USA > Indiana > Daviess County > Living leaders, an encyclopedia of biography : special edition for Daviess and Martin counties, Indiana > Part 7
USA > Indiana > Martin County > Living leaders, an encyclopedia of biography : special edition for Daviess and Martin counties, Indiana > Part 7
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176
JOACHIM CRESPO.
177
GEORGE R. DAVIS.
T HE man upon whom rested the chief responsibility for the con- duct of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 was Col. George R. Davis, of Chicago. There is that in the character of the man which speaks well for the wisdom of the National Commission in making him Director-General of that greatest of modern enterprises. Colonel Davis has clearness of judgment and a thorough knowledge of men, besides executive ability of a high order and a natural tact in the management of large and varied interests. He was born at Three Rivers, Palmer, Massachusetts, January 3, 1840, and after receiving his early education in the public schools, attended Williston Seminary, where he graduated in 1860. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, but upon the breaking out of the war he enlisted in the Eighth Massachusetts regiment, and soon rose to the rank of captain. In 1863 he resigned to organize a battery of light artillery, and at a still later period he was a major in the Third Rhode Island cavalry. After the war Colonel Davis became a resident of Chicago and took a leading part in the organization of the First regiment, Illinois National Guard, of which he was made commander. In 1876 he was nomi- nated for Congress by the Republicans of his district, but was defeated. Two years later, however, he was elected, and served three successive terms. At the close of his congressional career he was elected treas- urer of Cook County, and upon leaving that office became Director- General of the World's Fair. The story of his splendid work in that position is known to the world. To his individual efforts the success of the great exposition is largely due. He is now looked upon as a power in Western politics.
178
GEORGE R. DAVIS.
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179
THOMAS McINTYRE COOLEY.
A DMIRED no less for his modest, gentle disposition and entire free- dom from affectation than for the great intellectual force that made him a power on the bench, it is not strange that Judge Thomas M. Cooley has taken with him into his retirement the esteem and grati- tude of the people. Judge Cooley was born in Attica, N. Y., Janu- ary 6, 1824. He began the study of law in Palmyra, N. Y., in 1842, and removing to Michigan the next year was admitted to the bar at Adrian in January, 1846. For a time he edited the Adrian "Watch-Tower," a newspaper, and in 1857 was assigned to the work of compiling the general statutes of Michigan, which were published in two volumes. In 1858 he was appointed reporter of the Supreme court, which office he held for seven years. In 1859 he was made justice of the Supreme court of Michigan, becoming chief justice in 1868, and served until 1885, when he retired permanently from the bench. When the law for the regulation of interstate commerce went into effect Judge Cooley was made chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, a post which he resigned in 1893. He has held the pro- fessorship of constitutional and administrative law in the University of Michigan, and the chair of American history in the same college. He is the author of a number of legal works, digests and commentaries, that are much used in the profession, and has written a history of the governments of Michigan. Judge Cooley is regarded as one of the most eminent authorities on constitutional law in the country, and his decisions while on the bench were all marked by clear, convincing analysis and common sense; a great man intellectually, a remarkably gifted and honest American citizen.
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THOMAS MCINTYRE COOLEY.
181
HENRY LAURENS DAWES.
TX HATEVER great ability, long experience, ripe judgment, accumu- lated public honors and a spotless private character can do to render any one an object of interest, respect and admiration, they have done for ex-Senator Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts. Mr. Dawes was born in Cummington, Mass., October 30, 1816, and graduated at Yale in 1839. After a brief experience as a teacher and as a journal- ist he was admitted to the bar in 1842, and served in the Legislature from 1848 to 1850, when he was elected to the State Senate. He was a member of the constitutional convention in 1853, and afterward attorney for the Western District of Massachusetts until 1857, when he was elected to Congress. By successive re-elections he continued a member of that body until 1873, and in 1875 he succeeded Charles Sumner in the United States Senate. There he remained until 1893, when he retired from public life. As Representative and Senator he was the author of many tariff measures, and it was through his efforts that the completion of the Washington Monument was undertaken. The entire system of Indian education, due to legislation, was created by Mr. Dawes. The severalty bill, the Sioux bill, and the bill mak- ing Indians subject to and protected by our criminal laws are among the important bills of his authorship. Another notable measure of his was the introduction of the Weather Bulletin in 1869, at the suggestion of Prof. Cleveland Abbe, for the purpose of collecting and comparing weather reports from all parts of the country. In fine, the legislative career of Mr. Dawes has been crowded with able and valuable service to the people of the United States, and is one of which any American might be proud.
