USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Pictorial and biographical memoirs of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, together with biographies of many prominent men of other portions of the state, both living and dead > Part 13
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boy of twelve years to find his only pathway home blocked by fifteen or twenty hungry wolves, but summoning all his courage and retaining his presence of mind in a wonderful degree for one so young, he made a detour through the brush wood at one side of the road and as silently and as expeditiously as possible passed out of the vicinity of this maddened pack of the most dreaded denizens of the forest and in due time reached his father's house in safety. In those pioneer days opportunities for obtaining an education on the frontier were very meager and were confined entirely to those afforded by the subscription schools during the winter months, the balance of the year being devoted to clearing the land and putting in, harvesting and storing the crops. Under these conditions Dr. Wishard grew to manhood, but he took the best possible advantage of every opportunity afforded him, and at the age of twenty-two began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. Benjamin F. Noble, of Greenwood. Johnson County. He took his first course of lectures at the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, and began practice as a partner of his preceptor at Green- wood in the spring of 1840. This partnership was terminated three years later. Mean- time, in the winter of 1848-49, Dr. Wishard was graduated from the Indiana Medical Col- lege at La Porte. During the Civil War he served two years as a volunteer surgeon, a part of the time in field service and a part of the time in charge of hospital boats on the Missis- sippi River. In 1864 he located at Southport, Marion County, where he soon acquired a large and successful practice. In October, 1876, he was elected coroner of Marion County, and removed to Indianapolis, and in 1878 he was re-elected, serving two terms, aggregating four years. Since locating in this city he has had an extensive and most lucrative practice, and, although now well advanced in years, he continued to do much active and exacting work. The younger physicians of the city regard him as one of the fathers of the profes- sion in the State, for he had had an unbroken practice extending through a long period of fifty-three years. He was one of the charter members of the Indiana State Medical Society, and, as has been stated, he is one of only four of its charter members who are now living. He was president of the society in 1887, and as such delivered a most interesting historical address at the fortieth anniversary of its organization. He is a member also of the Marion County Medical Society and of the National Medical Association. Dr. Wishard was married December 17, 1840, to Harriet N. Moreland, daughter of Rev. John R. Moreland, the sec- ond pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, and celebrated his golden wed- ding February 17, 1890. Nine children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Wishard, four of whom died in infancy or childhood. Those living at the present time are Dr. William N. Wishard and his brothers, Albert W. and George W. Wishard, and their sisters, Harriet J. and Elizabeth. In his early life Dr. Wishard was in politics an old line Whig. In 1856 he voted for Gen. Fremont, the first nominee of the Republican party for the presidency of the United States, and he has voted for every nominee of that party for the same distinguished office from that day to this. He is a member of the G. A. R., and in everything pertaining to it takes the deepest interest. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church, and the Doctor has represented the Indianapolis Presbytery in general assembly at Phila- delphia, New York, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Portland, Ore.
T. B. LINN. The subject of this sketch is a gentlemen of ripe intelligence and a man of large benevolence and broad sympathies. He is a citizen of Indianapolis and the su- preme recorder of the order of Chosen Friends, which owes its name to his suggestion, while through his agency this organization has taken a strong and permanent hold upon public confidence. Mr. Linn was born in Millersburg, Ohio, January 23, 1842, being the son of Cicero and Margaret B. (Tidball) Linn; the father having been born in Jefferson County, May 12, 1812, and the mother near Wheeling, W. Va., December 31, 1817. The parents emigrated to Ohio at an early day, the father settling at Millersburg when about eighteen years old, following the occupation of a merchant tailor until 1850. Then he began farming, an avocation he has since followed, he now residing upon a farm eight miles west of Millers- burg. The paternal great grandfather of our subject was a patriot soldier of the Revolu- tionary War and also fought in the War of 1812. He came to this country from Germany, his native home, and blazed out a home for himself in Westmoreland County, Penn., and founded the town of Burgettstown, which was named after himself. He was killed by ac- cident in this county (Westmoreland), when over eighty years of age. The ancestors of the
