USA > Indiana > Indiana and Indianans : a history of aboriginal and territorial Indiana and the century of statehood, Volume V > Part 23
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Richard L. Leeson was born in Elwood April 19, 1894, son of General Wayne and Rosie (Armfield) Leeson. His father suc- ceeded to the business on the death of the grandfather, and is still an official in the company, though its heaviest responsibili- ties are borne by his sons.
Richard L. Leeson had a public school education, but at the age of fifteen gave up his books and studies to begin work in his father's store. His first place was as clerk in the grocery department, and later he was transferred to the clothing depart- ment, and learned both branches thor- oughly. In 1916 he was made president of the company. Mr. Leeson has various other active business interests, including a farm of 280 acres which he superintends to a point of productiveness that indicates he would not be a failure if he put all his time in agricultural work.
February 25, 1915, Mr. Leeson married Miss Anna Ring, daughter of Theodore Ring. They have one daughter, Vivian Delores Leeson, born February 24, 1917. Mr. Leeson is a republican voter, member
of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, is affiliated with the Elwood Lodge of Ma- sons and Quincy Chapter, Royal Arch Ma- sons, and the Elwood Lodge of Elks. He is public spirited, a genial young man, companionable, and has a host of friends, but at the same time he has an eye single to the success and management of his store.
JOHN R. ELDER was one of the conspicu- ous Indianans of the previous generation whose life and services deserve more than passing mention in this publication. He died at Indianapolis April 27, 1908, after the cheerful bearing of worldly responsi- bilities for some eighty-seven years. In the progress of the journalism, education, pub- lie works and charities in Indianapolis his wholesome enthusiasm and practical activ- ity were inspiring and reliable forces. Whatever position he occupied in private life or in public affairs he was the personifi- cation of "the right man in the right place." For, although he had commend- able ambition, he also possessed the com- mon sense which can nicely measure one's own capabilities and curb unreasonable as- pirations.
Born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, December 7, 1820, he came to Indianapolis with his parents in 1833, attended the city schools and was apprenticed to the print- er's trade in the office of the old Indian- apolis Journal. Before making a perman- ent start in the practical affairs of life he decided to obtain a more complete educa- tion, and in the prosecution of this plan bought a horse and took the old National road from Indianapolis to Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, where he attended Dickinson Col- lege. After leaving college he secured em- ployment with the publishing house of Rob- ert Craighead, New York City, where he re- mained until his return to Indianapolis in 1848. In the following year he began his career as a newspaper publisher by estab- lishing the Locomotive, a little weekly of which he was everything. The paper, which became the medium of literary Hoosierdom, is yet remembered by elderly writers and thinkers for its bright and broad views of life. Mr. Elder continued the publication of the Locomotive until 1860, when the firm of Elder, Harkness & Bingham bought the Indianapolis Sentinel and conducted it un- til 1864. Throughout his journalistic ca- reer and thereafter Mr. Elder was unwav-
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ering in his devotion to democratic prin- ciples, but was so humane and warm that his friendship embraced men, women and children of all belief and no belief.
To the cause of public education he con- tributed to the utmost limit of his means, time and influence. First he was an untir- ing member of the Indianapolis Board of School Trustees, which preceded the Board of School Commissioners, serving continuously in the latter body from April, 1869, to July, 1876. During that period he was made president, and it was in his administration that the city library was established. It is characteristic of his enthusiasm in all matters which promised improvement to the people he loved that he himself held the first card issued by the library management and drew the first book from the circulation department.
The Indiana & Illinois Central Railroad Company had thousands of acres of land come into their possession through subscrip- tions to their stock. This land was located principally in Indiana and Illinois, and was all deeded to John R. Elder, trustee, and disposed of by him over a period of from eight to ten years. This was at that time a very responsible trusteeship.
Naturally interested in the important question of a pure and adequate supply of water for the city, he was largely instru- mental in bringing about this necessity to the public health, both as an insistent priv- ate citizen and as president of the Indian- apolis Water Company. He was at one time treasurer of the Indianapolis, Decatur & Springfield Railroad-in fact there was nothing which concerned the good of In- dianapolis which did not appeal to him and which he did not attempt to further. The charities of the city and state never appeal to him without practical results, and for nearly two decades he was officially connected with their management and de- velopment. Mr. Elder was one of the original appointees of the Board of State Charities, serving from 1860 to 1864, was again a member of that body from 1889 to 1902, and retiring in the latter year only because the natural burden of years made such responsibilities too heavy for his shoulders to bear. He died as an old and revered attendant of the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, all the acts and tendencies of his life being founded on Christian principles.