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HENRY LAURENS DAWES.
183
REGINALD DE KOVEN.
TT may perhaps be said that no musical composer in the United States has acquired prominence so rapidly as has Reginald De Koven* There were adventitious circumstances to assist him, but there was merit as well. He was born in Middletown, Conn., in 1859, and ac- quired his early education from his father, an Episcopal clergyman. At the age of eleven he was taken to Europe by his parents, and remained there about twelve years. He was educated at St. John's College, Ox- ford, taking his degree with honors, in 1879. He had shown musical ability and previous to taking his degree, had studied piano playing at Stuttgart, under Speidel, and after his university course, returned to Stuttgart for another year, studying under Dr. Lebert and Professor Pruckner. He then took a course with equally eminent teachers at Frankfort and at Florence, Italy. He came to Chicago in 1882. The musical ability in him manifested itself, and he wrote the words and music of the song "Marjorie Daw," which was successful, and the taste for reputation thus achieved seems to have led him on. Later, he wrote "The Begum." It was produced by the McCaull Opera Company, and was a marked success in the leading cities of the coun- try, Since then his advancement in the musical world has been rapid. He has produced a number of operas ranking among the most popular on the stage to-day, some of which have proved equally popular abroad. More recently he has been engaged by "Harper's Weekly" to conduct the musical department of that journal. He writes of music as well as he composes it, and his studies abroad and practical experience in pro- ducing his own operas has given him a knowledge and grasp of the subjects upon which he writes.
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REGINALD DE KOVEN.
185
ANNA ELIZABETH DICKINSON.
TTOT merely as a brilliant public speaker, but as a playwright actress and philanthropist, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson has made her name familiar throughout the continent. She was born in Phila- delphia, October 28, 1842. She attended the Friends' Free School in the city named, her parents belonging to that society. Her father died when she was but two years of age, leaving his family in straitened circumstances, and the child had few advantages of education, but she studied and read enthusiastically and developed a remarkable talent. Her first address was made at a Friends' meeting when she was but fifteen years old. After that she spoke frequently, generally on slavery and temperance. She became a teacher, but in 1861 was given a place in the United States Mint in Philadelphia, but was removed because of grave charges made against General McClellan in a public address. She then made a profession of lecturing, and soon gained an extended reputation. The receipts of one lecture delivered at Washing- ton, in 1864, were over $1,000, which sum she donated to the Freed- man's Relief Society. In 1876 Miss Dickinson decided to leave the platform for the stage, and made her debut in a play called "A Crown of Thorns," and written by herself. Its reception was not what she had hoped, and she next essayed "Hamlet" and other Shakespearian roles, but her fort was not as an actress, and she returned to the lec- ture field, where she was again most successful. She wrote three plays other than the one mentioned. She has not lectured since 1892, her failing health preventing her. She acquired a fortune in the lecture field, but has given away the bulk of it in all kinds of charities. Miss Dickinson has retired from active life.
186
ANNA ELIZABETH DICKINSON.
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JOHN WARWICK DANIEL.
A S distinctively the representative of old Virginia orators of the pres- ent day, Senator John W. Daniel occupies a conspicuous position. He was born in Lynchburgh, Campbell County, Va., September 5, 1842, and comes of a family distinguished in the law and statesman- ship and in the conduct of the state's affairs. He received his early education in the schools of Lynchburgh, at Lynchburgh College, and at Dr. Harrison's university and school. He had a gift for languages, and at eighteen had a knowledge of Latin, Greek, French and German. He was but nineteen when the Civil war broke out, and entered the Confederate army at once. He was wounded at the first battle of Manassas in 1861, at Boonesboro in 1862 and at Antietam, and at the Battle of the Wilderness had his leg broken in a charge. He served with marked distinction through the war in the armies of north- ern Virginia, and at the time of the Battle of the Wilderness was on the staff of General Early. He studied law after the war, and entered
immediately upon its practice. Later he wrote "Daniel on Attach- ments" and "Daniel on Negotiable Instruments," both of which books have become successes. He entered public life in 1869 and served two terms in the Virginia house of delegates. He was a member in the Virginia Senate from 1875 to 1881. He was that year beaten in the race for governor of Virginia, but was elected to Congress in 1885, and during his first session was elected to the United States Senate to succeed Senator Mahone, taking his seat in March, 1887, for the term expiring in March, 1893. In 1891 he was re-elected for the term expiring in 1899. The degree of LL. D. has been conferred upon him by Washington and Lee University and the University of Michigan.
