleas he served a term as its judge. He was also prosecutor in the Circuit Court for some years. Both in intelleet and personal appearance and bearing Governor Wallace seemed formed by nature for an orator, and when deeply moved, as he was sometimes at the bar, espe-
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cially in prosecuting cruel crimes, he was the most eloquent man ever heard in Indianapolis. His na- ture was exceedingly social, genial, and generous, and he was a most delightful companion for young men, whose company he seemed to prefer. He died in September, 1859. His eldest son, William, is a dis- tinguished member of the bar, and even more distio- guished as an orator and leading member of the Odd- Fellows. His second, Lewis, is the well-known nov- elist and general, now minister to Constantinople.
Less known as a politician, but not less favorably known professionally than the distinguished lawyers whose lives have just been briefly sketched, is John M. Butler.
JOHN MAYNARD BUTLER .- The parents of Mr. Butler were Calvin Butler and Malvina French But- ler, the latter of whom was a direct descendant of Governor Bradford, of Massachusetts, both natives of Vermont. The former learned the trade of a shoe- maker, which was followed until his thirtieth year, when, having a desire to acquire an education, he made his way through Middlebury College, and subse- quently entered the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass. Having thus gained a thorough theological as well as classical training, he came West to preach, and settled io Evansville, Ind. Subsequently he removed to Northern Illinois, where his death occurred in 1854. There being a large family of children in the house- hold, the subject of this sketch, who was born at Evansville, Ind., Sept. 17, 1834, was compelled to rely mainly upon his own exertions, and consequently at the age of twelve years engaged as clerk and in other employments. Having inherited a love of learn- ing and a determination to acquire a thorough educa- tion, he succeeded in entering Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, in 1851, and through his own efforts, with partial help, graduated in 1856. The same day he was elected president of the Female Seminary at Crawfordsville, which position he held for three suc- cessive years, after which he became principal of the High-School. During this period he pursued the study of the law with the intention of adopting it as a profession. In the fall of 1861 he made an ex- tended tour through the Northwestern States, in pur- suit of a location for the practice of law. Returning,
he settled in Crawfordsville in November, 1861. From that day until the present he has been kept constantly busy, his first case being an important one that passed through the Circuit and Supreme Courts of Indiana, ending in the complete success of the young lawyer. This gave him an early prestige and greatly increased his practice in the town and surrounding counties. In 1871 he came to Indianapolis and succeeded Judge A. L. Roache as partner with Hon. Joseph E. Mc- Donald, their relations being continued to the present time. Mr. George C. Butler was taken into the firm in 1875, and after his death Mr. A. L. Mason, the present firm being McDonald, Butler & Mason. Their practice has steadily increased, notwithstanding the protracted absence of Mr. McDonald when filling the office of United States senator at Washington. Mr. Butler's thorough mastery of the intricate prob- lems of the law, and ability in the conduct of important cases, have placed him in the foremost rank of suc- cessful lawyers in the State. Differing from his dis- tinguished partner politically, he has always affiliated ardently with the Republican cause, and has taken no inconsiderable part in forwarding the interests of that party. Aspiring to no office, and repeatedly declining nominations, he has been an active worker in political campaigns, speaking throughout this State and ex- tending, his labors to other States. He is a popular political orator, his speeches having been extensively published and read. Mr. Butler is an active member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, in which he is a ruling elder and member of the board of trustees. As a jurist he stands in the first rank in a bar that embraces in its list many of the ablest lawyers in the country, the practice of the firm being with cases of the weightiest importance. Wisely avoiding the paths that lead to military and civic distinction, he has a far more enviable record as a successful lawyer, a useful and respected citizen, and a thorough Christian gentleman. Mr. Butler was married in April, 1857, to Miss Sue W. Jen- nison, of Crawfordsville, Ind. Their children are a son and a daughter. George Calvin Butler, a brother of Mr. Butler, was born May 3, 1851, in Marine, Ill., and graduated at Wabash College in 1872. He adopted the law as a profession, became a partner in
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a firm that was constantly dealing with difficult suits, involving the subtleties of the law and vast property interests. His talents commanded the confidence of his superiors and placed in his charge cases rarely intrusted to a young man. He invariably became master of his cases, and early won the high approba- tion of the judges of the highest courts at which he practiced. His brilliant career as a promising and successful lawyer and a sincere and earnest Christian was suddenly ended by death on the 10th of Novem- ber, 1882.
