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 2
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85
19
AND MARION COUNTY, INDIANA.
general circulation of any law book brought out in recent years. "The Work of the Advo- cate" elicited a two-page review in the Albany Law Journal, in which the book is highly praised, not alone for its value to lawyers, but for its literary merit. "It is a pleasure," wrote the able reviewer, "to read such an excellent style, never diffuse and never barren, supplied with striking antitheses and enlivened with apt anecdotes. The Judge is always acute and ingenious." Commenting on "The Law of Roads and Streets," the Central Law Journal of St. Louis adds: "The high reputation and wide experience of Judge Elliott as a member of the Supreme Court of Indiana is such that our readers need not be told that he is capable of preparing a thoroughly good law book. He is the oldest and by com- mon consent the leading member of that court, and, indeed, in point of learning and ability, occupies a place in the front rank of the eminent jurists of this country. His opinions on the bench always exhibit great care, thought and laborious research, and contain terse, vig- orous statements of the law." The latest work, "Appellate Procedure, " although it has not long been in use, has taken a place as a standard authority. It is quoted with approval by many of the courts throughout the country, and is much used by members of the bar of many of the States. Judge Elliott's address on the subject of "Local Self Government," read before the annual meeting of the National Bar Association at Indianapolis in 1890, is regarded as a masterpiece of thought and diction. His oration at the memorial services held at Goshen in 1890, in honor of the deceased Judge J. A. S. Mitchell, is a perfect classic, and is conceded to be one of the finest efforts of its kind ever delivered in Indiana. Judge Elliott is a lecturer on equity and jurisprudence at the De Pauw University at Greencastle, and the Northwestern University at Chicago. The old saying to the effect that it is the man who makes the office honorable, not the office which dignifies the man, was aptly exem- plified by Judge Elliott's five terms of service as city attorney, during which he made the position one of importance, worth a good lawyer's tenure and attention, whereas it had been a mere party makeweight previously. He has added dignity and respect likewise to every other of the important places he has been called upon to fill.
HON. MILLARD F. Cox, Judge of the Criminal Court, Indianapolis, is a son of Aaron and Mary A. (Skaggs) Cox, and was born on his father's farm near Noblesville, Ind., February 25, 1856. His father was of Quaker ancestry and was not only a prominent farmer, but a well known and respected citizen. He was postmaster at Noblesville during the administra- tion of President Andrew Johnson, which was the only public office he ever held, and it came to him unsolicited. Judge Cox's mother was a native of Kentucky, a descendant from one of the oldest families in the State. The Judge numbers among his ancestors men who did gallant service in the cause of their country in the Revolution and in the War of 1812-14. His mother's branch of the family inherited slaves, but freed them and removed to Ohio, where Mrs. Cox was reared, educated and married. Millard F. Cox received his education in the common and high schools. His law studies were well advanced under the direction of his uncle, Judge N. R. Overton, of Tipton, Ind., while he was yet comparatively a boy, and in 1875 he came to Indianapolis, and for a while was in the offices of Buell & Bartholo- mew and Francis M. Trissal, the latter now in Chicago.
While acting as assistant reporter of the Supreme Court after this, he finished his law course and was admitted, in 1878, to practice in all the courts, including those of the United States. He soon formed a profes- sional partnership with Fred Heiner, a young man of then brilliant mind and prospects, which terminated a short time after by his removal to Tipton, where he practiced alone until January, 1885, meantime serving at the request of the entire bar, for two years as Master Commissioner of the Tipton Circuit Court. Against his protest, he was nominated by the Democrats for Prosecuting Attorney for Tipton and Howard Counties, and was defeated with the ticket of his party, which was largely in the minority. Returning to Indianapolis in 1885 he became assistant reporter to the Supreme Court and served in that capacity for four years. In 1890 he was nominated by his party for Judge of the Criminal Court and elected for a term of four years by a majority of nearly 4, 000.
