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 57

Author: Goodspeed, firm, publishers, Chicago
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : Goodspeed Brothers
Number of Pages: 610


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 57


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subject-matter of his clinical teaching. These circumstances enabled him to form opinions of his own, and these opinions he did not hesitate to express throughout his lectures with reference to many controversial points of pathological and therapeutical importance. He recognized the fact that to be a skillful physician involves not only a thorough understand- ing of diseases, but the application of the right remedies at the right time and in the right manner. Therefore the typical features of a given malady, its pathological history and phenomena, its diagnosis-general and differential, as well as indications for treatment, were presented with such accuracy and force that the student saw before him all that was distinctive and important in the case, while the principles of treatment were expressed before his classes with a clearness and precision that warranted its intelligent management in the future. Since 1882 he has been a member of the consulting and clinical staff of the Indianapolis City Hospital and City Dispensary, and has been for years a member of the Medical Board of Examiners of physicians aspiring to positions in these institutions. In 1883 he was appointed visiting physician to the Indiana Institute for the Blind, and held that position seven years. In 1885 he was appointed United States examining surgeon of the Pension Bureau at Indianapolis, and in 1889 was re- appointed to the same position by President Harrison. He is a member of the G. A. R., and for several years has been surgeon of Maj. Robert Anderson Post. He was formerly visiting physician to the Marion County Asylum, has been medical examiner for several life and accident insurance compa- nies, and is a member of the Marion County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. March 23, 1893, he was appointed by Gov. Claude Matthews a member of his staff, with a commission and rank of colonel, and was made surgeon-general of the military forces of Indiana, a position he now holds. He has contributed many valuable articles to medical literature and is the author of the well-known reference book, "Elements of Modern Medicine," which work includes the principles of pathology and therapeutics, and has met with an extensive sale. He has now in preparation a new publication, entitled "Biography of Eminent American Physicians and Surgeons," which is being published at Indianapolis and which will without doubt prove a literary ven- ture of extraordinary merit and success. It may be said that the professional career of Dr. Stone has been that of an all-round practitioner. He has performed many important surgical operations in a skillful manner, and as an obstetrician he has the remarkable record of never having lost a mother in all the many hundreds of cases of childbirth that he has attended, including nearly every variety of complications and instrumental deliveries. At the present time he gives much of his attention to gastro-intestinal and rectal diseases and consultation practice. Although a Democratic adherent he is not a partisan in any sense of the term, and has never aspired to any office, persistently refusing to hold any position not in the line of his chosen profession. November 24, 1869, he married Matilda C. Long, daughter of the late Dr. William Long, a noted pioneer physician of Maysville, Ind., and one living child is the result of this union, Donald L. Stone, born October 16, 1886, a prom- ising and bandsome lad who is now in school.


GEN. ABEL D. STREIGHT (deceased). The sketch here given is a tribute paid to the memory of a man whose noble and honorable life was an example to all, and although marked by hard and undeviating labor, demonstrated sterling qualities that characterized his career. For many years his name was inseparably linked with the progress and development of Marion County, Ind., whose annals bear testimony to the integrity of his character and the brightness of his intellect. He was born. in Wheeler, Steuben County, N. Y., June 17, 1828, and his boyhood and youth were passed upon a farm, where he had before him exam. ples of industry and perseverance. Like the average country boy he had the advantages of a common-school education and at the age of seventeen he purchased from his father his time until twenty-one, paying $60 per year for the same. Having a taste for mechanics he readily learned the carpenter's trade without instruction, and before attaining his nineteenth year he had taken the contract for the erection of a large mill, which he successfully com- pleted. At this early period he also owned a saw-mill, acquired by his own labor, and he then engaged in the lumber business at Wheeler, N. Y., where he remained until he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1858. The following year found him a resident of Indianapolis, where he became a publisher, continuing this business until the beginning of the Rebellion.


