USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana > Part 40
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GEN. BEN. HARRISON was born in February, 1833, in Cincinnati, where he received his early education. He graduated at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and studied law with the celebrated Judge Bellamy Storer. He came to Indianapolis in 1854, and practiced law by himself for some years. About 1856 he made a more' conspicuous place for himself by convicting a negro cook at the Ray House of poisoning some of the boarders. His management of that case was univer- sally commended by the profession, which before that had been a little disposed to regard the tow-headed youngster, who looked younger than he was, as pos- sessing his best claim to attention in the fact that he was the grandson of his grandfather. He soon showed, when the chance came, that he could build broadly and solidly enough on his own foundation, and he has done it most effectually. His first public
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position was that of reporter of the Supreme Court in 1861. In August, 1862, he accepted the command of the Seventieth Regiment, and remained with it till it was mustered out at the close of the war in June, 1865. A sketch of the history of that regiment will be found in the chapter on the City and County in the War. Gen. Harrison was associated with Governor Porter and William P. Fishback, as Por- ter, Harrison & Fishback, for several years. Mr. Fishback, who came here in 1856 from Ohio and soon established a good practice and reputation, left the firm in 1870 to take control of the Journal, and later of the St. Louis Democrat, and never rejoined his associates, first accepting the clerkship of the United States Court for a couple of years, and then resign- ing that and confining his work to the mastership in chancery of the same court. The firm then became Porter, Harrison & Hines, by the accession of Judge Hines, and remained so till Mr. Porter retired a few years later, when Mr. Miller, of Toledo, came here to take a place in the firm in 1874, which then became Harrison, Hines & Miller. This has only recently been changed by the accession of John B. Elam.
In 1876 the Republicans deemed it best to re- move Godlove S. Orth, their nominee for Governor, and put Gen. Harrison in his place. It was a very embarrassing situation, but Mr. Harrison made as much of it as any man could, and so fixed his hold on the regard of his party that his nomination to the United States Senate, when the Republicans gained control of the Legislature in the election of 1880, was a foregone conclusion. There was no serious contest made against him. Now his judicious course in the Senate has given him uo inconspicuous chance for the Presidential nomination.
JUDGE HINES, so long a partner of Gen. Harri- son, was born in Washington County, N. Y., Dec. 10, 1836, whence his mother, who was left a widow with her young family, went to Lonsdale, Conn., where Cyrus worked for several years in the cotton-mills. Then for a year or two he studied and taught in the Normal Institute at Lancaster, Mass., and thence he came to Indianapolis in 1854. He studied law with Si- mon Yandes, Esq., and became a partner in December, 1855, continuing until the latter retired from the pro-
fession in 1860. Mr. Hines went into the three months' service as sergeant of Company H, Eleventh Regiment, and when that was through went into the three years'service, attaining the position of colonel of the Fifty-seventh Regiment, in which heis described in the adjutant-general's official history of the regiment as " an officer of great and acknowledged ability, who had chiefly formed the character of the regiment." He was so severely wounded at Stone River that he had to resign. In 1866 he succeeded Judge Coburn in the Circuit Court, and held the place till 1870, when he was sneceeded by Judge Tarkington. Mr. Miller, who entered the firm with Gen. Harrison and Col. Hines in 1874, was born in Oneida County, N. Y., September, 1840, studied law with Chief Justice Waite in Toledo, then practiced for eight years in Fort Wayne, and came here in 1874. John B. Elam served through the war as a private soldier in an Ohio regiment. When the war was over he studied and graduated at Oxford (Ohio) College, where Governor Morton and Senator Harrison were once students, then studied law in the law depart- ment of the Ann Arbor University, and came to this city in 1874. In 1878 he was made prosecuting attorney, and convicted the first three men ever hung in Marion County, William Merrick, John Achey, and Louis Guetig. He is regarded as one of the foremost of the younger members of the bar, and as prominent politically as professionally.
GEN. FRED. KNEFLER has long held an honorable position at the bar here, and was known for years as deputy clerk before he entered the bar. He is a Hungarian by birth, and when a mere boy served in the revolutionary army of 1848 under Gen. Bem, one of Kossuth's hest leaders, and was wounded. He came to this country with his father, Dr. Knefler, in 1849, and learned the carpenter's trade first. Then he got a place in the clerk's office, and so worked his way into the bar. In 1861 he served in the Eleventh Regiment of three months' men as lieutenant. In the three years' service he was captain of Company H in the Eleventh, and in Au- gust, 1862, was appointed colonel of the Seventy- ninth, which led the way in the charge at Mission Ridge, Col. Knefler leading the regiment. He re-
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tired from the service at the close of the war with the brevet of brigadier. He formed a law-partner- ship with the late John Hanna, which was only terminated by the death of the latter. He succeeded William H. H. Terrell as pension agent here, as noticed in the list of government officers resident here.
