USA > Indiana > Memorial and genealogical record of Representative Citizens of Indiana > Part 13
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"In the heart of Brother Binkley there were no fraternal rivals. He was an Odd Fellow only. For him its principles fur- nished a satisfactory creed; its meeting place an enjoyable retreat;
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its ministrations a solemn duty; and in its field of labor he was busy. But he was not a lodge sectarian. He lived to love our fraternity; and he lived to love every other fraternity that seeks to make man gentler, nobler, purer.
"It is not our province to write of him in his relations to society, to his church, to his family, or to the state. At the funeral rites in the presence of his friends and loved ones, the book of life will be opened; and the unblotted page will be read as an example in the formation of character. In the Senate chamber there will be fitting eulogies of his public career. The bench and bar will enter the judgment of their sorrow; and at all these gatherings there will be tears of sympathy for the household bereft of a husband and father. It is ours only to point to his work within our sphere and say, 'Well done.'
"If 'To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die,' then dead he is not; for so long as our records are preserved, so long as any who knew him shall themselves survive, nay, so long as there shall stand the hospitable home he helped to build and to manage, so long will the memory of Charles C. Binkley be enshrined in the hearts of Indiana Odd Fellows.
"To her who loved him and those of his blood-tender wateh- ers at his bedside-in this day of grief, we offer all we can; our sympathizing friendship, our fraternal love.
"There has passed a good, upright, noble man. The writer has known him intimately and confidentially for many years, and I have never known an unworthy thought to have possession of him for a moment. In 1892, for many weeks, we traversed the western country together, and whether at home, or abroad, he was ever the pure, noble Christian man, interested in every relig- ious, fraternal and public question. I esteemed it one of the high- est honors that I had his friendship.
"It was the writer's privilege to visit him frequently during his long and painful illness, and though there seemed not a mo- ment that Brother Binkley did not suffer physical agony, neither was there a moment in which his faith in God did not overshadow his physical ills. His faith was supreme and absolute. Death had no terrors for him; on the contrary, it was the medium of a glor- ious transformation to another life and a happier world. His work, he said many times, was done; and when it was the Lord's pleasure to call him he would be pleased to go. As the day ap- proached, and the disease had benumbed his nervous system, he
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felt that it might be that he was to recover, and he planned that he would discontinue all business and devote the remainder of his life to Odd Fellowship and his church. He inquired of me par- ticularly, one day, not long since, if the order expected him to resign these trusts in which he so much delighted. I said to him that if he should be called away, it was my opinion that it was the wish of the order that he should 'die in the harness.' This was his great desire, and the tears coursed down his cheeks in grateful- ness for the assurance."
The death of Senator Charles C. Binkley occurred on Tuesday morning, November 18, 1902, in Fletcher's sanatorium, Indianapo- lis, after an extended illness. His body was sent back to Rich- mond, Indiana, for interment, and the funeral was held from Grace Methodist church, of which the deceased was long a member. The funeral was one of the largest ever held in the church and was attended by the friends and relatives of the Senator, indicative of the respect and honor in which he was held. The services were in charge of Revs. G. H. Hill, M. S. Marble and L. J. Naftzger, of Kokomo, and were beautifully impressive. The interment was in Earlham cemetery. The active pallbearers were J. Will Cun- ningham, R. M. Lacey, George Bishop, J. V. Carter, H. C. Starr and W. C. Converse. The honorary pallbearers were D. B. Strat- tan, Alden Mote, J. W. Newman, Henry Robinson, of Richmond; Judge M. A. Chipman, of Anderson, and Enoch J. Hogate, of Dan- ville, Indiana. Among the distinguished men of the state Senate and Indiana grand lodge of Odd Fellows who were in attendance at the funeral were the following: Walter W. Ball, of Muncie; Judge M. A. Chipman, of Anderson; W. H. O'Brien, of Lawrence- burg; Lieutenant-Governor Newton W. Gilbert, of Fort Wayne; J. S. Conlogue, of Kendallville; Secretaries Hutson and Fred Sny- der, of Angola; D. S. Coats, of Winchester; Oliver Gard, of Frank- fort; Clem Pelzer, doorkeeper of the Senate, of Brookville; James T. Layman, of Indianapolis; Enoch J. Hogate, of Danville; J. C. Gochenour, of North Manchester; D. L. Crumpacker, of West- ville; John W. Parks, of Plymouth; Fred E. Matson, of Indian- apolis; H. M. Purviance, of Huntington; A. B. Darby, of Waterloo; C. N. Thompson, of Indianapolis; G. L. Reinhard, of Bloomington; John D. Roche, of Mt. Vernon; R. W. Harrison, of Shelbyville; W. W. Wood, of Indianapolis; and Senators Wampler and Whit- comb, representing both political parties and the Senate-elect, of which Mr. Binkley was also to have been a member.