He was twice married. In 1848 he mar- ried Miss Julia Ann Orr, who died in 1853. In 1854 he married Miss Amelia A. Line, who died in 1899. The surviving children, all by the second marriage, are William L. Elder, Mrs. Frank H. Blackledge and Dr. Edward C. Elder.
As a fitting conclusion to this sketch should be quoted from the words of an editorial that appeared in the Indianapolis News at the time of his death: "In the death of John R. Elder Indianapolis loses a citizen who was one of the sturdy body that constitutes the strength of a commun- ity. In his long and honorable life-three quarters of a century of it, from his boy- hood, lived here-he was active in business and political affairs. With the advantage of an education obtained at Dickinson Col- lege, which was a rare advantage in those days, he was better equipped than most young men. It was natural that he should be found editing a newspaper which then was a literary medium beyond present parallel. From this little weekly paper he came into the publication of the Sentinel, the state newspaper organ of the demo- cratie party. He was long prominent in educational affairs and public charities. He was successful in business. He wrought well in all ways and illustrated in his long life the steady attainments that make the useful and respectable citizen, which he was in the full sense of the term. He was of a genial nature; liked people old and young, apart from the accident of station or association. And so he was a kindly in- fluence in his personality, as well as in the successful discharge of his duties. He passes among the very last of the genera- tion that knew Indianapolis when it was young, and the steadiness of whose purpose and constancy of endeavor have gone to the making of the community."
WILLIAM L. ELDER, chairman of the Spe- cial Commission on Taxation of the State of Indiana, appointed by Governor Ralston in 1915, is as a result of that service and as a business man widely known over the state. He is a son of the late John R. Elder, whose life is told in a separate biography.
Born and reared in Indianapolis, Wil- liam L. Elder, entered upon his career with a consciousness of a mission to perform and an honored family place in Indiana to up-
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hold. He attended the public schools of Indianapolis, including the high school, and his first business experience, continued five years, was as clerk with the old Bank of Commerce. The next four years he. was paymaster of the Indianapolis, Decatur and Springfield Railroad. After that for about ten years he was a furniture mer- chant at Indianapolis and also a director and vice president of the Indianapolis Street Railway Company. After disposing of these interests and taking an extended vacation Mr. Elder entered the real estate field, in which his success has been con- spicuous. As a specialist in the plotting and subdividing of lands in and around Indianapolis he has done about as much as any other individual citizen to extend and broaden the growth and development of a greater Indianapolis. Among subdivi- sions developed by him are those of Arm- strong Park, Northwestern Park, Clifton Place, Edgewood, Marion Heights, Clover- dale, Eastern Heights, Northeastern Park, University Heights and Washington Place.
It was his wide and diversified knowledge of business affairs that enabled Mr. Elder to render such valued service to the state as chairman of the Commission of Taxa- tion. He is well known in civic affairs at Indianapolis, a member of the Commercial, University, Contemporary and Country clubs, is on the Board of Incorporators of Crown Hill Cemetery and one of the Board of Managers of the Sons of the Revolution in Indiana, of which he was the second president. He is president of the Indian- apolis Real Estate Board. Mr. Elder is and has been for many years a leader in the democratic party of Indiana. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church and has served as trustee and deacon. In 1885 he married Miss Laura Bowman, of Springfield, Ohio.
They have one son, Bowman Elder, born in Indianapolis March 4, 1888. He is a graduate of Chestnut Hill Academy and University of Pennsylvania. On the Dec- laration of War he entered the Second Offi- cers' Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, finishing at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, where he obtained a commission as first lieutenant. He was ordered to Fort Revere, Massachusetts, where he served as adjutant. He was later transferred to Fort Warren, there being promoted to cap- Vol. V-9
tain and made coast defense adjutant of Boston Harbor. At this time he was also appointed coast defense intelligence officer. Later he was assigned to the Seventy-first Coast Artillery Corps, and became adju- tant of that regiment, and with his regi- ment sailed for France July 30, 1918, where he remained till February 22, 1919.
