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 15
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DEMARCHUS C. BROWN. While the life of an educator is generally barren of incidents for popular biography, it is still true that the work of a protracted life in this sphere must have many points of interest to practical thinkers, to philosophical speculators on education, and to the great work of educational progress. Years industriously employed in any de- partment of human labor cannot be without its fruits and its lessons. Demarchus C. Brown was born in Indianapolis, Ind., June 24, 1857, and was educated in the public schools there and at Butler University, graduating from the latter institution in 1879, with the degree of A. B. Subsequently he took a post-graduate course and was given the degree of M. A. Following this he taught in the university as tutor for two years and then spent a year at the University of Tubingen, Germany. He was for some time in the British Museum also. In 1883 he returned home and acted as assistant professor of Greek for one year, when he was appointed to fill the Greek chair. That position he filled until June, 1892, and in August of that year he went to Paris, France, where he studied French until November, 1892. He then became a member of the American School of Archaeology, at Athens, Greece, whither he had gone, and remained in that city until the spring of 1893, when he returned to Indian-
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apolis, Iud., and resumed the Greek chair in Butler University. Mr. Brown is a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, and of the Christian Church. He was married in 1881 to Miss Anna Rudy, daughter of P. O. Rudy, of Paris, Ill., who died in 1891 without issue. Philip Brown, father of subject, was a native of Ohio and a merchant, principally. His death occurred in 1864. The mother of our subject was originally Julia Troester and her death occurred in 1873.
DR. HENRY S. CUNNINGHAM. The value to any community of a professional man is not marked merely by his learning and skill, his proficiency in medical and surgical practice, but also by his character, both private and professional, his honorable adherence to medical ethics and his personal integrity and benevolence of purpose. When a physician combines these characteristics it is with great pleasure that we record his life work, and such a man do we find in Dr. Henry S. Cunningham. This physician of Indianapolis had his birth in Arm- strong County, Penn., September 1, 1839, and remained in his native county until eighteen years of age. Being left an orphan at a tender age he educated himself and is a self-made man in every particular. He has known the demands of poverty, but his honesty, goodness, energy and stick-to-it iveness have bronght their rewards, which he and his family are now enjoying. He attended the public school and when thirteen years of age entered the acad- emy at Worthington, Penn., to study higher branches. There he remained until eighteen years of age, working his way, after which he entered grammar school at New Haven, Conn., for a year. After this for a number of years he taught school and worked at mechanics. In 1862 he began the study of medicine with Starling Loving at Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Starling College there June 30, 1865. He then came to Indiana, Hancock County, and located at Warrington, but owing to ill health did not enter upon his practice until April, 1866. He remained at Warrington until the spring of 1869 when he located at Winchester, Randolph County, where he continued until the spring of 1871. From there he went to Mon- treal, Canada, and entered the medical department of Bishop College where he graduated April 4, 1872, with the Canadian C. M., M. D. degree. In April of the following year he came to Indianapolis and from the first had a successful practice. For two years he was on the staff of Bobb's Free Dispensary in the early seventies, Professor William B. Fletcher, super- intendent. He is a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Province of Quebec. He was one of the charter members of Marion County Medical Society, but is not an active member now. He was a member of the original Academy of Medicine during its existence. Dr. Cunningham is the author of "Lectures on Physiological Laws of Life and Hygiene," published in 1882, which was kindly received by the profession and has had an extensive sale. He was physician to the German Protestant Orphan Home at Indianapolis, from October, 1887, up to October, 1891, when he resigned and was regularly appointed as consulting physician, a position he yet occupies. The Doctor is a member of the Western Association of Writers and at the annual meeting in June, 1893, at Spring Park, Warsaw, Ind., he read a paper before that body on "Man's Individuality and Responsibility." He is a man of education, a ready writer, and is well known in the city as one of the leading practitioners. He is also a member of the present executive board of Western Association of Writers. Socially he is a member of the Masonic Order, the I. O. O. F., A. O. of D. and Chosen Friends. He has served as president of the board of health of Indianapolis. In the year 1864 he was married to Miss Emma Mills, a native of Pennsylvania, and three chil- dren have been born totheir union. Mrs. Cunningham died of consumption but the children are living. The Doctor's second marriage occurred in 1876, to Miss Carrie Fairfield, a na- tive of Syracuse, N. Y., and a daughter of John D. and Charlotte (Knapp) Fairfield. She died on December 18, 1887. The Doctor adheres to the platform of the Democratic party. HON. CYRUS F. MOSIER. The facility with which the American soldier laid down the implements of warfare, at the close of the great conflict between the northern and south- ern States, and adapted himself to the pursuits of civil life, has been the wonder of all nations, and scarcely less surprising than gratifying to the American people themselves. While not a few very profonnd citizens of the Republic were speculating as to what was to become of the thousands of men mustered out of the armies of the United States, the ques- tion was solved by the ex-soldiers themselves, who quietly stepped into the ordinary walks of life, to become the very flower of American citizenship, and the chief promoters of a
Yours Truly IsComminghans MS.
