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 34
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ALBERT E. BUCHANAN, D. D. S. In this country where so many young men are thrown upon their own resources at an early age and are often obliged, while yet inexperienced and unfamiliar with their own tendencies and inclinations, to choose their occupation in life, it. cannot always be expected the most suitable or most congenial pursuit will be selected. In the old country, where too often genius and ambition are both absolutely opposed by the old adage, "follow your father, my son, and do as your father has done," young men do not have the advantage they do here. In this country it is the trend of legislation to place no obstacle in the way of the full development of talent and the skyward expansion of genius, and thus the youth of this country usually find as suitable an occupation as did Albert E. Buchanan, who chose the calling of a dentist, and has found it admirably suited to his quali- fications and desires. He was born in Cumberland, Marion County, Ind., June 8, 1860, a son of John and Jane C. (Ferguson) Buchanan, who were also born in Indiana, and were among the early settlers of Marion County. In the town of his birth the subject of this sketch was reared, and he there obtained his education and in Moore's Hill College. In July, 1881, he came to Indianapolis, and began the study of dentistry, his preceptor being Dr. T. S. Hacker. After remaining under his instruction for some time he entered the Indiana Dental College in October, 1881, and was graduated therefrom in 1883, after which he remained with Dr. Hacker for seven years as his associate in the practice of dentistry. At
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the end of that time he embarked in business for himself, in which he has built up a very large and paying practice. For a number of years after his graduation Dr. Buchanan as- sisted Dr. Hacker as demonstrator in the Indiana Dental College, but now devotes his entire time to his practice, the duties of which he has found arduous. He has already won a repu- tation for skill that is by no means local, and what he endeavors to do he does well. His charges are reasonable, and being generous and considerate he never pushes his debtors. He was married January 20, 1886, to Miss Nellie Roll, a native of Indianapolis, and a daugh- ter of W. H. Roll, and to their union one child has been given, Julia J., born May 31, 1891. The Doctor is a member of the Indiana Dental Association, and is a member of the Com- mittee on Code of Ethics in the same. He is a member of the Post-Graduate Society of Indianapolis, and socially belongs to the I. O. O. F. He and his wife are members of the First Baptist Church, and for several years he has been a teacher in the Sabbath-school, and also assistant superintendent. Politically he has always affiliated with the Republican party, and at all times supports its men and measures.
GEORGE M. SMITH. This gentleman is a native of that country whose citizens are noted for their industry, frugality and honesty, Germany, and throughout life he has shown that he is possessed of these worthy characteristics in an eminent degree. He was born in Seidendorf, October 14, 1836, and received the benefit of the schools of his native land from the time he was six up to the age of fourteen years. In 1852 he came to America in com- pany with his brother Conrad and his sister Elizabeth, taking passage at Bremen, May 2, and after a long voyage of fifty-six days they reached the port of New York. They then went up the Hudson River to Albany, then by rail to Dunkirk, then across the lake to San- dusky, Ohio, then by the old flat-bar railroad to Dayton, Ohio, and on to Hamilton. Mr. Smith says that frequently the cars got off the track and that in such cases the passengers would get off the cars and walk nntil the train caught up with them. The trip from San- dusky to Hamilton occupied two days and a night. Upon his arrival in the latter place Mr. Smith went to work in Mr. Becket's paper-mill, then apprenticed himself to Philip Huber, a baker and confectioner, but as his employer did not pay him his wages as agreed, he left him at the expiration of six months and entered the employ of Hon. Lewis D. Campbell, ex-con- gressman, with whom he remained nntil the spring of 1854, when he came to Hancock County, Ind., where his brother Conrad had preceded him. He became an employe of Widow Gooding, mother of Hon. David S. Gooding, at the hotel kept by her in Greenfield. He remained in her employ and that of Dr. N. P. Howard, her son-in-law, for two years, then went to Shelby County, and for two years conducted a general store