USA > Indiana > Indiana and Indianans : a history of aboriginal and territorial Indiana and the century of statehood, Volume V > Part 3
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In the 1916-17 session of the Indiana Legislature, at the request of Governor Goodrich, a bill prepared by Mr. Potts was introduced which crystallizes this plan of organization and makes it applicable to utilities throughout the state as well as companies for the supply of coal, ice and food products. Owing to the pressure of affairs due to the fight on prohibition and woman's suffrage this measure with many other worthy proposals was sidetracked, but the organization of public men behind it is still intact and the people have the promise that the bill will be presented again at some later session.
As the preceding indicates Mr. Potts has taken an active interest in public af- fairs, and many of his enterprises were of a quasi-public character. He was one of the chief promoters. of the Commercial Club of Indianapolis, of which he was for
several years a director and for one term president. Among buildings that he has promoted are the Law Building, the Clay- pool Hotel, the new Board of Trade Build- ing, and the American and Union National banks. In 1918 Mr. Potts was nominated by Governor Goodrich as one of the three public directors in the local street car com- pany, an experiment proposed in the pub- lic interest by the Public Service Com- mission.
In 1879 Mr. Potts married Miss May Barney, of Indianapolis. Both have taken an active role in literary and social cir- cles. Mr. Potts was one of the founders of the Century Club, and served a term as its president, and also a term as presi- dent of the Contemporary Club. They have two daughters. The older, Mrs. Wal- ter Vonnegut, has achieved notable suc- cess on the stage. The second daughter is the wife of Mr. Norman W. Cook, formerly of the Bureau of Municipal Research of New York and later a lieutenant with the active forces in France.
ORLANDO B. ILES. Though he was ad- mitted to the bar in 1895 and for over twenty years has been a member in good standing of the Indianapolis bar, Orlando B. Iles is more widely known and appre- ciated for his constructive services as a citizen and for the important position he enjoys in the industrial affairs of his home city. Mr. Iles is treasurer and general manager of the International Machine Tool Company, one of the really big indus- tries of Indiana, and is also president of the Marion Club, a position that places him for the time as a leader among the repub- lican party of Indiana.
Mr. Iles was born in Brown County, Ohio, in 1869, son of Thomas and Eliza- beth (Ewing) Iles. His parents were both natives of Kentucky. Orlando B. Iles was liberally educated, being a grad- uate of DePauw University of Greencastle with the class of 1894. He has been a res- ident of Indianapolis since 1893, studied law in that city and was admitted to the bar in 1895. His first active work as a lawyer was in charge of the claim depart- ment and as assistant attorney for the Cit- izens Street Railway Company of Indian- apolis. In 1898-99 he served as prosecut- ing attorney for Marion County, and in 1899 was appointed deputy attorney gen-
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eral of the state. He filled that office one year. During 1897 and again in- 1899 he was reading clerk of the House.
Had his energies not been diverted Mr. Iles could easily have attained a leadership among the general legal practitioners of Indiana. However, in 1899 he became associated with Mr. Arthur Jordan of In- dianapolis as legal adviser in a number of industrial enterprises controlled by Mr. Jordan. One of these was the Capital Gas Engine Company. In 1906, when Mr. Jordan, Mr. Iles, Mr. Milholland and Mr. Libby organized the International Ma- chine Tool Company, Mr. Jordan became president and Mr. Iles treasurer and mana- ger. These two gentlemen built the plant for that company, with Mr. Charles L. Libby, the vice president and superintend- ent, in charge of the technical details.
This company manufactures a large and important line of machine tools, including the famous "Libby" Turret Lathe, large numbers of which have been sent abroad and are used extensively in the manufac- ture of war munitions, and they have an equally varied and important place in rail- road shops and other industries. The In- ternational Machine Tool Company gives to Indianapolis some elements of real dis- tinction as an industrial center, since the machine tools have an unique place in the equipment of modern industry and serve to make the name of Indianapolis further known around the world. It has also at- tracted to Indianapolis a number of highly skilled and highly paid workmen, and the entire community benefits to a degree that can hardly be computed.