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national progress which is without a parallel in history. In ability, industry, integrity and morality, in respect for the rights of others, and everything that goes to make up a good citizen, the manhood of the nation suffered nothing as a result of the war, but on the con- trary it has been demonstrated that the beardless boys who left the farm, the workshop, the storeroom and the college, to fight the battles which were to preserve the life of the nation, came out of the conflict, as a rule, better fitted for that kind of systematic, tireless and per- sistent effort which wins success, than the young Americans of any generation since the revolutionary period. This fact cannot fail to impress itself upon either the writer of American history proper, or of that branch of history which consists of the biographies of those who have achieved sufficient distinction to make the record of their lives of interest to the public. Whenever we attempt to write the history of a great enterprise, we find among its chief promoters, men who were at Vicksburg, Donelson, Gettysburg, or Appomattox; we find the same class of men on the bench, at the bar, in the pulpit, in high official positions, and in the field of medicine, and wherever we find them, with rare exceptions, they reflect the highest credit upon their respective callings. The subject of this sketch was one who donned the blue uniform and fought bravely for the old flag, serving with distinction through the Rebellion. He comes of good old fighting stock, his paternal grandfather hav- ing fought and died for independence. Mr. Mosier was born on June 21, 1840, and is a descendant of English ancestors, inheriting their thrift and enterprise. He is the son of Cyrus and Rebecca (Weeks) Mosier, natives of the Empire State, where the father, in con- nection with the millwright trade, carried on a carriage manufactory. The Weeks family was related to the Mosier family on the mother's side, and several members of this family were killed in the noted Wyoming massacre. The parents of our subject had born to their
union three children, as follows: Horace (deceased), Cyrus F., and Charles who was drowned in a spring. Cyrus F. was but two months old when his father died, and his mother after- ward removed to Corning, N. Y., where she resided for six years. From there she moved toward the setting sun and settled in New Haven, Ind., where she married Rufus McDonald, one of the prominent men of that section. By this union two children were born, only one. Rufus, now living. The original of this notice bas known the demands of poverty, and consorted with them if any man has, but his honesty, goodness, energy and perseverance have brought their rewards of which he and family are now enjoying. When but a boy he started out to fight his own way in life, and first stopped at Newville, Ind., where he secured employment and schooling during the winter months, for six years, working during the summer seasons for his schooling the following winter. At the end of this time he was offered the principalship of this school and after serving in that capacity for some time, he accepted other positions. Mr. Mosier is not an educated man in the technical sense of the word, but he harmonizes canse and effect so logically, that he is recognized as one whose opinion is of much weight. In 1861, on the first call for troops in the State, he was the first man to enlist in the call from De Kalb County. He joined Company F, First Twelfth Regiment as private and later was made sergeant of Company E, Fifty-fifth Regiment. Still later he was made first lieutenant of Company D, One Hundred and Eighteenth Regi- ment, and served in that capacity for two years and one month, or until about the close of hostilities. He was captured with about. 7,000 men, but made good his escape before seeing the inside of prison walls. He was in many hotly contested battles during service, and no braver soldier trod the red sod of a battle field. Returning home after the war, he engaged in the manufacture of brick, continued this two years, and then located in New Haven, Ind., where he was employed as a teacher in the vicinity. For seventeen years he was one of the prominent educators of that section, and in that capacity his peculiar capabilities shone forth in their brightest splendor. He served two terms as city attorney of New Haven, and being a Republican and the town being strongly Demo. cratic, demonstrated very clearly the hold Mr. Mosier had upon the affections of the people. From there he moved to Maysville, Ind., and started a newspaper, but in the spring of 1877 he removed to Bristol, Elkhart County, and started the Bristol Banner, a publication which has much to do with molding public sentiment inside its circulation, and which influ- ence sont Mr. Mosier two terms to the Indiana Legislature from this county in 1882, a position he filled with credit to himself and his party. Had he not declined peremptorily,
