USA > Indiana > Daviess County > Living leaders, an encyclopedia of biography : special edition for Daviess and Martin counties, Indiana > Part 17
USA > Indiana > Martin County > Living leaders, an encyclopedia of biography : special edition for Daviess and Martin counties, Indiana > Part 17
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FRANCES ELIZABETH WILLARD.
471
WILLIAM COLLINS WHITNEY.
A CULTIVATED gentleman in politics, a man with millions behind him, a man with intellect as well-that is, perhaps, a fair, off- hand description of William Collins Whitney. He was born in Con- way, Mass., July 15, 1841. He received a thorough preliminary edu- catior., and graduated from Yale in 1863 and from the Harvard Law School in 1865. He was admitted to the bar and began his practice in the city of New York, winning a reputable place in his profession. He became interested in politics, and in 1871 became identified with the Young Men's Democratic Club and later acquired a prominence almost beyond his years by the active part he took in the famous fight upon the Tweed ring. He was made inspector of public schools in 1872 and then ran as a candidate for district attorney under the auspices of the reformed Democracy, and was defeated. He took part in the Tilden campaign, and in 1875 was appointed corporation counsel in New York. During Mr. Whitney's term of office he saved New York City millions of dollars by his wise opposition to various claims brought by the ringsters against the city. He became a prominent figure in the better group of New York City Democracy, and with the election of Mr. Cleveland to the presidency, attained national prominence, being made Secretary of the Navy and fulfilling the duties of that most responsible position with energy, ability and tact. He has not lost since an iota of the eminence he had attained. He stands prominent among the great men of his party when future contingencies are con- sidered, more particularly since his strength is so great among the bet- ter men of the city which is his party's stronghold, where he is rec- ognized as a man of marked ability and a politician above reproach.
472
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WILLIAM COLLINS WHITNEY.
473
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
TN these days of verse makers, when there are so many aspirants for recognition in the realms of poesy, the young poet who gains the especial attention and approval of the reading public must be more than ordinarily gifted. No poetess of today has established herself more securely in the hearts of the American people than Mrs. Ella Wheeler Wilcox, who appeals more directly to the emotions of her readers than almost any other writer of verse now before the public. Mrs. Wilcox was born in Johnstown Centre, Wis., and her home from early childhood was near Madison, the capital of the state. At the early age of eight years she first displayed her poetical and literary talent, and at fourteen she began writing for the newspapers. In a very short time her work attracted attention, and when only seventeen years old she was receiving pay for her verses and stories. Since
that time her star has been steadily in the ascendant. Her early reputation was made under the name of Ella Wheeler, which was changed in 1884 by her marriage to Robert M. Wilcox, of Meriden, Conn. Since 1887 she has resided in New York City, where her husband is engaged in a manufacturing business. Her published books now in print are: "Poems of Passion," "Poems of Pleasure," "Mau- rine," "The Beautiful Land of Nod," "An Erring Woman's Love," " Men, Women and Emotions," "How Salvator Won, and Other Rec- itations," and "The Song of a Sandwich." Although her early edu- cation was only such as could be obtained at the district school, sup- plemented by three months in the Wisconsin State University, Mrs. Wilcox enjoys the advantages of a higher education, acquired by study- ing the hearts of the people.
474
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
475
STEPHEN VAN CULEN WHITE.
A MOST sagacious financier, whose daring as a speculator is guided by an intelligence of such an order that the combination amounts to genius, Stephen V. White is one of the most prominent figures in the financial center of this country. He was born in Chat- ham County, North Carolina, August 1, 1831. His father, being a Quaker, was opposed to slavery, and after the famous Nat Turner insurrection removed with his family to Illinois, where he engaged in farming. Stephen was at that time but six weeks old, and he was reared in the wilderness. He was graduated at Knox College in 1854, studied law in St. Louis with B. Gratz Brown and John A. Kasson, and after his admission to the bar in 1856 began practicing in Des Moines. He attained high rank as a lawyer, but in 1865 he removed to New York and engaged in banking. In 1882 he organized the now well-known banking firm of S. V. White & Co. As a banker Mr. White has been noted for his large and bold operations in the interest of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad. Indeed, his operations have been such as could only have been conducted by a man possessed of phenomenal prescience, the power of cool calcula- tion and supreme confidence in his own convictions. In 1891 his firm failed and his fortune was swept away, but in little more than a year he had canceled his obligations, which he was bound only by honor to pay, and was again in his old place in the New York Stock Ex- change. Mr. White was elected to Congress from Brooklyn in 1886. He has long been a trustee of Plymouth church, is an expert astrono- mer, and has received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Knox Col- lege.