Gov. CLAUDE MATTHEWS, Generally age and experience are essentials to success in whatever branch of human endeavor a man may see fit to devote his life, and it is an indis- putable fact that public men seldom rise to distinction suddenly. However, in the example before us we have a man without any special fortuitous circumstances rising by his own
20
MEMOIRS OF INDIANAPOLIS
force of character, great energy and good judgment, to the position of chief executive of his State. It is not the nurseling of wealth and fortune who has been dandled into manhood on the lap of prosperity, that carries away the world's honors, or wields the mightiest influ- ence; but it is rather the man whose earlier years were cheered by few offers of aid, and such has been the experience of Gov. Claude Matthews, who was born in Bath County, of the Blue Grass State, a son of Thomas A. and Eliza (Fletcher) Matthews, both branches of the family being farmers, and the maternal grandfather serving as one of Kentucky's repre- sentatives in Congress. He attended such schools as his native State afforded until he attained his fifteenth year, then removed to Mason County, his father having purchased a farm near Maysville. Here the schools were of a better class and he availed himself of these oppor- tunities by riding six miles each way daily. In 1863 he entered Center College, of Danville, Ky., and in June, 1867, was graduated from that institution. On January 1, of the follow- ing year, he led to the altar Miss Martha R. Whitcomb, the only child of the late James Whitcomb, governor of Indiana from 1843 to 1849, and the same year of his marriage re- moved to his farm near Clinton, Vermillion County, Ind., where he has ever since made his home, being quite extensively engaged in the raising of grain and stock. The county of Vermillion has always been strongly Republican, and although he has always been a Demo- crat, he, in 1876, was persuaded to make the race for the Legislature and was elected by a majority of nearly 300, nothwithstanding the fact that the County that year had a Republican majority of nearly 400 on the State ticket. In 1882, by the advice of friends, Mr. Matthews decided to make the race for the State Senate in the district com- posed of Park and Vermillion Counties, and although this district had a Republican majority of 1,000, he was defeated by less than 300, which fact speaks for itself as to his popularity. In 1890 be was called upon by his constituents to head the State ticket for Secretary of State, and was elected by a majority of nearly 20,000. In the State Convention of 1892, although a candidate for renomination as Secretary of State, his party again placed him at the head of the ticket as candidate for Governor, to which posi- tion he was triumphantly elected, and has since discharged his duties in a manner calculated to win the respect and admiration of all. Mr. Matthews has always been engaged in farm- ing, and at the close of liis official life expects to return to that work. He is a man of posi- tive character, strong intellect, capable of a great amount of labor, and no man is more loyal in his citizenship, more faithful in friendship, more devoted in home life or more worthy the regard of his fellow men than Gov. Claude Matthews. He has been prominently connected with the stock-breeding interests of the State, and has made a specialty of raising short- horn cattle. He was also an active member, and is yet, of the Farmers' Mutual Benefit As- sociation, and upon the agricultural affairs of his section he has left the impress of his own energy and keen discernment.
HON. OLIVER PERRY MORTON, deceased. No other man has ever been more renowned and honored in Indiana, none has ever attained so warmly the affection of the people, and, of all those born within her borders, none has contributed so largely to the honor and dignity of the State as the subject of this sketch. Born August 4, 1823, in Wayne County, Ind., he was the son of James T. and Sarah (Miller) Morton. His youth and early man- hood gave no evidence of his future greatness, but on the contrary was of a similar character to that of thousands of other poor boys of that day. At Miami College, Oxford, Ohio, where he completed his schooling, he acquired the distinction of being the best debater in the col- lege, and after a two years' course he began the study of law at Indianapolis, and was admitted to the bar in 1847. Five years after that time he was appointed circuit judge by the governor, but he preferred the more active career of a practitioner to that of wearing the judicial robes. Until 1860 he was in active practice and during this time became celebrated as one of the ablest advocates ever produced by the State. Until 1854 he was a Democrat, but was radically opposed to the extension of slavery. He became a Republican upon the organization of that party and in 1856 was one of the three delegates sent from Indiana to the Pittsburg convention. This same year he was nominated by the Republicans, by accla- mation, for the governorship, and although defeated at the polls, he was elected to pre- sicle in the hearts of his countrymen as the ideal statesman. He never appealed to men's passions, but always to their intellect and reason, and whether in attack or defense proved
21
AND MARION COUNTY, INDIANA.