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he might have been returned in 1888, but like the true gentleman, he felt he had been honored enough, and stood aside, cheerfully, only, however, to work the harder for bis suc- cessor. He still owns and controls the Bristol Banner and its crisp and trenchant editorials command an ever widening area of circulation, while they carry with them that weight and authority which a clear, calm and intelligent judgment must always secure. Mr. Mosier is the president of the People's Mutual Benefit Society, a position he has held for years, and though subject to deposition by the stockholders at their annual, he is nevertheless period- ically made his own successor, which compliments his integrity, evidences his popularity, and in so many words says: "Leave well enough alone." He bas erected a good substan- tial business block in Bristol, with his other business. He is deeply interested in anything that points to the elevation of the city of his adoption, is popular with the masses, urbane toward all, and if there be anything wanting in his makeup to make him a Christian gentle- man, no one has discovered it. He enjoys his well-earned reward with dignity, while his home is a green spot after day's duty is over, Mrs. Mosier being a true counterpart of her excellent husband, and as cheerful and generous a dispenser, and what may be said of him can be said of few, that he is never spoken ill of, and while there may be better people in the city, it will take the umpire of ceremonies to discover them. He is a man of stalwart simplicity and fine descrimination between right and wrong, and having the courage of his convictions, he is a fighter no matter what the odds. He has a plain but forcible manner in appealing to public sentiment, which makes him one of the people as an integer, and which would elevate him politically, if he possessed the assurance of the average office-seeker, but being built on a more modest plane, it works to his disadvantage, though probably more to his taste. One of the strongest traits of his character is prudence, never acting until all doubt is removed, and the outcome logically weighed, and when decided, he rides down obstacles against all bias; honorable in expense, liberal in contributions to what promises utility, but unworthy calls on his charity get the cold shoulder, and it may truly be said that nature and fortune find in him a combine seldom met, which is why he and Elkhart get on to- gether well, and why each is proud to own the other, and may he and his live long in the friend- ship of the city of their adoption. Mr. Mosier was elected a member of the school board and ex officio member county board of education for three terms in succession and was secretary of the board at the same time. He is treasurer of the Fidelity Building & Savings Union of Indianapolis, where he spends much of his time, and socially he is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the G. A. R. He was married on May 24, 1863, to Miss Drusilla L. Roe, and they have one child living, Horace. Urtis V. and Inez B. are deceased. Horace occu- pies the chair of manager of the loan department of Fidelity Building & Loan Company, at a good salary, although only twenty years of age.
WV. A. SULLIVAN. Among the prominent railroad men of Indianapolis, Ind., stands the name of W. A. Sullivan, who is a native of that city, born June 27, 1859, and who was educated in the public schools there. In 1872 he left school and began working for the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, as messenger boy at Indianapolis, and after a few months returned to the employ of the Big Four Railroad for which he had worked six weeks prior to being employed by the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad. March 1873 he began his duties as messenger boy for this company and in the spring of 1874 he was promoted to a clerkship which place he filled until 1880 when he was made chief clerk, filling that position in a very satisfactory manner for fourteen months. He was theu made secretary to Superintendent J. W. Sherwood and continued in that capacity for sixteen months. On January 1, 1883, he was made agent of the Big Four, and this position he now holds. He is one of the most efficient and capable railroad men and sustains the reputation of the Big Four as the most admirably managed of the great trans- portation lines entering Indianapolis. In March, 1891, he was elected a member of the Board of Public Safety. Socially he is a member of the Masonic order, also the Elks, and the National Association of the Local Freight Agents' Association. On May 21, 1884, Mr. Sullivan was married to Miss Addie K. Buchanan, daughter of Capt. James M. Buchanan, of Indianapolis. Two children have been born to this union, Mabel Marie and William Buchanan.