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At a session of the grand lodge of Odd Fellows at Indianapo- lis, November 18, 1902, official recognition was taken of the death of Senator Binkley, of which the Indianapolis Star said in its issue on the following morning: "At the opening of the morning session memorial services for Past Grand Master C. C. Binkley, of Richmond, who died at a hospital in this city early yesterday morning, were held. Senator Binkley was one of the most pron- inent Odd Fellows in the state, and the expressions of sorrow at his death were many and sincere. Those who made addresses at the memorial service were T. R. Jessup, of Richmond; Grand Seribe W. H. Leedy, of this city; Senator Barlow, of Plainfield, and S. P. Stroup, of Shelbyville. W. H. Leedy, T. R. Jessup and Enoch G. Hogate were constituted a committee to prepare appro- priate resolutions to be presented to the grand lodge which meets today."
The Richmond Odd Fellows of Whitewater Lodge No. 41, and of Oriental Encampment No. 28, visited the Binkley home in a body the evening following the death of the Senator to view the remains and held the ritualistic services of the order.
The Daily Sun-Telegram of Richmond, in its issue of Wednes- day, November 19, 1902, printed the following first page, three- column article on the tributes paid the late Senator Binkley by the bar association of which he had long been a distinguished member, and owing to the state-wide prominence of the subject of this memoir as a lawyer, and the high esteem in which he was held by his professional brethren as well as his wide circle of clients and friends, the account of the meeting is herewith given in full:
"The' Wayne County Bar Association met this morning at the court room to take action on the death of Charles C. Binkley. There was a good attendance. Attorney Henry U. Johnson was chosen to preside and Attorney Ray K. Shivelcy officiated as secretary. Attorneys Rupe, T. J. Study and Converse were a committee on resolutions and through Mr. Rupe, reported in part as follows:
" 'Three times within the short period of six months, the members of the bar of Wayne county have been called together to express their sorrow and sense of personal loss, because of the death of an honored member. First, because of the death of Will- iam A. Pcele, next that of Lewis D. Stubbs, and now that of Charles C. Binkley, who died at Indianapolis on Tuesday morning,
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November 18, 1902. Each and all of these, our professional breth- ren, were of our older members; men who had long been associated with us in the active business of our courts, and who enjoyed our respect, confidence and esteem.
" 'As a lawyer, he was industrious, able, courteous, and of kindly disposition in his intereourse with his professional bretli- ren; always enjoying the respeet and confidence of beneh and bar, and never allowing the asperities and antagonisms of professional business to interrupt the warmth and cordiality of his personal friendships. He was fortunate in that because of his kindly na- ture he was not inclined to provoke the kind of antagonismns which engender bitterness, and therefore through life he enjoyed to a marked degree the personal esteem and warm friendly regard of his professional and business associates.
" 'His was not a one-sided life. His talents were varied, and while his life was largely devoted to the work of his ehosen pro- fession, he gave largely of his time and talents to public affairs, and to numerous business enterprises wherein his conservative judgment and business sagacity was invited and appreciated. Early in his life he was actively connected with public improve- ments and enterprises which in their nature were of, or near, the beginnings of the later development and prosperity of our state. He was during the greater part of his life a prominent and influential member of the order of Odd Fellows, in which benevo- lent order he not only rendered conspicuous and valuable service, but he also received by the favor of his fraternal brethren the highest honors within the power of the order in the state to be- stow. He was a good eitizen, liberal always in his counsel, his time and his means, in all enterprises which gave promise of the betterment of his fellow men or of the general publie good.
