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 61
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years of age. Then our subject went, to Fayette County, six miles west of Lexington, Ky., and went to work for his elder brother, John, who was a blacksmith and gunsmitlı. He continued with him until the next fall after the election, when Gen. Andrew Jackson was defeated for the Presidency, and then, with his brother John, came to the "Hoosier 'State." The latter bought eighty acres of land in Marion County, Franklin Township, and our subject made his home with him about a year. From there young Smither and brother went to Indianapolis, where they worked at their trade for about ten years, and during that time made the first cow and horse bells ever made in the State of Indiana. Before coming to Indianapolis our subject had entered eighty acres of land in Marion County, pay -
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ing for the same $1. 25 an acre, and after leaving Indianapolis, which was in the year 1837, he moved on this tract, which he had leased to a man and whose lease he was compelled to buy. This he did and commenced to farm. He lived in a little cabin twenty feet square, which he had built himself after clearing a small place for it. He was married first in November, 1829, to Miss Hester Davis, daughter of James Davis, a native of Delaware, and in the woods of Marion County this ambitious young couple began their career as pio- neers. For a year after settling in the little log cabin Mr. Smither and his wife had no better bed than one made of clapboards laid across stakes driven in the log wall and floor of the cabin. As the cabin was " chinked " and not "daubed " it let in the fierce cold of winter, and our courageous pioneers saw some pretty hard times. One winter night five wolves pulled down and devoured a deer in their dooryard and badly wounded a dog belong- ing to our subject. About three or four years later Mr. Smither put up a hewn-log house about twenty feet square, one room, with a kitchen addition. To his marriage were born these children: Nancy, died when about two years old; James L., born June 27, 1834, married Miss Lucretia Newhouse, and died June 6, 1860; Elizabeth Ann, born September 11, 1839, married Richard Kittey, and died in November, 1890; Mary J., born February 6, 1841, married Francis Kittey and is now a widow of Marion County, Ind .; Sarah, born November 4, 1845, is the wife of William Demott, who resides in Shelby County, Ind. ; Mar- tha, born December 4, 1847, died in August, 1890; Hester Isabel, born December 9, 1854, married Oliver Sloan, of Indianapolis. The mother of these children died December 21, 1854, and on March 13, 1856, Mr. Smither married Miss Mary H. Maze, daughter of John Maze. One daughter, Juliet F., has been born to this union. Our subject resided in the hewn-log cabin until about 1858, two years after his second marriage, when he tore it down and built a one-story frame house on the site, and there resided until November, 1891, when he moved to New Bethel, Marion County, Ind. He purchased a little home in that town and is there spending the remainder of his days. He himself cleared the eighty acres he had entered for he hired no work done, although he occasionally helped a neighbor, who in turn helped him. When he first moved on that tract he had $500, which he had received for his home in Indianapolis, and with that he bought a horse and also sixty acres more land of the Government, adjoining the eighty acres he had first entered, paying $1.25 per acre. He afterward purchased forty acres of William Sloan, but sold this in 1884, clearing $600 on the bargain. Mrs. Smither's father, John Maze, was a native of the " Keystone State " and was only twelve years of age when he came with his parents to Kentucky. Later he settled in Ohio and afterward in Indiana. He married Miss Hannah Harvey and they had twelve children, eleven of whom grew to mature years, as follows: Samuel (deceased), Thomas (deceased), Elizabeth (deceased, was the wife of William Carson), John (deceased), Riley (deceased), Rhoda (widow of Dr. Dewitt Cooper), Jane (deceased, was the wife of Samuel Gray, not deceased), Isabel (deceased, was the wife of Hiram H. Hall), Sarah A. (widow of Joseph Hittle), Mary H. (wife of our subject) and Cynthia A. (widow of Ogden Benjamen). The mother of these children died in 1858 and the father in 1859. The latter was a soldier in the War of 1812. Mr. Smither has been a member of the Baptist Church ever since his early manhood. In politics he was formerly an old line Whig but later affiliated with the Democratic party, with which he has affiliated ever since. He has never voted outside of Marion County, Ind.