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mother of our subject descended from Dr. Brownhill, court physician of William, Prince of Orange (William III, of England), who was taken prisoner in one of the Scottish wars and kept for a number of years, when he effected his escape and came to America with his wife and only daughter. The latter met and fell in love with Mr. Tidball when on the journey and afterward married him; from this marriage sprang the Tidball family in the United States. Grandfather Tidball was a prominent physician of Millersburg, where he died, after a life of great usefulness; and his family consisted of two sons, who became Presby. terian ministers, and five daughters, the mother of our subject being second. The parents of our subject had thirteen children, namely: John B., a farmer of Sterling, Colo. ; Zech- ariah S., deceased; Thomas B., our subject; Cicero B., a jeweler of Houston, Tex. ; Elizabeth A., deceased; Ezekiel C., a physician of Monmouth, Ill., Maria J. McClellan, of Canton, Ohio; William J., a physician of Iola, Kan. ; Casper M., deceased; Julia M. Appelman, de- deased; Sarah A. Hull, deceased; Albert, deceased, and Alberta, deceased. The subject of our sketch, the third member of this large family, was reared in Holmes County, Ohio, on a farm, where he worked, assisting his father in the fields and his mother in the house, enjoy- ing only such educational advantages as were afforded in a country school. At the age of sixteen, with gripsack in hand, he left home to attend the academy in the town of his birth, where lie spent ten months. In the spring of 1859, when but seventeen years old, he took charge of a country school and continued teaching until the outbreak of the war; then, August 24, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, carrying a musket, and serving with his regiment through Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, taking part in the many engagements in which his regiment partici- pated, among which were the siege of Vicksburg and many minor battles. He was dis- charged October 31, 1864, at Camp Chase. Upon his return home our subject was married to Miss Lizzie Shafer, of Brookville, Ind., and entered upon the profession of teaching, which he followed until the spring of 1870, having had charge of the schools at College Corner, Ohio; Fair Haven, Ohio, and others, the two named for a term of years. Entering the service of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Indianapolis Railroad Company in 1870, he was stationed at College Corner, Ohio; then at Liberty, Ind., and then, in August, 1872, removed to Indianapolis to take charge of the supplies and books in the machinery department of that road, remaining with it until the order of Chosen Friends demanded his entire at- tention. Mr. Linn made his first appearance among society men in September, 1867, by uniting with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in Border Lodge, No. 224, and soon became widely known as an earnest worker in the cause. In the following February he took the sublime degrees of the Encampment branch of Odd Fellows, in Bethel Encampment No. 73, serving as scribe and chief patriarch. He represented his encampment in 1870 in the grand encampment of the State of Indiana. Mr. Linn is also a member of Canton No. 2, of the Patriarchs Militant, of Indiana, being a charter member, and was twice elected to pro- gressive chairs of his subordinate lodge, and was each time compelled to resign on account of distance and inability to attend. He was a third time unanimously elected vice, and afterward noble grand of his lodge, making a record such as is very seldom equaled, namely: Traveled 158 miles each week to attend his lodge and missing but two meetings while filling the chairs. Mr. Linn served in the grand lodge as representative in 1876, and proved himself a most useful member, being recognized as an Odd Fellow of wide range of knowledge and an enthusiastic and useful member. Our subject united in January, 1877, with Washington Lodge, No. 114, Knights of Honor, and a few months later became a charter member of Hope Lodge, No 6, Knights and Ladies of Honor, in both of which he was elected to the highest honors, being sent twice as representative to the grand lodge of the Knights of Honor and was sent as representative to and became a charter member of the grand lodge of Knights and Ladies of Honor. Our subject became, in December, 1880, a member of Indianapolis Council, No. 238, of the Royal Arcanum, and in the following Decem- ber was unanimously chosen regent. In March, 1883, he represented his council in the grand council of the Royal Arcanum. Mr. Linn was made a master mason in Capital City Lodge, No. 312, in January, 1886, and in December of the same year received his thirty-second de- gree of freemasonry. He has served as senior warden of the subordinate lodge, and is now holding the office of captain of the guard in Indianapolis consistory and master