Albert & Sterne M. D.
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ALBERT E. STERNE, M. D. The aim of the modern physician is high and it is no longer possible for a person to pick up a smattering of medicine here and there, nail np his shingle and strike out, hit or miss, when called upon to prescribe in cases of illness. The demand of the age is for gentlemen of culture, refinement and scholastic finish, who shall add to literary education a thorough course of professional education in some established institution of recognized authority. Dr. Albert E. Sterne, of Indianapolis, has met these requirements most fully, and beyond even what is expected or fulfilled in most cases. This most accom - plished young man has prepared most fully for the noble profession, having, in fact, used every possible agency for the equipment of himself for the successful practice of medicine. Thus fortified, he has started out with the confidence and the esteem of bis brethren and is rapidly building up a desirable practice as the result of his superior attainments. His future is already assured and success is before him. Albert E. Sterne was born in Cincin- nati, April 28, 1866, the son of Charles F. Sterne, a native of Germany, who came to America when a boy and settled at Peru, Ind., and in after years established the Peru Woolen Mills, in connection with a brother. He was a most successful manufacturer and business man and owned a great deal of real estate in Cincinnati, Indianapolis and other places. He married Eugenia Fries, a native of Bavaria, who came to America with her parents when very small. Her father was a professor in a gymnasium in Germany. The father of our subject died in 1880 and his mother in the following year. Our subject was reared in Peru, where he attended the public schools until he was eleven years old, when he left for Prof. Kinney's celebrated school at Ithaca, N. Y., where he remained a year, and then entered the Mt. Pleasant Military Academy at Sing Sing, N. Y., attending a course of four years, after which he entered the classical department of Harvard Uni- versity, at the age of seventeen, and graduated in the class of 1887. In the fall of that year he went to Germany, studying medicine in Strasburg for two and one-half years. He went thence to Berlin, where he remained three years, graduating from the University of Berlin August 12, 1891. In the meantime, during his vacations, be studied in the hospitals of Paris, London, and other European cities, visiting all the hospitals of Europe, and being an interne of the Berlin Charite and Dublin Rotunda hospitals. The doctor then returned to the United States in December, 1892, locating at Indianapolis, where he at once began the general practice, but it his purpose to make a specialty of nervous diseases, having made an extended and special study of this most important subject. Dr. Sterne is a member of the American Medical Association, of the Indiana State and the Marion County Medical Associations, of the Indianapolis Surgical Society, and is also a member of the American Association of Physicians at Berlin, being a charter member and one of the founders of the latter association. To a scholarly mind and a most intimate knowledge of his profession Dr. Sterne adds a genial, pleasant, agreeable manner, a nature that is in full sympathy with his fellows and a spirit of broad and liberal charity. In him is a combi- nation of all that is necessary to the complete modern physician and he is fast making friends in this city.
