USA > Indiana > Daviess County > Living leaders, an encyclopedia of biography : special edition for Daviess and Martin counties, Indiana > Part 3
USA > Indiana > Martin County > Living leaders, an encyclopedia of biography : special edition for Daviess and Martin counties, Indiana > Part 3
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58
WILLIAM DEERING.
59
CHARLES ANDERSON DANA.
N TOT as a journalist, merely, but also as a critic, historian and politician, has greatness been achieved by Charles A. Dana, edi- tor of the New York "Sun." His manifold ability and industry have placed him well in the lead of the newspaper managers of today. Mr. Dana was born at Hinsdale, N. H., August 8, 1819. He was edu- cated at Harvard, and in 1842 joined the Brook Farm Community in its socialistic venture. Two years later he took the management of the "Harbinger," a weekly paper devoted to social reform and litera- ture, and in 1847 became connected with the staff of the New York "Tribune." He attained the position of managing editor of that paper, and the development of his genius for journalism was largely instru- mental in making it the leading organ of anti-slavery sentiment just before the war, with an extraordinary influence and circulation. Leaving the "Tribune" in April, 1862, he entered the service of the government, and from 1863 to 1865 was assistant Secretary of War. He then became editor of the Chicago "Republican," which failed of success. In 1868 he organized the stock company that now owns the New York "Sun," and for over twenty-six years has been actively and continuously engaged in the management of that successful journal. Mr. Dana collaborated with Gen. James H. Wilson in writing a "Life of Ulysses S. Grant." He also edited "The Household Book of Poetry," and, in connection with Rossiter Johnson, compiled "Fifty Per- fect Poems." As an editor, Mr. Dana is trenchant and fearless; as a critic, able and opinionated; as a politician, aggressive and bitter. The "Sun" is conducted as an independent Democratic journal, and from a literary standpoint ranks high.
60
CHARLES ANDERSON DANA.
19
JULIA WARD HOWE.
F EW names of women are more widely known than that of Julia Ward Howe, essayist, poetess, philanthropist and public speaker. She was born in New York City, May 27, 1819, her parents being Samuel Ward and Julia Cuttle Ward. Her ancestors included the Huguenot Marions, of South Carolina, Governor Sam Ward, of Rhode Island, and Roger Williams, the apostle of religious tolerance. Her father, a banker, gave her every advantage of a liberal education. She was instructed at home by capable teachers in Greek, German, French and music, and the ambitious and earnest girl improved her opportunities. In 1843 she became the wife of Dr. Samuel G. Howe and went abroad for a season. She had, when only seventeen years of age, produced several clever essays and reviews, and in 1852 pub- lished her first volume of poems. A drama in blank verse, written in 1853, was produced in both New York and Boston. Other works followed, and during the war Mrs. Howe became nationally prominent because of her stirring patriotic songs. In 1867 she visited Greece with her husband, where they won the gratitude of the people of that country because of aid extended in the struggle for national independ- ence. In 1868 Mrs. Howe first took part in the suffrage movement. She has since preached, written and lectured much, and, notwithstand- ing her advanced age, still enjoys a life of almost ceaseless activity. Among her many works the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is, per- haps, most widely known and most likely to remain a permanently admired masterpiece in American literature, but in all she has written there has been displayed the same earnestness and poetic gift and the same finished scholarship.
62
JULIA WARD HOWE.
63
ROBERT COLLYER.
T HE story of that remarkable blacksmith, Elihu Burritt, has a par- allel in the early life of Dr. Robert Collyer, the eminent Unita- rian clergyman. Dr. Collyer was born in Keighly, Yorkshire, England, December 8, 1823. His father was a blacksmith, and the son was compelled to earn his living in a factory. He attended night school for two winters, and at the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a blacksmith. In 1850 he came to America and worked at his trade in Shoemakerstown, Penn., where he remained nine years. Having become a Methodist he preached the Gospel on Sundays, and his wisdom and glowing eloquence soon raised him above the shop into scholastic and theological circles. As a result of his studies, to which he applied himself most diligently, his religious views changed in the direction of Unitarianism, and after being expelled from the Methodist Conference he became a Unitarian clergyman and removed to Chicago to take charge of a mission among the poor. In 1860 he organized Unity Church, Chicago, of which he was the pastor until 1879, when he went to New York to assume charge of the Church of the Messiah, which post he still holds. Dr. Collyer has written several books, and his lectures have been widely popular, especially his favorite lecture, "Grit." The poetic instinct is developed in him to a degree that makes all his prose merely another form of poetry. Among the best of his published poems, and one that will live to be read and admired by future gen- erations, is a psalm of thanksgiving written after the great Chicago fire of 1871. Dr. Collyer seems to always look on the sunny side of life, and his conversation is full of entertaining and amusing reminiscences. His personality is described in the one word-lovable.
