Memorial and genealogical record of Representative Citizens of Indiana, Part 4

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Brown
Number of Pages: 1674

USA > Indiana > Memorial and genealogical record of Representative Citizens of Indiana > Part 4

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Indianapolis, and none attained in this connection a worthier or more distinctive success. In this business he was associated with his father-in-law, William H. Jones, until the death of the latter 1 156, and thereafter he conducted it under title of Henry Colmrn Lumber Company, until 1903, when he retired from the feld that had so long engaged the major part of his time and atten- tion. He was both a wholesale and retail dealer, even before the above mentioned partnership. He and Mr. Jones received their Iumber from the northern forests, and shipped by the car loads over a vast territory. The yards were first located at the corner of Delaware and New York streets, but as this property increased in value, they moved to the present location of the Henry Coburn Warehouse & Storage Company on South Capitol avenue. Mr. Coburn was president of the company, directing its affairs with much ability and satisfaction of all concerned, his long association with the lumber trade having made him an authority in connection therewith. After withdrawing from the lumber business Mr. Coburn conceived the idea of using the site of his former yards for the establishing of a storage warehouse of the most modern type, being led to thus utilize the property largely by reason of the ex- rellent shipping facilities controlled by him. He completed the erretion of his extensive warehouse in 1906, the structure being essentially fire-proof, six stories in height, with basement, giving seven acres storage capacity, and massively built of steel and brick. This is the only storage warehouse in the city containing tracks on which a train of cars can enter to receive and unload frright of various kinds. Mr. Coburn was very successful from a financial standpoint and at the time of his death he owned con- trolling stock in the last named company and as president of the same gave his personal supervision to the executive management of the Inisiness.

Mr. Coburn was married on May 8, 1862, to Mary Jones, who was born and reared in Indianapolis and educated in the local schools. She is the daughter of the late William H. and Jane (Sim- rox ) Jones, both of whom were born in the vicinity of Chillicothe, Ohio, The parents of Mr. Jones brought him to Indianapolis when he was a boy, in 1824, and here his father died in 1827. He. served an apprenticeship at the trade of carriage-making and to this line of work he devoted his attention for many years, and later in life was associated with Mr. Coburn in the lumber busi- news, as before related. And, as also before related, his death oc-

curred in 1886, his widow surviving many years, passing to her rest on June 27, 1910. They were both members of the First Baptist church, and he belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. They were the parents of three daughters: Mary, the widow of Mr. Coburn; Anna, who is the widow of Frederick B. Brownell, formerly engaged in the manufacture of street cars in St. Louis, Missouri; and Fannie J., who is the wife of James S. Cruse, a well known real estate dealer of Indianapolis. Mrs. Coburn is a lady of culture and refinement and has long been a favorite in social and club circles of the capital city, having taken a very active interest in literary, art and other clubs, and she was at one time president of the Indianapolis Woman's Club. She is a consistent member of the First Baptist church, Mr. Coburn affiliated with the Presbyterian church and was a liberal con- tributor.

Henry Coburn was a public-spirited man and took a great deal of interest in the development of his native city and his sup- port could always be depended upon in furthering any movement having for its object the general good. He was a member of the Indianapolis Board of Trade, the Columbia Club and the Com- mercial Club. Politically, he was a stanch Republican, but was never a seeker after public office. He owned a beautiful modern residence at No. 1409 North Pennsylvania street and from there he was called to his eternal rest on May 3, 1909.

To Henry Coburn and wife were born the following children: Mary married Wilbur B. Allen, who was a successful real estate and insurance man of Indianapolis and who later removed to the Hood River country in Oregon where he is engaged in the culture of apples; his three children are Coburn, Maynard and Mary. William H., who is engaged in the lumber and coal business in Indianapolis, married Helen Irwin, and they have three children, Daniel, Anna Barbara and Helen. William II. Coburn is a gradu- ate of Yale University and is one of the promising young business men of this city. His wife is the daughter of the late Daniel P. Erwin, who was a wholesale dry goods merchant of Indianapolis. Augustus Coburn, who is likewise a graduate of Yale University. is now engaged in the lumber business in his native city, owning the Michigan Lumber Company; he married Annie Peek, daughter of B. B. Peck, deceased, state manager at Indianapolis of the Mu- tual Life Insurance Company of Kentucky. His family consists of three children, Augustus, Benjamin Peek and Catherine.

