USA > Indiana > Indiana and Indianans : a history of aboriginal and territorial Indiana and the century of statehood, Volume V > Part 53
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The Rockwoods are of stanch old New England ancestry. The father of William O. Rockwood was Rev. Dr. Elisha Rock- wood, who graduated from Dartmouth Col- lege in 1802, and for twenty-seven years was a minister of Westboro parish in Massachusetts. He married Susanna Brig- ham Parkman, daughter of Breck Parkman and a granddaughter of Rev. Ebenezer Parkman, who was the first minister at Westboro.
Of this parentage William Otis Rock- wood was born at Westboro, Massachusetts, February 12, 1814. He was liberally edu- cated, being a student in the academies of Leicester and Amherst and completing his classical course in Yale College. His boy- ish passion for adventure led him to try the sea, where in a short time he experi- enced the wide gulf that separates reality from romance. Subsequently he clerked in a store and taught school.
In 1836, at the age of twenty-two, he went west to Illinois, and married in that state Helen Mar Moore. In 1837 they set- tled on a small farm near Madison, Indiana. From there William O. Rockwood moved to Shelbyville, where he engaged in the mill- ing business. He also became superintend- ent of the Shelbyville Lateral Branch Rail- road. It was through railroading that he first came into prominence among the builders of the new state. On moving to Indianapolis he became treasurer of the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railway, and filled that office thirteen years, until he re- signed in 1868. He was one of the promi- nent railroad men of his day in Indiana.
Other interests rapidly accumulated. The Town of Rockwood, Tennessee was named in his honor. There, with his son William E., he founded the Roane Iron Company, an industry in which his grandsons still have an interest. He also established a rolling mill at Chattanooga. William O. Rockwood held many official positions in the commercial development of· Indiana, and but few of the large undertakings launched at Indianapolis in his day did not have him as a director or participant. His activities covered such varied fields as banking, railroads, insurance; mining and iron manufacture. He was a man of ut- most probity of character and his death, which occurred at Indianapolis November 13, 1879, was regarded not only as a loss to the citizenship of his home community but to the state at large. He and his wife were the parents of three children, Helen Mar, who became the wife of Rev. Hanford A. Edson ; William E .; and Charles B.
The late William E. Rockwood, son of William O., was founder of the Rockwood Manufacturing Company of Indianapolis. He was born at Madison, Indiana, October 23, 1847, and lived there until about 1859, when the family came to Indianapolis. He was not yet fourteen years of age when the Civil war broke out. Some of the same enthusiasm that had caused his father to go to sea no doubt urged the boy to an active share in the patriotic activities which then claimed the attention of the larger part of the citizens both north and south. In July, 1861, he was first granted the privilege of association with men' older than himself in the army. At the very beginning of the war he was at Franklin; Louisiana, where, though very young, he felt and appreciated the animosity held by the southern people toward the Federal Government. Then and there he made up his mind to do all in his power for the Union. In July, 1862, he was refused per- mission to join the Seventy-First Indiana Volunteer Infantry, then in camp at In- dianapolis, on account of his youth. How- ever, he insisted so strongly that he was permitted to go to the front as servant to Capt. A. Dyer of Company F, with the un- derstanding that he could enlist when he was old enough. His first engagement was at Richmond, Kentucky, where the Union troops were captured by the Confederates under General Kirby Smith. In this en-
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gagement he received a wound in the foot. As this wound was given no medical or surgical care, it brought upon him untold suffering at the time, and was a source of trouble to him all the rest of his life. With other prisoners he was granted a parole, but endured almost incredible hardships in getting back to the Federal lines. A part of the way he was carried on the backs of his comrades. At Cynthiana he was left in order that the others might more rapidly reach the Ohio River. He suffered so much from his wound that at one time it seemed that the foot would have to be amputated. In the meantime his father, having learned of his predicament and location, went after him and brought him back to Indianapolis. He remained there recuperating until May, 1863, when he went to Camp Nelson, Ken- tucky, and was employed as an assistant by the train forage master. As such he made one trip to Knoxville to the relief of General Burnside, and another to Cumber- land Gap. The latter journey was one of great hardship on account of the weather. For this work, covering a period of seven months, he was given $15. On March 15, 1864, with his father's consent, he enlisted in the Seventeenth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry and was detailed as an orderly to Gen. John T. Wilder. An unusual fea- ture of Mr. Rockwood's military service did not come to light until after the war was over. His father had given consent to his enlistment, taking it for granted that the boy would soon tire of the service and be ready to quit. For this reason his name was erased from the muster rolls and not- withstanding his arduous service the rec- ords of the United States Government are silent as to his patriotic loyalty. But all the facts given herein are fully substan- tiated, and the record of no soldier of the Civil war might more fittingly find a place in the rolls of the war department. He continued to serve as orderly to General Wilder until November, 1864, when he was brought back to Indianapolis and placed in school.