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It was at this crisis that the patriotism, earnestness and indomitable purpose of Gen. Streight was brought into prominent notice and marked him as a man of foresight, possessing all the qualities of a successful leader. Realizing the importance of prompt and energetic meas- ures for the preservation of the Union, be published an exhaustive pamphlet in which he clearly embodied the cause of the Nation's calamity and indicated the measures necessary to insure the supremacy of the law, the integrity of the constitution and the necessity for the preservation of the Union. He believed compromise with the enemies of the Government to be a mistake and advocated forcible means, if necessary. to compel obedience to the laws. He proved conclusively the fallacy of a temporary pacification policy, and by voluminous quotations from letters written from the founders of the Government. demonstrated, it to be ¿ Government of the people collectively and not of the States. In defense of the Union. whose integrity he so earnestly defended with his pen, he entered the service on September 4. 1861. as colonel of the Fifty-first Indiana Infantry, and rendered effective service until March 13. 1865, when he retired with the brevet rank of brigadier general, having partici- pated in the battles. Shiloh. Perryville. Stone River, Day's Gap. Crooked Creek, Blount's Farm, engagements with Wheeler's Cavalry at Dalton and Shoal Creek, near Florence, Ala., in which he commanded five brigades; Columbia, Franklin, Nashville, and again at Colum- bia. in which he forced the passage of Duck River. On May 3. 1863, he was taken prisoner and confined in Libby Prison, Richmond, Va., until February 9, 1864, when, with 10S of his fellow prisoners. he escaped by a tunnel excavated from the prison walls to the street. In this connection, and as a matter of history, it is well to state that Gen. Streight planned the :annel under the walls of the notorious Libby Prison, through which he and his companions crawled to liberty, notwithstanding some other writers to the contrary. No one can know the anxiety of the participants of this famous event, and the name of A. D. Streight will be remembered through generations to come as the hero of the occasion. After an interval of rest he re-entered the service. In prison Gen. Streight was like the shadow of some great rock in the desert. Men instinctively gathered around him. He was their counselor. friend and champion. In him they reposed all confidence, intrusting to him their money and laying before him their grievances. and sharing with bim their every thought. It was Gen. Streight who defiantly wrote the rebel secretary of war. compelling an increase of rations and more humane treatment. While the enemy hated him, vet they feared him, and if recaptured his life would have paid the forfeit of his daring and patriotism. On returning to civil life he resumed the business of a publisher. in connection with the cultivation of a farm in the suburbs of the city, where bis widow now resides. In 1865 he embarked in the lumber bus. iness, making a specialty of walnut and hard wood lumber, to which was subsequently added chair manufacturing on an extensive scale. He was successful and prosperous in business affairs and contributed much to the development and welfare of Indianapolis. He always manifested a keen interest in politics and as a Republican participated in many of the cam- paigus. In 1876 he was elected to the State Senate, and as an evidence of his popularity and standing ran more than 1.000 votes ahead of his ticket. Here he was conceded to be one of the leaders of the party. Among the measures supported by him was the introduction of a bill providing for the erection of a new State bouse building. the principal provisions of which were adopted. In ISSO he was one of the Republican candidates for the nomina- tion of governor, and although an unsuccessful aspirant for gubernatorial honors. press and people were unanimous in their endorsement of his irreproachable honesty. iron will. unusual intelligence and thorough patriotism. Gen. Streight was married January 14, 1849. to Miss Lovina MeCarty, a native of Bath township, Steuben County, N. Y., and daughter of Mrs. McCarty, a native of Sussex. N. J., who came to Seneca County. N. Y .. and after- ward, when Mrs. Streight was eight years of age. to Steuben County, that State. Mrs. Streight's father was a farmer. By his marriage to Miss Mary Abbott Mr. McCarty became the father of eight children, seven daughters and one son. all of whom grew to mature years except one: Elizabeth, widow of John Fairfield, who resides at Green Hill, Steuben County. N. Y .: Emeline, widow of William Rogers, resides in Michigan: Reuben married Miss Emily Briggs. and is now deceased. his death occurring June 30. 1890: Lovina. widow of Gen. Streight: Delilab, widow of William Hughes, resides in Idaho: Mary married Jobn Goodsell. in 1854 and died in 1857: Cordelia, wife of John Ingersoll, died July 16, 1892,