HON. WILLIAM S. HOLMAN, who for the greater part of the past thirty-four years has been a representative in Congress from Indiana, and one of the most widely known men. now in public, was born in Dearborn County, this State, December 6, 1822, his parents being Jesse L. and Elizabeth (Masterson) Holman. His father was one of the pioneers of Indiana, having settled in Dearborn County about the year 1810, and was quite prominently con- nected with public affairs, at one time coming within one vote of being elected to the United States Senate. William S. Holman attended the common schools of his neighborhood in youth and for two years was a student at Franklin College. He taught school for a time, wedded Abagail Knapp before attaining his majority, read law, was admitted to the bar when old enough, and when twenty-one was elected probate judge of his native county. In 1849 he was chosen prosecuting attorney, elected senatorial delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1850; in 1851 was elected to the Lower House of the State Legislature, and
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in 1852 was elected to the Common Pleas beuch, serving as such io the end of the term. In 1858 he began his Congressional career by being elected from the old fourth district, and although the district has been twice changed, he has almost continuously retained a seat in Congress. The fact of Judge Holman having been so long in office speaks in no uncertain manner as to his personal popularity and the satisfaction he has rendered to his constituents. During this long time he has served on some of the most important committees, and has been chairman of many of them. For years he has been an earnest advocate of the theory that the Goverment's business should be transacted in a purely business manner, and that the distributions of the public funds should be conducted as carefully as in the case of private methods. All appropriation bills are carefully considered by him and bis numerous " Mr. Speaker, I object " has gained for him the universal appellation of the "Great Objector." Many consider that his plentiful objections are caused by eccentricity and for the purpose of securing notoriety. Many, also, proclaim that oftentimes his objections are needless, unworthy of the man, and that for personal and party aims he objects to the spigot and over- sees the leak at the bunghole. Be this as it may, Judge Holman has unquestionably saved the country the needless expenditure of vast sums. His latest great objection was his acri- monious opposition to the Congressional appropriation of $500,000 in favor of the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago. In this matter he voted with the Southern delegates and in opposition to the almost unanimous support of his colleagues for the measure. During the war he was a Union Democrat and was an active supporter of President Lincoln's war measures. He is one of the most prominent characters now in public life.
DR. JOHN MILTON YOUART (deceased). The successful physician must be a man of pa- tient research, capable of sustaining study and large sympathies. Free and broad should be his mind to seek in all departments of human knowledge some truth to guide his hand; keen and delicate the well-trained sense to draw from nature her most treasured secrets, and un- lock the door where ignorance and doubt have stood sentinel for ages. How fine his fibre who hears the querulous murmur of the sick man only to soothe the fretful brain with lov- ing kindness, to meet impatience with cheerful patience, and bring back the troubled heart to peace by tender sympathy. The above paragraph is but an attempt to sketch one who was greatly beloved and respected in Indianapolis and who in his own person so closely ap- proached the ideal. Dr. John Milton Youart was born in Miami County, Ohio, February 1, 1828, and died on February 14, 1883. His father, Samuel R. Youart, was a native of Bally- mena, Ireland, and when about eighteen years of age he braved Neptune's tender mercies and came to America. Making his way to the Buckeye State he settled in Miami County and began tilling the soil. He was married there to Miss Elizabeth McJimsey, who was a native of Ohio and of Scotch-Irish descent. There both passed the remainder of their days. In his boyhood Dr. Yonart was employed on his father's farm and obtained such education as the country schools afforded. Subsequently his desire for further educational attainments were gratified for he attended Hanover College, Indiana, and graduated from that institution. Having obtained a liberal education and having decided to enter the pro- fession of medicine, he proceeded to Cincinnati, where for five years he was a student under the late Prof. R. S. Newton, in the study of medicine and surgery. Dr. Youart also spent two years with an eminent French professor in the study of diseases of the eye and ear. Having completed his studies he located at Lafayette, Ind., where he practiced his profes- sion for several years, meeting with extraordinary success. While a resident of that city he ranked among the leading citizens and served the city in the capacity of alderman. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted as assistant surgeon of the Fifteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteers, and was soon after promoted to surgeon in the army. The Doctor won special distinction as is shown by the fact that after the battle of Murfreesboro, Gen. Rosecrans, in the presence of the whole army, dismounted with his staff at the hospital and publically congratulated him on the manner in which he treated his wounded soldiers. No higher compliment could have been paid to the skill and fidelity of a surgeon. It has been said that only one other operator in the army of the Cumberland equalled him. After the battle of Stone River the wife of Dr. Youart joined him and for three months contributed her valu- able services to the work of the hospital. Owing to ill health the Doctor was compelled to resign his commission in 1863, and the effects of his arduous labors during the war re-