at Pleasant View. There he was married March 28, 1858, to Delphina, daughter of Squire Reuben Barnard, a Quaker and a native of Nantucket, Mass. In 1860 he bought a farm of 70 acres of Henry Grass onto which he moved and in time added 15 to the 30 acres that had been cleared. In 1867 he bought 40 acres on Sugar Creek, in Shelby County, but sold it in November, 1868, and in the spring of the following year sold the rest of his land and came to Marion County, purchasing 160 acres, consisting of two 80-acre tracts, for which he paid $10,000. One linn- dred acres were cleared and he now has 120 acres cleared on which he raises the usual farm products. He has always been a Democrat, and since the time of Stephen A. Douglas he has never missed voting for a Democratic president. He was elected trustee of his township in 1874, serving for two years. He is a worthy member of the Christian Church at Irvington, and is an enthusiastic member of the I. O. O. F. Of eleven children born to himself and wife only one is dead, Eudora, who passed from life in infancy. The rest are as follows: Elizabeth G., who married Isaac Harlan, has two children, Mary and Smith; Cora M .; William C., ex-county surveyor; Oscar L. ; Amy E., assistant principal teacher in the Free Kindergarten at Buffalo, N. Y. : Clarence K. ; Ivy M. ; Walter E. ; George M. and Mary D. The paternal grandfather of these children was George J. Smith, who died in his native land in Germany in 1843, seven weeks after his wife died, at which time he was fifty-one years old. He had been married twice, his first wife giving him four children, only one of whom grew to maturity, Michael. His second wife was Anna Marie Helmreich, and by her he became the father of ten children, three of whom survive as follows: John K., of Fair- land, Ind. ; Elizabeth, widow of Jacob Kohler, of Hamilton, Ohio, and George M., the subject of this sketch. The latter's father-in-law was born on the Island of Nantucket, Mass., in
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1805, and in 1806, owing to the persecutions to which the Quakers were subjected, his father, Libroy Barnard, with other Quakers, emigrated to North Carolina, settling in Guil- ford County, and there on Deep River, within twelve miles of Greensboro, Reuben Barnard was brought up and lived until September, 1833, when he came to Indiana, locating first in Centerville, from whence he walked in March, 1834, to Indianapolis, entering 80 acres of land in Hancock County. About two years later he entered 80 acres more and there lived until his death in 1869. He was justice of the peace in Hancock County for quite a number of years, and politically was a Democrat, his first vote having been cast for Andrew Jackson. He was a Quaker but was excommunicated for marrying outside the pale of the church. He was married to Elizabeth, daughter of David and Sarah Curry. She was born and reared in Davidson County, N. C., and bore her husband ten children, as follows: Louisa; Fred- erick, who died in Texas, was married to Mattie Bond, whose father was a Colonel in the Confederate service during the Civil War; James J. married Jane McAdams (nee Shannon) and had four children-Reuben, Elizabeth, Eunice and Frederick; Sarah E. first married Ezekiel Cunningham, who died in the Federal service at Helena, Ark., and by whom she had three children-Adolphus, Elenora, and Samuel, and after his death she married Christian Scheldmeir and to whom four children were given, two of whom survive-Bertha, who mar- ried Thomas Groves, and Laura; Delphina became the wife of George M. Smith; Mary E., as the widow of William T. King, married George W. Jenks (Mary T., her child by her first husband, married Robert T. Lee), and by George W. Jenks she became the mother of one son, Charles; Elihu B., who died at the age of sixteen years; Eunice (deceased) married Richard Senour, by whom she had seven children, of whom five survive-Mary, Edward, Laura, Nellie, and Elizabeth; William, of Greenfield, Ind., married Amanda Gibson and bas two children, Borgia and Audrey; Charlotte J., who married John Burkhart, lives in Shelby County, Ind., has seven children-John; Charley, who married a Miss Williams; Eunice, Adrian, Edna, Jesse, and Ernest. Mr. Barnard, the father of Mrs. Smith, died in 1869, and his wife July 24. 1892, at. the age of eighty-six years. Mrs. Smith's paternal great-grandfather, was in all probability the Huguenot emigrant ancestor who, with so many of his co-religionists, fled from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and with a band of brotherly, loving friends, purchased the Island of Nantucket that they might have a place to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience.