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STEPHEN VAN CULEN WHITE.
477
AUGUSTA J. EVANS WILSON.
W ITH a national reputation very firmly established, the author of "Beulah " has of late years chosen to do very little in the field of literature. It is not necessary that she should do more than she has already accomplished to fix her popular status. She was born near Columbus, Ga., in 1836. Her family removed to Texas, and afterward to Mobile, Ala., where in 1868 she became the wife of L. M. Wilson, and where she has since lived in a fine country home. The name of Augusta J. Evans had at that time already become famous. Her first novel, "Inez, a Tale of Alamo," was only moder- ately successful, but her second book, published in 1859, achieved a success which was almost instantaneous. It has passed through many editions and is still one of the popular novels. The Civil war put a check to her literary work, and for years there was a cessation of effort in the field for which she was so well equipped. Her next book, "Macaria," was printed on coarse brown paper, copyrighted by the Confederate States of America, and dedicated to the brave soldiers of the Southern army. It was printed in Charleston, S. C., published by a bookseller in Richmond, Va., was seized and destroyed by federal officers and was subsequently reprinted in the North, meeting with a very large sale. After the war she went to New York City and published her famous "St. Elmo," which was most successful. Her later works include "Vashti," "Infelice," and "At the Mercy of Tibe- rius." She is wealthy, and has chosen to live in retirement of late, and her absence from the literary field has been a source of regret to a great host of readers, since there is none who fills exactly her place. in the broad field of literature.
478
AUGUSTA J. EVANS WILSON.
479
GEORGE HARDIN YENOWINE.
IF some thoughtful, knowing man, acquainted with all necessary cir- cumstances, were to consider what one man has done most in the last fifteen years for the future of the city of Milwaukee, on Lake Michigan, he might say that the name he would select would be that of George Hardin Yenowine. Mr. Yenowine was born near Louis-
ville, Ky., September 6, 1858. The son was to be educated as a doctor. The father engaged on the Confederate side in the Civil war, and the result was a decided disturbance in the Yenowine family pro- gram, but the blood was there still. The boy had to stay at home, and took up manfully the hard work on an impoverished farm. He was full of ambition, though, had ideas, and he made a little hand- press while still on the farm and tried to do printing with it; then became correspondent for the Louisville newspapers, and did such good work on the country news that he finally got a place on the Louis- ville "Evening Journal." Then came the usual newspaper man's life. In 1879 Mr. Yenowine moved to Milwaukee, where for six years he was city editor of the Milwaukee "Sentinel," and then editor of the "Evening Wisconsin." He next founded a newspaper of his own, which is widely known. He has been a factor in making Milwaukee what Milwaukee is today, a factor probably not recognized as it should be. Mr. Yenowine has prospered; he has bought his old Kentucky home, which has become a summering place for him. He is a very energetic business man and a journalist of ability. The fact that he is both Northern and Southern in thought makes him stronger, makes him what he is in all his views and all his enterprises, a broad and forceful American.
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GEORGE HARDIN YENOWINE.
481
ROBERT CHARLES WINTHROP.
C HIEFLY associated in the popular mind today as the favorite ora- tor of great historical anniversaries, Robert C. Winthrop rests secure upon his reputation as a statesman achieved before the middle of the nineteenth century. Mr. Winthrop was born in Boston May 12, 1809; graduated at Harvard in 1828, studied law with Daniel Webster, and served as a Henry Clay Whig in the Massachusetts Legislature from 1834 to 1840. During the next ten years he was in Congress, being Speaker of the House from 1847 to 1849, and distin- guished himself as a ready debater and an accomplished parliamentarian. A series of impressive speeches on public questions delivered by him in Congress are still consulted as authorities. In 1850 he was appointed by the governor of Massachusetts to Daniel Webster's seat in the Sen- ate, when the latter became Secretary of State. A year later he retired from active political life, and devoted himself to literary, histori- cal and philanthropical occupations. He was president of the Boston Provident Association for twenty-five years, of the Massachusetts His- torical Society for thirty years, and has held many other posts of dig- nity and usefulness. His "Washington monument" speeches of 1848 and 1885, his Boston Centennial address of 1876, his great Yorktown oration, and many others of his public speeches, are noted for their fervid eloquence, patriotism and scholarship. There is a portrait of Mr. Winthrop in the Capitol at Washington, presented by the citizens of Massachusetts, and another in the hall of the Massachusetts Histori- cal Society. From the outset he has been at the head of George Peabody's trust for Southern education. His works are "Life and Let- ters of John Winthrop" and "Washington, Bowdoin and Franklin."