PROF. ALLEN R. BENTON. One of the pioneer educators of the State of Indiana, Prof. Allen Richardson Benton is a native of the Empire State, born in Cayuga County, October 1, 1822. He received his primary education in the common schools of his native county and later entered Elbridge Academy, in Onondaga County, N. Y. After leaving that institution he farmed and taught in the public schools until he entered Fulton Academy, Oswego County, N. Y., in 1843, and graduated at Bethany College, West Virginia, in 1847. From Bethany he came to Rush County, Ind., and located at Fairview, where he was principal of Fairview Academy for six years. Prof. Benton organized that school and made it a very prosperous one, beginning with about twenty-five pupils the first year, but on account of its popularity the board of control limited the number to seventy. After the first year the quota was always full and vacancies eagerly waited for. Leaving the Academy in 1854, Prof. Benton spent the fall, winter and spring in the University at Rochester, N. Y., taking a post- graduate course. In the spring of 1855 he came to Indianapolis, where he had been elected professor of ancient languages in the Northwestern Christian University (now Butler University). Previous to opening the University in the fall, our subject opened a select school in the college building and continued this until taking his chair as professor of
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ancient languages. He held the chair above mentioned until 1861, when he was elected president of the college, filling that position until 1868, and in the meantime teaching ancient languages. In the last named year this well-known educator moved to Alliance, Ohio, where he accepted the chair of Latin in Alliance College. In 1869 he was elected president of the college and served in that capacity during 1869-70, and until the spring of 1871. He then was called to organize the University of Nebraska, at Lincoln, and was elected its first chancellor, which position he held for five years. This university has now 1,000 students. In 1876 Prof. Benton returned to Indianapolis and was elected to the chair of philosophy and biblical literature in Butler University, which chair he now holds. In 1886 he was elected president of Butler University and held that position in addition to his duties as professor of philosophy and biblical literature up to 1891, when he resigned as president but still holds his professorship. Prof. Benton has delivered many addresses that have been published but has never written anything especially for publication. He does not belong to any of the secret organizations. The early life of our subject was passed on a farm and he was actively engaged with the duties of the same until twenty-one years of age. He entered Elbridge Academy when twelve years old and was regarded as very profi- cient in languages and mathematics. At Bethany College he was given first honors in lan- gnages and mathematics and was offered the chair of mathematics in that institution, but refused. He is a man of profound learning, an able linguist aud forcible speaker. He im- presses all with whom he comes in contact as being an earnest, efficient and faithful laborer in the cause of education. He is a man of popular address, fine social qualities and marked originality of thought and expression. Prof. Benton was married in Oswego County, N. Y., in 1851, to Miss Silence Howard, daughter of Dr. Ransomn Howard, who was a cousin of William Cullen Bryant's grandmother, Silence Howard. Three children have been born to this union: Grace, wife of James S. Dales, comptroller of the University of Nebraska; Howard Allen, married Miss Frances Stephenson, daughter of Dr. A. C. Stephenson, and resides in Indianapolis; and Mattie, wife of Willard E. Stewart, ex-county judge, at Lin- coln, Neb. Allen Benton, father of the Professor, was born in New York State, near Albany, but his father, Isaac Benton, was a native of Litchfield, Conn. For forty years Allen Ben- ton practiced medicine in Cayuga County, N. Y., and was an honor to his profession. Deborah Willey, the maiden name of our subject's mother, was a native of East Haddam, Conn. By her marriage to Dr. Benton she became the mother of these children: Heman, a farmer now residing in Caynga County, N. Y. ; Prof. Allen R. (subject of this sketch); Matilda, wife of John M. Shepard, a minister of Cayuga County, N. Y .; Charles Darwin, a farmer of Caynga County, and Dr. James D. The latter was surgeon, first of the One Hundred aud Eleventh New York Regiment, but was afterward transferred to another regi- ment and served through the war. He died in 1891 as a result of exposure during that trying period. The father of these children passed away in 1879, following his wife, who had breathed her last in 1867. The father was of English and the mother of Scotch origin. Both were honorable, upright citizens and their family holds an honored and influential place at the homestead in western New York.
DANIEL BATES HOSBROOK affords in his life and its success another evidence that indus- try, economy and integrity constitute the keynote to honorable competency. After a long and honorable career he has retired from the active duties of life and now enjoys a pleasant and comfortable home in the southeastern part of the city of Indianapolis. He was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, December 9, 1822, and received his early education and training in the common schools of that county. His father, Daniel Hosbrook, was county surveyor of this county for several years, and young Daniel assisted his father in surveying and upon the farm from his fifteenth to his twenty-first year, and in the meantime by diligent study and application he thoroughly qualified himself as a surveyor and civil engineer and removed to the city of Indianapolis in the year 1846. Here he soon found employment in his profes- sion and was elected to the office of county surveyor of Marion County, which office he held for several terms and afterward was elected to the office of civil engineer of the city of In- dianapolis. He has been for a number of years consulting engineer for the county commis- sioners of Marion County, and as such made the plans for and superintended the construction of a large number of bridges built by the county commissioners. He has been a member of
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