The partners of ex-Senator and ex-Governor Thomas A. Hendricks have been among the fore- most members of the bar of the State and city for many years. Ex-Governor Baker went into the firm in 1873, when Mr. Hendricks became Governor. He had been one of the most prominent of the law- yers of the State for years in Evansville before he came to Indianapolis to act as Governor while Gov- ernor Morton was in Europe in 1865-66. He re- mained here thenceforward, and took as commanding a place at the bar here as at his old home. In 1864 he was provost-marshal of the State ou duty here, and arrested a mob of re-enlisted veterans of the Nineteenth Regiment who attacked and proposed to demolish the Sentinel office for some allusion in the paper that they disliked. He met the angry men on the stairs, with their guns in their hands, and held them back till he brought them to reason. Two of the most conspicuous features of his administration were the payment of the State debt of 1836 and the official proclamation of the stoppage of interest in 1870, and the recommendation of asylums for the incurable insane, now just put in the way of accom- plisliment.
OSCAR B. HORD, attorney-general of the State from 1862 to 1864, and for twenty years a partner of Governor Hendricks, was born in Kentucky, near Maysville, where he was brought up. He studied law with his father, and came to Greens- burg, in this State, in 1849. In 1852 he was made prosecuting attorney, serving two terms. Some years later he and the late Col. Gavin, his partner, made a digest of the statutes of the State, which was greatly needed, and gave its authors a substantial professional reputation at once. In 1862, Mr. Hord was elected attorney-general and removed to Indianapolis, forming a professional connection with Mr. Hendricks which has never been sundered since, except during the
latter's term as Governor (from 1873 to 1877). Mr. Hord is one of the hard-working men of the Indian- apolis bar, and stands second to none in the care he gives his cases and thoroughiness of his investigation of the law. He is one of the steadiest of friends and most genial of companions, as well as one of the first lawyers of the State. He was born in 1829.
MR. ABRAM W. HENDRICKS, a cousin of the ex- Governor, is well up towards sixty, but none the less a close student and indefatigable worker. He is held by the profession to be one of the most thoroughly- read lawyers in the country, and was so well esteemed twenty-six years ago that he was nominated by the Republican party for the Supreme Bench. He was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., and came to Madison, to his uncle, in 1839. He studied law with Governor William Hendricks, and graduated at the Lexington (Kentucky) Law School. For some years he was a partner of William McKee Dunn, late judge-advocate-general. He came to Indianapolis in 1866, to join his cousin, Thomas A., and Mr. Hord, when the firm became Hendricks, Hord & Hendricks, now Baker, Hord & Hendricks.
JOHN C. NEW, though he never figured as a law- yer, was for a good many years clerk of the county, and as well known a figure of the court as the judge. He was born in Jennings County, in 1831. His father, the late John B. New, was a cabinet-maker by trade and a Christian preacher by preference, and removed to Greensburg when John was still a child. After a course of country town schooling he went to Bethany, Va., where he took a four years' course under the late Alexander Campbell, graduating fairly in 1851. His cousin, Jeptha D. New, mnember of Congress two terms from the Jennings County Dis- triet, was at the same college at the same time. Rev. John B. New removed to this city about the time his son graduated, and here the latter studied law with Governor Wallace, was admitted to the bar in 1852, and having a good memory, an aptitude for system, and a naturally good business disposition, with a neat, legible chirography, Clerk Stewart made him deputy soon afterwards; and when Stewart died, leaving a year of his term vacant, the County Board put the deputy there, and at the next election the people
CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS.
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elected him over George McOuat by a slender ma- jority. Here he laid the foundation of his fortune, and left the office a young man, but already a rich one. Governor Morton made him quartermaster early in the war; then he served a term in the State Sen- ate; then, in 1865, went as cashier into the First National Bank, and remained there ten years, till he was made treasurer of the United States in Spinner's place. A year here sufficed him, and he returned to the bank as vice-president. A little later he bought
out William H. English, and became president. In 1880 he was made chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, and bought the Journal. He was also the Indiana member of the National Repub- lican Committee. He has been the First Assistant Treasurer of the United States for several years, which position he has recently resigned. Mr. New has been twice married,-first to Melissa, daughter of the late Joseph Beeler, and next to Miss MeRae, daughter of a son-in-law of Dr. J. H. Sanders.
