USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Memorial record of distinguished men of Indianapolis and Indiana > Part 24
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Marshall €. Woods was born at Newark, the judicial center of Licking county, . Ohio, and the date of his nativity was October 2, 1838, so that he was fifty-six years of age at the time of his demise. His parents Uriah and Mary (Smucker) Woods, were numbered among the sterling pioneers of the old Buckeye state and were representatives of families founded in America in the colonial era. They con- tinued to reside in Ohio until their death. Mr. Woods gained his preliminary educa- tion in the schools of his native town and thereafter availed himself of the advantages of one of the leading colleges of Ohio. Throughout his entire life he continued a close and appreciative student and reader, and thus his education was of most liberal and symmetrical order, the while he developed literary powers of special excellence. After leaving college he initiated his work in the newspaper field, and he eventually contributed many short stories of distinctive originality and charm to the Chicago Inter Ocean and other leading papers of the country.
Mr. Woods was about twenty-three years of age at the inception of the Civil war and he promptly gave evidence of his youthful loyalty and patriotism by ten- dering his services in defence of the Union. Early in 1861, in response to Presi- dent Lincoln's first call for volunteers, he enlisted in the Sixty-third Illinois Infantry, at Hutsonville, Illinois, and with the command he went to the front as a private. He participated with this regiment in a number of engagements and later he became identified with the navy arm of the government service. In this connection he was assigned to duty on the gunboat "Switzerland," of the ram fleet on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Impaired health finally necessitated his retirement, and he received his honorable discharge from the navy in February, 1863. In February, 1865, however, he again entered the service, as second lieu- tenant in the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which
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he served until the close of the war. He took part in many of the important engagements incidental to the great conflict between the north and the south and proved a faithful and valiant soldier, his record in both the army and navy re- dounding to his lasting honor. He ever retained a deep interest in his old com- rades and signified the same by his membership in the Grand Army of the Repub- lic, of which he was an active and appreciative adherent.
Mr. Woods established his home in Indianapolis in the year 1873, and here he passed the residue of his life, secure in the high esteem of all who knew him. His first service in this city was in association with Enos B. Reed in the publication of a weekly paper known as The People, and he gave to the same a high editorial prestige. Later he was a writer on the Indianapolis Sentinel and also on the Indianapolis News. Impaired health finally compelled his retirement from routine newspaper work, and for two years prior to his death he held a clerical position in the Indianapolis postoffice.
In political activities Mr. Woods was long a prominent and influential factor, and with the varying policies of the dominant parties he showed his independence and his fidelity to his convictions by one or more changes in partisan allegiance. In this connection the following statements, which appeared in an Indianapolis paper at the time of his death, are worthy of perpetuation: "He organized the Knights of Columbia, a strong Republican campaign club, in the Garfield cam- paign, and in 1884 he organized the Autocrats, in the support of Cleveland against Blaine. In 1888 he organized a large club of Democrats pledged to support Har- rison, the Republican presidential nominee. In 1892 he took no active part in the campaign but supported Harrison and was in the councils of the Republicans."
Apropos of his fine talent along literary lines, the same article gives the fol- lowing statements: "Under the nom de plumes of 'The White Hand' and 'Paul Pickett' Mr. Woods has been a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines, not infrequently turning his attention to poetry. A number of years ago he was as- sociated with Enos B. Reed in the publication of The People." Mr. Woods was actively affiliated with the Knights of Honor and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His religious faith, sincere and gentle in its manifestations, was that of the Christian church, of which he was a zealous member and with which his widow has long been actively identified.