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and Samantha J., who died at the age of nineteen months. Gen. Streight had but one son, John, who now resides in Cincinnati. The latter married Miss Rosa, daughter of David Shipman, of Knightstown. Ind. She died July 20, 1892. The General was never a mem- ber of any of the secret organizations, but belonged to the society of the Army of the Cumberland, and to the G. A. R. of Indianapolis. Although he was a member of no church he was always liberal and tolerant in his views, and when questioned by Rev. Sharpee, his regimental chaplain, during his last sickness, said: "I was placed here by a just God, who, when my mission here is done, will take care of me." Gen. Streight died May 27, 1892, at 4 o'clock A. M. He had never been well after his incarcera- tion in Libby Prison, but had attended to his business, nevertheless. During the last two years of his life he was a great sufferer, having the grip three times, the last time suffer- ing five weeks with it. This, together with camp diarrhoea, and Bright's disease, carried him off. He attended to business up to two weeks before his death. A month previous to that sad event he called his wife to his side and told her that he desired that after his death his body be placed in the yard of the home. There he had lived with his devoted wife since the fall of 1864 and there to-day lies all that is mortal of Gen. A. D. Streight, the patriot and citizen, who needs no costly urn to perpetuate the memory of his gallant deeds. Every Decoration Day the veterans of the war cover the tomb of their dead comrade with flowers.


CLEMENTS A. GREENLEAF. Who has not heard of the Greenleaf turntables and their famons inventor ? Truly it is not always that "circumstances make the man" for Mr. Green- leaf is a shining example to the contrary; and there is no one who envies the success he has achieved because his indefatigable toil and hours of patient thought and study have brought about a just reward. He is a direct descendant of Samuel Greenleaf who made the first carriage in the United States, the factory having been started in Belleville, Mass., in 1792. Our subject was born September 26, 1838 and has been a resident of Indianapolis for the past forty-three years. He is a son of Edward and Mary Jane (Allen) Greenleaf, both of whom were natives of Bangor, Me., where they were reared and married. In 1850 Edward Greenleaf came to Indianapolis from Cincinnati, Ohio, where for many years he was superintendent of the famous Anthony Harkness, and Moore & Richards Locomotive works. After locating in Indianapolis Mr. Greenleaf became a partner with Watson, Vorhis & Co., in the Washington Foundry which afterward became the Eagle Machine Works. A few years later Mr. Greenleaf, in company with Capt. Vorhis, founded the City Foundry and Machine Works, in which R. R. Underhill was and W. W. Robinson subsequently became interested. On the death of W. W. Robinson the firm business was settled up and the City Foundry and Machine Works some years later became the Sinker, Davis Company, of this city. In 1864 Mr. Greenleaf founded the Greenleaf Machine Works which is now the Green- leaf Turntable Manufacturing Co. To Edward Greenleaf and wife were born eleven children, Frances Elizabeth (now Lancaster), Mary Jane (now Phipps), William A. and Clements A., yet living. The original of this notice. Clements A. Greenleaf, passed his youthful days in Cincinnati, Ohio, and there received his scholastic training. At an early age he evinced a strong liking and taste for mechanics, and in 1857 he became master mechanic of the Mem- phis & Little Rock Railroad. . When the war broke ont he was running an engine on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad but he came north in May, 1861, and enlisted in the Eleventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under Gen. Lew Wallace, serving over three years in the ord- nance department of the Gulf. During that time he had charge of the ordnance of the Thir- enth Army Corps and the stores for one year. On the sixth of August, 1862, he was married in Indianapolis, to Miss Frances Caroline Phipps, daughter of John B. and Rebecca (Snell) Phipps, natives of Virginia and Massachusetts respectively. Mr. Greenleaf and wife became the parents of ten children: Edward Timothy. born August 27, 1865, married Miss Jennie Boor of Sandusky, Ohio, and is now residing in Lima, Ohio, where he is superintendent of the drafting rooms and supply department of the Lima Locomotive & Machine Works; Clem- ents A., born August 19, 1867, married Miss Elizabeth Bertie Wilfley, of Mexico, Mo., and now resides in this city; the next two children were twins, John L. and Harry, born July 30, 1869 (the former is single and resides in this city but the latter died at birth); Mary, born Jannary 14, 1872, is single and at home; Helen M., born April 12, 1874, is single and