482
ROBERT CHARLES WINTHROP.
483
FELIX ADLER.
I 'T is safe to say that the science of moral philosophy has had no more earnest and careful student than the scholarly founder of the religious organization known as the Society for Ethical Culture. Prof. Felix Adler is the son of a Jewish rabbi, and was born in Alzey, Germany, August 13, 1851. At the age of five years he was brought to the United States, where he passed through the New York public school and Columbia grammar school, and graduated at Columbia Col- lege in 1870. He then went abroad to study at Berlin and Heidel- berg, obtaining the degree of Ph. D. in 1872. Returning to America he was appointed in 1874 professor of Oriental languages in Cornell University, a post which he filled until 1876, when he gave it up to establish in New York City the Society for Ethical Culture. This religious but unsectarian society, which is addressed regularly on Sun- days by its founder, has flourished from the beginning, and celebrated its eighteenth anniversary in May, 1894. Its philanthropic work is widely known and copied. Professor Adler established the first kinder- garten for poor children in America, and was the first to introduce the district nursing system, which has since been so generally adopted. Earnest and persistent in his labor for tenement-house reform, he did valuable service as a member of the tenement-house commission. It was he who established the pioneer school of manual training, the Workingmen's School in New York, where five hundred children of the poor are educated according to the most improved methods. In 1890 he established the "International Journal of Ethics," which is widely read at home and abroad. He has published "Creed and Deed," a collection of lectures, and "Moral Education of Children."
481
FELIX ADLER.
435
JAMES GORDON BENNETT.
B ORN to editorial purple, James Gordon Bennett has at least shown that he has inherited many of the qualities of his famous father who gained the purple for him. It was a severe test of the stuff in a young man to succeed to such a property as the "New York Her- ald," to inherit the income of a prince and at the same time have imposed upon him the duties of a worker. Mr. Bennett has demon- strated that he possesses taste for each separate sphere; that he can spend as prodigally and his critics would say with just about the degree of reason of the average prince has been made clear enough, while he has not shirked the duty of managing his great property himself, managing it arbitrarily and completely, and taking the good and bad consequences; that he has the journalistic instinct is assured, that he has allowed it to develop only in certain channels is as well apparent. Born in 1841, and therefore a man still comparatively young, he is widely known upon two continents for his lavish mode of life, and his daring ventures upon lines never adopted before and requiring great expenditures with results but a matter of speculation. He is a forceful character. It was a bold thing to send Stanley into the heart of Africa to find Livingstone, and the enterprise succeeded. It was as startling an undertaking to fit out a North Pole expedition, and the enterprise failed. The European newspaper enterprises of Mr. Bennett have had equally varying fortunes. With his newspaper and his wealth, he might have become an impressive political factor in the United States. He prefers Paris or a yacht. He is a notable Ameri- can, but he has not earned the title of a great one. Yet he has vigor and is a force in journalism.
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JAMES GORDON BENNETT.
487
CALVIN S. BRICE.
A LTHOUGH a young man, Calvin S. Brice, lawyer, railroad pro- jector and political leader, has a proud record. Though busi- ness reasons keep him in New York, he is by birth an Ohio man; was born in Denmark, Ohio, September 17, 1845. He is the son of William Kirkpatrick Brice, from an old Maryland and Pennsylvania family, and a clergyman of distinction in the Presbyterian Church, and Elizabeth Stewart, of Carrollton, a woman of fine education and exem- plary traits of character. His education was carefully looked after by his parents and obtained in the common schools of his home and in those of higher grade in Lima, Ohio. He was only thirteen years old when he was able to enter the preparatory department of Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, where he remained a year and then entered the freshman class. He was expecting to graduate, when the call for troops aroused his patriotism and though but fifteen years old he relinquished his studies and enlisted as a member of Capt. Dodd's university company, and in April took his first lesson of military dis- cipline at Camp Jackson, Columbus, and served with his regiment dur- ing the year. Returning to the university he resumed his studies, completed the regular course, and was graduated in 1863. Mr. Brice, after teaching for awhile, went into the army again, reuniting a com- pany and going back as captain. Being firm in the resolve to devote himself to the law, after the war he entered the law department of the Michigan University, and was admitted to the bar after being grad- uated from there. He has attained great distinction as a corporation lawyer, has been a leader in financial circles, and as United States Senator has done much good for the Democratic party.