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of entrances in Saraiah Council. He is a member of George H. Thomas Post, G. A. R., No. 17, and became a charter member of Encampment No. 80, Union Veteran Legion, in November, 1890, in which he is now filling the office of lieutenant-colonel. Mr. Linn has been connected with most of the secret societies of the country, in all of which he has taken an active part and thoroughly familiarized himself with the work and history of them, his interest being very great and his intelligence enabling him to grasp the beauties of the symbols and mysteries pertaining to them. He is a lifelong Republican but has never sought or held political office, with the exception of council- man from the First ward of the city, a position he did not seek but was pushed forward by his friends and elected by a majority of sixty nine, in a Democratic ward, and being the only Republican elected from a Democratic ward. Since the year 1879 Mr. Linn has devoted his entire time to the Order of Chosen Friends, being one of the organizers of that thriving and popular body. The first conversation between Albert Alcon and Mr. Linn in relation to the order took place in February, 1878, more than a year prior to the foun- dation of the order. Day after day Mr. Linu was found soliciting his friends to assist him in the formation of the order, or rather, an order like this of the Chosen Friends. Within the first six months he had secured, as was supposed, a sufficient membership to form the Supreme Council, and when stated meetings would arrive he was generally the first one at the appointed place. The Order of Chosen Friends is indebted to him for the name it bears and when enough names had been secured to form the head of the order, Mr. Linn and Mr. Alcon were appointed a committee to draft the constitution and laws, and those they framed are the fundamental principles of the order to-day. These two decided by a grab into a handful of beans that Mr. Linn should do the work of drawing up the said constitu- tion and laws. Mr. Linn also furnished a portion of the ritual, the beautiful charges of the marshal and of the vice counsellor being the products of his pen. Much more could be said of Mr. Linn's connection with this order and his arduous and protracted labors in con- nection therewith; this should be said and emphasized, that Mr. Linn practically gave birth to this order and contributed the lion's share of the work at the time of its organization. He was at work in season and out of season, encouraging the disbeartened, strengthening the weak, lifting the fallen and advising, counselling and originating, with an invincible courage and a ripe intelligence that convinced and persuaded. Mr. Linn served as secretary at the preliminary meetings, and at the organization of the Supreme Council was elected its first supreme recorder, was re-elected in October, 1879, in October, 1881, in September, 1883, September, 1885, September, 1887, September, 1889, and in September, 1891, thus, continuously filling that most arduous position from the inception to the present time. He organized the first two councils, to-wit: Alpha Council, No. 1, at Indianapolis and Ohio, No. 1, at Wooster, Ohio; both of them, through his untiring personal efforts. As an extem- poraneons speaker he ranks among the very first in the entire field of secret societies in the United States. Endowed by nature with a vigorous constitution, he is capable of the great- est conceivable amount of sustained labor and he has worked far into the night for a pro- tracted period for the order, for which he has so strong an attachment, this being necessary in order that the organization might be established upon a firm basis. The growing popul- larity and the rapid building up of the Chosen Friends attest the powerful efforts put forth by Mr. Linn, who certainly has been instant in season and out of season ever since the order was started. He has worked up the membership to 40,000, an astonishing number when it is considered that it is less than fourteen years since it was first put forward for the favor of the people. What an admirable showing is this: the total amount paid in death cases has been $7,186,653.24; in disabilities, $404,330; making a total of $7,590,983.24. Surely this is a record of which any man may be proud. How many widows have been saved from want through its agency, how many children provided with bread and how many have been cared for in time of disability. By their fruits shall ye know them and thus judged Mr. Linn merits the plaudits of " well done, thou good and faithful servant." Our subject is a member of Clifford Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, as also is his wife, and he takes an active interest in this as in other organizations with which he is connected. Mr. and Mrs. Linn are the parents of six children, all living, namely: Mrs. Love Mitten, Lillie A., Cicero H., Maude E., Frederick E. and Margaret F. Mr. Linn is deservedly
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most popular among his wide extended acquaintance, being a man of most pleasant manners and kind disposition, agreeable in conversation and abounding in a sympathy that keeps him in touch with his fellow creatures.