himself a ready and powerful debater. From this campaign of 1856, unsuccessful though it was, Mr. Morton's popularity in the State is dated and from this time forth he became the recognized leader of the Republican party in Indiana. In 1860 he was nominated for lieutenant-governor, with Hon. H. S. Lane for governor, with the distinct understanding, that, if the party was successful, Mr. Lane should be sent to the United States Senate and Mr. Morton become governor. The election of the Republican ticket was followed by the prompt fulfillment of this understanding, and thus, at the early age of thirty-seven years, Mr. Morton became governor of Indiana. It is said that " great emergencies make great men," and as it so did in the case of Gen. Grant, it likewise did in Gov. Morton's Case. Like a black thunder-cloud athwart the horizon, the secession movement loomed balefully over the political sky and threatened the disruption of the Union. Gov. Morton, upon tak- ing his seat, found himself supported by a loyal majority, but, to the shame of Indiana, he was confronted by a secret, active, unscrupulous minority, whose sympathy was not only with the secession movement, but whose active aid and assistance were extended to the dis- loyalists. In the face of these obstacles he was the first governor to proffer President Lin- coln troops, and through his personal pledge was enabled to raise funds for the prosecution of the war which a disloyal Legislature refused doing. As " war governor " Mr. Morton was perfection, and, taking it all the way through, his two terms as governor, were of such a brilliant character as to call forth the admiration of every reading man in the nation. The Legislature elected in 1866 made him one of Indiana's United States senators, and he was again chosen to this position upon the expiration of his first term. His readiness in debate, his keen, analytical mind and his wonderful ability made him one of the foremost men in the Senate chamber and enhanced his popularity as a national character. He was a promi- nent candidate for the presidential nomination before the Cincinnati convention that nomi- nated President Hayes, and in 1870 he was offered the English mission by President Grant but declined the position. No name shines with brighter luster in the history of our county than that of Gov. Morton. He died November 1, 1877.
JOSEPH EASTMAN, M. D., LL. D. There are specialists and specialists. They are countless in number and they vary in skill as stones vary in value from field stones to diamonds and rubies. As in everything else in the world, the proof of the ability of the specialist is in the trial. If he is really more skillful than his brother physicians in the regular practice he demonstrates the wisdom of leaving the treatment of other troubles to others who have given them more study and devoting himself to those in the treatment of which he excels, and it may not be too much to say that he owes it to hinmanity to do so. Indianapolis has her full quota of specialists in many branches of practice. Some are so incompetent as to be conspicuous for that very deficiency, and between the incompetent to the really skillful there are so many grades that it would be impossible to classify them. As good as the best, as skillful as the most skillful, as successful as the most successful, is Dr. Joseph Eastman. Before becoming a specialist Dr. Eastman won a reputation equally as great as a general practitioner, and had come to be known as one of the leading phy- sicians of Indiana and one of the very greatest surgeons. Dr. Eastman was born in Fulton County, N. Y., January 29, 1842, a son of Rilus and Catherine (Jipson) Eastman, the ma- ternal ancestry being German. As he was obliged to depend upon his own resources at a tender age, his early educational advantages were necessarily circumscribed to those afforded in the winter public schools and in such study as he had opportunity for nights, rainy days and at odd moments. Of industrious habits, he required no urging to induce him to work hard early and late, for work was to him the only means to success in life. Before he had attained the age of eighteen he had put in a three years' apprenticeship at the blacksmith's trade and had become a proficient worker in iron. At the outbreak of the Civil War he laid down the hammer, and, turning his back on the anvil, enlisted as a private in the Seventy- seventh New York Volunteers, and the incidents and experiences of his soldier life had a large part in shaping the destinies of bis future career. He participated in four of the leading battles fought in the early part of the war, but after the battle of Williamsburg, Va., he became a victim of typho-malarial fever and was sent to Mount Pleasant Hospital at Washington, D. C. After his recovery he was placed on light duty and later was dis- charged from his regiment and was appointed hospital steward in the United States Army.