THE ANCESTRAL HOME OF CAPT. PETER COBURN, WHO LED THE YEOMEN OF DRACUT AT CONCORD AND BUNKER HILL

Henry P. Coburn, who was for some time secretary and treasurer of the llenry Coburn Warehouse & Storage Company, and who was graduated from Yale University, is now living in the Hood River country, Oregon; he married Louise Erwin, daughter of the late Daniel P. Erwin, deceased. Myla L., the youngest child of Henry Coburn, of this review, is the wife of Frank F. Powell, who succeeded the subject of this memoir at his death as president of the Henry Coburn Warehouse & Storage Company, and who is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, where his father was a prosperous hardware merchant. Mr. Powell is a graduate of Princeton Uni- versity. He was born and reared in Cincinnati. To Mr. and Mrs. Powell one child has been born, Mary Elizabeth.

Personally, Henry Coburn was the soul of honor, a man of pleasing address, a genteel gentleman, genial and kindly and was popular with all with whom he came in contaet. By a life con- xistent in motive and because of his many fine qualities he earned the sincere regard of all and his name should go down in the his- tory of Indiana as one of the truest and most representative of the uative sons of her capital city.

Byron Daw

war, living served as a second lieutenant. Daniel Dawson de- voted his life to farming in Kentucky and his death occurred in that state. llis family consisted of the following children: Lucy, John W., Frametta, Creede and Martha, all of whom later in life located in Indiana and Illinois.

John W. Dawson, father of the Major, also followed agri- cultural pursuits. Upon reaching manhood he married Sarah Johnson, a daughter of Bailey Johnson and wife, on whose farm the birth of the subject occurred. Bailey Johnson came to Indi- nba in an early day and entered land in the wilderness of what is now Johnson county, his farm lying near the present site of Franklin, and there he spent the remainder of his days. When advanced in years John W. Dawson retired from farm life and his death occurred in Indianapolis when over eighty-five years of age, his wife passing away about 1841.

Byron Dawson spent his boyhood on the home farm where he waxed strong in mental and physical powers under the sturdy discipline, and as he was reared under the influences and condi- tions of what may be termed the middle pioneer period in Indiana, it can be readily understood that his early educational advantages were somewhat meager, being confined to the district school. Like many another of alert mentality, he has effectively overcome the handicap of early years, and through the lessons gained under the w ixe hend-master, Experience, he has become a man of broad and rxart information in regard to men and affairs. After spending «everal years on the farm of his grandfather, the subject came to live with his father, who had bought a farm in Marion county, Indiana, in 1847, the year the first railroad was extended through this county to Indianapolis. He remained with his father until he became of legal age, assisting in clearing and improving the farm in Perry township, often hauling cord-wood into Indian- "polis, then a small town. When a little boy Byron Dawson and his hull-brother, deciding to make a little spending money for themselves, picked a large wooden bucket full of cherries, which they brought to Indianapolis, seeking a market, but customers were not plentiful. Late in the afternoon they traded the cher- fire for two small tin cups upon which the words "A Good Boy" were stamped, and the youngsters hurried home to exhibit the bright enps to their admiring brothers and sisters; however, they hardly felt that they had been adequately rewarded for their hard work and this was their last venture in this direction. It is inter-

esting to compare the eager, hustling throngs of the capital city of today with the few traders at the then typical country town. But the boy's cherry picking and wood hauling days were to give way to larger affairs in due course of time, and later Byron as- sisted his father in building the Shelbyville pike, one of the first good publie roads in this part of the state. Like many young men of his day, Byron Dawson felt the wanderlust spirit directing his course to the great West, and in 1860 he went to Kansas where he worked on a farm until March 1, 1861, when he went to Pike's Peak in search of gold, but his quest for the precious metal in the great Rockies of Colorado was not crowned with success, the sum total of the gold discovered by him scarcely filling a goose-quill. This he had made into a ring which he later presented to his step- mother.

