USA > Indiana > Daviess County > Living leaders, an encyclopedia of biography : special edition for Daviess and Martin counties, Indiana > Part 8
USA > Indiana > Martin County > Living leaders, an encyclopedia of biography : special edition for Daviess and Martin counties, Indiana > Part 8
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206
WILLIAM MAXWELL EVARTS.
207
JOHN VILLARS FARWELL.
W Y "HAT energy, industry and perseverance will accomplish for a young man, when aided by good habits and a strict adherence to the highest rules of honor, is illustrated in the life of that success- ful merchant and moral educator, John V. Farwell, of Chicago. Mr. Farwell was born in Campbelltown, Steuben County, N. Y., July 29, 1825, and is the son of a farmer. He removed with his family to Illinois in 1838, settling in Ogle County, and in 1845 went to Chicago, without a dollar in his pocket, to look for work. His first employ- ment was in the office of the city clerk. Afterward he was employed
successively in the dry goods houses of Hamilton & White, Hamilton
& Day and Wadsworth & Phelps, and acquired an interest in the latter firm in 1850. The name of the firm was changed in 1860 to Cooley, Farwell & Co., of which Marshall Field and L. Z. Leiter were subsequently members. In 1865 the firm became J. V. Farwell & Co., and so continued until 1891, when it was incorporated under its present name of The J. V. Farwell Company. Mr. Farwell has
always taken a deep interest in religious matters. He was practically the founder of the Young Men's Christian Association in Chicago, which now owns one of the handsomest buildings in the city, and aided D. L. Moody, the evangelist, in the establishment of the Illinois State Mission, of which he was president for ten years. He has also served as chairman of the Chicago branch of the United States Chris- tian Commission. In connection with others he formed a syndicate which built the Texas State House, and which was conceded for the work three million acres of land in that state. He is one of the rec- ognized greatest business men of the great central city of the continent.
208
COPYRIGHT TYMATHER
JOHN VILLARS FARWELL.
209
EDGAR FAWCETT.
G ATHERING much of the material for his novels from the lower stratas of society, Edgar Fawcett has probably done as much as any other living writer to bring to the attention of thinking people the inconsistencies and weaknesses of the social system as it exists in this boasted nineteenth century. At the same time he has gained for him- self a high reputation as a clever and realistic novelist, and as a poet. Mr. Fawcett was born in New York City, May 26, 1847. He was graduated at Columbia College in 1867, and has since devoted himself to literature, writing novels, poems, essays and magazine articles, many of which have attracted general attention and caused much discussion. His books include "Short Poems for Short People," "Purple and Fine Linen," "Ellen Story," "Poems of Fantasy and Passion," "A Hope- less Case," "A Gentleman of Leisure," "An Ambitious Woman," "Song and Story," "Tinkling Cymbals," "The Adventures of a Widow," "Rutherford," "The Bunting Ball," "The New King Arthur," "Social Silhouettes," "Romance and Revery," "The House at High Bridge," "Douglas Duane," "A Man's Will," "Olivia Delaplaine," "Divided Lives," "A Demoralizing Marriage," "Agnosticism and Other Essays," "Miriam Balestier," "Solarion," "The Evil that Men Do,"
"Fabian Dimitry," and "A Daughter of Silence." Mr. Fawcett has also been successful as a playwright. His stories are unique in style, cleverly planned and as cleverly worked out, full of picturesque descrip- tions, thrilling incidents and interesting situations, and often with a weird and fantastic thread running through them. His poems are artistic, and at times exceedingly felicitous in form and pregnant with deep and tender meanings,
210
Truly jour. Edgar Fawcett
EDGAR FAWCETT.
211
14
KATE FIELD.