J. O. HENDERSON. The career of this well-known journalist and politician illustrates the value of those sterling qualities which enable men to make their way to positions of responsibility and distinction. John Oscar Henderson was born in New London, Howard County, Ind., forty-five years ago, the second of five sons of the late J. F. Henderson, a pioneer physician and noted early Democratic leader of the Indiana Reserve. Soon after the beginning of the Civil War the family moved to Kokomo, the seat of justice of Howard County, and Dr. Henderson entered the Union army as surgeon of the Eighty-ninth Regi- ment Indiana Volunteers. Mr. Henderson received an academic education at Kokomo and was graduated from Asbury (now DePanw) University in 1872. Meantime Dr. Henderson had founded and was the owner of the Kokomo Dispatch, and his two sons, J. O. and H. E. Henderson entered upon their career as journalists in 1876, and soon established themselves firmly among the leading Democratic editors and political managers of the State. For years J. O. Henderson was chairman of the local county committee. In 1885 he was appointed revenue collector for the Eleventh Indiana District by President Cleveland, and filled that position two years with much credit and success. In 1886 he served as a member of the executive committee of the Democratic State central committee, and in 1888 be was a delegate to the Democratic national convention and was made assistant secretary of that body. In 1889 he was elected president of the Democratic Editorial Association of Indiana. In 1890 he was elected auditor of the State of Indiana, and was re-elected in 1892, and is now for the second term filling that office.
AMOS L. WILSON, M. D., of Indianapolis was born near Casey, Ill., Angust 20, 1858, son of Jonathan and Mary (Huntington) Wilson, the former a native of Kentucky, the latter a native of New York. His father, who had been a life-long farmer, came to Indiana when a young man and has lived in this State and Illinois all his life since, being at this time resident in the vicinity of Casey, Ill. Two of his sons (brothers of Dr. Wilson) named
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James N. and Joshua C. Wilson, served their country in the Civil War, and the former, a member of Gen. Benjamin Harrison's regiment, lost hislife at Resaca, May 15, 1864. Joshua C. Wilson is a resident of Nebraska. Another son of Jonathan Wilson (John A.) served for seven years with the regular army in the West until discharged for disability. Besides those mentioned above there are three other children of Jonathan Wilson living, and resid- ing in Indianapolis, viz. : Asa B. Wilson, Mary A. Wilson and Mrs. Sarah McFall, and three, one son and two daughters, dead. When Dr. Wilson was about four years old his mother died. He was reared in Johnson County and divided his youth between farm labor and the common schools, followed by a normal school course. For five years thereafter he tanght in the public schools of Johnson and Bartholomew Counties, Ind., and in the spring of 1884 came to Indianapolis, and in September of that year was appointed clerk in the city postoffice, one of the first appointed under the civil service rule. Thirteen months after entering upon the duties of this position he resigned it to devote his entire time to the study of medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. E. F. Hodges, graduating from the Medical Col- lege of Indiana in the spring of 1887, and by competitive examination securing the appoint- ment as physician to the city dispensary for one year. At the end of that time, he entered upon the regular practice of his profession, which he has continued to the present time. He is a member of the Marion County Medical Society, of the Indiana State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association, and has prepared and read papers before the county and State societies. Of the County Medical Society be has been secretary. In politics he is a Republican and is connected with the K. of P. and the R. A. April 24, 1889, he married Mrs. Nellie (Gifford) Rothingatter, a native of Michigan and a daughter of George and Laura (Fanning) Gifford. They have a daughter named Helen Gifford and a son named Wilbur Niles. Georgia Rothingatter is Mrs. Wilson's daughter by her former marriage.
VIRGIL. H. LOCKWOOD, the well-known lawyer and patent attorney, was born on a farm near Fort Branch, Gibson County, Ind., May 6, 1860. His father, James T. Lockwood, was a native of Westchester County, N. Y., and is now a leading merchant at Prince- ton, Ind. His mother, Juliet Neely Adams, was born in north central Kentucky and belonged to a family that produced several able men in Kentucky, southwestern Indiana and elsewhere, including Gen. John I. Neely, Gov. Neely, of California, Gov. Ralston, of Tennessee, and Ex-Congressman Thomas, of Metropolis, Ill. Mr. V. H. Lockwood grew np on the farm and received his early education at Fort Branch. That he was an apt aud diligent student is apparent from the fact that he was graduated from the Fort Branch High School at the early age of fifteen. His father being at the time unable to give him the col- legiate education he desired, Mr. Lockwood taught school during the remainder of his minority, except in 1878, when he was a student at DePauw (then Asbury) University. At the early age of eighteen hie assumed the principalship of the High School and continued in that position for three years. In 1881 he entered the law school of the University of Vir- ginia and was graduated therefrom. The next four years he devoted to various special branches of scientific and literary study in the University of Virginia. After reviewing his legal studies at the same institution, he began, in March, 1886, the practice of his profes- sion at Detroit, Mich., in association with E. Y. and C. M. Swift. During his legal and collegiate training, which Mr. Lockwood procured through his own unaided efforts, he pre- pared himself for the practice of the specialty which has since received his entire attention with marked success. He was led to choose his specialty by reason of his interest in the material progress of the people, his liking for all means whereby man utilizes the laws and materials of nature for his own advancement, and the belief that a man can be of great- est service to his fellow man by limiting the scope of his efforts and investigations. Mr. Lockwood came to Indianapolis and, in March, 1892, succeeded to the patent-law business of Charles P. Jacobs, Esq. His efforts, both in general law and in patent law, have met with invariable success, due to his thorough training and the study and care he always devotes to the preparation and conduct of all cases. Above all, he is reliable and spares no efforts to gain success in any undertaking. He is popular at the bar and in business and social circles. He is a member of the D. K. E. college fraternity, of the Century and Com- mercial Clubs and of other well-known and useful organizations. In 1889 he married Miss
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Bertha M. Greene, a daughter of Charles P. Greene, Esq., of Indianapolis. He is a mem- ber of the Second Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis and is interested in all movements for the betterment of the condition of his fellow citizens and for that reason is public- spirited and devoted to the rapidly-growing interests of Indianapolis, and especially of the State of Indiana.