During his stay in the West the great war between the states began. In those days news traveled slowly in the West, but Lin- coln's call for troops to suppress the rebellion finally reached Mr. Dawson, and he hastened east to take part in the confliet, enlisting as a private in Company L, Forty-fifth Regiment, Third Cavalry, from Indiana. He was mustered in as first sergeant, September 5, 1862; he was honorably discharged on August 31, 1864. On September 1st of that year he was promoted to second lieutenant of the Third Indiana Cavalry, and on April 1, 1865, he was trans- ferred to the Eighth Indiana Cavalry, and on May 4th of that year he was promoted to captain of Company A, and on July 20th fol- lowing he was honorably mustered out, after a gallant and faith- ful career as a soldier, in which he participated in all the battles of the regiment. He was with Sherman's army in the Atlanta campaign, to Savannah and through the Carolinas, being a mem- ber of Kilpatrick's cavalry.

After the war Captain Dawson returned to Indianapolis and engaged in the grocery business about a year, during which time he received a commission of second lieutenant of the Ninth United States Cavalry, July 28, 1866. The same was accepted on May 10, 1867. On July 30th of that year he was promoted to first lieutenant. Remaining in the regular army, he was promoted to captain on April 4, 1879, and he retired from the service on June 15, 1888. On April 23, 1904, he was made major and retired by the war department. During his career in the regular army, Major Dawson was stationed at various forts in the West, and he traveled all over the United States, being frequently in the saddle

for days at a time in pursuit of Indians. Often his quarters were " log ratons with dirt floors. He relates many interesting remi- nierenrex of his varied and interesting career in the service of his ,outiy which he performed ably, conscientiously and in a manner that esusted the admiration of his comrades and the confidence of Ina superior officers.

Major Dawson devoted twenty years of his later life to agri- atural pursuits with a large measure of success, retiring from ative hte in March, 1911, selling his finely improved farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres in Marion county, Indiana. He still owns a valuable stock farm of three hundred and six acres Montgomery county, this state, also eighty acres in Washing- ton township, Marion county, besides considerable very desirable real estate in Indianapolis.

The Major is an active member of the Loyal Legion and of thir Uirand Army of the Republic, and he belongs to the Masonic under and Sons of the American Revolution.

On April 26, 1870, Major Dawson was united in marriage with Jennie II. Caldwell, a native of Scotland, and to this union three children were born: Mary Elizabeth, who married Jefferson Kralen, lives in Indianapolis, and is the mother of these children, Forest, Goldie and Bertha. Bertha Dawson married Fred Bar- ter; they live in St. Louis and have two children, Archibald'and Catharine. Catharine S. Dawson married Claude Fields and they love in Indianapolis. Major Dawson's first wife was called to her wat on April 11, 1881, and on May 20, 1889, he married Elizabeth " l'appel, a daughter of Christian Coppel and wife; she was the nulow of James P. McGuire. Mrs. Dawson was born in Chilli- ·the, Ohio, September 22, 1851. She is the daughter of Christian and Carolina (Barringer) Coppel. Her father was a life-long Immer. His death occurred at Chillicothe and he and his wife or buried in the Grand View cemetery there. Christian Coppel 's Irmembered as a man of exemplary character and many com- Inble traits. He served in the Civil war under General Rose- .rand, with a regiment of Ohio infantry. He saw much hard e tier und was in Libby prison three months, and while there ... kursy overtook him on account of which he was later dis- · hatged from the army, after being exchanged. Three of his sons were ului in the Union army.

Christian Coppel's family was a large one, his fourteen chil- dien bring named as follows: Caroline; Christian; William, who

was a Federal soldier, was killed and buried at Murfreesboro, Tennessee; John, now deceased, went into the army as a fifer boy, later serving in the infantry; Christena, James, Elizabeth, Gott- lieb, Edward, Jennie, Charles, Anna (deceased), Josephine, and Frank.

Major and Mrs. Dawson enjoy marked popularity in connec- tion with the social activities of the capital city, where they have a wide circle of friends.

JUDGE GEORGE HOLLAND.