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mained with him through life and shortened his days. Following the war he settled in In- dianapolis and continued to practice his profession, until his death, with the exception of one year when he held the professor's chair in one of the largest medical colleges in New York, which position he resigned on account of business complications. In 1873 he was elected a member of the school board and served in that capacity in a very creditable manner for several years. On February 4, 1856, soon after locating at Lafayette, Dr. Youart was married to Miss Margaret R. Davis, of Lyons, Iowa. They were the parents of eight children, four of whom are living. On the death of Dr. Youart the medical pro- fession lost one of its most careful, concientious and accomplished members. No gentler hand than his ever timed a fevered pulse, and his fame as a physician survives him in endur- ing and symmetrical beauty. His death was a calamity to his community and to the State. When considered as a loss to his profession, it may be said that from its firmament a star among those brightest and highest overhead has faded and gone out.
DR. JOSEPH D. YOUART. The most important science bearing upon man's happiness, comfort and welfare, is that of medicine, and although young in years, Dr. Youart is a credit. to the profession. He is a worthy son of a worthy sire and has inherited many of those traits of character that made his father one of the most successful physicians of the State. Born on September 18, 1864, to the union of Dr. John M. and Margaret R. (Davis) Youart, our subject attained his growth in his native town, Indianapolis, and supplemented a com- mon-school education by attending the high school, from which he graduated in 1879. He took a four-years course in the shortest possible period, sixteen months, and while in school gave much of his attention to the study of medicine, being in the office with his father. In 1880 he took first course of lectures at Central College, physicians and surgeons, Indiana- polis, but on account of age could not graduate. He kept up his medical studies however and graduated from the Medical College of Indiana in 1892. In the year 1883 he spent seven months at Central Insane Asylum, Indiana, studying mental diseases. One year later lie was made deputy coroner of Indianapolis and served in that capacity until the fall of 1885 when he went to Sun City, Kan. There he practiced his profession and edited the Sun City Union, a weekly paper. While there he also pre-empted and proved up Government land. In 1889 he went to Chicago and was western editor of the Press-News Association, a rival of the Associated Press. In 1890 he became editor of the Helena (Mont.) Journal, owned by Russell Harrison, and while serving in that capacity traveled through Alaska and the principal cities of the West. Returning to Indianapolis in May, 1891, he completed his medical course, and since that time has been engaged in general practice. On June 7, 1893, Dr. Youart was united in marriage to May A. Burns, a beautiful and accomplished young lady, who was also a native of Indianapolis. He is an energetic practitioner, is recognized throughout the city as a friend of and laborer in the cause and advancement of the medical profession, and has acquired a flattering reputation as a physician. In politics he is a Dem- ocrat, has been an active worker for his party, and was president of the Young Mens' Democratic Club of the State of Indiana in 1884.
CAPT. JOHN B. WITTY. The average citizen, interested as he may be in the progress of the city in which his interests are centered, pursues the even tenor of his way with little thought of the wonderful improvements that are going on about him in the methods of constructing the miles of railways that are so necessary to the growth of a metropolis, the building of its palaces of trade, or to the men in whose fertile brains these plans originated, or who devote their time to keeping these roads in good condition. Among the benefac- tors at large of the country in the latter respect is Capt. John B. Witty, who has been connected with different railways of the country almost continuously since the close of the war. He was born in Pleasant Garden, Putnam County, Ind., in 1836, a son of William W. Witty, who was a native of Greensboro, N. C., and came to Putnam County, Ind., many years ago, of which he was one of the pioneer settlers. He at once engaged in mer- cantile pursuits, but was also quite an extensive contractor in stone and brick and built a. considerable portion of the old National Road. He was a man of excellent business ability, and lived to be eighty-five years of age, dying in 1886. Politically he was always a Republican. His wife was born on February 14, 1812, in Greensboro, N. C., and died June 27, 1888, her people having been among the very earliest residents of Putnam County.
