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 3
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HON. AQUILLA JONES (deceased). There is no name connected with the political, manu- facturing and commercial history of Indianapolis held in more honored memory than that of the late Hon. Aquilla Jones, who was born in Forsyth (then Stokes County), North Carolina, July 8, 1811. His parents, Benjamin and Mary Jones, were of Welsh extraction. His father emigrated to Indiana in 1831 and located at Columbus, Bartholomew County, where Elisha P. Jones, an older brother of Aquilla's, had preceded them aud was engaged in merchandising; was the postmaster, and was otherwise a citizen of prominence. Aquilla entered his brother's store as clerk and was thus employed until August, 1836, when he removed to Missouri. In 1837 he returned to Columbus and became "mine host" of a well known hotel. Not long afterward, his brother, Elisha P. Jones, died, and purchasing his stock in 1838, Aquilla succeeded him as a merchant, and was, by the unanimous choice of the people of the town, made postmaster. He had as partners his brothers Charles and B. F. Jones, successively, continuing the business until 1856, and during much of that long period held the office of postmaster. He was the incumbent of this office first from 1838, when he was appointed by Pres. Van Buren, until removed by Pres. Tyler in 1841. He was reinstated by Tyler and retained the office until removed by Pres. Taylor in 1849. His abilities were recognized in 1842 by his election to represent Bartholomew County in the House of Representatives of 1842 and 1843. In 1854 he received the appointment as Indian agent of Washington Territory, one of the most desirable and profitable offices in the gift of the President, but he declined it, as he did later a similar office in New Mexico. Meantime he had continued the mercantile business. This, however, he relinquished on his election, in 1856, to the office of State Treasurer of Indiana on the Democratic ticket by a handsome majority of 7,000, running far ahead of the ticket. He was renominated in 1858,
but declined the honor. About this time he was nominated by a Democratic caucus for Agent of the State, but this office he also refused to accept. His incumbency of the office of State Treasurer had made him a resident of Indianapolis, and in 1856 he disposed of his stock in the Columbus Bridge Company, which erected the bridge across the east branch of the White River and of which he had been president, holding a controlling interest, since its organization in 1849. In 1861 he was chosen treasurer of the Indianapolis Rolling Mill Company and twelve years later he was made its president. In 1873 he was also chosen president of the Indianapolis Water Works Company, but for private reasons resigned four months later and devoted his time more wholly to other interests: Until Mr. Jones and his associates took hold of the rolling mill enterprise, it had never been popular, but under their management, in which Mr. Jones was the directing spirit, it entered upon a period of prosperity which made it one of the great manufacturing interests of the State and one of the leading producers of railroad iron in the West. For more than half a century Mr. Jones was engaged in active business and was successful beyond many of his contempo- raries, a fact due largely to his industry, his intimate knowledge of everything bearing on business transactions and his indefatigable enterprise. He might at any time during his residence there have had any office in the gift of the people of Bartholomew County, and his election to the important office of State Treasurer, demonstrated his more extended popu- larity. He was married in 1836, to Sarah Ann, daughter of Evan Arnold, who did not long survive. In 1840 he married Harriet, daughter of Hon. John W. and Nancy Cox, of Mor- gan County, Ind., who bore him children named Elisha P., John W., Emma, Benjamin F., Charles, Aquilla Q., Edwin S., William M., Frederick, Harriet and Mary. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were members of the St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Jones was a vestryman. Mr. Jones died July 12, 1891; his wife and nine children survive him.
IVE
CADRACUN & WEST ENO. CO ..
E. A. BROWN.
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AND MARION COUNTY, INDIANA.
