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 49
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SAMUEL HANWAY TENEYCK. The exbau tless pages of history fail to disclose an older or more honorable calling than that of the druggist, a profession variously designated under the titles of chemist and apothecary. The science of preventing and curing disease is a noble one, and one which enlists the aid of the druggist to a wide degree. A well kept establishment of the kind is that owned and operated by Samuel H. Teneyck, at the corner of Illinois and Thirtieth Streets, Mapleton, Ind. Mr. Teneyck is a native of Indianapolis, his birth occurring here August 25, 1870, his parents being Edward and Martha (Hanway) Teneyck, the latter of whom is a daughter of Samuel Hanway, ex-county treasurer of Marion County. The subject of this sketch was the eldest of his parents' two children, and his brother Edward was born in 1877. Almost from the time he left his cradle Samnel H. Teneyck was trained for the life of a business man, and was given a practical education in the public schools of the city. After reaching manhood he was for many years a partner in the large contracting firm of Hanway & Lancaster, but about one year ago, as the contracting business was light, he turned his attention to other pursuits, and is now conducting his well stocked and artistically arranged drug store at Mapleton. He was married January 1, 1887, to Miss Dovie C. Lancaster, daughter of George W. and Hattie (Blue) Lancaster, who were among the early settlers of Indiana, their parents locating here when the State was in its infancy. They at once took and held a prominent position in the State, and are justly con- sidered among its most honorable and eminent citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Teneyck have a pleasant and comfortable residence at the corner of Marion and Thirtieth Streets, where they are carefully rearing the two bright little children that have been given them-George Lan- caster, born July 23, 1888, and Clyde Hanway, born February 18, 1890. Mr. Teneyck's father came from Ohio to this region, and his grandfather was the first grocer in Indianap-
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olis. Edward learned the calling of a railroad engineer in early life and has followed that calling ever since. He and his wife reside in Indianapolis, of which city they are influential and upright inhabitants. George W. Lancaster, Mrs. Teneyck's father, has always been closely identified with the public affairs of Marion County, and for two teims was trustee of Washington Township, and in many other ways has helped to guide the public affairs of his section successfully. When the great Civil War broke out he enlisted as captain of Com- pany K, of the Forty-third Indiana Volunteers, and served throughout the entire war, his position as a soldier being as prominent as his position as a citizen. With such influences on his wife's side and all his business training, together with as fine a record on his father's side as any young man ever had and his fixed habits of sobriety and industry, there is no reason to believe that such an enterprising young business man as Samuel H. Teneyck should be left in the race for wealth and fame.
WILLARD G. GORDON. Few, if any, among those engaged in the real estate business in Indianapolis maintain a higher reputation for integrity and reliability than Mr. Willard G. Gordon. He buys, sells, rents, leases and exchanges all classes of improved and unim- proved reality, is thoroughly experienced in these matters and has quickly established him- self in popular favor and patronage, numbering among his clients many of the solid and wealthy citizens of this community. He possesses an intimate knowledge of the best resi- dential and business properties in the city and has upon his books some of the choicest property to be found anywhere in Indianapolis and vicinity. He is notary public, and in connection with his immense real-estate business is engaged in insuring, making quite as much of a success in that as in the real-estate business. Like many of the prominent men of the county, he is a native of the " Buckeye " State, born in Butler County, December 11, 1857, and his parents, Riley and Elizabeth (Jones) Gordon, were natives of the same county. The father was a lawyer of considerable prominence and in 1869 he moved his family to Indiana, settling in Morgantown, Brown County, where he practiced his profes- sion for many years. There the family resides at the present time. The paternal grand- parents of our subject were pioneers of Butler County, Ohio, and much esteemed citizens. The maternal grandparents were natives of Wales. Our subject took the ordinary public school education in Brown County, and after engaging in various enterprises began the study of law, being admitted to the bar at Martinsville in 1884. After practicing law for a num- ber of years he came to Haughville, Marion County, Ind., in 1890, and after a residence of about a year at Mount Jackson he embarked in his present business, which hehas since carried on successfully. He is secretary and treasurer of the local board of the German. American Building & Loan Association, and has quite an extensive business in this line. Aside from this he is also president of the Haughville School Board, a member of the I. O. O. F., being treasurer of Puritan Lodge, No. 678, and is also a member of the K. of P. On September 9, 1891, he married Miss Leonora Norris, whose birth occurred in Marion County, Ind., and who is a daughter of Martin V. and Sarah J. (Brown) Norris. One child, Harry V., has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gordon, his birth occurring August 12, 1892. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon are consistent members of the Presbyterian Tabernacle Church of Indianapolis. Mr. Gordon is a Democrat in politics.