188
JOHN WARWICK DANIEL.
189
MARY LOWE DICKINSON.
A WRITER of marked ability, but perhaps more widely known in the educational field, Mary Lowe Dickinson has thousands of friends throughout the United States who recognize the quality and extent of what she has accomplished. She was born in Massachusetts, but, after her marriage, resided for some years abroad, and is now a resident of the city of New York. An early experience in life as a teacher led her to realize the need for a more practical education for girls and women, and she has sought to teach better systems of train- ing. Her latest work of great importance was in Denver, Colo., where she held a full professorship in English literature. Such an estimate was placed on the value of her services, not only as an instructor, but as a social and moral influence, that her chair was one of the first to be fully endowed, and when ill-health obliged her to resign this position the chair was named for her, and she was made Emeritus Professor, and holds now its lectureship in English literature. She has been secretary of the Woman's Branch of the American Bible Society, national superintendent of the so-called department of higher education in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and president of the Woman's National Indian Association. She conducted for six years a magazine devoted to the care of invalids, and held an associate editor- ship with Edward Everett Hale in his Magazine of Philanthropy. She is general secretary of the Order of King's Daughters and the editor of its magazine. Her principal literary works are "Among the Thorns," . "The Amber Star," and "One Little Life," novels; and, in poetry, "The Divine Christ" and "Easter Poems." Her productions are char- acterized by exquisite refinement.
190
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MARY LOWE DICKINSON.
191
NEAL DOW.
V IGOROUS and persistent warfare against the liquor traffic for more than half a century is the record that stands to the credit of that venerable reformer, Neal Dow, who recently celebrated the ninetieth anniversary of his birth at his pleasant home in Portland, Me. Mr. Dow was born in Portland, March 20, 1804. He was twice elected mayor of that city, in 1851 and 1854, and through his efforts the Maine liquor law, prohibiting under severe penalties the sale of intoxi- cating beverages, was passed in 1851. He was a member of the Maine Legislature in 1858-59. As colonel of the Thirteenth Maine volunteers, during the Civil war, he joined General Butler's expedition to New Orleans, and in April, 1862, was commissioned brigadier-gen- eral of volunteers and placed in command of the forts at the mouth of the Mississippi. Subsequently he was transferred to the district of Florida. He was twice wounded in the attack on Port Hudson, May 27, 1863, and was a prisoner of war for over eight months. He resigned his commission November 30, 1864. In 1857, and again in 1866 and 1873, Mr. Dow went to England at the invitation of the United Kingdom Temperance Alliance, and addressed crowded meetings in all the large cities. He spent many years in earnest endeavor to win the popular sanction for prohibitory legislation. In 1880 he was the candidate of the National Prohibition party for president of the United States, and received 10,305 votes. It was largely through his efforts that the prohibitory amendment to the constitution of Maine was adopted in 1884. In the ranks of reformers there is no more pictur- esque figure than Neal Dow, and in his green old age there is none held in greater reverence by an appreciative and admiring people.
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NEAL DOW.
193
MARY KAVANAUGH OLDHAM EAGLE.
T HE rare tact and ability shown by Mrs. K. O. Eagle in connec- tion with the Woman's Congress of the Columbian Exposition was no more than was expected of her by those familiar with what she had already accomplished in the field of church work and as a social leader. She was born in Madison County, Kentucky. Her father, William K. Oldham, a leading stock-farmer in the Blue Grass region, and her mother, nee Kate Brown, of Brown's Cove, Va., were both of Revolutionary stock. The daughter's early education was con- ducted chiefly at home, after which she graduated from Mrs. Julia A. Lewis' famous school, Science Hill, Shelbyville, Ky. She became a member of the Baptist Church in 1874, and has been one of the nota- ble workers for that organization since that time. In 1882 she became the wife of Hon. Jas. P. Eagle, of Arkansas, who was Speaker of the House in 1885 and who has since been twice elected governor of the state. Mrs. Eagle has been president of the Woman's Central Committee on Missions since 1882, and was the first president of the Woman's Mission Union, of Arkansas. In her husband's successful political career she has been an active factor. During his term as governor, the Executive Mansion was famous for the bounteous South- ern hospitality shown there, and Mrs. Eagle has in all her husband's campaigns been a tactful worker. As a member of the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition, and as chairman of the Committee on Congresses, her reputation became more than national. She was selected as editor of the papers read, and the splendid volumes lately issued bear evidence that her literary skill is equal to her ability in other directions.