AQUILLA Q. JONES, son of Hon. Aquilla Jones, whose biographical sketch precedes this is one of the best known and most popular and successful lawyers in Indian- apolis. Born in Columbus, Indiana, April 14, 1852, of his father's sons he was the fifth in order of nativity. His education was begun in the common schools and carried forward at Farmington, Me., at the State University in Bloomington, and at Racine College, Wiscon- sin. He was graduated from the last-mentioned institution in the full classical course with the class of 1873, at the age of twenty-one. Soon afterward having determined to devote his talents and energies to the study and practice of law, he became a student in the office of Rand & Taylor, and in the fall of 1874 he entered the law department of Columbia College, New York, and there completed his legal course. He entered actively upon the practice of his profession in Indianapolis in 1875 and for a time was associated with W. S. Ryan. La- ter, for a time, he practiced in connection with Charles B. Rockwood. In 1880 the law firm of Sullivan & Jones was formed, the members being Thomas L. Sullivan, the present Mayor of Indianapolis, and Aquilla Q. Jones, which has since been unbroken except during the time Judge Sullivan has been on the bench or occupying the executive chair of the city of Indianapolis. In January, 1892, Mr. Jones formed a partnership with Hon. A. C .. Ayres, late Judge of the Marion County Circuit Court, and that partnership now continues under the firm name of Ayres & Jones. In 1893 Mr. Jones was appointed City Attorney and he is now filling that responsibility with much credit and success. In his private practice he has a large and constantly increasing clientage and he is regarded as an able advocate and a safe counselor, and it may be said of him that he is equally well known in all the courts. He is an influential member of the Bar Association, of the Commercial Club and of the Board of Trade, and is also actively identified with the Hendricks Club. For many years he has been a vestryman and is now Junior Warden of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church. He was married in 1881 to Miss Anna L. Raschig, daughter of Charles M. Raschig, for many years a prominent citizen of Indianapolis. As a citizen, Mr. Jones is eminently public spirited and helpful to every cause tending to the benefit of any large class of his fellow citizens. He is personally very popular and counts among his friends many of the leading men of Indiana. HON. EDGAR A. BROWN. The judges of the various courts established in Indianapolis, have always been noted for their character and ability, and one of the most popular of the many worthy men elevated to the bench in the history of Marion County jurisprudence, is the Hon. Edgar A. Brown, judge of the Marion circuit court. Mr. Brown comes of the sturdiest New England stock and is a son of William P. Brown, a native of Vermont. He was born at Lennox, Ashtabula County, Ohio, August 10, 1848, and passed his boyhood assisting his father in his business. He was educated at Grand River Institute, Austinburg, Ohio, and then engaged in school teaching, giving all his spare time to the study of law which he began under the direction of Hon. Jacob B. Julian, of Centreville, Ind., and com- pleted in the office of J. M. Bills of Indianapolis. He was admitted to the bar in 1872. In 1877 he formed a partnership for the practice of his profession with Hon. A. C. Ayers, which existed until the elevation of the latter to the bench. Three years later the firm of Ayers, Brown & Harvey was formed and continued until 1890, when Mr. Brown was elected judge of the circuit court for a term of six years. While Judge Brown is at home in the field of general literature and is a close student of affairs, it is as a jurist pre-eminently that his reputation has been made. He has all the qualifications of a judge; learned in the principles of the law, with the judicial faculty in a high degree of applying them to the facts, courteous in his treatment from the bench and utterly fearless in his decisions, he has well earned the reputation he enjoys of an able and upright judge. It is well known that no member of the Marion County Bar would hesitate to bring an action before him for fear that personal or political prejudice would in any manner influence his decision. He has established for his court the character of a forum where men and causes shall alone be judged by the rules of law and equity, unaffected by extraneous conditions, and has acquired for himself a worthy place in the judiciary of his State, with every prospect of a bright pro- fessional and political future. Judge Brown is a man of strong domestic tastes, is married and has several children. He is a member of the National and County Bar Associations and of several of the prominent literary societies of the city, to all of which he has on every occasion cheerfully given his time and influence. His term of office expires in November, 1896.