V ARIED accomplishments, kept constantly under the lash of persist- ent energy and hard work, have made Miss Kate Field one of the best known women in America. She lives in Washington, but would be equally at home in Chicago, New York, London, San Francisco, or Paris. Born in St. Louis and educated in Boston and Italy, she has since been all over the world, and is essentially cosmopolitan. After receiving a classical education Miss Field gave special attention to musical studies, and made several prolonged visits to Europe. During her stay abroad she became a correspondent of the New York "Trib- une," the Philadelphia "Press," and the Chicago "Tribune," and also furnished sketches for periodicals. In 1874 she appeared as an actress at Booth's Theater, New York, and proved herself to be pos- sessed of considerable dramatic talent. Later, however, she left the stage, and has since devoted herself to lecturing and to journalism, the two occupations in which she has achieved her greatest success. Among her published works are "Planchette's Diary," " Adelaide Ris- tori," "Mad on Purpose" (a comedy), "Pen Photographs from Charles Dickens' Readings," "Hap-Hazard," "Ten Days in Spain" and "His- tory of Bell's Telephone." She founded "The National Review" sev- eral years ago, and is the founder and editor of "Kate Field's Wash- ington," the only periodical in the world bearing a woman's name. Miss Field claims that whatever she may be is due to heredity, as her father, Joseph M. Field, was a brilliant and versatile man, and her mother, Eliza Lapsley Riddle, of Philadelphia, one of the most charm- ing actresses of her day. At any rate, she has built a lasting monu- ment for herself as a journalist, author, editor and orator.
212
Kate Field.
KATE FIELD. 213
DAVID ROWLAND FRANCIS.
T HE state of Missouri has had a long line of distinguished gov- ernors, but never one who so quickly gained a national reputa- tion for broad statesmanship as David R. Francis. He is today one of the most popular Democrats of the country, and is destined to receive higher honors than any that have yet been bestowed upon him. Ex- Governor Francis was born in Richmond, Madison County, Ky., Octo- ber 1, 1850, and at the age of sixteen went to St. Louis, where he graduated at the Washington University, in 1870. He entered mercan- tile life, and eventually became one of the leading grain merchants of the city, rising to the honorable position of president of the Merchants' Exchange, in 1883. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in 1884, and his voice was heard in able advocacy of Cleveland and Hendricks, at Chicago. In 1885 he was nominated for mayor of St. Louis, and triumphantly elected over his Republican oppo- nent, who, four years before, had received a majority of fourteen thou- sand votes. Mr. Francis became so popular as mayor that when he was nominated for governor in 1888, it is safe to say that no candi- date for that office ever had a more enthusiastic following. He was elected and gave the state one of the ablest administrations it has ever had. A warm personal friend of President Cleveland, it is commonly believed in high political circles that Mr. Francis could have been a member of President Cleveland's Cabinet, had he so desired. The prediction is frequently and confidently made that at an early date he will represent Missouri in the United States Senate, and certainly, with his capabilities and popularity, there is nothing preposterous in placing the goal of his future advancement at even a higher altitude.
214
DAVID ROWLAND FRANCIS.
215
STEPHEN JOHNSON FIELD.
O NE of the most eminent of American jurists, and a member of a distinguished family, is the senior Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Stephen Johnson Field. He was born in Had- dam, Conn., November 4, 1816, and removed with his family in 1819 to Stockbridge, Mass. In 1829 he accompanied his sister to Asia Minor, her husband, Rev. Josiah Brewer, having undertaken an educa- tional mission to the Greeks, and remained abroad two and a half years. He graduated at Williams College in 1837, after which he studied law, and was for seven years the partner of his brother, David Dudley Field. In 1848 he traveled extensively in Europe, and upon his return went to California, finally settling in Marysville in 1850, and was elected first alcalde of that city. He was a member of the sec- ond Legislature of California, and while serving on the judiciary com- mittee framed the laws creating the judicial system of the state. He became a judge of the Supreme Court of California in 1857, and chief justice two years later. In 1863 he was appointed by President Lin- coln Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, which posi- tion he still holds. He was a member of the electoral commission of 1876, and voted with the Democratic minority. In 1880 he was' a candidate for the presidential nomination before the Democratic conven- tion and received sixty-five votes. Williams College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1866. In 1889 a vicious assault was made upon Justice Field in a California hotel by Judge Terry, a noted lawyer of that state, and the latter was killed by a United States marshal named Nagle, who had been deputed to protect Justice Field. Justice Field is still hale and vigorous.
216
STEPHEN JOHNSON FIELD.
217
JOHN FISKE.