.
22
MEMOIRS OF INDIANAPOLIS
It was in the performance of the duties of this office that he became cognizant of the ambi- tion which later led him to eminence as a physician, and laid a most practical and useful foundation for an exceptionally eminent and successful professional career. During his three years' service in the hospital at Washington he attended three courses of lectures given at the University of Georgetown, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1865. He then passed the army examination and was commissioned assistant surgeon of the United States Volunteers, and served with much credit in that capacity until mustered out of service at Nashville, Tenn., in May, 1866. Not long after- ward he located at Brownsburg, Ind., where, during the succeeding seven years, he was engaged very successfully in general practice, and, meanwhile, as opportunity offered, he kept up his reading and attended Bellevue Hospital Medical College, from which institu- tion he received his second degree of M. D. in 1871. At the request of Drs. Parvin & Walker, of Indianapolis, Dr. Eastman accepted the chair of Demonstrator of Anatomy in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of that city, and took up his residence there in 1875. Soon afterward he was appointed consulting surgeon to the City Hospital, a position which he held with great credit to himself and with much benefit to that institution for nine years, during that time delivering courses of lectures on clinical surgery to the students. He was also for eight years the assistant of Dr. Parvin, the distinguished obstetrician and gynecologist. In 1879 he was one of the organizers of the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons of Indianapolis, and was induced to accept the chair of Anatomy and Clinical Surgery. After having taught anatomy in the two colleges mentioned for seven years a special chair was created for him in the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, that of diseases of women and abdominal surgery, which he has held continuously ever since. During the past five years Dr. Eastman has been president of this college. The fame which the Doctor had acquired in the treatment of diseases of women and in abdominal surgery com- pelled him perforce to become a specialist whether or no, for the demands upon him for services in these branches of medical practice were so frequent and so imperative as to prac- tically prevent his giving due attention to general practice, and since 1886 he has devoted his skill and his time entirely to diseases of women and abdominal surgery. His private sanitarium, which was the natural outgrowth of this work in its rapid development, was originally established about nine years ago, and the building it occupies has recently been completed on architectural lines then contemplated, and the property is valued at $40, 000. The structure is modern in design and is in every way adapted to the special uses for which it is intended. It has about seventy-five rooms and its sanitary arrangements are complete and extensive. It is as nearly fireproof as possible, it is provided with an elevator and with open fireplaces, which add greatly to its means for ventilation and enhance its healthful- ness in no small degree. The advantages of a private sanitarium over hospitals and insti- tutions of like character, where the patient has all the conveniences and comforts of home and is in close touch and in constant communication with the skillful and eminent physician, are evidenced by the fact that already this institution is taxed to its utmost capacity with patients from nearly a score of different States. This sanitarium is a credit to Indianapolis and to its originator, and was the first of the kind that was established in the State. During the period of his practice in which Dr. Eastman has given his undivided attention to his spe- cialty, he has performed operations which have involved incisions into the abdomen four hundred times and has removed cancerous womb forty times. He is the only American sur- geon that has ever operated for extra-uterine pregnancy by dissecting out the sack which contained the child and saving the life of both the infant and the mother. (See Hirst's American Obstetrics, Vol. II, page 270.) His operations are also referred to in other stand- ard text books, and have been described and discussed in all the leading American and European medical and surgical journals. In 1891, as a just recognition of his professional merit and worth, the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Wabash College, which was the occasion of his receiving numerous congratulatory letters from eminent physicians and surgeons in all parts of the country, which demonstrated more clearly than almost any- thing else could have done the extent of his fame among his medical and surgical brethren. Dr. Eastman has risen to a degree of skill and reputation rarely obtained in his profession by essentially self-made men, but he has done so only by the hardest study and research,
23
AND MARION COUNTY, INDIANA.