At Hutsonville, Crawford county, Illinois, on the 9th of April, 1863, was sol- emnized the marriage of Mr. Woods to Miss Katherine S. Fesler, this important incident in his career having occurred while he was on furlough from service on the Mississippi river gunboat previously mentioned in this context. Mrs. Woods was born and reared at Hutsonville and is a daughter of Nicholas and Lucinda (Sweeney) Fesler, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Lex- ington, Kentucky. Mrs. Fesler was cousin of Rev. Zachariah Sweeney, who was one of the prominent and distinguished clergymen in Indiana and who maintained his home at Columbus, this state, for a number of years. The parents of Mrs. Woods passed the closing years of their lives at Bellair, Illinois, and her father was for a long period in charge of woolen mills at Hutsonville, Illinois. Of the seven children, of whom Mrs. Woods was the third in order of birth, there are living besides herself three sons and one daughter. Mrs. Woods, as a woman of distinctive culture, proved the closer companion of her honored husband, as their tastes and aspirations were thoroughly in harmony and their married life thus one
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of ideal order. She was afforded excellent educational advantages in her youth, including those of the Terre Haute Female Seminary, at Terre Haute, Indiana, in which she was a student and in which she completed her course in 1861. She has a wide circle of friends in Indianapolis and has been active in the representa- tive social life of the community. She has an attractive home at 1718 North Delaware street and the same is known for its gracious hospitality. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Woods: Elliott W. Woods, who married Miss Emma Brock, of Washington, D. C., has held gov- ernmental office in the national capital for more than twenty years and is now superintendent of the capitol building, in charge of the buildings and grounds. Frances Emma, the younger of the two children, is now the wife of William P. Johnston, who is engaged in the real estate business in Indianapolis, and they maintain their home at 2115 North Delaware street. They have two sons,-Winant Pullis, who is now a student in the University of Pennsylvania, in the city of Philadelphia, and Russell Woods Johnston, who lives at home, having attended Wabash College.
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Alexander Deron
ACCORDING to the measure of a man's usefulness does he A justify the purposes of life and give reason for his being. The late Alexander Heron, whose character was the positive expression of a strong and noble nature, accounted well to the world as a member of its army of productive workers, and in his individuality he showed forth those sterling attributes which invariably gain the altogether desirable reward of pop- ular trust and approbation. Mr. Heron was a boy at the time of the family re- moval to Indiana, in the pioneer days, and here it was given him to become a prominent and influential force in the development and advancement of the agri- cultural resources of the state, in evidence of which was his long and effective service in the office of secretary of the state board of agriculture. Upon assuming this important position, in 1872, he established his home in Indianapolis, where he passed the residue of his long and worthy life, though he continued to give his supervision to his extensive landed estate. Quiet and unassuming, Mr. Heron was a man of splendid ability and his character and services were such as to justify most fully the brief memorial which it is possible to incorporate in this publica- tion. On the 29th of May, 1900, death set its seal upon his mortal lips and he passed forward to the life eternal,-a man who had done well his part in the world and who left the gracious heritage of a good name.
Alexander Heron was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, on the 2nd of May, 1827, and thus he had attained to the age of seventy-two years when, after a prolonged illness, he was summoned to that "undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns." He was a son of James and Barbara (Keven) Heron, both of whom were born and reared in Scotland, where their marriage was solemnized. Upon immigrating to America James Heron established his home in Baltimore, where he engaged in the wholesale and retail dry goods business, but impaired health finally compelled his retirement and rendered imperative a radical change of occupation. Accordingly, in 1837, he came with his family to Indiana, whither the journey was made by stage coach, and secured a tract of land within a mile of Cornersville, the judicial center of Fayette county. He instituted the reclamation and development of his land, but did not recuperate his health, his death occurring about two years after the removal to Indiana. It is interesting to note that the old homestead, now one of the valuable farms of Fayette county, is still in the possession of the family. The devoted wife and mother survived her husband by a number of years and continued to reside in Fayette county until her death. Of the children two sons and one daughter are still living,-Nathan and William, who own and still reside upon the old homestead near Connersville, and Mrs. George Hibben, of Chicago.