After the war William E. Rockwood be- came associated with his father and with General Wilder at Chattanooga, Tennes- see. They built a pig iron furnace at Rock- wood, and subsequently a flour mill at Chattanooga. William E. Rockwood spent considerable time at Rockwood and at Chattanooga, and had charge of all the
work of improvements on the Cumberland River under the Rivers and Harbors Com- mission of the United States Government from 1879 to 1881. Under his supervision this river was made navigable from Carth- age down to the mouth.
Returning to Indianapolis in 1881, pri- marily to give his children better educa- tional advantages, he became local repre- sentative for the Roane Iron Company in handling the product of the furnace at Rockwood. At Indianapolis he spent the rest of his years. Along with ability as executive and administrator he also showed originality in the field of invention. He invented and patented the paper pulley, now in general use. In 1884 William E. Rockwood built a factory on South Penn- sylvania Street, but in 1900 erected a new plant at 1801-2001 English Avenue. This industry was begun ou a small scale, but through the different years has grown and prospered until it is one of Indianapolis' most substantial industries. After 1893 his sons George O. and William M. were actively associated with him.
William E. Rockwood was a member of the Presbyterian Church and a republican in politics. His later life was spent largely in retirement, owing to the suffer- ings entailed by his injury while a soldier. While he directed large and important in- terests he was naturally modest and many lesser men were more widely known in his home city and state. His intimate friends were confined to a comparatively small cir- cle, but the friends he did have were bound to him by ties of affection and respect that more than compensated for a larger list.
William E. Rockwood died December 28, 1908. October 23, 1871, he married Miss Margaret A. Anderson, daughter of Wil- liam Anderson, whose home was near Greensburg, Indiana. Six children were born to their marriage: George O .; Wil- liam M .; Charles P .; Helen M .; Mary A., who died at the age of four years; and Margaret A., now Mrs. John Goodwin.
The Rockwood Manufacturing Company founded by William E. Rockwood is now conducted by his sons George O. and Wil- liam M. The plant covers two city blocks and its importance as a local industry is indicated by the fact that about 325 peo- ple find employment within its walls.
The president of the company, George O. Rockwood, was born at Chattanooga,
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Tennessee, August 7, 1872. He received his early education in the public schools of Indianapolis, and for three years attended Purdue University at Lafayette. Since coming of age he has been steadily inter- ested in the business founded by his father. He is a republican, a member of the In- dianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Uni- versity and Country clubs, and has varied associations with the social and civic affairs of his home city. On May 1, 1907, he mar- ried Mrs. Marie Rich Sayles, daughter of W. S. Rich of Brooklyn, Massachusetts. By her marriage to Herman Sayles she is the mother of one son, Sheldon B. Sayles, now a second lieutenant of field artillery in the National Army. Mr. and Mrs. Rock- wood have one daughter, Diana.
VICTOR H. ROTHLEY is a prominent In- dianapolis business man, and for many years has been a manufacturer of office and bank fixtures. He is president of the Aetna Cabinet Company, one of the larg- est firms of its kind in the state.