" 'In polities he was a Republican, and gave liberally of his time and means for the support and maintenance of the policies of that party in which he ardently believed. In his church and its various agencies, with all of which he was actively connected most of his life, as a lawyer, as a business man and citizen, in his fraternal associations, and as a publie servant he has done his duty as he was given to see his duty, faithfully and well. He has borne the pain and trials of distressing illness with fortitude and patience and in a serene faith which leaves his wide and varied cirele of friends a legacy of hope that his end is peace.
"'We, his professional brethren, who knew him long, inti-
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mately and well and therefore hold in high appreciation the quali- ties of mind and heart which characterized his useful life, do unite in this brief and imperfect memorial. We extend to his family our sincere condolence, and direct that this memorial be presented to the Wayne circuit court with a request of the bar that it be spread upon record, and a copy certified under the seal of the court, transmitted to the family of our deceased brother; and that as a mark of respect and of our appreciation of the character, life and worth of our professional brother we will attend the ser- vices on the occasion of his funeral in a body.'
"After the reading of the resolutions, it was in order for re- marks. Hon. Thomas J. Study said: 'The memorial is all that is necessary and proper to say. I very heartily coneur in the reso- lution.' Mr. Study said that Mr. Binkley was a man who desired to have his influence east upon the side of decency, morality and good citizenship. As a lawyer he was energetic and persevering in preparing his cases.
"Attorney S. C. Whitsell was the next speaker and spoke as follows: 'I was admitted to the bar at Centerville, November 26, 1870; at that time there was on the roll of lawyers some fifty names. Since then a majority of those who were engaged in the practice when I began have passed to that final judgment from which there lies no appeal and no reversal because of error in the record. Of the members of the bar when I began to practice, and who subsequently became members and who have died, I recall the following: Sylvester Ballenger, Lafe Devlin, George A. John- son, Charles A. Ballenger, John Means, Judge Perry, John C. Whitridge, John H. Popp, George Holland, Jesse P. Siddall, Jas- per Holland, Herman B. Payne, William W. Wood, John Yaryan, Jacob B. Julian, Lee Yaryan, Charles H. Burchenal, William A. Bickle, John F. Kibbey, Lewis S. Stubbs, Earl Widup, William A. Peele, John F. Julian and C. C. Binkley.
" 'Somehow, on an occasion like this, as we call to memory what we observed in the lives of those who have departed from amongst us, we yet see them as they were when with us. I think we are all too prone to remember faults and not careful enough to account for virtues. Thus it is that a few faults-a few weak- nesses-are made to diseredit many virtues. There are few men, indeed, but have in them more of good than of evil, and fewer yet who receive reward by being given praise by their fellows for the good they do. "Man's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we
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write in water." On the roll of our dead there is not one but of whom something good can be truthfully said; and if such evil shall be spoken by the one amongst us, who at some time in his life has not from passion or mistake of judgment himself committed a grievous wrong, who if admonished by the spirit not to speak, lest his own faults be recalled, then will his own need of charity and forgiveness silenee his tongue. On an occasion like this we are inclined to think more seriously on the subject of death, but what is the use of it. Our present thoughts have been expressed thousands of times before, and will be thought again by those who come after us so long as time lasts. In the economy of nature nothing is lost, so we conelude, with Wordsworth, that death is "The quiet haven of us all." Or with Longfellow, that, "There is no death. What seems so is transition. This life of mortal breath is but a suburb of the life elysian whose portal we call death."
" 'As a member of this bar Mr. Binkley faithfully and hon- estly discharged his duty. He always maintained the respect that is due to courts of justice. He always counseled and maintained such actions and defenses only as appeared to him to be just. He never sought to employ means other than were consistent with truth, and never sought to mislead the court or jury by any arti- fice or false statement of fact or law. He always abstained. from offensive personality. He never encouraged the commencement or continuance of an action or proceeding from any motive of pas- sion or interest. He was never known to reject from any con- sideration personal to himself the cause of the defenseless or de- pressed. He adhered so closely to our code of ethics that his con- duct in that respect was sufficient to show that he merited the confidence we all had in his integrity. As an honorable lawyer his work as such was not inconsistent with his profession and belief in the Christian religion.'