64
ROBERT COLLYER.
65
CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.
TN the directory of the financial world the name that stands out most conspicuously is Vanderbilt. The present head of the family of that time, Cornelius Vanderbilt, is the eldest grandson of the famous Cornelius who amassed an enormous fortune by shrewd business ven- tures, and whose genius as a financier seems to have been inherited by his namesake. Mr. Vanderbilt was born in Staten Island, N. Y., November 27, 1843. He was educated in private schools, and received a thorough business training. From 1867 until 1877 he was treasurer of the New York & Harlem Railroad Company, then served as vice- president until 1886, and afterward as president of that corporation. He was made president of the Canadian Southern Railway in 1883, and after the death of his father, William H. Vanderbilt, in 1885, he became a director in thirty-four different railroad companies. He is a trustee of many of the charitable, religious and educational institutions of New York City, where he resides in one of the handsomest private residences in the world. Among Mr. Vanderbilt's benefactions are the gift of a building in New York City for the use of railroad employes, a contribution of $100,000 for the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral, and a collection of drawings by the old masters and a painting of the Horse Fair, by Rosa Bonheur, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Although his wealth is estimated at over a hundred millions, Mr. Vanderbilt applies himself closely to his business, and personally directs the many railroad enterprises of which he is the head. In his everyday life he is quiet but affable, free from affectation, and stands upon the plane of the thorough-going business man. He has undoubtedly inherited the executive ability of his grandfather.
66
CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.
67
5
ADLAI EWING STEVENSON.
TN a great measure, no doubt, the credit of swinging Illinois into the Democratic column, which was one of the astonishing results of the national election in 1892, belongs to Vice-President Stevenson. A man of somewhat retiring disposition, he had nevertheless come to be recognized as a power in his own state, and was even seriously con- sidered for the first place on the presidential ticket, although he was a Cleveland man himself. Mr. Stevenson was born in Christian County, Kentucky, fifty-nine years ago, and was educated at Centre College, Danville. He afterward married the daughter of the president of the college, Dr. Lewis Green, and removed to Bloomington, Ill., whither his family had preceded him. There he studied law in the office of the late David Davis, and after practicing his profession in Metamora and Bloomington until 1874, he was elected to Congress on the Demo- cratic ticket. He failed of re-election in 1876, but was again success- ful in 1878. In 1880 and 1882 he was defeated by small majorities. In 1885 President Cleveland appointed him First Assistant Postmaster- General, and he became one of the most popular officers of that admin- istration. He was much talked of by western Democrats as a presi- dential possibility prior to the campaign of 1892, but the great mass of the party looked to Grover Cleveland for deliverance, and Mr. Ste- venson was accordingly nominated for the vice-presidency. Mr. Steven- son has been a successful lawyer and business man, and is regarded in his section as a man of uncommon ability and strength of character. He is energetic and decisive in his actions, and while First Assistant Postmaster-General he excited some comment by removing many incum- bents from office.
68
ADLAI EWING STEVENSON.
69
EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN.
E "NGLAND had her banker-poet, the learned Samuel Rogers, and America has a celebrity who divides his attention between poetic literature and the New York Stock Exchange. Edmund Clarence Sted- man has unquestionably taken a permanent place in the foremost rank of American poets. He was born in Hartford, Conn., October 8, 1833, and while attending Yale College in 1851 his poem of "Westminster Abbey," published in the "Yale Literary Magazine," received a first prize. He became editor of the Norwich "Tribune" in 1852, and of the Winsted "Herald" in 1854, and two years later went to New York City, where for many years he contributed to the leading period- icals. Some of his poems became so popular that he collected and issued them under the title of "Poems, Lyric and Idyllic." After a hard struggle for a competence he joined the editorial staff of the New York "World" in 1860, and was war correspondent until 1863. He then purchased a seat in the Stock Exchange and became a broker, continuing his literary work during his leisure hours. From time to time he issued volumes of his selected poems, including "Alice of Mon- mouth," "The Blameless Prince," "Poetical Works," etc. In 1874, with Thomas Bailey Aldrich, he edited "Cameos," selected from the works of Walter Savage Landor, and the poems of Austin Dobson. About 1875 Mr. Stedman began to devote his attention to critical writ- ing, and subsequently produced "Victorian Poets" and "Poets of Amer- ican Literature." He has since compiled and edited the "Library of American Literature," in ten volumes, besides issuing several additional books of his own works. His poems delivered on public occasions have always attracted attention by their excellence.