ROLL OF ATTORNEYS.
William P. Adkinson.
John W. Claypool.
Harding & Hovey.
Henry C. Allen.
Claypool & Ketcham.
Fremont Alford.
Coburn & Irvin.
James W. Harper. Charles O. Harris.
Ayres & Brown.
W. H. Corbaley.
Harris & Calkins. Harrison, Hines & Miller.
Ayres & Cole.
Cropsey & Cooper.
Bailey & Van Buren.
Vincent G. Clifford.
John W. Baird.
James B. Curtis.
Jonathan S. Harvey. Lawson M. Harvey.
Baker, Hord & Hendricks.
Dailey & Pickerell.
Charles R. Haseley.
James P. Baker.
Benjamin F. Davis.
Roscoe O. Hawkins.
Pliny W. Bartholomew.
Guilford A. Deitch.
Charles C. Heckman.
Will F. A. Bernhamer.
Austin F. Denny.
James E. Heller. Heinrichs & Kessler.
William Bosson.
Almon H. Dickey.
William Henderson.
John W. Bowlus.
Samuel R. Downey.
George G. Hendrickson.
Daniel M. Bradbury.
Charles A. Dryer.
John A. Henry.
Cornelius D. Browder.
Duncan, Smith & Duncan.
Maxwell B. Henry.
Wilbur F. Browder.
Herod & Winter.
William T. Brown.
William F. Elliott.
John C. Brush.
Harmon J. Everett.
Hill & Martz. John A. Holman.
Salmon A. Buell. H. Burns.
Florea & Wishard.
William A. Hughes.
Burns & Denny. Byfield & Howland.
Samuel W. Fogger.
Charles P. Jacobs. Ovid B. Jameson.
Bynum & Beck.
James E. Franklin. George W. Galvin.
Lewis Jordan. John M. Judah.
Canary & Medkirk. Nathaniel Carter.
Otto Gresham.
Vinson Carter.
Griffiths & Potts.
Carter & Binford.
Orvin S. Hadley.
Charles E. Clark.
Upton J. Hammond. Jesse D. Hamrick.
Julian & Julian. Kealing & Clifford. Joseph M. Keatinge. Justin A. Kellogg. John Kidd.
Ross Clark.
Israel Klingensmith.
Howard Cole.
Jonathan W. Gordon.
John C. Green.
James Buchanan.
Charles W. Fairbanks.
Finch & Finch.
Louis Howland.
Samuel M. Bruce.
Dye & Fishback. John B. Elam.
Isaac Herr. James T. Hill.
Isaac L. Bloomer.
Robert Denny.
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
Knefler & Berryhill. Orlando Knowlton.
David K. Paultow.
William F. Stilz.
William Patterson.
William H. Payne.
Eugene G. Kreider. Ira M. Kratz. William C. Lamb.
William A. Peelle, Jr.
Peelle & Taylor.
William Sullivan.
Lamb & Mason.
Samuel E. Perkins.
Sullivan & Jones.
John T. Leeklider.
George K. Perrin.
Lucius B. Swift.
Frank H. Levering.
Henry D. Pierce.
Talbott & Wheeler.
Frank P. Lindsay.
George T. Porter.
John S. Tarkington.
Reuben D. Logan.
Wallace W. Pringle.
Taylor, Rand & Taylor.
William A. Lowe.
James A. Pritchard.
La Frank R. Teed.
Dow McClain.
Rand & Winters.
Harrison T. Tincker.
Z. T. MeCormack.
William A. Reading.
Tobin & MeCray. John W. Tomlinson.
McDonald & Butler.
Warwick II. Ripley.
Ritter & Ritter.
Thomas J. Trusler.
Gilbert B. Manlove.
Roache & Lamme.
Turpie & Pierce.
E. B. & Charles Martindale.
Charles F. Robbins.
Richard S. Turrell.
Francis J. Mattler. Harry J. Milligan.
Rooker & Hatch.
Joseph W. Walker.
Jehu Milner. James L. Mitchell.
Adolph & G. Seidensticker.
John O. Moore.
Silas M. Shepard.
Merrill Moores.
Horace E. Smith.
John Morgan.
J. Hervey Smith. Robert E. Smith.
Oliver M. Wilson.
Frank W. Morrison.
Spaan & Heiner.
Wilson & Wilson.
Wilson Morrow.
George W. Spahr.
George W. Winpenny.
Charles R. Myers.
Horace Speed.
Bennett F. Witt.
David A. Myers.
William W. Spencer.
William Watson Woollen. Frank M. Wright.
Nichol & Buskirk.
Roger A. Sprague.