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at home; Frauces Jane, born December 5, 1877, died when four years of age; the next two children were twins, Grace and May, born May 16, 1881, now at home; and Paul, born March 25, 1884, is also at home. Our subject is a mechanical engineer and for the past twenty years has been engaged in manufacturing the famous Greenleaf Turntables in this city. His invention is used by railroads in turning their cars and engines, they are in use on most of the railroads in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and the large factory in Indianapolis is now engaged in manufacturing turntables alone. There is no part of his life work to which Mr. Greenleaf refers with more pride than to the mission work he has done in this city. He is a strong church man and believes that every individual should interest himself in this work. He delights in assisting and relieving the poor and oppressed and no one has done more for that class of people than he. For years he has carried on this good work and is to-day as active in its support as in former years. In 1872, Mr. Greenleaf organized a company to consist of 150 stock holders, each holding an equal amount of stock for the purpose of establishing a co-operative industry, About one-half of the stock was sub- scribed, the works were built, a farm was purchased, each stock holder was deeded one acre of land, and by-laws made so that no stock holder could accumulate more than an equal share of the property, (any stock holder wishing to withdraw could do so by selling to the corporation and the stock to be cancelled). The enterprise failed, principally because so many could not be of one mind, and because of the panic of 1873, Mr. Greenleaf was forced to go into bankruptcy. The works that he built are now the principal building of the Cleve- laud, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Shops, and the farm he bought is now the suburban town of Brightwood. Mr. Greenleaf was the first one to inaugurate the sale of town lots in Indianapolis, on terms at which the poorest laborers could become owners of their own homes. He selected a small subdivision in Oak Hill with which to try the experiment, found about thirty families that were distressed, and induced them to purchase lots at $125 each, by pay- ing $10 cash, and the balance $5 per month, giving possession on the receipt of $10. Many of these houses, at first, would have been called shanties, but they have been gradually improved until now most of them are neat cottages, and best of all is, that the real estate owners who refused at first to sell without a cash payment large enough to pay expenses of foreclosure are most all now ready to sell on terms as described; there is no necessity of making a deed until the full payment of ground has been received. The secret of the success is that the rent applies as purchase money. Mr. Greenleaf has built three factories, first one the "Green- leaf Machine Works," corner Tennessee and Merril Streets; second, "Greenleaf Manufacturing Company," at Brightwood; third one, the present "Greenleaf Turntable Manufacturing Com- pany," corner Bloyd and Parker Avenues, also fourteen cottages in Brightwood, and eight in the city limits, Oak Hill. He has assisted in building three Presbyterian churches, "Second," corner of Pennsylvania and Vermont Streets; Ninth, corner "North" and Penn Avenues; and "Memorial," corner of Christian Avenue and Ash Street. To the last named he gave more time and cash than any other one, paying cash, $5,600 into the building fund. Mr. Green- leaf does not believe in sects, but does believe that the Christian religion, is to believe and hold to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the real Church, is his body, purchased with his own Blood, and that it should have one mind with all members holding to Jesus as Head, with the Holy Spirit the Guide, and the Bible the rule of our lives here.


JOHN A. SUTCLIFFE, M. D., of Indianapolis, Ind., was born in Fayette County, Ind., in 1845. His parents were Joseph M. and Cynthia A. Sutcliffe. He was educated at Brookville Col- lege and Asbury University, and graduated from the first- named institution in 1869. He afterward received the degree of Master of Arts from Moore's Hill College. His medical education was acquired at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, and at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, where he completed his course and received his medical degree in 1872. He was assistant surgeon in Bellevue Dispensary during the same year, an honor only conferred upon the most proficient graduates. On the expiration of his term of serv- ice iu that capacity he began the general practice of his profession, but for the past six years he has confined himself exclusively to surgery and genito-urinary diseases. Since the date of his graduation Dr. Sutcliffe has supplemented his education and training by taking two courses in surgery and genito- urinary diseases in Bellevue Hospital, and also two similar courses in the New York Polyclinic. In 1888 he went to Europe, visiting the large hospi-