Mr. Iles has long been a popular mem- ber of the republican party, and his popu- larity and his fitness for leadership was signally recognized in March, 1918, when he was elected president of the Marion Club of Indianapolis. This is one of the largest social organizations of republicans in the country and contains a large mem- bership of representative citizens not only in Indianapolis, but throughout the state. It plays and has played an important part in civic affairs, in the progress of the city, and is one of the factors in maintaining and increasing the strength of the party throughout the nation. Mr. Iles is affil- iated with the Phi Kappa Tsi fraternity, is a past chancellor commander of Indianap- olis Lodge No. 56, Knights of Pythias, is
a member of Mystic Lodge of Masons, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a noble of Murat Temple of the Mys- tic Shrine.
In 1899 Mr. Iles married Miss Esther D. Jordan. She is a daughter of Mr. Ar- thur Jordan, above referred to and more specifically mentioned on other pages. Their two children are Elizabeth and Arthur.
GEORGE A. MOORHEAD. A resident of Terre Haute for twenty years, formerly active in business affairs, George A. Moor- head has played a prominent part in local democratic politics, was chairman of the democratic county committee of Vigo and is now in his second term as city clerk.
He was born in Henderson County, Ken- tucky, December 25, 1879, but has spent most of his life in Indiana. His parents were James and Wilhelmina (Maurer) Moorhead, both now living in Terre Haute. The father was born in Kentucky and the mother in Posey County, Indiana. There is one other child, Mrs. William Simmons, living at Mattoon, Illinois. Mr. Simmons is general manager of the Hulman Whole- sale Grocery Company.
George A. Moorhead received most of his early education at Mount Vernon in Black Township of Posey County Indiana. Com- ing to Terre Haute in 1897, he worked several years as clerk in a shoe store, and gradually accumulated business experience and the confidence of men in his capacity and judgment.
In 1909 he was elected city clerk of Terre Haute, and was re-elected on the democratic ticket in 1915. Mr. Moorhead is popular in fraternal affairs, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Fraternal Or- der of Eagles and the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. In 1905 he married Miss Amelia Dietz, who was born at Cic- ero, Indiana, a daughter of Emil and Anna (Wagner) Dietz.
HARRY SMITHSON NEEDHAM. The city of Richmond, as a division point of the Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburgh, is the home and headquarters of a number of prominent Pennsylvania railway officials, including Harry Smithson Needham, mas- ter mechanic for the Pittsburgh, Cincin- nati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, with
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supervision over 500 employes in the me- chanical department and whose forces serve several divisions of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Lonis Railway as well as the southern division of the Grand Rapids and Indiana.
Mr. Needham was born at Marietta, Ohio, December 26, 1878, son of Charles F. and Emily Elizabeth (St. John) Needham. The Needham family is of English ances- try and settled in Massachusetts many gen- erations ago. Harry S. Needham attended public school at Columbus, Ohio, gradnat- ing from high school in 1896, and in the same year entering the Ohio State Univer- sity, where he was graduated with the de- gree Mechanical Engineer in 1900. On account of his fine scholarship record he was offered a Fellowship in the Univer- sity, but declined in order to get into ac- tive railroad work. He entered the me- chanical department offices of the Pitts- burgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis road at Columbus, serving as draftsman for two years at wages of fifteen dollars per month. The third year he also spent at Columbus as helper in the engine house. For three years he was at Indianapolis as special apprentice in the shops of the same railroad. For a short time he was a fire- man on the Louisville Division between In- dianapolis and Logansport six months, and was then called to the home office at Columbus as draftsman on general engi- neering work in the motive power depart- ment. Six months later he went into the Columbus locomotive repair shop as a spe- cial man under Master Mechanic S. W. Miller, remaining six months, and on Feb- ruary 15, 1904, was sent to the locomotive shops at Dennison, Ohio, as assistant to the general foreman. In April, 1904, he was given some special duties at the St. Louis Exposition for three months, and another four months was employed in establishing tonnage rating for locomotive and freight service over the different lines. During these several years therefore Mr. Needham had opportunity and wisely made use of it to acquire practical experience in all branches of railroad mechanical engineer- ing. In June, 1910, he was appointed as- sistant motive power inspector at Colum- bus, and on January 1, 1912, came to Rich- mond as master mechanic.
In 1911 Mr. Needham married Margaret Dunn Carvey, daughter of Capt. Theodore
Dunn of Middleport, Ohio. Mr. Needham is a republican and a member of the Meth- odist Church.