Lester L. Norton.
Charles S. Spritz.
George B. Wright.
Orlando B. Orton.
Stanton & Scott.
Granville S. Wright.
Eben A. Parker.
Stevenson & Stevenson.
Parmalee & Holladay.
George W. Stillwell.
William B. Walls.
John C. Wells. Williams & Johnson.
Harry L. Wilson.
Morris & Newberger.
John N. Scott.
William & Lewis Wallace.
Thaddeus S. Rollins.
Flavius J. Van Vorhis.
MeMaster & Boice.
George W. Stubbs. Horace G. Study. James Sulgrove. 1
Augustus B. Young. John Young.
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N. B. Palum
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CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS.
CHAPTER IX.
CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS-( Continued.)
BANKS, BANKERS, AND INSURANCE.
FOR twenty-five years the old State Bank and its Indianapolis branch furnished the best and the only safe paper currency in the State. The hard times of 1841 to 1845 were alleviated to some extent by the issue of "State scrip," and until the Free Banking Act of 1852 the only home currency we had was made up of State paper and State Bank paper. The beginning of this serious crisis in the condition of the State and Marion County occurred while Nathan B. Palmer was in the State Treasury, the end of it while Samuel Hannah was there, when the progress of the old Madison Railroad gave promise of a new era.
HON. NATHAN B. PALMER was born at Stoning- ton, Conn., Aug. 27, 1790, and by the death of his father left an orphan at the early age of ten years. Subsequent to this event his mother removed to New York State, accompanied by her son. Here he grew to man's estate and married Miss Chloe Sacket, who aided not a little to her husband's success in life. The newly-married pair removed to Pennsylvania in 1812, in which State Mr. Palmer was elected to more than one office of trust and honor before his thirtieth year, in each of which he acquitted himself with credit. More than two-thirds of a century ago Mr. Palmer came down the Ohio River and settled in Jefferson County, Ind., where he resided for four- teen years, and during this period was chosen to represent his county in the State Legislature. In 1833 he was elected Speaker of the House, and dis- played marked ability as an efficient and just presiding officer. In 1835 he became a permanent resident of Indianapolis, having been chosen to fill the responsible office of State Treasurer. As a public servant, having large and important trusts in his hands, his career was marked by the most scrupulous integrity and exact ness. While in charge of the State finances large amounts of scrip were issued and used as a circulating medium. He was in 1841 made ex- aminer of the State Bank and its branches, and in
this responsible position manifested the same ability and shrewdness that had characterized his previous official career. He was during his lifetime identified with more than one public enterprise of moment, and took a leading part in both local and State polities. Having the sagacity to discern that railways must eventually supplant canals, he was an energetic mover in the construction of railroads in various parts of the State, and by his example and efforts gave this class of improvements an impetus which was long after felt in Indiana. The construction of the old Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, the first in the State, was in no small degree the result of Mr. Palmer's exertions, and the company for a number of years had the benefit of his services as president and chief executive officer of the line. He was during his life a member of the Democratic party, though his integrity and ability were such as to command the political support of those not identified with his own party. The death of Mr. Palmer occurred April 13, 1875, and that of Mrs. Palmer, June 10, 1871.
Their children are Charles C., Aurelia E., William S., Jane C., Jerome W., Louisa S., Jane M., Minerva A., Trumbull G., Blackford M., Marshall E., Edward L., Nathan B., Jr., and Mary L.
SAMUEL HANNAH was born Dec. 1, 1789, in the State of Delaware. At six years of age be removed with his father's family to Brownsville, Pa., on the Monongahela River, thirty miles above Pittsburgh. He was married July 11, 1811, to Eleanor Bishop, who died Sept. 26, 1864. Their family numbered eleven children, four daughters and seven sons. Anna married Gen. Solomon Meredith, Eliza married Hon. John S. Newman, Sarah married Rev. Dr. F. C. Holliday, Ellen married Dr. John M. Ross, Alex- ander M. married Elizabeth N. Jackson, Henry R. married Jerusha Cain, William P. married Margaret A. Dunham. James, Israel, Thomas, and Septimus died in youth. In the spring of 1815, with his wife and two children, Mr. Hannah went in a flat-boat to Cincinnati, and thence by wagons to Warren County, Ohio, where he taught school for two years, number- ing among his pupils some who were afterwards dis- tinguished in the learned professions and other vo- oations.