STANTON W. HAWKEY. There is no more important business in a community or one in which its exponents are in greater demand than the brick contractor, for the majority of buildings at the present day are made of this material, and it requires a man of undoubted intelligence, as well as experience, to make a success of this line of work. Such a man is Stanton W. Hawkey, who has been a contractor and builder of prominence for a number of years past. He was born in Sidney, Ohio, in 1848, being a son of William Hawkey, a native of the Old Dominion, who, after his removal to Ohio, settled in Shelby County, of which section he was one of the early pioneers, and where the remainder of his days were spent. He was quite an extensive contractor of brick and erected many imposing buildings. He was a man of keen discernment and excellent business judgment, and he succeeded in accumulating a considerable amount of this world's goods. Stanton W. Hawkey received his education in the schools of Sidney and his native county, and when still a boy commenced working at his trade, at which he finished his apprenticeship in the State of his birth. In 1871 he came to Indianapolis and worked as a journeyman
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until 1876, when he returned to Ohio and remained two years. He then came back to this city and with the exception of two years which he spent with Henry Cook he has been in business by himself. He erected the Indianapolis Chair Company Works, but has devoted most of his attention to residence work, in which he has done exceptionally well. He was at one time a director of the Builders' Fxchange, and is still a member of that body and an active worker for its success and welfare. His business is sufficiently exten- sive to necessitate the employment of about twenty-five meu throughout the year, and as he employs none but those who thoroughly understand their business and himself person- ally superintends them, his work is strictly first class, and this is a fact that has long since come to be recognized. Mr. Hawkey was married in Sidney, Ohio, in 1870, to Miss Clara Lenox, of Shelby County, by whom he has one daughter. He and his wife are mem- bers of the Seventh Presbyterian Church and move in the most refined social circles.
CALEB JOHNSON. This gentleman is one of the oldest settlers of Marion County, Ind., and is now a resident of Decatur Township. He was born in Wayne County, Ind., April 8, 1819, in which county he was brought up and where he received a somewhat limited educa- tion in the old log school-houses of that day, which were conducted ou the subscription plan. He attended irregularly for about three months of the year up to the age of seventeen, at. which time his schooling ceased and his time was then given to assisting his father on the farm and in aiding the various farmers in the vicinity. His seventeenth year was spent in laboring in a saw mill for Nathan Compton, for which he received $100, and the following summer he assisted his father. About this time his grandfather loaned him $100, and with that sum and with what he had saved he entered eighty acres of land in Randolph, County, Ind., at $1.25 per acre. In September, 1838, he married Miss Lydia, daughter of Willis and Rebecca Whitson, natives of the Carolinas, and for one year after his marriage he lived in Wayne County, and farmed on rented land. In the fall of 1839 he came to Marion County, Ind., his wife being the owner of eighty acres in Decatur Township, which land was entered by her mother in the name of her daughter (Mrs. Johnson) some eight or ten years prior. On this tract ten acres of timber had been deadened, but the underbrush had grown up very rank and made it almost as difficult to clear as if it had been covered with timber. Here Mr. Johnson settled and at once commenced the erection of a log cabin. He hired two or three men and he put up what was then considered a good hewed log house, 18x20 feet. It was a one-story building, with a dirt chimney and plank door, and clap- boards covered the floor in the loft. The beds he made himself, boring holes in the logs for the cross pieces, and the floor was of loose planks and the roof was also clap-boards. When Mr. and Mrs. Johnson moved into this house it had no door, but this he soon remedied, and his table and most of liis chairs were also homemade. That winter he cleared eight acres and the following spring planted it to corn. Here he lived about seven years, and then he put up an old style frame 18x40 feet, one story in height, in which he lived until 1879, when lie put up the handsome two-story building he now occupies. In 1847 Mr. Johnson added twenty-five acres to his land, and in 1851 forty acres more. In 1855 he purchased eighty acres, for which he paid $25 per acre. In 1865 he bought eighty acres for $45 per acre, and in 1871 added forty acres more, for which he paid $2, 200. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson chil- dren have been born as follows: Ann, who died in 1881, was the wife of Amos Doan; Willis, who married Sarah J. Edwards, has two children, William A. and Ora A., both of whom are married; Mary died in infancy; Silas married Martha A. Gossett and has a daughter, Ella A., who is married; Henry died in infancy; Rebecca, who married William Jackson, has two children, Lydia A. and Alida, the former of whom is married, and John W., who is married to Dinah Ferguson, by whom he has one daughter, Sarah L. Mr. Johnson has given each of his children real estate when they started out in life for themselves, but still retains a good farm of 160 acres, the income from which is amply sufficient for his wants. He has cleared 100 acres of land in Marion County, and is in every way a practical and thrifty farmer. He is a member of the Friends' Church, in politics was formerly a Whig, later a Republican, and is now a stanch supporter of the Prohibition party. His father was Charles Johnson, who was born in Guilford County, N. C., in 1797, and lived there until about 1812, at which time he came with his father, James Johnson, to Indiana, locating in Wayne County, near Richmond. There he spent the principal part of his life as a
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farmer. He died in 1872, at the residence of his son, Dr. Abijah Johnson, in Earlham, Iowa. He was a Quaker, as was his father before him, and was twice married, first in 1818 to Mary, daughter of Robert and Martha Comer, natives of North Carolina, and to their union four children were given: Caleb (the subject of this sketch); Martha, who married Ezra Bishop and became the mother of three children, Angeline, Phoebe and Rebecca; Betsy A., widow of Enoch Marhall, resides in New Paris, Ohio, and has these children: James C., Mary, Ethelinda and Samuel, and Mary (deceased) was first married to James Smith, by whom she has one child, Albina J., and by her second busband, John Jeffrey, had three children, Job, Alpheus and Martha. For his second wife Charles Johnson took Nancy Beeson, and eight children were born to them: Charles A .; Isaac K .; Sarah J., who mar- ried Charles Kennedy; Jesse; Eliza, who first married Harvey Lyon and after his death a Mr. Hollingsworth; Dr. Abijah; Eli, and Rhoda, who married Wesley Mendenhall. The mother of the subject of this sketch died about 1827. The paternal grandfather, James Johnson, was born in 1751 in North Carolina and came to Indiana about 1812, settling in Wayne County, where he followed the calling of a farmer and died in 1838. He was also twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth Mills and his second Miriam Jones. By his first wife his children were: Elizabeth (Morgan), Sarah (Jones), Judith (Russell), Josiah, Hannah (Roberts), Charles and Prudence (Cook). The paternal great-grandfather was born in England and was an emigrant to this country early in the sixteenth century.
JESSE WRIGHT, well and favorably known throughout Marion County, and particularly in Wayne Township, of which he served as trustee from 1876 to 1878, is a native born Marion County Indianian, his birth occurring April 7, 1830. He was reared to man's estate in the county of his birth, secured such schooling as the limited facilities of that day afforded and his general employment was that of clearing, grubbing, planting, reaping and the usual occupa- tion of farming. August 22, 1853, occurred his marriage with Sophronia C. Sinks, an estimable lady, and to their union seven children were born only the following named now living: Belle; Albert A., who married Mariah Hoover and is the father of three daughters and two sons; Owen S., married Eva Malone who has borne him one daughter, and Lillie M., who wedded Charles Shaffer and has one son. Owen and Lillie reside in Hanghville, and Albert on his father's farm west of Indianapolis. Jesse Wright is an intelligent and progressive citizen, was a Democrat until the foes of the Union fired upon Fort Sumter, when, like thousands of others of our best people, he became a Republican and has ever since affiliated with that party. He is a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His eldest
brother, Isaac N., was born October 11, 1828, served in the Fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry in the Mexican War, re-enlisted in the United States Monnted Riflemen, was orderly-ser- geant, served over four and a half years and was killed by Mexicans. Philburd S., youngest brother of Jesse Wright, was born July 19, 1831, was in the service of his country under three enlistments and died at Baton Rouge, La. The two sisters of Jesse Wright are Nancy, born December 26, 1833, married Jesse Smith and resides in California, and Eliza- beth, born July 5, 1835, married John Doty, resides at Greencastle, Ind., and is the mother of one son, Isaac A. Doty, who is a teacher of High School No. 1 of Indianapolis.