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Of nine children born to this worthy couple, John B. was the second in order of birth, and his early education was acquired in the subscription schools of Putnam County. When starting out in life for himself it was as a brakeman on the old Louisville, New Albany & Salem Railroad, and , at the early age of eighteen years became a conductor on that line. He next became connected with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, then the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, but in June, 1861, he returned to Indiana, and at Terre Haute joined Stewart's Cavalry, Company A, but afterward became a member of Company I, Conrad Baker's regiment, and for over three years was in the cavalry service of his country. His company was detailed for body guard service for different generals and at the close of tlie war he was a member of Gen. Grant's body guard. He was a participant in many engage- ments, among which were Cedar Mountain, Cross Keys, Strasburg, Mount Jackson, Port Republic, Culpeper Court House, the second battle of Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Peters- burg, Gettysburg, White Sulphur Springs, Hagerstown, Md., Nashville, Johnsonville, and others too numerous to mention. During his service he was in many dangerous situations and had numerous narrow escapes. He was in the charge against Fredericksburg, Va., on November 9, 1862, with Col. Dahlgren, being one of his fifty-seven men who charged 500 or more Confederate cavalry. At the close of the war lie was mustered out of the service at Gen. Grant's camp, and was discharged at Indianapolis in 1864. During his entire service he was neither wounded nor taken prisoner. He then entered the service of the United States Government, and was stationed at Nashville, Tenn., on the Nashville divis- ion of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, continuing in the service of that road till 1874 as freight and passenger conductor. In 1874 he became roadmaster of the Elizabethtown & Paducah Railroad; was next in the same capacity with the Owensboro & Nashville Rail- road, and was then on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad as conductor. The three following years he was on the Central Branch of the Union Pacific as passenger conductor, but at the end of that time he went East, and after a short time became connected with the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad. For some time now he has ably filled the position of general roadmaster of the Indianapolis Union Railway, and during this time has kept the road in the best of repair, and has discharged his duties in a manner calculated to give satisfaction to all concerned. No better man for his present position could be found than Capt. Witty, and of this fact the company seems to be fully aware. The Captain has shown his approval of secret societies by becoming a member of the A. F. & A. M., in which he is a Knight Templar, the Council of Seven Wise Men, the K. of H., and ever since its organization has been a member of the G. H. Thomas Post of the G. A. R. Like his father before him, he has always been a decided Republican, and has always labored for the success of that party. On December 20, 1864, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary H. Thwaites, of Louisville, Ky., and to their union one child has been given, Mabel C. Mrs. Witty was born in England, but came to this country with her parents when young, and first settled with them in Ohio, and then in Louisville, Ky. Her father was a railroad man in England, being with the London & Northwestern, and he was a successful builder of railroads. He became general roadmaster of the Louisville & Nash- ville Railroad, but spent his declining years at the home of the subject, where he died on February 7, 1892, at the age of seventy-seven years. In personal appearance Capt. Witty is decidedly prepossessing, and he possesses good physique and an excellent constitution. The success and honor which have attended his walk through life are due to his own good qualities of heart and head, and his career is worthy the emulation of all who would make a mark in life, and leave behind him footprints on the sands of time.