From its central situation the capital has been the principal point of business for Eastern agencies ever since it was large enough to liave any business to attend to. Claims of Eastern merchants have been largely sent here to collect in all parts of the State, and the business, though involving no great extent of law practice or erudition, has been very lucrative. The firm of Fletcher, Butler & Yandes did a very extensive collecting business, with a very large liti- gated business besides ; but probably the largest col- leeting business, combined with ordinary legal busi- ness, ever conducted in the city was that of William Henderson.
WILLIAM HENDERSON .- The ancestors of Mr. Henderson were of Scotch-Irish extraction, and resided in the north of Ireland. John Henderson, his father, was a native of Albemarle County, Va., where his parents settled before the Revolution. He was married to Miss Naney Rucker and had· children, -Thomas, Robert, Reuben, John, Polly, and Wil- liam. Mr. Henderson on reaching manhood re- moved to Alabama, and later to Mooresville, Morgan Co., where his death occurred. His son William was born Oct. 14, 1820, in Lawrence County, Ala., in the immediate vicinity of the town of Mol- ton, and at the age of nine years removed with his parents to Indiana. His early educational advan- tages were limited, both from want of opportunities adjacent to his home and lack of means to prosecute his studies abroad. At the age of seventeen years he engaged in active labor, and later acquired the trade of a saddler in Eaton, Preble Co., Ohio. Dur- ing an apprenticeship of four years, diligent atten- dance upon the sessions of a night school enabled 1
him to become proficient in the various English branches, and fitted him for the calling of a teacher. He, during this interval, began the study of law with Messrs. J. S. & A. J. Hawkins, of Eaton, which was continued for two years, when he was admitted to practice in Indiana, his license having been signed by Judges J. T. Elliott and David Kil- gore, and in March, 1844, removed to Neweastle, Henry Co., Ind., where an office was opened in connection with the late Judge Samuel E. Perkins, of Richmond, Ind., and later of Indianapolis. This business connection was continued until the appoint- ment of the latter to the Supreme Court Bench, when the copartnership was dissolved. Mr. Hen- derson was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Indiana by examination in November, 1849, and to the bar of the United States Supreme Court in 1857. He continued to be a resident of New- castle until 1851, when he located in Indianapolis. Here his abilities soon brought an extended and lucrative practice, which has been continued, with the exception of a brief interval devoted to other pursuits, until the present time, his business having pertained rather to commercial interests than to litigation of a general character. He has been since 1852 attorney for the Berkshire Life Insurance Company, and for ten years their general financial agent for the investment of the company's funds. He was one of the incorporators and has been for several years a director of the Board of Water-Works of the city of Indianapolis.
Mr. Henderson was in his political affiliations until 1854 a Whig. A change of views at that time caused him to act with the Democratic party, of which he has since been one of the most active supporters, though not a candidate for preferment at its hands. Wil- liam Henderson was married in January, 1845, tu Miss Martha A., daughter of Jonathan Paul, one of the earliest settlers of Decatur County, Ind. Their two children are William R., a elergyman of the Presbyterian Church, settled at Holden, Mo., and Sarah (Mrs. J. P. Wiggins), of Indianapolis. Mrs. Henderson's death occurred in May, 1854, and he was married in April, 1855, to Miss Rachel McHargh, of Greensburg, Ind.
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Though the Indianapolis bar has been so largely recruited from local bars, it has not lacked a fine sup- ply of home-grown ability and attainment. Among those who have acquired a good position and repu- tation, after studying and entering the profession here, may be named Governor Albert G. Porter, Gen. John Coburn, William Wallace, Judge C. C. Hines, John Caven, the last better known as the mayor and executive officer of countless eity duties during the greater part of the war, and the efficient promoter of the water supply and the Belt road and stoek-yard enterprises, William W. Woollen, John S. Duncan, Gen. Fred. Knefler, Charles P. Jacobs, A. S. Wishard, and others. Governor Porter came here a young man or well-grown lad, and studied his profession with Hiram Brown, his father-in-law, and entered the bar here, as did Mr. Caven, who also came here a young man, and studied law with Smith & Yandes.
HON. ALBERT G. PORTER was born at Lawrence- burg, Dearborn Co., Ind., April 20, 1824. His father was a native of Pennsylvania. At the age of eighteen the father became a volunteer soldier in the war of 1812. At the engagement of Mississinewa, in the then existing Territory of Indiana, he re- ceived a serious wound, which never left him free from pain, and which he carried through life as an evidence of the honorable part he bore in that mem- orable struggle. He was a man of courage and convictions, .of pleasant anecdote and brimming humor.