70
EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN.
71
SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS.
B ESIDES being the prince of American humorists, and one of the most fascinating story tellers in the world, Samuel L. Clemens, better known as "Mark Twain," has established for himself a high reputation as a man of letters. The story of his life is an interesting one. Born in Florida, Monroe County, Mo., November 30, 1835, he was apprenticed to a printer at the age of thirteen, and worked at his trade in Cincinnati, St. Louis, Philadelphia and New York. In 1851 he became a pilot on the Mississippi River steamboats. In 1861 he went to Nevada where, in the following year, he became editor of the Virginia City "Enterprise," and first used the nom de plume that after- ward became famous. He went to San Francisco in 1865, and was for five months a reporter for the "Morning Call." After an unsuc- cessful venture at gold mining he went to the Hawaiian Islands in 1866, returning six months later to deliver humorous lectures. He then went East, and published "The Jumping Frog and Other Sketches." In 1867 he went abroad with a party of tourists, and on his return published "Innocents Abroad." He next edited the Buffalo "Express." After his marriage he settled in Hartford, Conn., where he has since resided. He afterward lectured extensively in this country and in Eu- rope, and in 1872 wrote "Roughing It." Then came "The Gilded Age," written in conjunction with Charles Dudley Warner, and later "Tom Sawyer," "A Tramp Abroad," "The Stolen White Elephant," "The Prince and the Pauper," "Huckleberry Finn," "Pudd'n-Head Wilson," and other volumes. In 1884 he established in New York the publishing house of C. L. Webster & Co., which failed in 1894. Mr. Clemens' works have been translated into several languages.
72
SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS.
73
CHARLES HENRY PARKHURST.
P ERHAPS nothing else in recent years has done so much to create a sentiment against the New York organization known as Tam- many Hall, as the persistent and vigorous onslaughts of Rev. Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst, who, in his capacity as president of the Society for the Prevention of Crime, undertook to demonstrate and to break up the system of paid police protection under which, he declared, all kinds of vice, disorder and criminal immorality had abnormally flourished in that city. Dr. Parkhurst was born in Framingham, Mass., April 17, 1842, and was graduated at Amherst in 1866. He studied theology at Halle in 1869, and at Leipsic in 1872 and 1873, during the inter- vals of which studies he was principal of the High School in Amherst, and professor of Williston Seminary at Easthampton, Mass. From 1874 to 1880 he was pastor of the Congregational Church at Lenox, Mass., and was then called to the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, New York City, where he has since remained. Dr. Parkhurst has contributed to various magazines, and has published several volumes, including "The Forms of the Latin Verb, Illustrated by Sanskrit," "The Blind Man's Creed, and Other Sermons" and "Pattern in the Mount, and Other Sermons." In 1893 he began a personal investiga- tion of the social evil in New York, which resulted in his subsequent crusade against the alleged corrupt organization controlling the police department of that city. Such sustained energy, such high courage in the face of criticism and opposition, and such unswerving persistence as Dr. Parkhurst has shown in this undertaking are not often witnessed. Physically, the doctor is a small man, but morally and intellectually he is a giant.
74
COPYRIGHT TESS BY JANSer
By Permission of Sarony.
CHARLES HENRY PARKHURST.
75
SUSAN BROWNELL ANTHONY.
T HERE is something that compels admiration in the fearless, per- sistent and self-sacrificing devotion with which that famous reformer, Susan B. Anthony, has labored for half a century in the cause to which she early dedicated her life. While one may not always recognize the wisdom of her course, there can be no doubt of her sincerity and heroism. Miss Anthony was born at South Adams, Mass., February 15, 1820. Her father was a Quaker. He settled in Rochester, N. Y., in 1846, where his daughter, after teaching school for a number of years, participated in the temperance- movement, organ- izing societies and lecturing throughout the state. About 1857 she became prominent among the agitators for the abolition of slavery. Her energies, however, were chiefly directed to securing equal civil rights for women. In 1854 and 1855 she held conventions in the cause of female suffrage in every county in New York, and since then has addressed annual appeals and petitions to the Legislature. She was active in securing the act of the New York Legislature in 1860, giv- ing to married women possession of their earnings and the guardian- ship of children. In the same year she started a petition in favor of leaving out the word "male" in the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution, and worked with the National Suffrage Association to induce Congress to secure to her sex the right to vote. Between 1870 and 1880 she lectured more than a hundred times a year in all of the Northern and some of the Southern States. She is the author of "The History of Woman Suffrage," in two volumes, in which she was assisted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage.