So compendium such as the province of this work defines in limitations will serve to offer fit memorial to the life and accomplishments of Judge George Holland, for a long lapse .I trais one of the best known legal lights in eastern Indiana-a man remarkable in the breadth of his wisdom, in his indomitable ttovernier, his strong individuality, and yet one whose entire Ife had not one esoteric phase, being able to bear the closest " mutiny, True, his were "massive deeds and great" in one' sense, and got his entire accomplishment but represented the result of the fit utilization of the innate talent which was his, and the duerting of his efforts along those lines where mature judgment and rare discrimination led the way. There was in Judge Hol- latul a weight of character, a native sagacity, a far-seeing judg- uw nt and a fidelity of purpose that commanded the respect of all, lait greater than these was his unswerving integrity, and "an hon- . et man is the noblest work of God."

Urorge Holland was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- . ama, September 28, 1811, and was the son of John and Ann (Hen- . mon) Holland, who had settled in that county some nine years previously, being poor Protestant peasants from northern Ire- land, where they grew to maturity and were married and where two of their children were born, and from there they emigrated to Amrrien in 1802. Not long after the birth of their son George they moved to Ohio and made their home near Zanesville until 1417. when they settled in Franklin county, Indiana, the father pontchasing n farm upon the west bank of Whitewater river, about live auley from Brookville, the county seat, making a partial pay- went upon the place, expecting soon, as a result of his labors, to have the money to discharge the remaining obligation. Death, lowever, set aside his plans, for in the autumn of 1818 both the father and mother were stricken with a malignant fever, and alle their bodies were interred in a cemetery of their adopted land boy the hands of strangers, their seven children, all yet in their minority, were ill at home, unable to attend the funeral. There were xix sons and a daughter, and on this side of the Atlantic they had no relative. It was a sad fate, made still harder

by cruel treatment which was meted out to them, and of which George Holland wrote in an autobiography found among his papers after his death:

"We now first began to learn something of the great world around us. Its rush and roar we had before heard only in the dis- tance; but those being gone who had kindly preserved us from exposure and had borne for us all the cares of life, we found our- selves helpless and unprotected, afloat upon the current. We tasted, too, for the first time, the bitter falschood of human nature. The man of whom our father had bought his land came forward in the exigency and charitably administered the estate. His bene- volence was peculiar. It resulted in appropriating to himself the real and personal property, and turning us, the children, as pau- pers, over to the bleak hostilities of the world."

In Indiana, at that time, it was the custom, on the first Mon- day in April, to gather the poor of the county at the court house and hire them out to such persons as would engage to maintain them at the lowest price. The winter being passed in the cabin of a neighbor, Mr. Holland and his four brothers were conveyed by the overseers of the poor to Brookville, on the first Monday in April, 1819, to be thus placed in the care of the lowest bidder. Although but seven years of age, Mr. Holland deeply felt the humiliation of the position, but kind-hearted people of Brookville interposed in behalf of himself and his brothers, and found per- manent homes for them as apprentices until twenty-one years of age. Thus it was that he became an inmate of the home and a member of the family of Robert John, a man who had no property, but was possessed of a kind heart and proved a benefactor to the boy. In return, however, Mr. Holland was most faithful to Mr. John, and for many years was his active assistant in whatever work he engaged. When he was about thirteen Mr. John pur- chased an interest in a printing office, and Mr. Holland began work at the case and press, soon gaining a practical knowledge of the business and becoming a good workman. When Mr. John became sheriff he served as deputy, and on retiring from office he worked in a woolen factory which his employer rented, having charge of a set of wool-carding machines for two seasons. In the summer of 1830 Mr. John was elected clerk of the circuit court, and took charge of the office in February, 1831, Mr. Holland again becoming his deputy. This was about eighteen months before he attained his majority. His experience in the office had determined

Iam to make the practice of law his life work, and on coming of age he began reading without the aid of a teacher. The county drik, John M. Johnson, witnessing his ambitious efforts, per- matted Ium to use his law library, and at the same time to read Il the miscellaneous volumes he could procure, thus daily broad- Hang has general as well as professional knowledge. He was al- was a man of scholarly tastes, and through life found one of his .tef sources of pleasure among his books. A short time before attaining his majority he successfully passed an examination, und was admitted to the bar. One who knew him well, in re- feiring to his early life, said: "As a boy and youth he was gentle, kind and considerate, full of energy, and possessed of the most indomitable perseverance. His vigorous and unremitting efforts tu edurate and prepare himself for the profession of his choice in the midst of irksome and exacting duties, and his early struggles in the profession, in the face of poverty and ill health, indicate the hervie spirit and fixedness of purpose which even then distin- guished him, and which he afterward so conspicuously displayed under such trying circumstances."