DR. ROBERT HESSLER. Long before the good Samaritan dressed the wounds of the poor fellow he found on the Jericho road the healer of diseases was distinguished for his humanity and his kindness. Whatever the skill of the physician and surgeon, he can never be truly great unless he is truly touched with the spirit of man's infirmities, and moved of a heartfelt purpose to relieve suffering for the sake of the race. In the list of the successful young physicians of Indianapolis stands the name of Dr. Robert Hessler, who owes his nativity to the Buckeye State, born in Cincinnati, June 7, 1861. His father, Robert Hessler, Sr., was a native of Saxony and came to America when a young man. After resid- ing in different parts of the United States he located at Cincinnati, Ohio, and was there married to Miss Mary Godar, a native of Bavaria, who came to America with her parents when small. Robert Hessler, Sr. was a skilled artisan and at the close of the war located at Batesville, Ind., where he resided several years. His death occurred in 1877. His wife survives him and resides at Connersville, Ind. Of the seven children born to his parents our subject is the eldest in order of birth, and his early scholastic training was received in the public schools at Batesville and Connersville. Later he learned the cabinet-maker's trade and for several years assisted his father in that work. After the death of the latter all the responsibility of caring for the family fell upon the shoulders of young Hessler, and while at work at the bench he prepared himself for college, reciting to a high school teacher once a week. On the organization of the Indiana weather service, in 1882, he was appointed observer for Fayette County. During the past few years the observations have been kept up by other members of the family. In 1885 he entered the Indiana State University, and two years later was appointed assistant in chemistry in that institution, holding that position
two years. During the winter of 1889-90 he attended the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati. He received the degree of A. B. from the State University and recently the degree of Master of Arts. In the fall of 1890 he came to Indianapolis where he entered the Medical College of Indiana to complete his medical education, attending school during the day and instructing fellow-students in pathology evenings. In the spring of 1891 he grad- uated and entered competitive examination, receiving an appointment as house physician to the city hospital. That position he held until May, 1892, since which time he has been engaged in private practice. On leaving the hospital he was appointed demonstrator of minute pathological anatomy in the Medical College of Indiana, a position he still holds. In the spring of 1893 he was appointed pathologist to the city hospital and to the city dispensary. These positions offer unusual opportunities for the scientific study of diseases. As one result Dr. Hessler has accumulated a very extensive series of slides illustrating nearly the entire range of the human body in health and in disease. Dr. Hessler is an accom- plished naturalist and botanist, with an extensive acquaintance throughout the State in this line. He has been a frequent contributor to scientific and medical journals, and is a member of the Indiana Academy of Science and the Indiana State and Marion County Medical Societies.
WILLIAM J. SHINN. One of the substantial and progressive business men of Indianapo- lis, Ind., is William J. Shinn, who is the present very efficient secretary of the Capital City Fence Company. He was born in Grundy County, Mo., February 5, 1840, a son of John and Elizabeth (Leachman) Shinn, both of whom were born on Blue-Grass soil, but when unmarried and quite young they located with their parents in Putnam County, Ind., where they became acquainted and were eventually married in 1836. In 1839 they moved to the wilds of northern Missouri and located among the Indians in Grundy County where they tilled the soil until the father's death, in 1852, when a comparatively young man. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California in search of gold but after remaining in the West for about a year he returned to his home in Missouri via the Isthmus of Panama and the Gulf. After the death of the husband and father, the mother came to Indiana and thereafter was a resident of Putnam County until her death in 1873, having been for many years a worthy and consistent member of the Baptist Church. She bore her husband seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second, only four of whom are now living, the oth-
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ers dying when quite young. The school days of Hon. William J. Shinn were spent in Grundy County, Mo., and Putnam County, Ind., during which time he attended the old-time log school-house and acquired apractical English education, sufficient to fit him for the prac- tical duties of life. Upon leaving school he, in 1857, entered a mercantile establishment in Filmore, Ind., and followed this occupation off and on for about sixteen years, a part of the time in the town of Lizton, Hendricks Co .; the greater portion of the time was in business by himself. From that time until about fifteen years ago he tilled the soil successfully in Putnam County, but at the end of that time he came to Indianapolis and located on the west side, his family continuing to reside in Putnam County until six years ago. Immediately after arriving in Indianapolis he turned his attention to dealing in stock, as a commission merchant, and up to within three years followed that occupation with satisfactory results. For one year following this he was an assistant in the county auditor's office, then became an employe of the Cleveland Fence Company and for about twelve months was one of their most expert salesmen. Upon severing his connection with this company he aided in the organization of the Capital City Fence Company, of which he has since been secretary. In 1878 he located at the stock yards and soon after was elected a member of the board of trustees of that place, on the Democrat ticket, overcoming a large Republican majority. In 1888 he was chosen president of the board and served very successfully and ably as such for two consecutive years. May 7, 1890, he was elected a member of the school board, of which he was for one year secretary and two years president. Mr. Shinn was married in 1861 to Miss Charity Woods of Filmore, Ind., who died the following year, and in 1865 Miss Sarah F. Wilson became his second wife, and to them three sons and one daughter have been given. Socially Mr. Shinn is a member of the K. of P., West Indianapolis Lodge, No. 244, and in his political views is a stanch Democrat.