76
SUSAN BROWNELL ANTHONY.
77
CARL SCHURZ.
B Y virtue of his intellectual power and oratorical ability the same sentiments that made Carl Schurz a revolutionist and a fugitive in his own country placed him on a high pedestal as a patriot and statesman in America. He was born in Liblar, near Cologne, Prussia, March 2, 1828, and educated at Bonn. As adjutant in the Revolu- tionary army in 1849 he took part in the defense of Rastadt, and upon the surrender of that fortress escaped to Switzerland. For a time he was a newspaper correspondent in Paris, and afterward a teacher in London, but in 1852 he came to the United States, eventu- ally settling in Watertown, Wis., where in 1856 he began making speeches in German for the Republican party. In the following year he was an unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant-governor of Wisconsin, and soon afterward he began the practice of law in Milwaukee. His first speech in the English language, delivered in 1858, was widely published, and he became a power in Republican conventions and can- vasses. President Lincoln appointed him Minister to Spain, but he resigned in December, 1861, to enter the Union army, and served
throughout the war, attaining the rank of major-general. After the war he became the Washington correspondent of the New York "Tribune," but in the summer of 1866 he removed to Detroit, where he founded the "Post." In 1867 he became editor of the "Westliche Post," of St. Louis, and in 1869 was chosen United States senator from Missouri. He supported Greeley in 1872 and Hayes in 1876, and the latter appointed him Secretary of the Interior. Upon retiring from that office he became editor of the New York "Evening Post," which position he held until 1884.
78
CARL SCHURZ.
79
ANNIE JENNESS MILLER,
S OME years ago a young and beautiful woman, highly cultured, began to expound with unquestionable taste and good judgment the principle of correct and artistic dressing. Her name is now a synonym for dress reform. Mrs. Annie Jenness Miller is a native of New Hampshire, where she was born January 28, 1859. She was educated in Boston, and before her marriage won considerable fame in Massachusetts as a woman of letters. Subsequently she took up the question that has given her fame in another direction, and she is now the most prominent and popular of all the leaders in the movement for reform in the matter of woman's dress. She has lectured in all the leading cities of the United States to crowded houses, and wherever she goes is always warmly received. She is one of the owners of a magazine published in New York, which is devoted to the aesthetics of physical development and artistic designs for dresses, and contains articles by the best writers on all topics of interest to women. Mrs.
Miller's intelligence, taste and influence are widely acknowledged. She is the author of "Physical Beauty" and "Mother and Babe," the lat- ter a work which furnishes information and patterns upon improved plans for the mother's and baby's wardrobes. She is a finished writer, and skillful in the elucidation of her subjects. All the progressive and reformatory movements of the day appeal to her and have her sym- pathy and support. Her ultimate hope is to establish at the National Capitol an institution for physical development and the highest art of self-culture, which shall be under the control of able students of anat- omy, chemistry, and physical science. With this end in view, Mrs. Miller now makes Washington her home.
80
ANNIE JENNESS MILLER.
81
BENJAMIN HARRISON.
F 'ROM the humble station of a farmer's son to the exalted position of President of the United States, describes in brief the career of Benjamin Harrison. He is the grandson of a president, General Wil- liam Henry Harrison, and was born in his grandfather's house at North Bend, Ohio, August 20, 1833. He was graduated at Miami Univer- sity, studied law in Cincinnati, and in 1854 removed to Indianapolis, which city has since been his home. Entering the war in 1862 as a second lieutenant in an Indiana regiment, he soon received the appoint- ment of colonel, and in January, 1865, was brevetted brigadier-general. After the war he resumed his former office as reporter of the Supreme court at Indianapolis. In 1876 he ran for governor of his state, but was defeated by a small majority by "Blue Jeans" Williams, the Democratic candidate. He was chairman of the Indiana delegation at the National Convention held in Chicago in 1880, when General Gar- field was nominated for the presidency. In that year General Harri- son was chosen United States senator, which office he held until March 3, 1887. At the National Republican Convention held in Chicago in 1888, he was nominated by his party for the presidency, and subse- quentiy elected. He was a candidate for re-election in 1892, but was buried under the Democratic "landslide" of that year. Among his personal characteristics it may be said that ex-President Harrison, as an impromptu public speaker, has demonstrated a gift of eloquence that is pointed and forcible. He has a faculty for seizing promptly upon a subject, ready-equipped and without loss of time, and presenting it clearly and concisely. He is an American of whom all are proud, regardless of political affiliations.