A MONG the deep thinkers of the day John Fiske occupies a con- spicuous place. He was born in Hartford, Conn., March 30,
1842. He received a thorough education, his father being a well- known editor, and graduated at Harvard, and afterward at the Harvard Law School, but did not engage in the practice of his nominal profes- sion. He became, almost at once, a writer whose work was such as to attract attention from the thinking world. He wrote about this time an article on "Mr. Buckle's Fallacies," which appeared in the "National Quarterly Review," and which was, perhaps, the first of his contributions to the press to attract general attention. In 1869 he was appointed Lecturer of Philosophy in Harvard. Since 1881 he has been Lecturer on American History in the Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., and has been a most prolific writer, and one the character of whose works has attracted the attention of the great thinkers of the world. Among what Professor Fiske has written may be included "Tobacco and Alcohol," "Myths and Myth-makers," "Outlines of Cos- mic Philosophy Based on the Doctrines of Evolution," "The Unseen World," "Darwinism" and Other Essays, "Excursions of an Evolution- ist," "The Destiny of Man Viewed in the Light of His Origin," "The Idea of God as Affected by Modern Knowledge" and "The American Political Idea Viewed from the Standpoint of Universal History." Pro- fessor Fiske is now engaged upon a work of magnitude, to be entitled "The History of the American People." It may be said of him that he ranks high in this country among the small group who correspond to the great scientists abroad, such as Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, and others of their class.
218
JOHN FISKE. 219
ROSWELL PETTABONE FLOWER.
S OME men overcome obstacles and achieve success by sheer per- sistency of will, aided by tact and good judgment. Of such is Roswell P. Flower, governor of New York, who began life as a poor boy, and by the most stubborn perseverance and determination gained both wealth and distinction. Governor Flower was born in Theresa, Jefferson County, N. Y., August 7, 1835, and is the descend- ant of an Englishman who emigrated to Hartford, Conn., in 1686. He lost his father when eight years old, and a few years later left school, to assist in the support of the family. At the age of fourteen he became a clerk in a store, but subsequently received a high-school education. After working in a brick yard and as a postoffice clerk, he was for ten years a jeweler, and learned that trade thoroughly, but eventually decided that it did not offer the rapid transit to fortune which his restless ambition craved. He then became a broker in New York City, and from that time his rise was rapid. Success attended his operations, and he soon became a prominent figure in Wall street. He also took an active interest in politics, with the result that in 1881 he became a member of Congress, having been elected as a Democrat over William W. Astor. In 1886 he was appointed one of the elec -. tric sub-way commissioners in New York City. In 1888 he was again elected to Congress, and was re-elected in 1890, serving on vari- ous important committees, including the committee on ways and means and the committee on the quadro-centennial celebration. In 1892 he was elected governor of New York. He was succeeded in office by Levi P. Morton. Governor Flower gave $50,000 for the erection of the St. Thomas Home in New York.
220
ROSWELL PETTABONE FLOWER.
221
JOSEPH BENSON FORAKER.
A STRIKING figure anywhere would be the brilliant and aggress- ive ex-governor of Ohio, but especially attractive of attention is he as the leader of the younger element of the Republican party in Ohio. He was born near Rainsborough in the state named, July 5, 1846, and worked on a farm in his boyhood. When sixteen years old he enlisted in the Eighty-ninth Ohio regiment and served in the Army of the Cumberland until the end of the war. He was made
sergeant in 1862. After the war he spent two years at Wesleyan University and later entered Cornell, where he graduated in 1869. He was admitted to the bar the same year and practiced in Cincinnati. In 1879 he was elected judge of the Superior court in Cincinnati, sub- sequently resigning the office because of ill health. Meantime he had attained popularity with his party as a brilliant and capable leader and became the Republican candidate for governor in 1883, making a splen- did canvass though not a successful one. In 1885 he was again a candidate and was this time elected. In 1887 he was again elected and became decidedly the head of the most vigorous and aggressive element of his party in Ohio. In 1889 he was defeated by James E. Campbell, the Democratic candidate, but remained a potent force in the councils of his party, and has been a prominent figure in its national conventions. Still young in years, with a national reputation and rec- ognized as a man of great force, and one possessing the qualities of a natural leader of men, the future of the Ohio ex-governor is one of vast possibilities. In 1896 he was elected Senator to succeed Calvin S. Brice, and certainly few men are better fitted to wear the toga than Ex-Governor Foraker.
222
JOSEPH BENSON FORAKER.