MARY HANNAH KROUT, one of Indiana's most interesting women, was born in Craw- fordsville November 3, 1851. She is the daughter of the late Robert Kennedy Kront and Caroline Van Cleve Krout, and grand- daughter of Professor Ryland Thomas Brown, who served several terms as state geologist, was professor of natural sciences in Butler College, lecturer on toxocology in the State Medical College and chemist- in-chief in the United States Agricultural Department under President Hayes.
Miss Krout received her education chiefly at home under the instruction of her parents, and was for six years a pupil of the late Mrs. Caroline Coulter, mother of Professor John M. and Stanley Coul- ter. She grew up from childhood sur- rounded by distinctly literary influences, both within her own home and amongst friends whose tastes and pursuits gave the town a reputation throughout the state for a high degree of culture.
Doctor Bland, editor of the Indiana Farmer, accepted and paid for her first poem. She was then twelve years of age. Three years later she wrote "Little Brown Hands," a poem which has been familiar to school children ever since. It was pub- lished in Our Young Folks, a magazine edited by John G. Whittier and Lucy Lar- com, and which numbered Longfellow, Whittier, Higginson, Harriet B. Stowe, Jean Ingelow, and other famous authors among its contributors. After that Miss Krout wrote regularly for The Little Cor- poral, a magazine for children edited by the late Emily Huntington Miller, who gave her the warmest encouragement and became her lifelong friend. During this time she also wrote occasionally for Lip- pincott's Magazine, The Overland Monthly, under the editorship of Bret Harte, and for the New York Tribune and Boston Transcript.
Having inherited from her parents and grandparents strong convictions on the inequality of women before the law, at a very early age she spoke and wrote con- stantly for the enfranchisement of women and for the broadening of their educa- tional and economic opportunities. Of this phase of her work the late Mary A.
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Livermore said, many years afterward, "I attended a suffrage convention held in Crawfordsville, and when Mary Krout was announced to speak I was astounded to see a fragile little girl with short hair and short skirts come forward and make a very logical and carefully prepared address."
Miss Krout also inherited from a long line of ancestors an inextinguishable zeal in the cause of liberty and universal en- lightenment. She owes her German name to Michael Krout, a political refugee from Saxony, who settled on a plantation near Columbia, South Carolina, and who, when his house was burned and his cattle and horses driven away by the British, entered the Federal army with his five sons and sacrificed his life to the American cause in the massacre of General Ashe's command at Brier Creek. Other Revolutionary fore- fathers were John Van Cleve, who with his sons left their harvest field and joined the American forces in the battle of Mon- mouth, remaining in the service until the close of the war, John John, who enlisted at the beginning of the struggle and served under Washington, being given charge of the mill at Valley Forge, and George Brown, of Virginia, who raised and equipped a company of soldiers at his own expense and went to the relief of the Amer- ican forces at the battle of Yorktown.
Her family since then served in later wars, earning distinction in the United States army and navy, and was also rep- resented in various legislative bodies.
Miss Krout's editorial work began in Crawfordsville on the Journal under the able management of the late T. H. B. Mc- Cain. She was subsequently connected with the Peoria Call, the Terre Haute Ex- press, and the Chicago Interior. In 1888 she began her work on the Chicago Inter Ocean, with which she remained ten years. In the presidential campaign of 1888, dur- ing the candidacy of President Harrison, she was sent to Indianapolis as staff cor- respondent. For this work she received the official thanks of both President Harri- son and the Indiana state officials. In 1893 she was sent to Hawaii on the breaking out of the revolution, and she remained three months covering the events which led to the establishment of the Provisional Government. Upon her return she was summoned to Washington by Walter Q. Gresham, secretary of state, for a private Vel. V-2
conference on the situation. She was ap- pointed an alternate on the Women's Board of the Columbian Exposition, and was chosen chairman of the Auxilliary Press Congress held in September during the Fair. She had founded "The Chi- cago Woman's Press League," composed only of members holding salaried positions. This was extended into a national organ- ization, of which she remained president, the local body acting as hostess to the many distinguished men and women writers who were in Chicago during the Exposition.