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
He left Ohio in 1817, settling in what is now Washington township, Wayne Co., Ind., and resided on his farm until December, 1823. Having been elected sheriff of Wayne County, he removed to Centreville, the county-seat. Belonging to the So- ciety of Friends, and conscientiously opposed to the collection of fines for refusing to do military duty, he resigned his office in the spring of 1825. The following August he was elected as a representative to the Legislature. He declined a re-election, but was in 1826 elected a justice of the peace, which office he held about four years. The county business being then done by the board of justices, he was chosen and continued president of the board until 1829, when the board of county commissioners was restored. He was appointed postmaster at Centre- ville under the administration of John Quincy Ad- ams, and held the office until removed under that of Andrew Jackson, in 1829. He was one of three commissioners appointed by the Legislature to locate the Michigan road from the Ohio River to the lake, and to select the lands secured to the State by a treaty with the Indians, held on the Upper Wabash in 1826. In 1830 he was elected. clerk of Wayne County, and served seven years. In. 1843 he was again elected to the Legislature. In December, 1846, he was elected by the Legislature, treasurer of State, and served three years. After his election to this office he removed to Indianapolis, where he resided until his death, with the exception of a residence of about two years at Centreville during the construction of the Indiana Central Railway. In March, 1851, he was chosen first president of the company, but resigned in July following. He was the same sum- mer elected treasurer of the Indianapolis and Belle- fontaine Railroad Company. In May, 1852, he accepted the office of treasurer of the Indiana Cen- tral Railway Company, and held the position until January, 1864, when he retired from active life. He died Sept. 8, 1869, aged nearly eighty years.
Contemporaneously with Mr. Palmer in the treas- ury, Morris Morris, one of the pioneers of 1821, and one of the most esteemed citizens of any period, hield the office of State auditor. During his administration pretty much all of the State scrip issued at all was
put out and into the currency of the State. He con- tinued in the office fifteen years, from 1829 to 1844.
MORRIS MORRIS was a grandson of James Morris, who with his brothers John and Morris came from Wales and early settled in Virginia. Morris, the grandson, was born in Monongahela County, Va., in 1780, and removed in youth with his parents to Fleming County, Ky., where he remained until forty years of age. He received a thorough English edu- cation, chose the law as a profession, and practiced for many years. In 1803 he was married to Miss Rachel Morris, a descendant of John Morris above mentioned, and unwilling to rear his family amid the influences of slavery, he in 1821 removed to the free State of Indiana. Prior to this change of resi- dence he abandoned the practice of law, giving as a reason the fact that the pursuit of his profession in- terfered with the Christian life he desired to lead. He did not judge others by the same rule, but be- lieved it in his own case to be the only course in harmony with his convictions. This incident might be taken as a key to his character. He was consci- entious to a rare degree, and could not be swerved from his idea of right. At the same time he never arraigned others at the bar of his own judgment. His standard was for himself only. On his arrival in Indianapolis, which had just been fixed upon as the capital of the new State, he bought land largely within and without its limits, and was among the most active in advancing the growth of the new set- tlement. The history of the city shows for the first score of years few events of public concern in which he was not prominent. In 1828 he was elected auditor of State, and for sixteen successive years re-elected to the same office. In 1832 he was one of the three commissioners who had in charge the building of the State-House. His son, Gen. T. A. Morris, laid out the grounds, and nearly half a century later is the commissioner in charge of the erection of the new State-House on the same spot where stood the old, and Morris M. Defrees, a grandson of Morris Morris, as civil engineer laid out the grounds. After his career as auditor of State had ended, Mr. Morris retired to private life and engaged in no business other than the care of his property, which had in the
yours Truly JamHannah
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CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS.
growth of the town become a large estate. In his mature years he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and until his later life was active in the advancement of its interests. Mr. Morris died in 1864, in his eighty-fourth year. The death of his wife the previous year, at the age of seventy-six, ended their married life of sixty years, eight children having been born to them. Mr. Morris was a man of commanding presence, and in his prime exceed- ingly robust and active. He was noted for clearness of judgment and the union of remarkable decision of character with rare gentleness.
The State officers resident in the capital as citizens prior to their election and necessary official residence have not been many in recent years, the disposition of parties inclining to select candidates outside of the city for the advantages of local influence, but among those nominated from the city latterly is Mr. J. J. Cooper, the present State treasurer, whose character and services can be appropriately noticed, in this con- nection, with the State officers of the last generation.
JOHN JAMES COOPER,-The subject of this sketch is the present treasurer of the State of Indiana, hav- ing been chosen to this important position at the November election of 1882 by over ten thousand majority. Mr. Cooper is a true type of the men selected in Indiana by the Democratic party for her standard-bearers, a man from the people, who from personal experience understands the needs of the masses to whose wants he has been called to adıninister.
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