This business was originally established about 1893, being a small plant, the mov- ing spirit of which was Ed Seikler. At that time the output was chiefly the prod- uct of hand labor. In 1895 another group of men took over the business and estab- lished the Aetna Cabinet Company. Those who have furnished their personal energy, their capital and enthusiasm to the growth of this business have been Mr. Rothley, now president of the corporation, Ed. S. Ditt- rich, vice president and secretary, George F. Seibert, who is treasurer, and Charles N. Shockley and Harry Miller. Twenty- three years ago when this business was or- ganized its capital stock was $3,000, and at the present time the company is operating on $25,000 of capital. Until 1898 the plant was at 312 West Georgia Street, and then moved to the present location, 321-329 West Maryland Street. This ground was for a time leased from Albert Metzger, but was afterward purchased and many im- provements have been made on the land and the buildings. The company now specializes in office and bank fixtures and has filled many important contracts all over the state of Indiana and even in other states.
Victor H. Rothley was born in Tell City, Perry County, Indiana, June 12, 1864, son of Philip C. and Mary (Kasser) Rothley.
His father was one of those aspiring and liberty-loving Germans who left their coun- try at the climax of the revolutionary troubles of 1848 and sought homes and op- portunities in the New World. He was a compatriot of Carl Schurz. Coming to America Philip Rothley landed at New York, and worked at the cabinet maker's trade and after a time moved to New Phil- adelphia, Ohio, where he married Mary Kasser. She was a native of Switzerland and had come to this country with her people when a young woman.
After his marriage Philip C. Rothley with a relative named Braun opened a gro- cery store, but soon left the counter and his business at the behest of a strong pa- triotism and enlisted at the first call for troops to put down the rebellion. He served with Company A, commanded by Captain Robinson, in the Fifty-First Ohio Volunteers throughout the three months' period and then re-enlisted in the same command. He was at the battle of Mur- freesboro, Chattanooga, and Missionary Ridge. the Atlanta campaign, and followed Sherman on the march to the sea. While he was in the army his family moved to Tell City, Indiana, and there he rejoined them after his honorable discharge from the ranks. At Tell City he resumed his business as a cabinet-maker. He lived a long and useful career, and passed away in 1910, at the age of eighty-three. His wife died at seventy-three, and they had the satisfaction of celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding. They were active members of the Lutheran Church and Philip Rothley was a republican voter. Of their nine children Victor was one of the oldest.
Mr. Victor Rothley was educated in the public schools of his native town and in his early youth had some experience work- ing on a machine in a cabinet making shop. Then in 1887 he came to Indianapolis and for a brief time was employed in the Moore desk factory. From here he went back to Tell City and afterward was employed at his trade in Chicago. In 1895 he en- gaged in business for himself, and since then has been largely responsible for the success and upbuilding of the Aetna Cab- inet Company.
In 1895, the same year he entered busi- ness for himself, Mr. Rothley married Cyn- thia Dunlap, who was born in Tippecanoe
Phoneway Way
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County, Indiana, fifty-three years ago, daughter of James Moore. Mrs. Rothley died November 20, 1917, leaving no chil- dren. Mr. Rothley had always been true to the religion in which he was reared, that of the Lutheran Church. He is affiliated with Lodge No. 13, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, is a member of the Columbia Club, is a republican voter, and is active in the Manufacturers' Association and the Contractors' Association of Indian- apolis.
THOMAS C. DAY. Those familiar with the career of Thomas C. Day during his forty years residence in Indianapolis say that no man has done more for the estab- lishment and extension of practical Chris- tianity and morality in the city. By the hardest kind of work he achieved success in a business way a number of years ago, and has made his means an influence to promote several good and wholesome in- stitutions in which he has been especially interested.
Mr. Day is a native of England, born February 28, 1844, but has lived in the United States since early childhood. He is of Devonshire ancestry, and many of the name were identified with manufacturing in that portion of Southern England, be- ing owners of the stoke mills. His parents were Thomas and Mary A. (Gould) Day. Thomas Day was for twelve years con- nected with the grocery house of H. H. and S. Budgett & Company of Bristol and London, rising from an inferior posi- tion to the head of the spice department.
In 1848 he brought his family to the United States, settling near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Subsequently he abandoned all business and entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Wis- consin Conference. He was a very suc- cessful church builder and organizer and did not retire from the active ministry until overtaken by old age. He died at Indianapolis at the age of ninety-three.