Alexander Heron gained his rudimentary education in his native city and was
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ten years of age at the time of the family removal to Indiana. The death of his father, soon afterward, threw heavy responsibilities upon him, in connection with the improvement and other work of the home farm and in assisting in providing for his widowed mother and the younger children. Though these conditions and exigencies naturally made it impossible for him to pursue higher educational work, he showed forth, even at that early age, the self-reliance, loyalty and devo- tion to duty which so significantly characterized his entire life. Endowed with excellent mental powers, the educational handicap of his youth was effectually overcome through self-discipline and through long and active association with men and affairs in later years, so that he became a man of broad intellectual grasp and mature judgment. With all of ambitious zeal and excellent methods Mr. Heron continued to devote his attention to the great basic industry of agriculture until large and definite success had crowned his efforts. He became an extensive landholder and his farms at the time of his death were veritable models, the same being still owned by his widow and being very valuable properties. His advance- ment to independence and prosperity represented the tangible results of his own ability and efforts, and in civic loyalty, progressiveness and deep public spirit he ever stood exponent of the highest type of citizenship, the while to know him was to admire his sterling qualities and to accord to him unqualified confidence and esteem.
From an appreciative estimate appearing in the Indianapolis News at the time of the death of Mr. Heron are taken the following significant statements: "Mr. Heron grew up on the farm and became known as an intelligent and progressive farmer. He took great interest in all that tended to the advancement of agri- culture, and in 1872, while in attendance as a delegate to the meeting of the state board of agriculture in this city, he was, without any solicitation on his part, made secretary of the board, an office to which he was annually elected for nineteen years. He was the only person who had held office in both the old state house, of the Parthenon pattern, and in the new state house. He was secretary of the state board of agriculture in 1873, when the exposition was held in what is now Morton Place, at the head of Alabama street. During the construction of the new state house Mr. Heron occupied quarters in an upper room of what is now the Consum- ers' Gas Trust building. Since retiring from the secretaryship, in 1891, he has not been actively engaged in business, though his interest in agricultural matters continued and he made frequent visits to three large farms which he owned, two in Tipton county and one in Madison county. He was of quiet demeanor, strong in his convictions as to right and wrong, and greatly esteemed by all who knew him. Rev. Dr. W. A. Quayle conducted the funeral services and burial was made at Crown Hill cemetery."
It may consistently be said that Indiana will ever owe a debt to Mr. Heron for the effective service which he gave in the promotion of agricultural interests within its borders, for he was indefatigable in his efforts while incumbent of the office of secretary of the state board of agriculture during the long period of twenty consecutive years and brought to bear great discrimination and most pro- gressive policies in the administration of his office, as well as in giving advice and counsel to the farmers and stock-growers throughout the state. By virtue of his official position he had the active supervision of the erection of the old state expo- sition building, situated on the present Morton Place, in the capital city, and it
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will be recalled that in this building were given most admirable displays of the agricultural and other resources of the state. In politics Mr. Heron gave a staunch allegiance to the Democratic party, and he attended the Presbyterian church. His widow has long been a devoted member of the Meridian Street Metho- dist Episcopal church. She and her only daughter still reside in the attractive and hospitable old homestead at 1827 North Meridian street, and both figure promi- nently in the representative social activities of the capital city.
At Brookville, the judicial center of Franklin county, Indiana, on the 14th of January, 1864, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Heron to Miss Helen M. Roberts, who was born at Brookville, on the 26th of June, 1839, and who is a daughter of John and Mary M. (Tempelton) Roberts, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Franklin county, Indiana. Mr. Roberts was one of the early settlers of Franklin county and became one of its prominent and influential citizens, the major portion of his active career having been closely identified with agricultural pursuits. Both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives in Indianapolis. The four children now living of John and Mary M. Rob- erts are: Mrs. Caroline Peck, widow of William J. Peck, lives at 1010 North Capi- tol avenue, Indianapolis; Mrs. Heron; Mrs. Nanie R. Shirk, of Tipton, Indiana, widow of Elbert H. Shirk; and James E. Roberts, retired, living at 1038 North Meridian street, Indianapolis. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Heron it may be stated that Mary R., who is the widow of Dr. John James Garver, re- sides with her widowed mother, and Charles Alexander Heron, who resides at 1860 North Pennsylvania street, Indianapolis, is assistant electrical engineer in the establishment of the Traction Terminal Company. He married Miss Mary Forgy, of New Carlisle, Ohio.