JOEL T. ELLIOTT. There is no class of business men who more surely rear up visible monuments to their industry and their enterprise than the builders of the sightly structures which become a landmark, not only locally but in the historical sense, in all our great cities, and Joel T. Elliott holds a prominent place among them. He was born in Putnam County, Ind., August 11, 1865, a son of J. M. Elliott, who was born on Blue-Grass soil and is now a resident and successful farmer of Putnam County, Ind. In his early manhood he followed the calling of a wagon maker and during this time his son, Joel T., acquired a knowledge of how to handle a saw and plane. He was the second of eight children born to his parents, and when he had attained a proper age he was placed in the public schools of Putnam County, where he acquired an excellent and practical education. During the time that he was not pursuing the paths of learning, he was assisting his father in the shop. At the age of sixteen he began learning the trade of a carpenter, at which he continued to labor until he had attained the age of nineteen years, then he entered the railroad office at Fillmore, and learned telegraphy, and continued until the Fall of 1887. In 1887 be located in Indianapolis and commenced his present business of contracting and building and from the start his work was in every way satisfactory and this fact soon became known to those who contemplated build- ing and his services were employed and he has now a patronage among the best class of citi- zens and all he can properly attend to. He was one of the firm of Ayers & Co., who put. np $48,000 worth of work on the State Fair Grounds, principally on the Woman's Building and has built many of the handsomest private residences in the city as well as having erected numerous other buildings of prominence. His work is characterized by its substantial and symmetrical nature, and his patrons have found it a pleasure to deal with him, for he is thoroughly to be relied upon, is prompt in fulfilling his contracts and is the soul of honesty. Although he started without means he has now a comfortable property, the result of energy, perseverance and economy. In September, 1892, he was united in marriage with Miss Nona Horine, of Richmond, Ind. Mr. Elliott has taken quite an interest in politics and has ever voted the Democratic ticket, the success of which has ever been dear to his heart. Socially he is a member of the K. of P., West Indianapolis Lodge, No. 244, and he and his wife belong to the Pythian Sisters.