NICHOLAS MCCARTY, (deceased). The life narrative of the head of a family is interesting, not only to his posterity, but also to the citizens of the section in which he has resided, and this truth is doubly true when such a man has established for himself and his children a rep- utation for integrity, character and ability, and has been of value in the development of that portion of the country which was his home. Such a narrative do we have in the sketch of Nicholas McCarty, whose active life has ceased on earth but whose influence extends still and will continue to extend among all who knew him. He was one of the pioneers of Indianapolis and contributed more to the growth, development and best interests of the city than almost any other man. He was a native of the town of Moorefield, Harding County, W. Va., born among the Alleghanies September 26, 1795. His father dying when he was very young, his mother removed to Pittsburgh, Penn., where he remained until nearing man- hood with little opportunity for obtaining an education. While still under twenty he left for Newark, Ohio, where, as a boy, he won the favor of Mr. Buckingham (at that time a leading merchant of Ohio), by the sterling qualities that in later years won him the respect of every honorable man to whom he was known. He speedily made himself master of the mercantile
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business, so far as it was developed within his range, and his employer was not slow in recog. nizing his ability, making him superintendent of one of the branch houses near Newark. His success was as marked and conspicuous here as in a lower position and in a few years he had acquired both the experience and means to enter into business for himself. His trade was large and prosperous from the beginning. Here his career gave the keynote to his character-a sensitiveness of honor that felt a reproach like a stab; a strength of gratitude that counted no sacrifice a loss in returning the good will he had received. Finding that his business was growing at the expense of his benefactor, when he had counted confidently on business as sufficient for both, he sold out, and he came from Newark to Indianapolis in the fall of 1823, when twenty-eight years of age. He established himself in a building on the southwest corner of Washington and Pennsylvania Streets, known for more than thirty years as " McCarty's Corner," and south of this building built an imposing brick residence a number of years later, the home of the family for many years. He was the first merchant in Indianapolis educated to business and who conducted it systematically. He began on a more extensive scale, too, than others, and his success was proportionate. He established branch stores at La Porte, Greenfield, Covington, Cumberland and Waverly, and trained several young men who were afterward conspicuous in the business affairs of this city and State, imbuing them all with his scrupulous and resolute integrity. It was reserved for the great crisis of his life to exhibit his best qualities at their best. When the financial panic of 1837 and the subsequant hard times had made his great resources-largely in real estate- unavailable, he became involved and made a settlement with his creditors upon such terms as to enable them to realize more than the principal and interest of his obligations. James Blake had come to Indianapolis in 1821, under the advice of some Philadelphia friends, with an eye to the preparation of ginseng-a profuse growth of woods all about the settlement at that time-for shipping the product from Philadelphia to China, where it sells at high figures, its use being as universal now as it was then. He established a drying and purifying apparatus in a little cabin south of the creek, on the present East Delaware Street, and here, at his branch store and elsewhere, by agents, collected the roots from farmers and their families, who frequently helped out a short corn crop with what they called " sang." A small boe was used for that purpose called the " sang hoe," obsolete for fifty years or more. The extent of his business in a place of less than 2,000 people, may be judged by the fact that the freezing of the Ohio River, in 1829, compelled him to baul in wagons his entire season's stock from Philadelphia, requiring sixteen six-horse Conestoga wagons to do it. The freight of ginseng on the return trip made the audacious enterprise possible, and even profitable, an illustration of his business perception and prompt decision, for the cold weather froze the Ohio River just as his goods reached Pittsburgh to take steam passage to Madison. Besides his ordinary mercantile business he took large contracts for Indian supplies and made himself quite familiar with the dialects of two or three of the tribes ou the Miami reservation. His enterprise appeared repeatedly in attempts to introduce new industries or develop new resources. He was largely interested in an effort to establish silk growing about the year 1835, and went with characteristic energy in the propagation of the plant. A few years later, about 1840, he began one of the most important enterprises of his life, though the distress of the country was too great and general to permit the success it probably would have achieved a few years later. This was the cultivation and manufacture of hemp on his " bayou farm," now West Indianapolis, a suburb of several thousand houses, where is also located the union stock yards, car works and other industries of equal impor- tance. The fiber was rotted, broken and cleaned in vats and mills ou the bluff bank of the creek, just below the present line of Ray Street, at Church, Carloss and Wilkin Streets. Proving unprofitable the enterprise was abandoned in two or three years. Mr. McCarty's per- sonal popularity was so great that the Whigs, who had been placed under the cloud of hard times from 1843 onward, thought it possible to save a seat in Congress by him, and nomi- nated him against Judge Wick, in 1847. It was his first experience as a politician, but his native shrewdness served him better than many an older politician's more devious ways. He made no pretense of oratory and for that reason made a stronger impression by his solid sense and effective humor than his opponent, who was really a good speaker when he chose to be. However, the Whigs were not strong enough to win, even with a