WILLIAM MCFARLAND. The gentleman whose name heads this sketch is a grandson of Robert McFarland, who was a native Tennesseean and an early settler of Kentucky, where he spent the rest of his life. He and his wife reared a family of eight children, five of whom were sons and all were soldiers in the War of Revolution, four of them being in active serv - ice and the other the captain of a company of home guard. Robert McFarland died at an advanced age. His son, Benjamin McFarland, was born in Tennessee in 1770 and was afterward married in Kentucky to Martha Stinson, by whom he had one daughter, Martha, who married William Henderson and became a resident of Indiana, dying there. She left eight children, two of whom survive: Harriet, who married Samuel Consley and
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James. After the death of his first wife Benjamin McFarland married Mary Ratcliffe, and to them seven children were born, of whom Robert died in infancy and six grew to maturity ; Jane (deceased), who became the wife of John McCollum; Thomas (deceased), who married Betsey Wycoff; Isabel (deceased), who married George Barnes; Samuel (deceased), who mar- ried Matilda Bryan; Eliza, widow of Thomas M. Thomas; William (the subject of this sketch). The father of these children was a soldier in the French and Indian Wars prior to the War of 1812-14, being a noted spy and scout in the service of his country. William McFarland, whose name heads this sketch, was born in Campbell County, Ky., April 12, 1814, on the farm belonging to his father, Benjamin McFarland. On this farm he was brought up to the age of twelve years, living the usual life of the farmer's boy of that period. He was placed in school at the age of six years and attended every session of school during the three-months winter terms until he was twelve years old. He arrived with his parents in Indiana, October 17, 1826, his father and two of his brothers having come in the previous spring. They entered about eighty acres of land, cleared about seven acres and planted it in corn, then returned to Kentucky, sold their possessions there and returned to Indiana in the fall. Besides the above mentioned eighty acres, the father also entered eighty acres in Perry Township, and on this last tract they settled when they came in the fall. The first thing they did was to put up a cabin, 18x20 feet, the floor of which was made of ash logs, split as fine as possible, and dressed with the axe. The door was made of oak clap- boards with the roof also of that material, greased paper took the place of window lights and the chimney was what was called "cat and clay." William remained on this farm until about 1854. He was married in 1839 by Rev. John Richmond, a Baptist minister and physi- cian residing in Indianapolis, to Martha Ann, daughter of John Chinn, and for some time thereafter lived in a three-room frame house which had been put up on his father's farm. In 1854 he purchased ninety-four acres of land for $24 per acre, on which had been erected a good hewed log house and there he made his home for three years. Not being pleased with the neighborhood he sold his property there and bought 140 acres in Perry Township, paying $50 an acre, which was $5 more per acre than was usual. He paid $2,000 and had nine years to pay the balance. In 1871 he erected the handsome two-story frame house in which he now resides, but at the present writing has a beautiful home almost completed in Indianapolis where he expects to spend his declining years. He was first a Whig in politics but for many years has been a Republican and has voted for every Republican candidate for president since the time of Fremont. He has been a member of the Baptist Church since 1839, in which he served as deacon since 1861. A family of eleven children were born to them, as follows: Carey A., who married Margaret Graber (deceased), has five children- Edna, Guy, Aggie, Elizabeth, and Fay; Mary E., who married Rev. Edward S. Riley, a Baptist minister, by whom she has one daughter-Margaret; Appoline A .; John L., who married Ella Stargel and has two children-Edith M. and Charles; Artemesia; Benjamin F. who is married to Selina Ewan; William H. who married Belle Smock and has five children -Roxanna, Laurence, Nancy G., Parvin, Martha C., Louella A .; Melissa Isabella, who married Charles Collins, has four children-Clarence, Frederick, Mary and Leo; Margaret M. and Lily P. Carey A., the eldest son, served three years in the Federal army in the Seventieth Indiana Regiment, of which ex-President Harrison was Colonel.
JOHN H. ROTHERT. The calling of the merchant is one of the oldest, as well as one of the most honorable of all lines of industry. Exchange and barter are two of the world's most important factors and without these the public would indeed find themselves in a sad plight. Above all it is necessary that the line of goods should be pure and the merchant reliable, two features combined in the mercantile career of John H. Rothert, dealer in prime groceries, flour and feed. Mr. Rothert is a product of Louisville, Ky., where he was born November 4, 1843, a son of Harmon and Katherine (Faselage) Rothert, natives of Germany, who came to America when young and located in Kentucky, where Harmon Rothert died when the subject of this sketch was three years of age. The mother survived her husband a number of years and died in Bartholomew County, Ind. At about the age of seven years John H. was brought by his mother to this State and his youthful days were spent on a farm in Bartholomew County, considerably to the exclusion of school advantages. During the war he was engaged in railroading, and at one time enlisted in the Third Indiana Cavalry, but
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