Thomas C. Day spent much of his early youth and manhood in the far Northwest when it was a pioneer country, especially in Minnesota. He finished his education in Hamline University, then located at Redwing, Minnesota. As a result of the financial panie which began in 1857 and which swept away his father's modest for- tune, the youth was compelled to become
self supporting. Thereafter he taught school and attended college, as opportunity offered until completing his freshman year. At that time the Civil war was in progress and his only brother had enlisted, Thomas desiring to follow him into the service, but on account of delicate health was dis- suaded from that course by his parents. But in 1863, when the Sioux rebellion be- gan in Minnesota, he joined the United States Cavalry and was on duty until the Indian troubles were over.
At the age of eighteen Thomas C. Day went to England, representing a publish- ing house of Hartford, Connecticut. After a year he returned to the United States and took np life insurance, a business to which he devoted many years of his active career. He became state agent for Min- nesota and Northern Iowa of the Aetna Life Insurance Company, and subsequently he and his brothers formed a partnership as general agents for Minnesota, Wiscon- sin and Northern Iowa. In 1872 Thomas C. Day was given charge of the Chicago office of the Aetna Company, his territory including the northern half of Indiana.
While living in Minnesota he had in- duced the Aetna Life Insurance Company to make certain loans upon farm lands. These investments had such fortunate re- sults that Mr. Day was gradually trans- ferred from the department of securing policies for the insurance company to han- dling and loaning its assets for investment purposes. He placed large sums of insur- ance money in the State of Indiana and in 1877 removed to Indianapolis in order the better to look after his business. Since then his work has largely been the loaning of money upon agricultural lands aud city properties in various states. In 1882 he formed a partnership with William C. Griffith, and the firm of Thomas C. Day & Company was continued until the death of Mr. Griffith in January, 1892. The com- pany title was continued with George W. Wishard and William E. Day, a son of Thomas C., as associates of the senior mem- ber. One of Mr. Day's chief services in broader community affairs has been his effective leadership in the Y. M. C. A. at Indianapolis. For three years he was president of the local association, was for two years at the head of the Boy's Club, and has given unreservedly of his time and means to the upbuilding of this splendid
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institution. For years he has been a rul- ing elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis. He was a vigorous advo- cate of a compulsory educational law, and was a member of a committee having charge of a bill for that purpose which was advocated before the General Assem- bly of 1896-97. Mr. Day was equally ardent in his advocacy of a juvenile court for Marion County, and deserves a large share of the credit for the passage of the bill establishing such a court in 1902-03. He was chairman of the general commit- tee which prepared the modern school law of Indianapolis. Mr. Day is a charter member of the Indianapolis Commercial Club, being one of its organizers, also a member of the Columbia Club since its organization in 1888, and has long been a director and member of the executive committee of the Union Trust Company.
February 10, 1873, he married Miss Katharine Huntington. Her father was the late Rev. William P. Huntington. Mr. and Mrs. Day's five children are Florence, Dwight Huntington, William Edward, Frederick Huntington and Helen Hunting- ton. These children reside in Indianapolis, New York and Hartford, Connecticut.
GEORGE WASHINGTON SWITZER, D. D. Few men have it in them to sustain so many important interests and responsibilities in so broad a field as Dr. George W. Switzer of Lafayette has carried throughout a pe- riod of over thirty years. Doctor Switzer is one of the prominent members of the Northwest Indiana Conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church and while the church and the welfare of humanity have had the first claim upon his talents he has also become a highly successful business man, and his abilities as an executive and administrator have of course distinguished him especially in the field of religious or- ganization.
Doctor Switzer has been a permanent resident of Lafayette for a long period of years and in that city he is close to the home where he was born in Tippecanoe County, November 2, 1854. He is a son of Peter and Catherine (Shambaugh) Swit- zer. His paternal great-grandfather and grandfather were both natives of Virginia, while the father was a native of Ohio. The Shambaughs came originally from Ger-
many, and the date of their landing in Philadelphia was September 9, 1749. Thus on both sides Doctor Switzer is of old colo- nial ancestry. The Switzer and Sham- baugh families came to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, in 1828, when much of the wild- erness still remained in its primeval con- dition. These families lived on adjoining farms.
George W. Switzer, seventh child of his parents, grew up on his father's farm, and aside from home his early associations were chiefly with the country school and church. In 1875 he entered Asbury, now DePauw University at Greencastle, and from that fine old Methodist institution he received the degree A. B. in 1881, that of A. M. in 1884, while in 1900 his alma ma- ter honored him with the degree Doctor of Divinity.