Upon being mustered out of the service. he reentered the real estate business.
MRS. ELEANOR ATKINSON, educator, jour- nalist and author, was born in Rensselaer, Indiana, a daughter of Isaac M. Stack- house. After a course in the Indianapolis Training School Mrs. Atkinson taught in Indianapolis and Chicago, and after a year's experience in newspaper offices in Lafayette and in Peoria, Illinois, she be- came a special writer on the Chicago Trib- une, writing under the pen name of Nora Marks. Since 1903 she has been princi- pally engaged in book writing, and her works include: "Johnny Appleseed," "Mamzelle Fifine," "The Story of Chi- cago," "The Boyhood of Lincoln," "Lin- coln's Love Story," "Hearts Undaunted," and many others.
In 1891, at Indianapolis, she was mar- ried to Francis Blake Atkinson, of Chi- cago, and they have two children, Dorothy Blake and Eleanor Blake.
ISAAC WRIGHT, mayor of Kokomo, for- mer sheriff of Howard County, is a busi- ness man of long and successful experience in Kokomo, where he has had his home nearly forty years.
He was born February 14, 1850, close to Russiaville, on a farm in Howard County near the Clinton County line. His parents were William and Arminda (Tay- lor) Wright. His grandfather; John P. Wright was one of the very early settlers of Howard County. He entered a tract of land in what is now Honey Creek Town- ship, and he lived and died near the Vil- lage of New London. He was a very prom- inent Quaker, a birthright member of the church, and a leader in promoting its ac- tivities at New London and helped build the church edifice in that village. For a number of years he was considered the head of the church in New London. His life was in all respects a model of good eiti- zenship. For nearly sixty-five years he lived on the farm which he had entered
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from the Government. He was a strict republican in politics. Of his nine chil- dren only two are now living.
William Wright when a young man eame . from Vermilion County, Illinois, and in the same community met Arminda Taylor, whose father was also an early set- tler in that vicinity. Two years after his marriage William Wright located on forty acres of land given him by his father, and he spent his life as a farmer. He was also a Quaker and a member of the church at New London. Though he had only the limited advantages of the local schools, he was always looked upon as a man of strong common sense, of utmost integrity of char- acter, and bore an unblemished reputation until his death. He and his wife had six children, four of whom are still living.
Isaac Wright, third in order of age, spent his early life on a farm, and attended the common schools until twelve years old. About that time the Quakers built a school- house, and he finished his education in the Friends School.
Thirty-nine years ago on coming to Ko- komo Mr. Wright was employed for four years as stationary engineer in a local mill. In 1882 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Howard County, filled that office four years, and was twice elected sheriff, in 1886 and 1888. Since retiring from the office of sheriff Mr. Wright has been a very successful and widely known salesman. He has contributed much to the success and prosperity of the Kokomo factory for the manufacture of stained and colored glass plate, used extensively in churches and other buildings all over the country.
Mr. Wright has always been a loyal re- publican, and he was nominated and No- vember 6, 1917, elected mayor of Kokomo on that ticket. As head of the municipal administration he has naturally taken the lead in many of the movements by which Kokomo has contributed a splendid quota to the resources of the state and nation in the prosecution of the war.
J. WALLACE JOHNSON, a mechanical eli- gineer by profession is now the active and responsible head of the Johnson Excelsior Company, an Indianapolis institution that reflects the experience and the technical and executive ability of three generations of the Johnson family.
It was founded by his grandfather, Jesse
B. Johnson, one of the early manufacturers of Indianapolis. He was born in Mon- rovia, Morgan County, Indiana, and in 1879 founded the excelsior plant which has ever since been carried on by the John- son family under the name of the Johnson Manufacturing Company. It was the first excelsior manufacturing industry in In- diana, and now ranks third among such industries in the United States in the amount of annual production and in the value of the plant, machinery and equip- ment.