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MEMOIRS OF INDIANAPOLIS
GEORGE WASHINGTON PICKERILL, M. D. In all the elements of higher manhood George Washington Pickerill, M. D., is the peer of the best of his race and his life is one that merits a lengthened record, that it may prove an example for the emulation of others. He was boru at Cicero, Hamilton County, Ohio, August 31, 1837, his father and mother, Samuel J. and Mahala M. Pickerill, having immigrated from Brown County, Ohio, in 1832 to this point, while it was yet a wilderness. The father was among the first of the dauntless spirits to engage in platting and organizing the now thriving town of Cicero, and after seing it grow into a prosperous village, removed with his family to Clinton County, Ind., where the pioneer life was lived over with all its perils and dangers. The wild and savage beasts of the woods made the air resound with their cries and the wilder savage red man threatened with toma- hawk and knife. Amid such scenes the early days of George were passed and his education was limited to the subscription school of three mouths in the year. In 1848 the father took his family to La Fayette, Ind., and George, at the age of eleven, went in his father's store, but his ambitious mind would not forego the benefit of the school, which was taught in the winter. At the age of seventeen the intelligent lad entered the Northwestern Christian University, now Butler, fired with the determination to be a minister, an idea implanted by his father's ardent desire and the urgent pleadings of the preachers who visited his father's house, which was "preacher's home" in all that territory. At the end of three years his heart's desire was gratified and he entered upon the preacher's life with the enthusiasm of a young Paul. He was fluent in speech, earnest, devout and eloquent. For two years he labored earnestly and spoke with persuasive force, and then grave doubts filled his breast. He was not lacking in love for the work, nor was his zeal abated; still a voice within bade him halt and "take his hand from the plow." Introspection revealed the fact that his mind was speculative, combative, scientific and progressive-traits which were taking complete control of him and which he could not possibly resist, and which would bring him into con- flict with the conservative spirit of the church. The ideal preacher of his youth and college days was in absolute antagonism with the actual preacher he was becoming, and the disap- pointment was terrible. For the sake of peace in the church and to follow the lead of his own conscience he withdrew from the ministry. Rejecting the law from a mistaken under- standing of its scopehe turned to the study of medicine, he having loug been a student of books ou physical life. Reverses in his father's business threw him upon his own resources at the age of twenty. Still undismayed, he taught school and studied medicine in the meantime. For five years he taught, his first school being at his old home, La Fayette, and his second at Paxton, Ill., and at the latter place one of his pupils, a black-eyed little miss, Melvina E. Hall, captured his heart. His love was returned, but they waited for twenty-five long years before the day of consummation of their happiness; she waiting in sublime faith and devotion, while he struggled to acquire a competency. But the longest road has its turning, and the long waited for day finally arrived, the 17th day of May, 1887, the dawn of a bliss as perfect as it is possible for mortals to attain unto. The happy couple in their married life seemed to be repaid for all their years of delay and disappointment. Alas, this bright and happy period had a sad and terrible termination, for in a little less than one year this brave wife and beloved woman died, a sacrifice upon the sacred altar of maternal love. Of this sad and terrible bereavement the following touching account was handed us by a friend, it having appeared in the doctor's paper, the Medical Free Press :
"IN MEMORY.
" The angel of death came and claimed our wife and infant child. A wife little less than one short year. A sacrifice on the sacred altar of maternal love; an incense as pure and holy as the angel ever wafted from the shrine of connubial fidelity and affection. She is gone and we are left alone-utterly, sadly alone, but with the assurance
"Here, down here 'tis dust to dust: There, up there 'tis heart to heart."
Tears may speak, but the heart and pen are crushed. Hence we present an editorial from the Paxton (Ill.) Record, Mr. N. E. Stevens, editor:
"GONE TO HER REST."
Died, in this city, on Saturday, April 2, at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Hall, Mrs. Melvina E. Pickerill, wife of Dr. George W. Pickerill, of Indianapolis, Ind. The deceased was one of
A ZEEJE & CO CHICAGO.
G. M. Skrill In2.
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AND MARION COUNTY, INDIANA.