In 1904 Miss Krout was sent again to Hawaii when an unsuccessful effort was made to overthrow the Provisional Gov- ernment and restore the queen. Pending the organization of the Hawaiian Repub- lie she made a short journey through New Zealand and Australia, returning in time to be present at the opening session of the Hawaiian Constitutional Convention.
In 1895 she was sent to London as staff correspondent, where she remained for three years, seeing much of the social, ar- tistie, and literary life of the great capi- tal. She found a warm friend in John Hay, then United States ambassador, who on one occasion when she asked permis- sion to refer to him wrote to her: "Use my name at any time and in any way that I can be of service to you," a proof of confidence and regard that was never forgotten.
In 1898 she returned to the United States, and after leaving the Inter Ocean under a change in its management Miss Krout went out to China for a syndicate of representative newspapers to study and write on the commercial relations of China with the United States. She re- mained a year, after which she took up her residence in New York and devoted her time to miscellaneous work and lee- turing before clubs and in the "People's Course," connected with the public schools of New York and Brooklyn. She then returned to Crawfordsville and completed the unfinished Memoirs of Gen. Lew Wal- lace, after which she made a second visit to New Zealand and Australia, writing for the Australia Press and lecturing in Australia and New Zealand on American topics. Before her return the following year she revisited Hawaii, and while there wrote "Memoirs of the Hon. Bernice Pauahi Bishop," who was the last of the
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Kamehamehas-the ancient ruling race; and of Mrs. Mary S. Rice, one of the pio- neer missionaries. Both books embodied much of the history of the country, with an account of native manners and customs. She also prepared a large illustrated bro- chnre, "Picturesque Honolulu," which was also largely historical. She was ab- sent on these commissions in Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii, nearly four years.
Latterly Miss Krout has been at her home in Crawfordsville, writing and lec- turing on literary and political topics, having also been engaged with her pen and in various activities connected with war work since the participation of the United States in the great conflict with Germany.
Miss Krout has been a member of the Chicago Woman's Club for many years and is a charter member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. While in London she was made an honorary mem- ber of the Sandringham Club and in Sid- ney of the Woman's Club in that city. She is also a corresponding member of the Hawaiian Historical Society.
Her published works are: "Hawaii and a Revolution," "A Looker-on in London," "Alice in the Hawaiian Islands," "Two Girls in China," "The Memoirs of the Hon. Bernice Pauahi Bishop," "Memoirs of Mrs. Mary S. Rice," "Platters and Pip- kins," and "The Coign of Vantage," a serial which appeared in the Chicago Ad- vance in 1910.
CAROLINE V. KROUT was born in Craw- fordsville, Indiana, and has lived there all her life. In an important and literal sense it can he said that fame has sought and come to her in that quiet but cultured col- lege community. Her education was ob- tained in private and public schools. She had the inestimable privilege of being a pupil of the late Mrs. Caroline Coulter for four years at a period when a child's mind is most plastic. John M. and Stanley Conlter, two great scholars and noted men, are immenselv indebted to their mother for their remarkable talents.
Caroline Krout did not begin writing as a child, as did her sister Mary. What aptitude she has for writing fietion was developed in young womanhood, and it was by a happy accident she found the theme of her first novel, "Knights in Fus-
tain." When on a visit to a sister she met there an elderly woman who had ex- perienced the insults and depredations of that treasonable band in the State of In- diana, and her reminiscences were so in- teresting and dramatic they were the source of inspiration for that work.
A love of pioneer history was awakened then, and she, from every source and by all means, got every scrap relating to the earliest pioneers of Indiana that she could find. Out of this course of reading came, later "On the We-a Trail." An Indian trail running from the Ouia towns on the Wabash River, ten miles from Lafayette, crossing Sugar Creek, four miles or so, west of Crawfordsville, by what is yet known as Indian Ford, and on down to the hunting grounds of Kentucky, used com- monly by all the tribes of this section, gave it the title.
Another novel dealing with the state's history was written later-"Dionis of the White Veil." The plot for this story was taken from a pamphlet issued by the His- torical Society of Indiana, and was ob- tained from the Archives of France for Mr. Jacob Dunn by a young man connected with the American Embassy at that time, 1902 or 1903. It relates to the attempt of founding the first Jesuit mission in what became later Indiana, at about the period Sieur Vincennes established the first fur trading post on the Wabash in 1712. With the exception of the love story it follows the text faithfully.