The original plant as established by Jesse B. Johnson was located on the canal where now stands the plant of the Mer- chants Heat and Light Company. Jesse Johnson was a man of genius and enter- prise. He operated his plant by water power, with machinery which he devised and built himself. He also invented and perfected all of the baling and other ma- chines required in his plant. The more modern machinery in use today represents simply the growth and development of the elder Johnson 's original mechanical equip- ment. He was a man of splendid ability and business acumen, and credit is given him as one of the founders of the present great industrial resources of Indianapolis,
The second generation in the business was represented by the late Joseph R. Johnson, who was born in Indianapolis and died in that city in 1916. He early be- came identified with his father's business, and for several years lived in Dubuque, Iowa, where he established a similar plant. After that he returned to Indianapolis and was the responsible executive of the John- son Excelsior Company the rest of his life. He married Caroline Reichert, who is still living.
J. Wallace Johnson, son of Joseph R. and Caroline Johnson, was born in Indianap- olis. was educated in the public schools, in- cluding the Shortridge High School, at- tended technical colleges in Pennsylvania, and was given all the training of a profi- cient mechanical engineer. He now has charge of the plant and operations of the Johnson Excelsior Company. It was un- der his direction that the present new plant was built in 1917 on the Belt Railway at Keystone Avenue. It is one of the finest plants of its kind in the country, equipped with the most modern machinery designed for efficient, high-speed production. Mr.
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Johnson married Miss Rozella Barbara Adams, a native of Indiana.
His uncle, Mr. Oliver J. Johnson of New York, a brother of Joseph R. Johnson, has made a notable success as a can manufac- turer. Most of his operations have been carried on in West Virginia, and he has achieved a high place among the industrial executives of the country.
WHITEFORD MYERS BERRY is secretary and treasurer of the Tipton-Berry Cigar Company of Elwood. Mr. Berry has been in the cigar business here for a number of years, and his career has presented many opportunities and many diverse occupa- tions, and indicates that he is a man of re- sources, always able to give a creditable account of himself in any station or rela- tionship in life.
Mr. Berry was born in Wayne Township of Belmont County, Ohio, in 1864, son of Isaac W. and Elizabeth (Myers) Berry. The education of his youth was supplied by the country schools during the winter terms. At the age of sixteen he went to work helping on the home farm, and was there until he was twenty-one. The next four years he spent as foreman with a portable sawmill outfit, operating in Bel- mont County. He also learned the car- penter's trade and finally bought a half in- terest in the portable sawmill and for two years operated under the name Pryor & Berry. For one year Mr. Berry trav- eled over the route from Sandusky, Ohio, to Grafton, West Virginia, as an express messenger with the United States Express Company under W. H. Snyder. For an- other year he worked as bridge carpenter with the Baltimore & Ohio, with headquar- ters at Newark, Ohio. He then was given a position as locomotive fireman with the Baltimore & Ohio and had different runs out of Newark on freight trains until 1890. On May 10, 1890, he left Newark over the Chicago & Ohio Division for Bellaire, Ohio, on Schedule No. 26 firing engine No. 975, with Frank Howard as his engineer. West of Barnesville his engine collided on enrve No. 47 with engine No. 996, run by John Krebs. The investigation afterward proved that Krebs was at fault because he had run by the meeting point at Media. Mr. Berry was caught under the wreckage, and it was a close call for his life, though he was not permanently injured. After
that he was clerk in the railroad office at Newark, Ohio, a year and then fired a yard locomotive until the fall of 1893. A spell of illness compelled him to give up rail- roading, and for a time he managed the home farm of 130 acres.
In 1895 Mr. Berry married Laura O. Tipton, daughter of James E. and Clara (Carpenter) Tipton and sister of his pres- ent partner in the cigar business. Their two children are Grace L., born in 1897, and Clifton W., born in 1900.
After his marriage Mr. Berry took up the painting trade and was a house painter and hard wood finisher for eight years at Bethseda, Ohio. In 1902 he with his brother-in-law, E. L. Tipton, moved to El- wood, Indiana, and at once began the man- nfacture of cigars under the firm name of Tipton & Berry. In 1908 the business was incorporated as the Tipton-Berry Cigar Company.
Mr. Berry is independent in politics and has for years supported the prohibition cause. In Wayne Township of Belmont County, Ohio, he was elected to office on the democratic ticket when only twenty- two years old. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias at Elwood.