194
MARY KAVANAUGH OLDHAM EAGLE.
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195
GEORGE FRANKLIN EDMUNDS.
F OR many years the man best known in the United States Senate as a fearless foe of political jobs and legislative intrigues was the veteran statesman from Vermont, George F. Edmunds. He was born February 1, 1828, in Richmond, Vt., but after becoming a lawyer removed to Burlington to practice his profession. From 1854 to 1859 he was a representative in the Legislature, serving three years as Speaker, and was elected to the State Senate in 1861, retiring at the end of the term. In March, 1866, he succeeded Solomon Foot as United States senator, and by successive re-elections was continued in that office until he resigned in 1891. Senator Edmunds was active in the Andrew Jackson impeachment, acted an influential part in the passage of the re-construction measures, and was the author of the act for the sup- pression of polygamy in Utah, known as the "Edmunds act." He was a member of the Electoral Commission of 1876, was president pro tem. of the Senate after Mr. Arthur became President, and member of many important committees. At the National Republican conventions of 1880 and 1884, held in Chicago, he received thirty-four and ninety- three votes, respectively, each on the first ballot, for the presidential nomination. As a legislator, Mr. Edmunds was noted for his legal acumen, his readiness in repartee, and his love of strictly parliamentary procedure. The passage of the Pacific railroad funding act was largely due to his influence and exertions, and he was a leader in many noted legislative movements during his twenty-five years in the Senate. He retired to private life two years before the completion of his last term, resuming the practice of his profession at Burlington, Vt. He carried with him the respect and admiration of the people.
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GEORGE FRANKLIN EDMUNDS.
197
EDWARD EGGLESTON.
L ITERATURE gained what the ministry lost when that ever-popu- lar novelist and historian, Edward Eggleston, forced by failing health to abandon pastoral work, began writing for the press as a means of supporting his family. Mr. Eggleston was born in Vevay, Ind., December 10, 1837. He was prevented by delicate health from entering college, and his education was mainly self-acquired. In 1856 he spent four months in Minnesota, hoping to be benefited by the cli- mate, and then returning to Indiana became a Methodist preacher, rid- ing a four-weeks' circuit. In six months his health broke down, and he was compelled to return to Minnesota, where he was variously occupied until 1866. He then removed to Evanston, Ill., and for six months was associate-editor of the "Little Corporal," a children's paper. A year later he became editor of the "Sunday-School Teacher," in Chicago, and was active in Sunday-school work until 1870, when he went to New York as literary editor of the New York "Independent." He succeeded Theodore Tilton as superintending editor of that paper, but resigned in July, 1871, to become editor of "Hearth and Home," which position he held for more than a year. In that paper he first published, serially, his story of "The Hoosier Schoolmaster," depicting early life in Indiana. It became immensely popular, and has been translated into various foreign languages. It was followed by "End of the World," "Mystery of Metropolisville," "The Circuit Rider," "Roxy," "The Hoosier School Boy," and a number of other works. From 1874 until 1879 Mr. Eggleston was pastor of a Brooklyn church, but again failing health compelled him to retire, and he has since devoted himself to literature.
198
EDWARD EGGLESTON.
199
CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT.
T O be the president of Harvard College is, of course, about the highest honor that can come to any one of the great educators in the United States. It may be fairly said that at the present time it appertains to one who truly deserves such fortune. Charles William Eliot was born in Boston, Mass., March 20, 1834. He was fitted for college at the Boston Latin school, and was graduated at Harvard in 1853. In the following year he was appointed tutor in mathematics and studied chemistry. In 1858 he was made assistant professor of mathematics and chemistry, but in 1861 taught chemistry in the Law- rence scientific school. In 1863 he went to Europe and spent two years in the study of chemistry and in an examination of the systems of public instruction in France, Germany and England. On his return in 1865 he was appointed professor of analytical chemistry in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Eliot became president of Harvard University in 1869. As the result of his assumption of the direction of affairs, Harvard has assumed much of the style of the more famous English universities, adopting the elective system and making various changes in its curriculum. President Eliot has received the degree of LL. D. from Williams, Princeton and Yale, and is a member of a great number of learned societies of the country. He is a fluent and forceful speaker on public occasions, and is in great demand at all events where the dignity of the university would not be lowered by his presence. Besides "Chemistry Memoirs," written with Prof. Frank H. Storer, an "Essay on Educational Topics" he has published, in connection with Professor Storer, a "Manual of Inorganic Chemistry" and a "Manual of Qualitative Chemical Analysis."