"Hon. John L. Rupe said: 'Mr. Binkley has been a citizen of Richmond and a member of the bar since 1867. He was a man who felt the position and responsibility of a lawyer in the com- nmunity. There are questions that affeet public morality and there is responsibility resting on lawyers to aid in such matters. Mr. Binkley always exerted his influence on the side of morality and deceney. He did what he could to maintain the dignity of the county. He was a successful business man. His death is a dis- tinct loss.'
"Attorney A. C. Lindemuth said he sincerely regretted the
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death of Mr. Binkley and heartily indorsed the resolutions. Ile spoke of Mr. Binkley's success at the bar and said that his mnost prominent characteristic was that he was in favor of those things which promoted the general welfare of the people. He was ten- perate in his habits, and moral in his conduct. His death is a loss to the community, to his church and to the bar, and an ex- treme loss to his family and relatives.
"Hon C. E. Shiveley said that he had known Mr. Binkley in- timately for a quarter of a century, that he was always kind and charitable, that his life was one that might be well emulated by others. He was a frugal man, but not selfish. He gave liberally of his time and money to the church, and to fraternal societies, for the betterment of humanity. He always intended the right thing. He was charitable toward the faults of others. There are few men who could be spared with less notice.
"J. W. Newman said: 'The resolutions expressed in a mod- erate and just way the estimate of Mr. Binkley. In the practice of law he always sought for justice, in his church he did his duty as he saw it. He professed to be a religious man, and I think that he would prefer to be judged by the effort he made to do his duty.'
"The chair also bore his testimony as to the character and worth of the deceased. He said he had known Mr. Binkley from boyhood, that he was a personal friend. He was a gentleman, al- ways kind and polite; he was liberal in distributing his means in church and fraternities. He was a man who did his duty.
"Mr. Johnson said he heartily endorsed the resolutions, and united with the bar in the expression of regret. On motion it was ordered that the resolutions be adopted and spread upon the min- utes of the court. On motion of Mr. Rupe, the bar decided to at- tend the funeral in a body."
The publication known as the "State Bar Association of In- diana" published a biographical sketch of Senator Binkley shortly after his death, which was written by John L. Rupe and Charles E. Shiveley, and in the review a glowing tribute was paid their deceased brother of the bar.
From the "Odd Fellow Talisman" we take the following tribute of J. E. C. F. Harper, writing from Madison, Indiana:
"I was shocked as I read that Brother Binkley had passed away. Can it be that he will walk the floor of the grand lodge no more ? Can it be that his familiar form and bright eve, and benev- olent face will not be seen again in our midst? It is hard to
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realize the sad fact. The warm-hearted philanthropist, the truc, faithful Odd Fellow, the courteous Christian gentleman, upon whose fair reputation no stain rests and whose moral integrity was never challenged, has been taken from us. He is our associate on earth no more, but I fondly and confidently believe he has been translated to a better state of existence and that he is now receiv- ing the rewards of a well-spent life. He has lived a useful life, has fought the good fight, and we have reason to believe he is wearing the crown of righteousness. Then, instead of bedewing his grave with tears, let us rejoice that we have had the benefit of his life. He has left us a bright example; let us be thankful for it, and emulate his virtues."
The following extract is taken from a Richmond paper, con- taining an account of the Senator's death and a biography of his life:
"Senator Binkley was one of the most widely known of Wayne county Republicans, and his knowledge of Indiana affairs and men was increased by his service in the state Senate in 1898 and 1900. He was again re-elected for a four-year term by 'an overwhelming Republican majority. This was his only political office, with the exception of a short term as deputy elerk in the Franklin county circuit court. In the Indiana lodge of Odd Fel- lows, Mr. Binkley was equally as well known. He was elected grand master of the grand lodge of Indiana in 1889, and served until 1890, and was on the rolls of the lodge as a past grand mas- ter. In the lodge work he was conspicuous recently by his asso- ciation with Senator E. G. Hogate as a trustee of the Odd Fellows Home at Greensburg. He was also one of the trustees of the grand lodge of Indiana. During the last session of the Legisla- ture Mr. Binkley was chairman of the committee on finance and had much to do with the appropriations for the maintenance of the state institutions voted by that General Assembly. He was a member of the committee on federal relations and chairman of the investigating committee which reorganized the woman's prison and renamed the reformatory part of the institution the 'Indus- trial School for Girls.' He was conspicuous in his zealous work for the various state charitable and benevolent institutions, and an ardent supporter of various measures introduced in the Legis- lature and intended for their benefit."