Mr. Holland had not a dollar at the time of his admission to the bar. He, however, borrowed fifty dollars, purchased a small law library at auction and opened an office in Brookville. About the time he secured the office of county assessor and the outdoor exercise proved very beneficial to his undermined health, while the nature of his business made him acquainted with many people and thus paved the way for future law practice. He received arventy-five dollars for his official services, which enabled him to tujemy the borrowed money. He was not only well equipped for 1 e professional career by a comprehensive knowledge of the prin- opdra of jurisprudence, but his experience in the clerk's office had rien him a thorough and practical knowledge of forms and prac- tur. Our from whom we have before quoted, said of him: "His emily kterrss at the bar was marvelous and may be attributed monly to the thorough knowledge of his profession, which he " red by the most indefatigable reading and study. He read everything he could get hold of in the way of general and pro- fremand literature. Few lawyers . of the day at the Indiana bar ertona thoroughly grounded in the principles of law and as famil- with the English and early American reports as he was. His onge of professional reading was most extensive and included Most of the rare works in black-letter lore that could then be pro-

(4)

eured. At the same time, and in fact almost during his entire life, even when in later years he was almost overwhelmed with finan- cial cares and responsibilities, his delight was in general litera- ture-it was his rest and recreation-and in historical, political, scientific and religious learning his mind was a eyelopedia of facts. While he liad none of the elements of a popular speaker, consequently, made no mark as an orator, he was a logical and persuasive reasoner before a jury, and had great force in present- ing an argument to a court. The care with which he prepared his cases, the skill and shrewduess he displayed in their management, his unrivaled power in dealing with a complicated and tangled chain of issues and circumstances, together with his extensive professional knowledge, made him a most formidable opponent in the lower courts, and gave him an excellent reputation at the bar of the supreme court, where he was admitted to practice in May, 1835, when twenty-four years of age."

Prosperity attended his efforts for many years. The import- ant litigated interests entrusted to his care brought him handsome financial returns, and much of his capital he judiciously invested in property and added not a little to his income through wise speculations. At length, however, disaster overtook him. Hon- orable himself, he was slow to distrust others, and when those in whose worthiness and friendship he relied implicitly wished him to go security for them he complied. It was in November, 1853, that some of his merchant friends failed, leaving him to pay their indebtedness of fifty thousand dollars. This seemed a great deal, but was nothing compared to what awaited him. In November, 1854, he awoke to the realization that he was endorser for a broken and bankrupt merchant for one hundred thousand dollars in blank, all due within sixty days and for which he was unmis- takably liable. Utterly discouraged and disheartened, in the midst of his gloom and desolation, yet encouraged by his sym- pathizing wife, he resolved that with the help and blessing of God he would pay the debt, and resolutely set to work to aceom- plish the task, with an abiding faith that he would live to accom- plish it. And he did live to accomplish it after a struggle of twenty-one years, paying the last of these just fourteen days be- fore his sudden death, and never was a word of suspicion breathed against his fair name. Anxiety pressed heavily upon him and he suffered a purely nervous fever, from the effects of which he never recovered, but he paid off dollar for dollar. The true ehar-

sites of the man now shone forth; his ideas of commercial honor and integrity were of the highest character and his determination Hopes that awful debt, most of it fraudulently put upon him, was meus fixed. The financial skill and business ability he dis- good at this critical period in his affairs; the zeal and ingenuity 1. oulalated in getting extensions of the bank paper upon which he was halde, until he could have time to turn about and handle the property; his unvarying success in disposing of the latter to the font advantage; in making, when necessary, new and ad- vantagrons loans, and generally, in meeting his obligations promptly as they became due, are simply marvelous. When one contin that all this was done in connection with the exacting dution of a large law practice, which he never suffered to be neg- letel, it indicates more strongly than words can express the strength and fertility of his mind and his great business and pro- fesional capacities.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Memorial and genealogical record of Representative Citizens of Indiana, Part 4

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Brown Number of Pages: 1674

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Brown
Number of Pages: 1674