The summer after his graduation he and Professor John BaDe Motte visited Europe, Mr. Switzer going as a delegate to the World's International Conference of the Young Men's Christian Association, which met in the month of July at Exeter Hall, London. On his return to the United States Mr. Switzer married on September 20, 1881, Lida Westfall, daughter of Hon. Harvey Westfall.
In 1880 he entered the Methodist Episco- pal ministry in the Northwest Indiana Con- ference, and his active duties as a pastor began in 1881 at Plainfield, Indiana, where he remained three years. During his col- lege work at DePauw he had served two years in ministerial duties. From 1884 to 1887 he was stationed at Shawnee Mound, where he had charge of the churches of that circuit for three years. He was then appointed to the First Methodist Episco- pal Church at Crawfordsville, where he served a pastorate of five years, from 1887 to 1892. Among the members of his con- gregation was General Lew Wallace, who was a regular attendant. An intimate friendship sprang up between this great military and literary figure of Indiana and the then youthful pastor. From Craw- fordsville Mr. Switzer went to Brazil, In- diana, where he remained from 1892 to 1895, and was not only in charge of the city church but of four mission churches and a Sunday School held in a school house. This was one of his most strenuous posi- tions, and it brought him in touch with a
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variety of people in all walks of life, min- ers, workers in shops and mills, as well as proprietors and business men.
In 1895 Mr. Switzer was appointed to the West Lafayette Church. The appoint- ment was made in view of the ability he had shown as an organizer and the special purpose was to promote a new church building suitable for the accommodation of the membership and students who de- sired to worship with them. During his six years there, from 1895 to 1901, he more than justified all expectations entertained, not only in the building of the church but in the increase of its membership. The West Lafayette Church today, equipped with a pipe organ, mechanical ventilation, large provisions for the Sunday School and all social work, stands as a tribute to this pastorate.
In 1901 Doctor Switzer was appointed to the First Methodist Episcopal Church at LaPorte. His stay there was for two years only, but in that time the church was rebuilt, decorated, beautiful cathedral glass windows placed in the auditorium and a plan formulated for the rebuilding of the parsonage.
At the Conference held in South Bend in September, 1903, presided over by Bishop I. W. Joyce, Doctor Switzer was selected for a district superintendent, or, as it was then known, presiding elder. Bishop Joyce gave him choice of three districts, and he chose the Lafayette district, return- ing to Tippecanoe County. For the six years ending in 1909 Doctor Switzer gave untiring service to his duties as superin- tendent. In 1908 he was a member of the General Conference of the church which met at Baltimore.
While at Lafayette Doctor Switzer had assumed business responsibilities in addi- tion to his many other ties and associations with that city, and at the close of his dis- triet superintendency he requested the pre- siding bishop to let him have lighter work and allow him to remain in Lafayette. For a time he served as the general secretary of the Methodist Hospital at Indianapolis. He also assisted on other special occasions without any fixed salary. Subsequently Bishop McDowell appointed him to take charge of the Jasper H. Stidham gift and endowment for a Methodist Church at Tay- lor's Station. For several years services were held in the Consolidated School House
of Union Township. When the church building was completed he had charge of the little congregation that worshipped in this unique chapel, and was appointed trus- tee of, the Endowment Fund of the same. No happier people, or pastor, meet for wor- ship than does those of the community where the Jasper H. Stidham people con- gregate. All are invited, for the good of the community, as well as personal good, and every worthy cause has free consider- ation. This pastorate has continued for nearly six years.
From the time of his attendance at the World's Conference of the Young Men's Christian Association, Doctor Switzer has believed in the utility and power of this world wide organization of men for reli- gious life and work. Twice he has been the president of the state organization and several times the vice president. For a number of years he has been an advisory member of the Board of Directors and more recently he took an active part in the war work of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation and helped in the drive to raise Indiana's share. For almost ten years he was president of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association in Lafayette and served as such during the time of the building of the new home. He was a leader in the campaign for the lifting of the debt and contributed more than any other individual to see that obligation wiped out.
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