82
BENJAMIN HARRISON.
83
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS.
U NDOUBTEDLY the leading novelist and exponent of literature as an art in the United States is the gifted author of "The Rise of Silas Lapham," "The Lady of the Aroostook," " A Woman's Rea- son," and many other popular stories of the realistic school. William Dean Howells was born at Martin's Ferry, Ohio, in 1837. His ances- tors on the father's side were Welsh Quakers, and in all the genera- tions, from the great-grandfather down, the family lived in an atmos- phere of books and moral and literary refinement. Howells learned the printer's trade in the office of his father, who conducted a weekly paper in Hamilton, Ohio, and at the age of twenty-two became the news editor of the Columbus "State Journal." He wrote a life of Lincoln after the latter's nomination in 1860, and the President after- ward appointed him Consul to Venice, where he resided from 1861 to 1865. Returning to America, he engaged in literary pursuits, and in 1871 became editor of the "Atlantic Monthly," a position which he held until 1880, when he relinquished it to devote himself exclusively to writing. In 1886 he made a salaried connection with "Harper's Magazine," and created the department known as "The Editor's Study." During recent years, however, he has done but little editorial work. As a man of letters Mr. Howells is regarded by many as far in advance of any other writer of the present day. In addition to his novels he has written many poems, biographies, criticisms and sketches of travel in foreign countries. During his residence in Venice he mastered the Italian language and studied the literature of the coun- try. Mr. Howells is recognized as the leader of the realistic school of literature.
84
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS.
85
FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT.
H TAD she never written anything but "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and "That Lass o' Lowrie's," Frances Hodgson Burnett would have become widely known in literature. She was born in Manchester, England, November 24, 1849. She lived in Manchester and became familiar with the characteristics of the people of the Lancashire coal district, a fact which is shown repeatedly in her works. Trouble came to the family, the father died and the mother and children came to the United States and settled in Knoxville, Tenn., and afterward in Newmarket, in the same state. There were two sons and three daughters, and they worked very faithfully to secure the necessary income for the family. Frances had an idea that she might possibly earn something by writing for the magazines, and made the attempt. In 1872 she contributed to "Scribner's Magazine" an article entitled " Surly Tim's Trouble," which was a success. The next year she married Dr. Luan M. Burnett, of Knoxville, but continued her literary work. There were other works and then came what is possibly her greatest success, "Little Lord Fauntleroy," which first appeared as a serial in "St. Nicholas," and was subsequently published in book form, both in the United States and England. Mrs. Burnett has become famous on two continents. The more prominent of her published works are: "Kathleen Mavourneen," "Lindsay's Luck," "Miss Cres- pigny," "Pretty Polly Pemberton," "Theo," "Haworth's," "Louisiana," "A Fair Barbarian," "Through One Administration," "Sara Crew," "Editha's Burglar," "Little St. Elizabeth," and other stories. Upon "That Lass o' Lowrie's," though, and "Little Lord Fauntleroy " rests chiefly her reputation.
86
FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT.
87
WILLIAM RALLS MORRISON.
INTIMATELY associated with much of the important Congressional legislation of a decade ago, and particularly with the fight for tariff reform that was waged by a wing of the Democratic party in that body, is the name of Col. William R. Morrison, of Illinois, the pres- ent chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Colonel Morri- son was born in Monroe County, Ill., September 14, 1825. After receiving an education at McKendree College, he served as a private in the Mexican war, and subsequently studied law and was admitted to the bar. He was clerk of Monroe County from 1852 to 1856, served in the Legislature for the next three years, and in 1861 entered the army as colonel of the Forty-ninth Illinois Regiment, and was wounded at Fort Donelson. While in command of his regiment in the field he was elected to Congress as a Democrat, and served from 1863 to 1865, but was defeated for the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Con- gresses. He was again chosen in 1872, and served continuously until
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