Jus. f. Gamver
John J. Garber, M. D.
'NE of the able physicians and surgeons who have lent dignity O and honor to the medical profession in Indiana was the late Dr. John James Garver, who was engaged in active practice in Indianapolis for nearly a quarter of a century prior to his death which here occurred on the 13th of December, 1900. He ever exemplified the highest ethical code of his chosen vocation and his technical knowledge and skill were such as to give him place among the essentially distinguished representatives of his profession in the state. His character was cast in a generous and noble mould and he made his life count for good in its every relation. Aside from the insistent demands of his profession he found time and opportunity to render service of value as a loyal and progressive citizen, and as the incumbent of the office of com- missioner of the Indianapolis public school he did much to advance educational interests in the capital city. He was enrolled as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war and in the "piping times of peace" he manifested the same intrin- sic loyalty and patriotism in the gaining of other and most benignant victories.
Dr. Garver was of staunch Scotch lineage and claimed the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity. He was born at Silver Lake, Logan county, Ohio, on the 14th of February, 1845, his parents having been early settlers of that county, where his father was a prosperous farmer and a citizen of no little influence in public affairs of a local order. The parents continued to reside in Ohio until their death and their names merit enduring place on the roll of the honored pion- eers of that commonwealth. The early educational discipline of Dr. Garver was secured in the public schools of his native state and after completing the curriculum of the high school at Fairview, Fayette county, he there availed himself also of the advantages of a well ordered business college.
Sixteen years of age at the inception of the great conflict between the north and south, Dr. Garver soon found his youthful patriotism quickened to responsive protest and definite action. Early in the second year of the war he tendered his services in defense of the Union by enlisting as a private in the Seventy-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and he continued in active service four years, or until victory had crowned the Union arms. He participated in many of the important engage- ments marking the progress of the long and sanguinary warfare, including the battle of Shiloh, the various engagements of the Atlanta campaign, and the bat- tles of Franklin, Columbia and Nashville, Tennessee. At the close of the war he refused the tender of the office of lieutenant colonel of the Sixteenth United States Colored Troops and after duly receiving his honorable discharge he formulated plans for his future career. For several years he was engaged in the drug busi- ness in Ohio, and in 1870, at Dayton, that state, he initiated the study of medicine under the effective preceptorship of Dr. Oliver Cook, a brother of General George
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Cook, of the United States army. He finally entered the Ohio Medical College, in the city of Cincinnati, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1877 and from which he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine.
In the Centennial year, 1876, soon after his graduation, Dr. Garver came to Indianapolis, and in this excellent field he found ample scope for professional advancement and for the gaining of large and substantial success. His devotion to his profession was of the most intense and appreciative order and with the passing years he kept in close touch with the advances made in both medicine and surgery, so that he was at all times able to avail himself of the most approved methods, agencies and facilities relevant thereto. He gained recognition as a man of specially high intellectual and professional attainments, contributed liberally to the periodical literature of medicine and surgery and also presented numerous papers of marked value before the various medical societies with which he was identified.