In connection with his popularity as a public servant, we desire to reproduce here an article which appeared in the Rich-
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mond Palladium under date of November 18, 1898, just four years prior to his death. The article reads thus:
"The organization of the next state Senate, which convenes next January in Indianapolis, is now a matter of interest, and much speculation as to the formation of committees is indulged in in various parts of the state. Wayne county's newly elected senator, Hon. C. C. Binkley, of this city, is one of the ablest and most prominent members of the new body, and is mentioned by all who attempt to prognosticate the making up of the committees that are regarded as the most important among those to be ap- pointed for the transaction of the state's business in that branch of the legislative department. Mr. Binkley has been mentioned prominently in connection with the judiciary committee, and none would be better qualified to occupy a place on that committee. He has also been approached with regard to the chairmanship of the committee on education. With regard to that position Mr. Bink- ley stated, however, that he is of the opinion that it had better be filled by one of the hold-over senators, that being one of the very important committees. He is also spoken of in connection with the committee on finance, and would certainly be a safe and cau- tious man in that capacity.
"Wayne county has been represented well in the state Senate, but never better than she is to be in the next gathering of the General Assembly, and every man, regardless of party, believes that there has been a safe and able man elected to that office, in the person of Mr. Binkley."
On the death of Senator Binkley one of the Richmond daily papers said editorially :
"In the death of Charles C. Binkley this community has lost an eminently useful man, one whose place cannot casily be filled. He had ability and, what was more important, the disposition to use it at all times for the advancement of good morals and good principles. As a Christian gentleman he was a model for the rising generation. As a public-spirited citizen he had few equals in the community. In politics he was a stanch Republican whose counsels were always wise, a Republican who was ever ready to back up his faith with works. He stood by the party under all circumstances, because his affiliation with it was based on prin- ciples from which he could not be swerved by the accidents of politics. In his public career he was guided by the same rules that controlled his private life. In choosing his position on any
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public question he exercised conscience and wisdom, and gave due weight to the opinions of those with whom he was accustomed to act. He had the old-fashioned virtue of staying with his friends, and for that he was held in high esteem both by political friends and foes."
Another daily paper of Richmond printed the following para- graph, editorially :
"In the death of Senator C. C. Binkley, Richmond has lost a citizen whose place will be hard to fill. Not only was he prominent in his chosen profession, that of the law, but he was a leader in church work, in lodge work and in all work which had for its aim the benefit of mankind and the amelioration of the conditions that make for evil and distress. No man in the community ever gave more willing and sympathetic ear to the needy than did the late Mr. Binkley. Above all, his character as a public man was be- yond reproach or even the hint of it. The entire community will miss him and mourn with his immediate family his untimely death."
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HON. FREDERICK JABEZ HAYDEN.
One of Indiana's representative and well known citizens was the late Hon. Frederick Jabez Hayden, of Fort Wayne, whose life was well spent in activities that seemed to exercise to the full his somewhat varied and unusual abilities; a life that earricd with it the lesson that one whose capaeity, while not of the very great- est, may yet do great work by close devotion to the work. IIe was a busy man, an industrious man. He attained a place of high degree and compelling importance in his locality in which he was a constant quantity. One of the kind that make up the front rank, the kind that can be relied on, a good workman in the world's affairs, a splendid specimen of the many that do the real, hard work of the world in places of passing importance, and do it well. It was a kind of life that does not attract attention for its unusual brilliance or any picturesque or erratic qualities, hut the kind out of which the warp and woof of the substance that goes to make up the continuous achievement of humanity is made. It is a kind that deserves more recognition than it gets because of that curious quality of human nature which takes rather for granted the material substance that really is main nourishment, and reserves its attention for the more or less unhealthy condi- ments that excite the passing taste. Here from first to last for the Psalmist's allotted span of years-three score and ten-was such a life, useful, devoted, busy and fuller of a variety of mani- festation than falls to the lot of many that are reckoned more brilliant.
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