John Martin
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man stronger than the party. A few years later he was a candidate for the State Senate, in the county, and was elected, serving three years, the last three under the old constitution. In 1852, much against his inclination, he was unanimously nominated by the dying Whig party for the first gubernatorial term, under the new constitution. He made an admirable canvass against Gov. Joseph A. Wright, considered one of the best political canvassers and stump speakers of the country. The Democrats, however, were greatly in the majority, and he was defeated. Mr. McCarty was married in Boone County, Ky., July 27, 1828, to Miss Margaret, danghter of Rev. . Jameson Hawkins, one of the earliest of the Baptist preachers of the county. His death occurred May 17, 1854. Mrs. McCarty died February 18, 1873. Mr. McCarty was an example of Christian purity, integrity and charity during his whole life. He was generous to a fault, tolerant of offenses that affected only himself; peaceable, frank and honorable. No man that ever lived in Indianapolis was more sincerely or generally loved and honored, and certainly none ever deserved the affection of the people more than he. He was always prompt in his aid of benevolent efforts and one of the most active in urging the establishment of the orphan's home. These children survive him. Margaret Ruth (now Mrs. John C. S. Harrison), Nicholas and Frances Jane. The eldest daughter, Susannah, who became the wife of Rev. Henry Day, died August 30, 1873.
JOHN MARTIN. The building interests of Indianapolis form the back-bone of lier great- est industrial enterprises. Not alone is the interest of the contractor directly involved, but all branches of trade incumbent thereto are thus goaded into active success. Trade profits every time a building is devised, and the avenues of enterprise thus opened afford vast opportunity for profit. The vast amount of capital invested here and seeking proper field of operations at this point, has led to the erection of magnificent edifices without number, and stimulated all the other branches of vocation that form a part thereof. One of the suc- cessful builders and contractors of the city is John Martin who has without doubt built more brick buildings in Indianapolis than any other one man residing there. He was born in Preston, Lancashire, England, April 26, 1828, a son of Thomas Martin, who was also born there. The latter came with his family to the United States in 1848 and finally settled in Jennings County, Ind., where he died in 1869, having for some time been a resident of Cin- cinnati after coming to this country. . He first followed the calling of a merchant and after- ward gave his attention to farming, which business he was successfully pursuing at the time of his death. The rudiments of the builder's art were learned by John Martin in Lancashire before coming to this country and while pursuing the paths of labor learned to read and write in a business way, that is, it was his duty in the factory in which he worked, to read the names of cards and tags to a clerk, and thus his first lessons were received. He was a very ambitious youth and often after working twelve hours a day he would attend night school, his tuition being paid in money which he, himself, had earned. During this time he also paid his parents for his board, according to the wages he received and as his salary increased he paid for his board in proportion, not because his father or mother demanded it, but because he was original and independent in all his ideas and did so by his own desire, from the time he was ten years of age (at which time he began working for himself) until his marriage. During the three years that he lived in Cincinnati, he worked at his trade and upon coming to Indianapolis in 1849, secured the contract for putting on the slate roof on the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, John Wilson being the original contractor and Mr. Martin the subcontractor, having learned the art of slating in England. In 1854 he began making his permanent home in Indianapolis and soon after secured employment with Mr. Taylor, the father of N. B. Taylor, but only continued as a journeyman for ten weeks. His first work here as a laborer was on the building now occupied by the Sun newspaper and the residence of Mrs. Hendricks, the widow of ex-Gov. Hendricks. Some of the buildings which stand as monuments to his skill are the new Insane Hospital; the Reformatory for Women; the Butler University; city court-house; the new jail; the new Library Building; the chapel at Crown Hill; St. Vincent Hospital; the First Presbyterian Church; the Tabernacle on Central Avenue, the Christian Church on Fort Wayne Avenue; the Bank of Commerce; the Grand Opera House, the Denison; in fact he lias built hundreds of buildings in the city and there is not a spot where he cannot point out some of his handiwork. He has also done work in different parts of the State and every year for many years past has built a church of
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