. the best known and most highly esteemed of Paxton's daughters, having resided in this city and vicinity sinee her childhood days, until a year since, when she married and removed to Indianapolis, her death occurring while on a visit to her friends in this city. Mrs. P. was a Christian in the highest. sense of the term. Her life in Paxton was noted for the good work she accomplished in society, the church and Sabbath-school. In Indianapolis, though a comparative stranger, she won the esteem of the Christian people in and out of her own church by her untiring labors. The marriage of this eouple was something of the romantic. Twenty-six years ago, Dr. Pickerill, then a penniless young man, taught school in the Strayer district, in what is now Button township, and Miss Hall was his pupil. . The acquaintance ripened into love and they became engaged. The would-be benedict started out in the world to make the fortune which should make it possible for them to marry. Adopting medicine as a profession he struggled for an education, and graduated both from Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Eclectic Medical Institute, of Cincin- nati, and twenty years ago settled down to practice in Indianapolis. Years of time were required to acquire a practice and accumulate means, and during the long delay correspondence had ceased and they had heard nothing from each other, yet the old love remained and neither married. In the mean- time the doctor had taken high rank in his profession, being at that time a professor of physiology in the Indiana Eclectic Medical College, and editor of the Indiana Eclectic Medical Journal now Medical Free Press. Two years ago they met at Indianapolis, after twenty-four year's separation. The old love remained undiminished, and a year later they were married in that city. The eleven months which have expired since have been full of happiness for them, and though the end is abrupt and sad beyond descrip- tion to the bereaved husband, he has the consolation not only of earthly friends but in the assurance that she has but gone before to a better world where he will surely follow. We had the pleasure of the acquaintance of Dr. Pickerill while he was in the city, and found him a genial and intelligent gentleman of broad information and much enjoyed our interview with him."
In the year 1884 Dr. Pickerill became editor and publisher of the Indiana Eclectic Medical Journal, then in its second year. In 1890 he changed its name to Medical Free Press, and this he still owns and edits, putting in most of his time in this, a labor of love. Because of broken health, caused by overwork and exposure in the practice of his profession, he confines his practice to his office. For the same reason he has resigned his connection with the college. The terrible bereavement through which he has just passed has cast a gloom over his life, from which he will probably never emerge. The love for the estimable woman for whom he had labored more than three times as long as did Jacob for Rachel had intensified with the years, and he had counted upon a long period of wedded happiness so that the shock of the loss was and is yet unbearable. Still, with the weight of this sorrow that will not be comforted, and with the burden of ill health, he works along stoically and with a sense of duty, giving a large share of his time to study, reading and reflection, these qualities and virtues having clung to him tenaciously through all the vicissitudes of his career. He does not care much for light literature, but religious, scientific and philosophical subjects are absorbing passions with him, and he pursues them with all the ardor that characterized him in the olden days when he was passing through the struggle of remaining in the ministry or giving it up for something else. Those who know the Doctor well realize that his nature is profoundly sympathetic, like as the pity of a father for his children. he being keenly alive to the joys and the sorrows of others. He is a warm generous friend, yet his is the faculty that can love intensely without hating; for no matter how much one may have injured him he does not and cannot bear malice, or seek revenge against the offender. He is naturally of a most lively temper; indeed it is somewhat cyclonic, at times, in its intensity, and like the cyclone its force is soon spent. It is not possible that a nature as intense as his could escape such ebullitions. But to his infinite credit be it said, he overcomes himself, and therein is mightier than he who overcometh a city. In the language of the Book, he gets angry but sins not. When the storm provoked by the iniquity of some one has stirred the depths of his being, it rapidly dissipates without having done any hurt, for at such a time he keeps within the compass of his own dominion, and with the dissipating of the clouds an infinite calm succeeds and a humility succeeds and a full and free pardon of the offender is granted, whether forgiveness be asked or not. Thus his life has passed, chiefly solitary, except in the one short year of his married life, yet it has been a life of usefulness, largely devoted to the healing of the afflicted and the using of his whole influence in making people brighter and better. In the hours of his weightiest sorrow, even, he must find a measure of solace at least, in the reflection that his life has been unselfish and that it has been privileged him to do much good to his fellow mortals in his journey along the road of life. Early in life or about the age of fifteen years he united with the Christian Church and it is now the happy thought of his life that he has lived a devoted adherent to his faith.