In 1905 Miss Krout published her first and only volume of juvenile stories. "Bold Robin and his Forest Rangers." This was written at the request of Mrs. Lew Wallace, a faithful friend and coun- sellor, who, when the author objected to the threadbare theme, said: "It makes no difference how old the story is if the treat- ment is original." In that connection only one story was taken from history, the rest were purely imaginary. Its dedication was made to Mrs. Wallace's two grand- sons and the author's two nephews, then small boys, all soldiers in France in the World war, one of whom, William Noble Wallace, made the great sacrifice.
At present Miss Krout is putting the final touches to another Indiana story of the Civil war.
The gift for writing in both her and her sister is hereditary. Dr. Ryland T. Brown,
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a writer ou scientific subjects in his day, was their maternal grandfather, and the late Joseph F. Brown, a great-uncle, was a poet of no mean caliber and also wrote excellent prose. The family from which they sprang was a pioneer family of the state, and bore their part in the develop- ment of Indiana.
THE BROWN FAMILY of Indianapolis contains a number of names associated with high distinctions in state and national affairs, and in later generations with the industrial and business history of Indian- apolis.
This branch of the family belong to the colonial settlers of old Virginia. George Brown had come from Virginia to Indiana in territorial times. His son, Hon. Wil- liam J. Brown, was born in Virginia and became a lawyer, practicing for a number of years. He was prosecuting attorney at a time when his circuit extended from the Ohio River to the Michigan boundary. His is one of the names most frequently encountered in the annals of early state politics. William J. Brown was the first to hold the office of secretary of state after the capital was removed to Indianapolis. He was afterwards elected and served a number of terms in Congress from the In- dianapolis district, and was also assistant postmaster general. Hon. William J. Brown died March 18, 1857. In 1827 he married Susan Tompkins, daughter of Nathan Tompkins.
Austin H. Brown, who was born at Mil- roy in Rush County, Indiana, March 19, 1828, was the oldest child of his parents. While his own career was a notable one, he had brothers almost equally distin- guished. Two of these brothers were sol- diers in the Civil war, one being killed at Harper's Ferry while the other died from the effects of his army service soon after the close of the war. Still another brother was Admiral George Brown, who rose to eminence in the United States Navy and retired with the rank of admiral just be- fore the Spanish-American war.
Austin H. Brown had very meager op- portunities to obtain an education. He moved with his parents to Indianapolis in 1837, and there found work as a printer's devil and as a carrier for the old Indiana Democrat. While doing that work he studied privately and acquired a practical
education. He continued with the Demo- crat and its successor, the State Sentinel, until 1844, and then at the age of sixteen, entered old Asbury University. His col- lege career closed at the age of seventeen, when he went to Washington as clerk in the office of the sixth auditor. He rose in that office to assistant chief clerk and dis- bursing officer. He was also for a time a United States postoffice inspector. Return- ing to Indianapolis, he became proprietor of the State Sentinel, and was one of the publishers of that old journal for five years.
In 1855, as a democrat, he was elected auditor of Marion County. During the Civil war period he was assistant adjutant general, and much of the detailed work of the office under Generals Noble and Ter- rell was handled by him. Austin H. Brown was what was then called a "war demo- crat." In 1866 he was appointed by. President Johnson collector of internal rev- enue for the Indianapolis district. For a number of years he was also cashier of the banking house of Woolen, Webh & Company. In 1874 he was elected clerk of Marion County, and served a number of years as city councilman and nine years on the school commission. He was a mem- ber of the National Democratic Commit- tee, ranked high in Masonry and was one of the able men of the state during his time.
On December 17, 1851, Austin H. Brown married Margaret E. Russell. Her father, Col. Alexander W. Russell, was an Indiana pioneer, served as sheriff of Marion Coun- ty, and by appointment from President Taylor served as postmaster of Indianap- olis. Mrs. Austin Brown was a grand- daughter through her mother of General James Noble, one of the first United States senators from Indiana. Austin H. Brown died January 1, 1903. He and his wife reared only two children, Austin H., Jr., who died in California in 1913, and Wil- liam J.
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