John H Atotyin


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tals of London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin and Edinburgh, where he remained for nearly a year, taking additional courses in the same branches of his profession, in order to better prepare himself for the practice of his specialty. Dr. Sutcliffe has filled the chair of anatomy and genito- urinary diseases in the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, Indianapolis, for several years, and for the past seven years, that of principles and practice of surgery and genito-urinary diseases in the same institution, and is treasurer of the faculty. Dr. Sutcliffe is surgeon to the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad, consulting surgeon to the city dispensary, and clinical lecturer at the city hospital and St. Vincent's Infirmary, Indianapo- lis. He is an active member of the Marion County Medical, the Indianapolis Surgical, and the Indiana State Medical Societies, and of the Mississippi Valley and the American Medical Associations. Dr. Sutcliffe was a member of the Indianapolis Board of Health for four years, and president of the same for two years. He was married in 1876 to Miss Laura K. Jones.


JOHN W. HOLTZMAN. Ever since society was organized its enemies have lived, and to enact laws calculated to protect mankind from the doers of evil has always been a serious duty of legislators. The philosopher and the social reformer may indulge in speculations as to the causes of vice and lawlessness, and the sentimentalists may be apologists for the criminals and outlaws of society; but, dealing with these grave social problems in a practical as well as a beneficent spirit, it has been the aim of our law-makers to devise suchi measures as will punish the individual law-breaker as well as deter his fellows from like wrong-doing. But the fruits of legislative skill and wisdom as displayed in our criminal code and practice would be futile-the body of laws designed for the suppression of vice and crime would be inert, but for the public sentiment that imparts vitality, and the vigilance of the prosecuting attor- ney, who faithfully discharges his duties, and suffers no guilty man to escape. The office of public prosecutor is one of honor and dignity. No other place within the gift of the people is more conspicuous and important. The office should be filled by a lawyer of unquestioned ability as well as sterling integrity. In the election of John W. Holtzman as prosecuting attorney of this judicial circuit the people have secured an energetic as well as a faithful officer. John W. Holtzman is a terror to wrong-doers, not only because it is his duty to be so, but because he has no sympathy with crime or criminal.


This able lawyer and successful prosecutor comes of a family of worthy people. He was born in Berks County, Penn., April 23, 1858, being the son of Jonathan and Katherine (Moyer) Holtzman, natives of Pennsylvania, and of German extraction. The ancestors of our subject came to America about the year 1750, and settling in Berks County, became pros- perous farmers. They felled the virgin forests, and suffered all the hardships incident to the settlement of a new country. In the life and death struggle of the colonies in the war with Great Britian their hearts were fired with a love of liberty. These sturdy pioneers of old Berks shouldered their guns and fought bravely for the cause of freedom. The father of our subject was a farmer. He came to Indiana about the year 1864, and purchased a farm in White County. A few years thereafter he settled in Tippecanoe County; but, soon tiring of the change, he returned to White County, where he lived the remainder of his days. He died in 1883, his wife having passed away twelve years before. They were the parents of three sons and one daughter, of whom only two are living: . Lee and our subject. When the latter came to this State with his parents he was six years old. His youth was spent upon the farm, and differed but little from that of other country lads. He attended the country school until he was fourteen years old, and since then, with the same sturdy self-reliance which now marks his character, he has made his own way, and has slowly but surely come to the front. Among the various occupations of his youth and early manhood was that of teaching, a calling that proved most congenial. Upon his twenty-first birthday he received as a present a copy of Blackstone's Commentaries; and with no thought of becoming a law- yer, but merely to gain information, he perused the pages of this learned work with deep interest. The study of this book gave bias to his future life; for, while he did not at once enter npon the work of preparing himself for the legal profession, it is certain that the perusal of this copy of Blackstone turned his thoughts in that direction, and finally led him into the ranks of the lawyers of Indiana. In the year 1883 he did begin the study of law, and in the following year was admitted to practice. He was in 1885 the Democratic candi-




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