GEORGE W. NASH, M. D. An able physician in general practice who gives special at- tention to the diseases of children and is therefore most successful as a family practitioner, is Dr. George W. Nash, of Indianapolis. Dr. Nash was born in Hendricks County, Ind., October 15, 1835, and is the eldest of seven children of Richard E. and Frances (Smith) Nash, the former a native of Ohio, the latter a native of Kentucky. Richard Nash was a farmer by occupation, and was a man of the strongest common sense and of the most praise- worthy enterprise within the limits by which he was necessarily circumscribed. He died in 1846, his wife in 1856. Of their children, three sons, Richard, Isaac and William R., served in the late war. The two first mentioned lost their lives in the service, the latter is a successful physician at Fairmount, Ill. Dr. George W. Nash was ten years old when his father died, and the responsibility of carrying on the farm of eighty acres and caring for his six younger brothers and sisters devolved upon him to a very marked extent, and it is credit- able to him that, turning aside from the amusements and recreations so dear to youth, he devoted himself assiduously to work and in every manner possible aided his mother and made her burdens lighter. His early educational opportunities were not of the best, but he made such as he had available with the result that he was soon able to teach school, and, for a part of the time at least, leave the heavier work of the farm to others better adapted to it physically, for the hard labor of his early years had to an extent broken down his con- stitution, never robust, and made such a change necessary to him above almost anything else. For five years he taught with increasing success, and in 1860 he opened a drug store at Brownsburg, Ind., and, in his leisure time, devoted himself to the study of medicine, which he pursued diligently for three years. Meantime, as a druggist, he was making consider-
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able financial progress, and he determined to forego the further study of his chosen profes- sion for a time and dispose of bis drug store and engage in general merchandising and mill- ing. In this new venture he was not so successful, but on the contrary sunk about all the means he had accumulated, and in 1871 he relinquished it, and, removing to Covington, Ind., again engaged in the drug business, in which he continned for three years. In 1875 he became a commercial traveler, and as such was on the road until 1884. Meantime, in 1881, he located in Indianapolis, and upon quitting the road opened a drug store in that city, which he conducted successfully until 1890, when he sold it to his son. During all of this time he had not forgotten his natural liking for the profession of medicine, and he had availed himself of every opportunity to retain and add to all he had acquired of its theory in the course of reading he had taken, and in 1885 he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Indianapolis, and was graduated therefrom in 1888 with the degree of M. D., and at once began a general practice, which has been interrupted only by bis absence in New York during the fall and winter of 1890 to take a post-graduate course. He is a mem- ber of the dispensary staff of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is identified with the Marion County Medical Society and the Indiana State Medical Society, and has read papers before the two bodies which have attracted much attention in the profession. In politics Dr. Nash is a Republican. He was married March 4, 1857, to Mary J. Clark, a native of Kentucky, who bore him four children: William B., Lee T., Dolly and Daisy, and who died April 26, 1890. August 12, 1891, Dr. Nash married Alice M. Brown, a native of Kentucky. Dr. and Mrs. Nash are members of the Christian Church.
SYLVESTER A. MORGAN. The finger of time is one of the most satisfactory and reliable endorsers of a man's business career usually. Men in the various walks of life may with justification halt and refuse to listen to the solicitation of a beginner; but in so doing he would in many cases make a mistake and pass by one who was in every way worthy his pat- ronage, and this would be especially true in the case of Sylvester A. Morgan, who, although be has been in business here only five years, has yet made an excellent reputation as a cou- tractor and builder. He is a product of Butler County, Ohio, where he was born Jannary 2, 1858, a son of Edward J. and Mary Morgan, well known residents of Elizabethtown, Bar- tholomew County, Ind. Although the father was formerly a builder of considerable note, he bas for some time since given his attention to farming, in which occupation he has been reasonably successful. In Elizabethtown, Sylvester A. Morgan received such educational advantages of which he is now possessed, and bis leisure time when not in school, or the greater portion of it, was spent in learning the trade of a carpenter under his father. He remained with him until he attained his majority and then engaged in the ice business in Louisville, Ky. He very soon gave up this work to engage in farming near Elizabethtown, Ind., and after devoting his attention to this business for two years, meeting with misfortune in this, he then moved to Noblesville, Ind., and began teaching school during the winter season, the warm months being devoted to carpentering which he had resumed, soon having charge of work as foreman. He remained in that locality until about 1888, at which time he took up his residence in West Indianapolis, commencing business on his own responsibil- ity, and here has been very successfully engaged in contracting and building ever since. Many of the important structures of west Indianapolis have been erected by him and all the houses in many blocks stand as monuments to his industry, knowledge of his calling and the estimation in which he is held by the public. He also built the whole plant for the Van Camp Packing Company and has fulfilled some large contracts for the American and Standard Wheel Company, Parry Manufacturing Company, built the adamant wall plaster building and some beautiful residences, particularly in the neighborhood of Fourteenth and Pennsyl- vania Streets, in the city of Indianapolis. He has under his management a large force of men, and his operations are invariably conducted with safety and are always brought to a successful termination at the specified time and to the letter of contract. He is a man of unblemished honor and loyal to his promises in all his undertakings. In 1890 he wedded Miss Sylvinia Snowden, of Elizabethtown, and both are worthy members of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, Mr. Morgan being a trustee and treasurer since its founding. Socially he is a member of Mystic Tie Lodge F. & A. M., the K. of P., being a charter member of West Indianapolis Lodge, No. 244, and the Builders' Exchange.
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