In the year 1888 Dr. Garver was elected a commissioner of the public schools of Indianapolis, and his service in this office was far from being tentative or desul- tory, as he put forth his splendid energies in advancing the cause of education in his home city and was specially influential in the purchase of the site for and the construction of the city's fine public library building, the library having con- tinuously remained under the control of the public school authorities of the city. He retained the position of commissioner four years and after his retirement con- tinued to manifest a lively interest in educational matters. In 1881 he had been elected superintendent of the city dispensary, and of this position he continned the efficient and popular incumbent for a period of five years. In the early '90s Dr. Garver was appointed a member of the board of United States pension-exam- ining surgeons for Marion county, and he retained this position until his death, his services having been the more ardent and earnest by reason of his own career as a soldier,-an association that made him specially mindful of his old comrades in arms. The Doctor held membership in the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Society and the Marion County Medical Society, which last mentioned organization gave a notably appreciative tribute and memorial at the time of his death, as he was one of its most honored and valued members. He was prominently affiliated with various local bodies of the Masonic fraternity and was actively identified with George H. Thomas Post, Grand Army of the Republic, which passed appropriate resolutions when he was summoned from the scene of life's mortal endeavors. The funeral survices of Dr. Garver were held at the family home and interment was made in beautiful Crown Hill cemetery. Dr. Garver was the soul of generosity and his abiding human sympathy made him a welcome figure in the homes of the many families to whom he ministered with all of zeal and ability during the long years of his active practice in Indianapolis. In these homes his death was a source of unequivocal personal bereavement, and many thus sorrowed with his own family, to which his devotion had at all times been intense and self-abnegating. His political allegiance was given to the Republican party and his religious affiliation was with the Second Presbyterian church. Mrs. Garver is a member of the Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal church.
In Indianapolis, on the 30th of April, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Garver to Miss Mary Roberts Heron, who was born near Connersville, Fay- ette county, this state, and who is a daughter of the late Alexander Heron. Mrs.
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Garver now resides with her widowed mother in their attractive home at 1827 North Meridian street, and the same is brightened also by the presence of her only child, Heron James Garver, who was born in this city on the 15th of April, 1896, and who is a member of the class of 1915 in the Shortridge high school.
Et Laughlin
Elmer C. Laughlin
NATIVE son of Indiana who honored the state by his worthy life and services and whose character was the positive ex- A pression of a strong, true and noble nature, was the late Elmer Clement Laughlin, who died at his home in the village of Boswell, Benton county, on the 26th of September, 1903, only an half hour after his honored father had passed to the life eternal. His death was the result of a stroke of paralysis, and he had endured a third of the same before he succumbed. His widow and two daughters now maintain their home at 1101 North Alabama street, Indianapolis. Mr. Laughlin was successful in connection with the practical and productive ac- tivities of life and he was a man of fine intellectuality and distinctive business acumen. He was for several years a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Boswell and he then engaged in the grain business, in connection with which he was manager of the elevator and business of the Farmers' Co-operative Grain Association at Boswell during the last eight years of his life, his well di- rected endeavors in this position having been the most potent force in conserving the success of the enterprise. He was a man whose very personality gained to him unqualified confidence and esteem, and his sincerity, kindliness and abiding human sympathy were attributes that won to him the affectionate regard of those whom his influence touched more closely. He accounted well to the world as one of its workers and his life story offers much of lesson and inspiration.
Elmer Clement Laughlin was born in Warren county, Indiana, on the 19th of May, 1864, and thus his age at the time of his death was thirty-nine years and four months. He was a son of David and Adaline (Brady) Laughlin, the former of whom was born in Brown county, Ohio, on the 8th of January, 1836. The mother passed to eternal rest on the 13th of July, 1881, and the death of the father occurred at Talbot, Benton county, Indiana, on the 26th of September, 1903, about an half hour prior to the demise of the subject of this memoir. David Laughlin was a son of Robert and Isabel Laughlin, who were numbered among the sterling pioneers of the old Buckeye state, and who removed from Brown county to Shelby county, that state, in 1839, when he was about three years of age. In the latter county David Laughlin was reared to manhood and received a common- school education, which he amplified by self-application. In 1855 he came to Warren county, Indiana, but he returned to Ohio and taught school during the winter of the following year. In 1857 he again came to Warren county, Indiana, "and for many years thereafter he devoted his attention to the pedagogic profession, in which he attained to high reputation and popularity. He continued to teach school in that section of Indiana from 1858 to 1885, and in 1887 he engaged in the mercantile business at Talbot, Brown county, where he continued in this line of enterprise until his death and where he was a citizen of prominence and influ- ence, and a man esteemed for his sterling character. In 1858 was solemnized his
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