REV. WILLIAM PENN MCKINSEY. A long and interesting life has been vouchsafed to Rev. Mr. MeKinsey, now retired at Le- banon. As a youth he saw active service for nearly four years as a soldier and offi- cer in the Union Army during the Civil war. After the war he was in business for several years, and then joined the Metho- dist Conference, and has given his church and his people a measure of service and devotion unsurpassed.
William Penn MeKinsey was born Au- gust 17, 1837, in a log house on a farm in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His father, .John McKinsey, was born in the same state in 1806, of Scotch parentage. In 1826 he married Catherine Crick, who was born in Virginia in 1809. In 1849 the family came west and were pioneer settlers in Clinton County, Indiana, where John Mc- Kinsey followed farming until his death in 1867. His wife died in 1872. They were the parents of twelve children, eight dangh- ters and four sons: Sarah Jane, James Franklin, Mary Elizabeth, Diana K., Wil-
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liam Penn, Samuel, Letitia, Hannah B., Nancy, Margaret Esteline, Rosana Virginia, and John H. The three still living are William P., Margaret, and John H. Mar- garet is the wife of William W. McMillen, a retired mechanical engineer living at Peoria, Illinois. John H. is a farmer at Middletown, Illinois.
Rev. Mr. Mckinsey was twelve years old when his parents came to Indiana. He lived at home on the farm, attending pub- lic schools to the age of twenty-one, and afterward for one year was a student in the Thorntown Academy. One of the vig- orous and high spirited young men of his community, he responded to the call to put down the rebellion, and enlisted in Com- pany A of the Fortieth Indiana Infantry. He was at once appointed a sergeant of his company, and eight months later on the field of the battle of Shiloh while in com- mand of his company was commissioned first lieutenant. He was in the battles of Shiloh, Stone River, and Nashville, and in September, 1863, was made quartermaster of his regiment and served in that capacity until the end of the war. He was on the staff of Gen. Milo S. Haskell of Indiana, Gen. Thomas J. Wood, and Gen. George D. Wagner. For all his arduous and danger- ons service he escaped wonnds. For two months in 1865 he served as judge advocate of a general court martial sitting at Hunts- ville, Alabama. He was mustered out at Nashville June 12, 1865, after completing three years and ten months of service.
The war over he returned to Indiana and for three years was in the merchandise business at Stockwell. In 1868, just a half a century ago, he joined the Northwest In- diana Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, and after two years was reg- ularly ordained a deacon by Bishop Ames and two years later ordained an elder by Bishop Simpson. For six years he did the arduous work of a circuit rider, visiting many remote localities. His first regular station was for three years at Westville, In- diana. Since then he has had pastorates at Plymouth, Delphi, Monticello, Lebanon, Attica, Brazil, Thorntown, Fowler, and Plainfield. For five years he was chaplain of the Indiana Boys' School, a state insti- tution at Plainfield. From 1910 to 1913 he was field agent for the Methodist Hos- pital at Indianapolis. Mr. Mckinsey re- tired in 1913 and has since lived at Le-
banon. However, he has found it impossi- ble to remain entirely idle, and has an- swered frequent demands for his services at weddings and funerals among old friends.
For over twenty-five years he has been a director of the Battleground Camp Meet- ing Association at Lafayette, and was for several years its president. He is a mem- ber and vice president of the Preachers' Aid Society of the Conference. He is past post commander of the Grand Army of the Republic at Plainfield, and for many years has been department chaplain of the State Grand Army of the Republic. He is also a member of the Loyal Legion and since 1888 has been president of the Regimental Association of the Fortieth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. He is a Royal Arch Mason.
October 3, 1865, Rev. Mr. Mckinsey married Miss Anna Cones. She was born in Clay County, Missouri, January 15, 1839, daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Gregg) Cones, natives of Kentucky. The only child born to their union, Columbia, was born July 15, 1866, and died Septem- ber 7, 1866.
Mr. and Mrs. McKinsey reside in com- fort at 315 East Pearl Street in Lebanon. On October 3, 1915, at Lebanon, occurred an impressive event when more than 500 close friends gathered to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. These friends came from all parts of the state, and as it happened that the date also coincided with the annual meeting of the Regimental Asso- ciation that body honored him with its presence and the local Grand Army of the Republic post and Women's Relief Corps were also among the guests. The tribute from these friends and those who could not be present took many forms, and many valuable gifts were left, including $100 in gold from the ministers of the Northwest Conference.
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