223
J. ELLEN HORTON FOSTER.
P OSSIBLY no other woman, unless it may be Mrs. Lease, of Kan- sas, exercises the direct influence upon politics that Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, of Iowa, does. She is a striking figure in her field, even more so because she is not absolutely controlled by some ism, but thinks for herself and acts accordingly. She has been an important
factor in more than one state election. She was born in Lowell, Mass., November 3, 1840, and is the daughter of Rev. Jotham Hor- ton, a Methodist preacher. She was educated in Lima, N. Y., and moved to Clinton, Ia., where, in 1869, she became the wife of D. E. Foster, a lawyer. She studied law and was admitted to practice, engaged in a business at first alone, eventually joining with her hus- band. Eventually she engaged in the temperance movement, in which she soon became a prominent figure. As superintendent of the legis- lative department of the W. C. T. U., she acquired a national reputa- tion. In 1887 she visited England, where she made a study of the temperance question, and where, in England, she addressed great audi- ences. In the United States she has always been independent as to what should be the best course to pursue in temperance movements as to making connection with any of the great political bodies. As a result she has not always been in the closest affiliation with her own organization, but has, none the less, become a power politically, and has, perhaps, done as effective work toward general temperance as any woman in the world, though the lines upon which she has worked have not been such as the leaders of the W. C. T. U. have always agreed upon. She has been broader, however, and has had the cour- age of her convictions. She is a remarkable woman.
224
J. ELLEN HORTON FOSTER.
225
MARSHALL FIELD.
O F the great merchant princes of America there is none who stands so close to the people, by reason of his being one of them, as Marshall Field, of Chicago. A man of slender build, of modest yet impressive demeanor, he carries his business responsibilities as gracefully as he does his years, never permitting them to affect in the slightest degree his kindly, sympathetic nature. The greatest merchant in the world was born in Conway, Mass., in 1835. His father was a farmer. He came to Chicago in 1856 and obtained employment in the wholesale dry-goods house of Cooley, Wadsworth & Co., afterward Cooley, Farwell & Co., and now the John V. Farwell Company. He was given an interest in the concern in 1860, but in 1865 both Mr. Field and L. Z. Leiter withdrew from the house to join Potter Palmer in organizing the firm of Field, Palmer & Leiter. When Mr. Palmer dropped out, in 1867, the firm became Field, Leiter & Co., and since Mr. Leiter's retirement in 1881 the house has been known by its pres- ent name of Marshall Field & Co. It is the greatest mercantile estab- lishment in the world, having branches in Paris, Manchester, Yoko- hama and other foreign centers, and carrying on a business amounting to over forty million dollars a year. Marshall Field's rule is to never borrow, never give a note, never to speculate in stocks, and to buy for cash. His charity seems to be boundless, and is never ostenta- tious. His gifts have been bestowed with discretion and public spirit. He gave one million dollars to the Columbian Museum fund, was a large contributor to the Chicago University, and is a liberal patron of many public institutions of a charitable and educational character. His career has been marked by a strict business policy.
226
MARSHALL FIELD.
15
227
ALICE FRENCH.
N TO author of the present generation has more thoroughly mastered the art of writing short stories than has Miss Alice French. Her pen name of "Octave Thanet" is associated in the minds of all readers of current literature with many clever achievements in this line, and her sparkling style and exquisite humor have placed her in the front rank of magazine contributors. Miss French was born in Ando- ver, Mass., March 19, 1850, and on both sides of the house is descended from the Puritans. She was educated in New England and goes there every summer, although for many years her home has been in Davenport, Iowa. She began to write shortly after her graduation at Abbot Academy, Andover, but took the advice of the editors and waited several years before venturing into print. Then she sent " A Communist's Wife" to the Harper's, who declined it, and afterward sent it to the Lippincott's, who accepted it. Since that time she has always found a place for her productions. Among her stories that have been issued in book form may be mentioned "Knitters in the Sun," "Otto the Knight," "Expiation," "We All," and "Stories of a Western Town." She has also edited "The Best Letters of Lady Mary Montagu." Personally, Miss French is a sociable, chatty, and altogether womanly woman, as sparkling and vivacious in conversation as she is in her writings. She is interested in historical studies and the German philosophers, has a fad for collecting china, likes all out- door sports, and prides herself on her cooking. Miss French spends her winters at Clover Bend, Ark., where she has a delightful and cosy retreat, and where the greater portion of her literary work is done. She has a wide circle of friends and admirers.
228
Very truly yours, Cetane Thanet
ALICE FRENCH. 229
HAMLIN GARLAND.