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MEMOIRS OF INDIANAPOLIS
MYRON D. KING. Nothing is more true than the statement that in this country alone, of all the countries upon the face of the earth, a man's family connections do not assist him to places of honor and trust in politics, but he must win his way by his own exertions or by his own honest merit. In the old countries the accident of birth determines the preferment of an individual, and if he be not born to a title or be not the near relative of one who is, he might as profitably seek a mode of travel to the moon as to try to reach up to a promi- nent office. This government of the people is no discriminator of persons, but opens its doors wide for the entrance of all such as possess the requisite qualifications, and birth is by no means one of these. The subject of this sketch, Myron D. King, was born with the heritage of a good name, his father having been a distinguished, honorable and honored citi- zen of the republic, yet Mr. King owes the success that has crowned him, not to this most worthy sire, but to his own exertions and to his superior attainments. It is true that he, as every other man whose father was a good and worthy citizen, must acknowledge a debt of obligation for wise counsels, watchful care and solicitude and intelligent supervision of his education, but in the great arena of public life he has had, just as every other successful person, to wrestle alone and unaided. This is the glory of our grand and good country, that the lists are open to all and it is the greater honor that pertains to the individual that this is true, because he must needs put forth his best efforts if he would attain the goal of his desires. The life of our subject is full of interest and may serve as inspiration to others who are newly started out upon the way. Myron D. King was born August 9, 1851, at Covington, Fountain County, Ind., being the son of James W. King, one of the best known and most popular citizens of that county. The father was elected to the important office of county treasurer of Fountain County, aud was re-elected again and again, serving ten years in all, he being held in such high esteem and making such a faithful public servant that it was not possible to defeat him. He was also a very prominent merchant of Covington and Danville, Ill., and was for a number of years secretary of the institution for the education of the blind, and whether merchant or a public officer he was always the same honorable, upright, just and humane man, full of sympathy for the suffering, charity for the erring and kindness for everybody. Our subject was the second child of a family of five, and, like the others, received the advantages of a liberal education. After a preparatory course he entered, at the age of sixteen, the Northwestern Christian University and remained in that excellent institution of learning from 1867 to 1870, inclusive. The after man was thus early manifest in the youth, and at the age of nineteen, in February, 1871, he was placed in charge of his father's store at Danville, Ill., remaining there until August, 1875, displaying a ripeness of judgment and a perception of business that is very exceptional in so young a man. At the date last named he went to Indianapolis and was appointed to a most respon- sible position of trust, that of cashier and chief clerk of the Indianapolis, Peoria & Chicago Railroad freight department, holding the same for a period of three years to the entire sat- isfaction of the managers of the road, who were much averse to parting with him, and he only gave it up that he might accept a more lucrative but similar place with the Wabash Railroad, holding the latter position for four years. The future of our subject was being worked out in a way that was clear and distinct, for, after giving up the office he held with the railroad, the arena of politics offering a more congenial field, lie was made Deputy Secre- tary of State, serving three years under Capt. W. R. Myers, Secretary of State. Retiring then from public office, he engaged in the fire insurance and real estate business and con . tinued in it for three years, his experience of business affairs acquired in the store at Dan- ville enabling him to compete with those that were older in the business. But Mr. King likes political life, the excitement and the magnificent opportunities for the exercise of strate- gic movements, with a conscientious conviction that the party to which he is united by ties of honest and sincere faith will best carry out the ends of good government urging him to the exercise of his best efforts to the success of that party. Hence, after three years of business life, we find him again holding that very responsible position of Deputy Secretary of State, entering upon his duties in January, 1891, under the Hon. Claude Matthews, then Secretary of State, and serving until January 9, 1893, when, upon the inauguration of Mr. Matthews as governor, Mr. King was appointed by Gov. Matthews to fill out his unexpired term as Secretary of State, at the expiration of which the Governor appointed him his own
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AND MARION COUNTY, INDIANA.
private secretary, also subsequently appointed him military secretary on his staff, with the rank of colonel. Mr. King is a politician of high order of merit, being an expert organizer and an adroit manager of a campaign. He was one of the organizers of the Hendricks Club, the leading Democratic organization of the State of Indiana, and served as its president in the year 1887. He has been one of its directors for the past six years and is regarded as one of its most active, useful and successful members. Mr. King possesses in the highest degree what is so necessary to success in work of this kind, namely, a supreme faith in his party, confident that it is destined to lead his country up to a higher plane of prosperity, where personal liberty will be paramount and the happiness of the people will be far greater because of an all-pervading justice. He was married, in 1882, to Miss Nannie Gal- braith, of Indianapolis, a highly-accomplished lady, by whom he has two most interesting children. He is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church of this city and a firm believer in the faith of that body. His career is but fairly begun and his future promises to advance him far up the height of preferment, his talents and great personal popularity giving every assurance of a life in a wider and broader sphere of prominence and distinction.
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