488
CALVIN S. BRICE.
439
CUSHMAN K. DAVIS.
T HE scholar in the United States Senate has appeared to advantage in the person of Cushman K. Davis, one of the senators from Minnesota. Mr. Davis was born in Henderson, Jefferson County, N. Y., June 16, 1838. While he was but a child his parents removed to Waukesha, Wis., where he attended the public schools and became afterward a student in Carroll College. He then entered the Univer- sity of Michigan and graduated from that great institution in 1857, when only nineteen years of age. He studied law and began its practice in Waukesha, but at the beginning of the Civil war became a lieutenant in the Twenty-eighth Wisconsin regiment. He served creditably and was rapidly promoted, becoming assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. Gorman, but in 1864 became incapacitated by typhoid fever and was compelled to leave the service. In 1865, with recovered health, he removed to Minnesota and resumed the practice of his profession in St. Paul, which city is still his home. A deep stu- dent and brilliant orator, he soon' became widely known, both on the political and lecture platforms. He was elected to the Minnesota Leg- islature in 1867, and in 1868 was appointed United States attorney for Minnesota, which position he held for five years. In 1874 he was elected governor of the state on the Republican ticket, and served one term, declining a renomination. In 1875, and again in 1881, he was a candidate for United States senator, but in the then condition of Minnesota politics was each time defeated. In 1887 he was elected, and in 1893 was again chosen for the position. He ranks high in the Senate, both as statesman and as a man of extraordinary cultiva- tion and scholarship.
490
CUSHMAN K. DAVIS.
491
IGNATIUS DONNELLY.
A STRONG, vigorous personality, and an immense amount of energy, are among the characteristics of Ignatius Donnelly. He was born in Philadelphia November 3, 1831, and was graduated from the Central high school of that city in 1849. He then went to St. Paul, Minn., where he took up the work of journalism. In 1860 he was elected lieutenant-governor of that state, was sent to Congress in 1863, and made state senator in 1873. He is also an author, and his books are well known and bear the stamp of Mr. Donnelly's strong imagination. Among those most favorably known are "Caesar's Column," "Dr. Huguet," and quite a recent one, "The Golden Bottle." What might almost be called his life work is "Cryptogram," a claimed cipher conveying the information that Sir Francis Bacon was the author of the plays attributed to William Shakespeare. This assertion on the part of Mr. Donnelly has of course provoked much discussion and has not increased the estimation in which he is held by the great mass of thinkers; on the other hand it has secured quite a con- tingent of those who take the Bacon side of the controversy. It may be said of Mr. Donnelly that he has at least the courage of his convictions. Mr. Donnelly is an advanced thinker, and shows indom- itable will in whatever work he undertakes, literary or political. Mr. Donnelly has also appeared upon the platform as a lecturer supporting his own views, especially as to the Bacon cipher. Even those who differ from him on that question admit he makes a very ingenious argument in support of his theory. Mr. Donnelly is very popular in his own state and has a large number of admirers throughout the country. His works are interesting and are possessed of much merit
492
IGNATIUS DONNELLY.
493
CARDINAL JAMES GIBBONS.
M ODERN history must include the names of great dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. The life of Car- dinal Gibbons affords an example of what ability and acumen, supple- mented by a power of application to an end, firmness of purpose, and a fixed regard for duty, may accomplish. James Gibbons was born in Baltimore, Md., in 1834. Of Irish parentage, he was taken for a time to his father's native country, and there began his first studies for the priesthood, to which he was destined, returning to take his theological course at the seminary of St. Sulpice in Baltimore. He was first assigned to a small church in the suburbs of Baltimore, but his talents, soon observable, carried him to a broader field. In 1868 he was made vicar apostolic of North Carolina, with the rank and title of bishop, and in 1886 was recognized as one fitted for the hight est dignity of the church. He visited Rome, and there, in the mids- of an imposing ceremonial, received the red biretta from the hands of the Pope himself. The selection made was most satisfactory to the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. The cardinal's hat has become its new bearer well. The face, thoughtful, intelligent, almost ascetic in its expression, indicates the character of the man. He has tact, it may be great ambitions, but his great executive ability, his self-denial, his modesty and his attention to his duty are the qualities which endear him to the world. His influence is widely felt and his friends are not confined to those of his own church, and more could scarcely be said of any religionist than that, for religious antagonisms are gener- ally the strongest of all. He represents the progressive and broad- minded spirit of the day.