200
CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT.
201
STEPHEN BENTON ELKINS.
W TELL-INFORMED, daring, shrewd, and typically American is Stephen B. Elkins, whose name in the public mind is some- how associated with New Mexico. It is known that there was New Mexico and that there was Stephen B. Elkins, and that because of him New Mexico, somehow, developed faster. He was born in Perry County, Ohio, September 26, 1841. His family removed to Missouri when he was but a child. He received an ordinary preliminary educa- tion and graduated from the Missouri University in 1860. He studied law, but as soon as the Civil war began entered the service as cap- tain of the Seventy-seventh Missouri regiment. The war left him in New Mexico, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar, engaged at once, with a decided speculative instinct which is in him, in mining and stock-raising, and became rapidly a rich man. He became interested in politics, also, and was a member of the Territorial Legislature, United States district attorney, and then a delegate to Con- gress, a strong fighter for the admission of New Mexico as a state. As the leading representative of New Mexico he acquired national prominence and influence in party councils. He was a strong advo- cate of Blaine for the presidency. He was Secretary of War under Harrison, and is today an important factor in the politics of the Repub- lican party. Of late Mr. Elkins has devoted attention rather to his various important business interests than to politics, but, young man as he is, and with a record in the political field such as he has already made, it is unlikely that his will not be a future voice in the direc- tion of governmental affairs. He is not of the class of men who can retire early from active effort.
202
STEPHEN BENTON ELKINS.
203
WILLIAM CROWNINSHIELD ENDICOTT.
A TYPICAL living and forceful representative of what we call the "old New England families" is William C. Endicott. He is a direct descendant of Gov. John Endicott, the colonial ruler of Massachu- setts, who died in Boston in 1665, after years of vigorous and often hasty-tempered action, and who was certainly a Puritan of the Puritans. He is a grandson of that Jacob Crowninshield who was prominent as a congressman, and who was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Jefferson, but who died before entering upon the discharge of his duties. Of the same type as these men is the one who was Secretary of War during the first administration of President Cleveland. He was born in Salem, Mass., November 19, 1827. He graduated at Harvard in 1847, and after a law school course was admitted to the bar in 1850. He rapidly acquired a position as a young man of judgment and ability, and was elected a member of the Salem common council in 1852, five years later becoming city solicitor. He retired from that office in 1864 and resumed practice, but in 1873 was appointed to the bench of the Supreme court of Massachusetts. This office he held for ten years, resigning at the end of that time on account of ill health. He had remained something of a figure in poli- tics. He was originally a Whig, but with the termination of that organization became a Democrat, and was, in 1884, an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Massachusetts. In 1885 he was appointed by President Cleveland Secretary of War and served out the term of office. He has not of late actively engaged in Democratic political affairs in his state, but is at all times a possibility with his party and a recognized leader in every important movement.
204
WILLIAM CROWNINSHIELD ENDICOTT.
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WILLIAM MAXWELL EVARTS.
H JAVING followed the profession of the law for more than fifty years, and during that period left an indelible impression upon it by his great legal learning and his high standing as a practitioner, William M. Evarts, of New York, has well earned the rest he is now enjoying. He was born in Boston, Mass., February 6, 1818; gradu- ated at Yale in 1837, and admitted to the bar in New York in 1841. In 1851, while assistant district attorney in New York City, he suc- cessfully conducted the prosecution of the Cuban filibusters concerned in the Cleopatra expedition. His able and successful handling of other celebrated cases, some of them of a national character, soon earned him a wide reputation. In the Republican National Convention of 1860 he proposed the name of William H. Seward for the presidency. In 1868 President Johnson chose him as chief counsel in the impeachment trial, and from July 15, 1868, until the close of Johnson's administration he was Attorney-General of the United States. He acted as counsel for the United States before the tribunal of arbitration on the Alabama claims in 1872, and was senior counsel for Henry Ward Beecher in the famous trial of 1875. In 1877 he was advocate of the Repub- lican party before the electoral commission, and during the administra- tion of President Hayes was Secretary of State. In 1881 he went to Paris as delegate of the United States to the International Monetary Conference, and from 1885 to 1891 he was United States senator from New York. Many of his public addresses have already taken a place among the great orations of the century, notably his eulogy on Chief Justice Chase and his speech at the unveiling of Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty.
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