The mother came of a family of exceptional busi- ness taet and ability, and was accordingly a woman of extraordinary good sense and judgment. She believed in cheerfulness, thrift, and energy, sturdy honesty, and honest straightforwardness. These fell to her son as an inheritance, and under the inspira- tion of his young ambition, even in his youth, the lines of his character were carved elean and clear.
His father, at the end of the war of 1812, settled in Indiana, at Lawrenceburg. The family remained there until the death of the grandfather of young Porter on his mother's side, when his father removed to Kentucky, having purchased the old homestead which belonged to his grandfather. Attached to that homestead there was a ferry across the Ohio River,
nearly opposite Lawrenceburg. This ferry was on the regular route of travel from Indiana to Ken- tueky, and the father, who was then in moderate circumstances, left the entire management of that ferry, which consisted both of a horse-boat and a skiff, to his two sons. The responsibility which was thus early placed upon young Porter, and the neces- sity in a great measure of earning his own livelihood by labor, developed in him those traces of independ- ence of character for which he became noted in later life. Many notable people were rowed across the Ohio River in his skiff when the travel was not heavy enough for the horse-boat.
At the age of fourteen he had saved money enough from the allowances he received for running the ferry to start for college. At the earliest opportunity he left the skiff and ferry-boat for Hanover College, Indiana, where he entered the preparatory depart- ment. There he remained until the seanty means which he had saved were exhausted. His father was unable to assist him, and there seemed to be no recourse for him except to go back to the horse ferry- boat and the skiff, or to seek some other means to secure the funds necessary for the education that he was determined to have. At this juneture an unele, who was in good eireumstances and with whom the nephew was a favorite, wrote to him, telling him that he had heard that his means were exhausted, that he understood that he was determined to have an edu- cation, and that he, the unele, would help him to get it. In the language of the letter, he would "see him through." That was the happiest day in young Porter's life. He speedily and gratefully accepted his unele's proposition, and from that time there were fewer obstacles in his youthful career. But the ac- ceptance of the offer made necessary a change of location. His unele was a Methodist, and he desired that his young ward should enter upon his studies at 'Asbury University, at Greeneastle, Ind.
To this place Mr. Porter went, and he remained there until he was graduated in 1843.
After graduation he returned to Lawrenceburg and studied law for about ten months, when his health began to fail. Thinking that a change of occupation, even for a short time, would be beneficial,
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he secured a position as elerk in the office of the auditor of State, Horatio J. Harris. Governor Whitcomb, who was at that time without a private secretary, noticed the neatness of the young clerk's writing and his habits of accuracy, and requested the auditor to allow Mr. Porter to act as his secretary. The request was granted.
Governor Whitcomb was a man of studious habits and scholarly attainments, whose association would sensibly quicken and influence the efforts of any young man. Mr. Porter remained with the Gov- ernor for several months and then turned again to the study of law, locating permanently at Indianap- olis, where he entered upon the practice of his pro- fession, in which he has long held a front rank at the Indiana bar. Ho was appointed May 3, 1851, as city attorney for a term of two years, and subse- quently (May, 1857-59) served as a member of the Common Council.
In 1853, Mr. Porter, who was then a Democrat, was appointed by Governor Wright reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Indiana, to fill a vaeaney that had occurred by the death of the former reporter. By this time Mr. Porter had attained a reputation for industry and ability, and he was unan- . imously recommended by the Supreme Court judges · to fill this vacancy. The following year he was elected to the same office on the general ticket by fourteen thousand majority.
In 1856 he came into the newly-formed Republi- can party on the question of the exclusion of slavery from the Territories, and in 1858, although not a candidate for the nomination, Mr. Porter was nomi- nated by the Republican convention at Indianapolis as a candidate for Congress. Hon. Martin M. Ray was his Democratic opponent.
The district two years previously had gone Democratie by eight hundred majority, yet Mr. Porter was elected to Congress by a majority of more than one thousand, and two years afterwards, when he was a candidate against Robert L. Walpole, he was elected by an increased majority. Before the meeting of the convention to nominate a candidate again, however, Mr. Porter published a card declining further service in Congress. Gen. Dumont, then
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