A N ultra advocate of the realistic is Hamlin Garland, prominent among the western writers of the new school who are pho- tographing the fervid life of the Mississippi valley, photographing it faithfully, with its bare spots and those more luxuriant. He has brains and the writer's gift, and above all he is earnest and persistent. H
He is in the field of literature in which he should properly be found was born in 1860 in the La Crosse valley, Wisconsin, and lived the life of the usual Wisconsin boy of the time. A very good life for a boy, that was, too. When he was seven years of age his family moved to Iowa and there he grew to manhood. He learned the life of the prairies, how to ride a horse and herd cattle, how to do all a prairie farmer does, what the prairie farmer endures and what he enjoys, all of which shows in his stories. In 1883 he went to Dakota with the "boomers," and from there he went to Boston, where he taught private classes in English and American literature for some years. Of late he has devoted himself entirely to literature and the lecture platform. He has published six volumes of stories of western life, one volume of "Prairie Songs" and one volume of essays "Crumbling Idols." He makes his headquarters in Chicago, but his summer home is with his parents, in West Salem, Wis. Among his works "Main Traveled Roads" is easily the volume which has been most striking and has given him most prominence. Still a young man, Mr. Gar- land has a splendid literary future before him. If not as the greatest of western novelists he will at least retain prominence as the essayist and lecturer, for in each field he is strong. But where the maximum of his powers will most develop is still uncertain.
230
HAMLIN GARLAND.
231
HENRY GEORGE.
TN these days, when people have learned to accept as a matter of course the existing laws and customs governing the organization of society, and to conform to them without question, the social reformer finds his task no easy one. Among the political economists of the present day Henry George takes high rank as an advanced thinker, and has a following that increases in numbers every year. Mr. George was born in Philadelphia, September 2, 1839. In his boyhood he went to sea as an apprentice on a sailing vessel, and in 1858 he reached California, where he became a journalist, and where he eventu- ally wrote his first two books, "Our Land and Land Policy," and "Progress and Poverty." In 1880 he removed to New York, and has since been chiefly known by his writings and addresses on economic subjects. In these he traces the social evils of our time to the treat- ment of land as subject to complete individual ownership, and con- tends that while the secure possession of land should be accorded to the individual it should be subject to the payment to the community of land values proper, or economic rent. This theory, known as the "Single Tax," aims at abolishing all taxes for raising revenue except a tax on the value of land, irrespective of improvement. His later books are: "Irish Land Question," "Social Problems," "Property in Land," "Protection or Free Trade," "The Condition of Labor," and "A Perplexed Philosopher." Mr. George has lectured extensively in this country, Europe and Australia, and between 1887 and 1890 pub- lished "The Standard," a weekly single-tax paper. In 1886 he was a candidate for the mayoralty of New York on a labor ticket, receiv- ing sixty-eight thousand votes.
232
HENRY GEORGE.
233
PARKE GODWIN.
K EEN political foresight, combined with legal knowledge, literary ability and a remarkable intellectual grasp, has made the name of Parke Godwin familiar to the ears of all educated people in this country. As a writer on topics pertaining to governmental reforms, he is especially well known. Parke Godwin was born in Paterson, N. J., February 25, 1816. He was graduated at Princeton College in 1834, after which he studied law and was admitted to the bar in Kentucky, but did not practice. He married the eldest daughter of William Cullen Bryant, the poet-editor, and from 1837 until 1853, with the exception of one year, was connected with the New York "Even- ing Post." In 1843 he issued the "Pathfinder," a weekly paper, which was suspended after three months. He contributed many articles to the "Democratic Review," in which he advocated reforms that were subsequently introduced into the constitution and code of New York. He was also editor of "Putnam's Monthly," to which he contributed many literary and political articles, afterward published in book form In 1865 he again became con- During the administration of Presi-
under the title, "Political Essays." nected with the "Evening Post." dent Polk he was deputy collector of New York, but he subsequently joined the Republican party and supported it by his speeches and writ- ings. He is the author of "Popular View of the Doctrines of Charles Fourier," "Constructive Democracy," "Vala, a Mythological Tale," "Cyclopaedia of Biography," "History of France," "Out of the Past," a volume of essays, and has also edited an edition of William Cullen Bryant's prose and poetical writings, in six volumes. Mr. Godwin's opinions are much sought on political and literary questions.
234
PARKE GODWIN. 235
ARTHUR PUE GORMAN.
O NE of the most outspoken of men, with apparently no conceal- ments or reserves, and with abilities that eminently fit him for the high position in which his party has placed him, Senator Arthur P. Gorman, of Maryland, is regarded as a model of candor and hon- esty in the upper branch of Congress, where for a number of years he has represented his state as a conservative Democrat. Senator Gor- man was born in Howard County, Maryland, March 11, 1839. He received a public school education, and in 1852 became a page in the United States Senate, where he remained until 1866, at which time he
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