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Bachrach & Bro Photo. Copyright 1991.
JAMES GIBBONS.
495
JOHN B. GORDON.
A BRAVE soldier, loyal to the South, fighting to the last for "The Lost Cause," who, when the war is ended becomes a stanch supporter of the Union, such a man is Gen. John B. Gordon. He was born in Upson County, Georgia, February 6, 1832. His ances- tors came from Scotland to Virginia in the seventeenth century, and were prominent in the days of the colonies. During the Revolutionary war they were prominent officers in the Continental army. General Gordon was educated at the University of Georgia. After completing his law studies he began practice with his brother-in-law, L. E. Bleck- ley, afterward chief justice of Georgia. In 1854 he married the daugh- ter of Hon. Hugh Anderson Haralson, who represented Georgia in Con- gress for many years. In 1861 General Gordon raised and uniformed a company of men for the Confederate army and was chosen cap- tain. General Gordon's war record was remarkable for bravery and
audacity. At the battle of Sharpsburg, in 1862, he was severely wounded four times, but remained on the field with his men until the fifth ball struck him full in the face and knocked him senseless. He fought with stubborn valor throughout the war. He guarded the retreat from Petersburg, and at Appomattox Court House was put at the head of the four thousand troops that were intended to cut through General Sheridan's line, which was prevented by the surrender of Gen- eral Lee. He was delegate at large to the National Democratic Con- vention in Baltimore in 1872; was elected United States senator in 1873, and again in 1879. In 1886 he was elected governor of Georgia, and was re-elected in 1888. In 1890 he was again elected senator. His career in Congress has been very brilliant.
496
JOHN B. GORDON.
497
JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS.
A DELIGHTFUL delineator of Southern life, with a keen apprecia- tion of the negro character, Joel Chandler Harris is one of the most popular authors of the day. He was born December 9, 1848, in the little village of Eatonton, Ga. Before he was six years of age he had learned to read, and later he enjoyed the advantages of a few terms at the Eatonton Academy. When he was twelve years of age he decided to learn the printer's trade. He soon found an opportunity to do so in the office of a Colonel Turner who was then publishing a weekly newspaper called "The Countryman." He found his position a congenial one, as Colonel Turner allowed him the use of his magnifi- cent library. It was here that this country boy received his education. He began his literary career by sending anonymous communications to "The Countryman," which were printed. He afterward threw off his disguise and contributed a number of essays and poems which were highly praised by the publisher. At the close of the war he obtained employment on various newspapers in Macon, New Orleans, Forsyth and Savannah. In 1876 he became a member of the editorial staff of the "Atlanta Constitution." Soon after Mr. Harris went on the "Constitution" he was requested to furnish some negro dialect sketches, then becoming very popular. While on the Turner planta- tion he had often listened to the weird folk-lore tales of the negroes, and now decided to reproduce them. In a few weeks appeared the "Uncle Remus" sketches, which at once created a sensation. His later works are: "On the Plantation," "Daddy Jake," "The Runaway," "Uncle Remus and His Friends," "Balaam and His Master," and "Little Mr. Thimblefinger."
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JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS.
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499
EVAN P. HOWELL.
A N eloquent orator, a journalist of rare ability, and a patriot whose heart is full of love and devotion for his countrymen, Evan P. Howell is one of the most distinguished men of the South. Captain Howell is a native of Forsyth (now Milton) County, Georgia. At the age of twelve years his father moved to Atlanta. Here the son passed with distinction through the common schools of Warsaw and Atlanta, entering the Georgia Military Institute at Marietta in 1855. After completing a two years' course he went to Sandersville, where he read law until the end of the year 1858, when he was enrolled among the Lumpkin Law School matriculates, at Athens. A year later he began the practice of law, which was interrupted by the break- ing out of the Civil war. He enlisted in the First Georgia Regiment as orderly sergeant and was appointed a lieutenant before the expiration of a month. He was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, and before the second year he remodeled the company and became its cap- tain. From service under General Jackson in Virginia he was trans- ferred to the Western army in time to engage in the struggle at Chickamauga. In the retreat from Laurel Hill the sufferings of Cap- tain Howell and his men were intense. He served until the close of the war and when the conflict ceased he returned to his home and began farming, which he carried on for two years. In 1868 he became city editor of the "Atlanta Intelligencer," but a year later he renewed the practice of law. He was elected to the State Senate in 1873 and was reelected for a second term. In 1876 he purchased a controlling interest in the Atlanta Constitution, and became its editor in chief.
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