which has enabled him not only to keep abreast with, but in advance of, the great army of physicians and surgeons of his time. Not long since he attended the International Medical Congress at Berlin, and visited Vienna, Paris, London and many of the great centers of medical instruction for which the European continent is noted. The demands upon his time and knowledge at State and national conventions of physicians and surgeons are numer- ons and exacting, and they have included invitations to read papers before the Chicago Gynecological Society and before the American Medical Association at its session at Milwau- kee, in June, 1893. He was also selected as one of a limited number to contribute papers on gynecology and abdominal surgery, at the meeting of the Pan-American Congress which convened at Washington, D. C., in September, 1893, he having twice before acceded to a similar demand with distinguished credit to himself and to the most unbounded gratification of a large body of eminent physicians and surgeons before whom he appeared. In 1868 he was married to Mary Catherine Barker, daughter of Thomas Barker, of Indianapolis. His two sons, Thomas B. and Joseph R. Eastman, are at this time reading medicine under his direction. Dr. Eastman is exceptionally well informed, not alone in his profession and its history and literature, but in other lines of scientific investigation, and has a range of knowledge upon an infinitude of topics which is a constant surprise to all who know him. His opinions on political, economical and other questions affecting the general public are most decided. The Doctor is a member of Roper Commandery, a Knight Templar Mason, and is identified with numerous other societies and organizations not connected with his profession. He is a member of both the Philadelphia and Boston Gynecological Soci- eties, and he is identified with so many lesser associations of physicians and surgeons that space does not admit of a mention of them all in this connection. He was elected chairman on the Section of Diseases of Women of the National Medical Association at the convention held at Milwaukee, June, 1893.
HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX was a true representative of what an American boy can become by his own unaided efforts. His life began in the city of New York, March 23, 1823, and, owing to the death of his father prior to his birth, he became the only living child of a widowed mother. Gen. William Colfax, his grandfather, was a lieutenant in the Continental army when only nineteen years old, and was a close and confidential friend of Gen. Washington. Gen. Colfax married Hester Schuyler and their third son was Schuyler Colfax, who was the father of the subject of this sketch. It was in his native city that Schuyler, Jr., received his early schooling. At ten years of age he began clerking in a store and at thirteen immigrated westward and found a home in New Carlisle, Ind., where he clerked until 1841, when he moved to South Bend. Prior to attaining his majority he served as reporter of the Senate for the State Journal and later was appointed deputy auditor of St. Joseph County. Instinctively he liked and seemed to grasp the ideas neces- sary to make a successful newspaper man. Purchasing the St. Joseph Valley Register in 1845. of which he was the founder, he continued its editor and publisher for a period of eighteen years, obtaining renown as a brilliant writer on all the principal topics of the day. His first election to office was in 1850, when he became a member of the convention which framed the new constitution of the State. As a Whig he was nominated, much to his sur- prise, for Congress in 1851, but was defeated by about 200 votes, claimed by his friends to have been illegally cast at Michigan City. The year following he was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated Gen. Scott for the presidency, and in 1854 was elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress by 1. 776 votes, although the district the preceding election gave a Democratic majority of 1, 200. In 1858 he was re-elected to Congress and was made chairman of the Committee on Postoffices and Postroads. He was elected to the special session of Congress (the Thirty seventh) called to provide for the prosecution of the war, aud was active in raising troops for the suppression of the Rebellion. At the organization of the Thirty-eighth Congress Mr. Colfax was elected speaker on the first ballot, and in the Thirty-ninth Congress was re- elected to the position by a majority of 103 votes. At the organi- zation of the Fortieth Congress Mr. Colfax was a third time elected speaker which fact attested his popularity with his colleagues. The favor with which his name was received was not confined to the halls of Congress, but extended all over the country, and so manifest was this that he was nominated by the Republican party for the office of Vice- President of the
24
MEMOIRS OF INDIANAPOLIS
United States in 1868 and was triumphantly elected. At the expiration of his term of office he returned to South Bend and, declining further political preferment, was practically retired from active life until his death. His home life was one of purity, happiness and affection. He was an ardent member of the I. O. O. F. and was founder of the Daughters of Rebecca degree. For a number of years he devoted his leisure to the delivery of lectures, princi- pally upon the life and character of Abraham Lincoln, and in the prosecution of this work was found in almost every northern state in the Union. Mr. Colfax died in Mankato, Minn., January 13, 1885.
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.