FERD. A. MUELLER. From the very earliest ages the art of preparing the compounds that arrest and remove pain and heal the sick has been regarded as among the highest of human functions, and thus it is that so much interest and importance attach to the calling of the druggist in our own day. Among the leading and most reliable members of the phar- maceutical profession, in Indianapolis, may be mentioned Ferd. A. Mueller, who has had an experience of twenty years in the drug trade. The business was established early in the sixties aud passed into the hands of L. H. Mueller in 1865. In 1887 it passed into the hands of J. G. Mueller, and in 1891 into the hands of its present proprietor, who is one of the practical and accomplished chemists and pharmacists in the city, being peculiarly quali- fied for the successful professional career he is pursuing. He is a Hoosier by birth, his parents, Charles G. and Margaret (Heumann) Mueller, being natives of Saxony, Germany, and immigrating to America in 1852. The father was engaged in business in Indianapolis for many years. Ferd. A. Mueller grew to manhood in Indianapolis, was educated in the public schools and at Cincinnati College of Pharmacy, where he remained for four years. Besides he had private instruction in chemistry with Wayne & Dickory, noted chemists. After graduating from the above mentioned college, March 18, 1886, with high honors, Mr .. Mueller spent some time in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the drug business. From there he came to Indianapolis and engaged in business with his brother, but in January, 1891, he took posses- sion of the store purchased from his brother, and has been actively engaged in business since. He is a member of the Indiana Pharmaceutical Association, Marion County Druggist. Association and also a number of other home institutions and societies. Mr. Mueller has the confidence of the public and his extensive business is not confined to this city alone but. extends throughout the whole country in specialties, mixtures, medicines, etc., which he manufactures and puts up. A special feature is made of the prescription department, physician's formula and family recipes being dispensed at any hour of the day or night with that accuracy and precision which have ever characterized Mr. Mueller's operations in this important department of his profession.
EDWARD DANIELS. Although still in the dawn of a successful career, Mr. Daniels is one of the prominent attorneys of Indianapolis, a city well represented by some of the country's most talented legal lights. His present position has been acquired by arduous study and a strict adherence to an honorable course, and as a citizen he is well and favorably known to his fellow townsmen. 6
His father, Joseph J. Daniels, now residing in Rockville, Ind., is a native
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of the Buckeye State, and a descendant of English ancestors who settled in the Empire State after reaching this country. Edward Daniels was also a native of Ohio, born in Greene County, in November, 1854, and came with his parents to southern Indiana when a child. In addition to a common-school education he attended Wabash College, Indiana, and gradu- ated from that institution in 1875. Later he went to New York city, attended Columbia College Law School one year, and in 1878 was admitted to the bar. From there he came to Indianapolis and entered the law office of Baker, Hord & Hendricks, where he remained until 1882 before becoming a member of the firm. He and his present partner, Albert Baker, son of ex-Governor C. Baker (deceased), are the only surviving members of the firm now, Mr. Baker, Jr. having become a member of the firm at the same time with our subject. Mr. Daniels has always adhered to the principles of the Republican party but has never been active in politics. In the year 1892 he was a candidate for the State Senate but was defeated by a small majority. In religion he is a member of the First Presbyterian Church and is active in his support of all worthy enterprises. He married Miss Johnston, daughter of Wylie W. Johnston, now of Wichita, Kan., in 1887.
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