USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Sketches of prominent citizens of 1876 : with a few of the pioneers of the city and county who have passed away > Part 15
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He owned and carried an old-fashioned repeater gold watch that struck the time very musically, by using a spring in the handle ; this he was frequently in the habit of sending to his friend, Humphrey Grif- fith, to compare the time, or to have it regulated ; by watching the boys he selected to carry it he found out they were in the habit of starting it to striking as soon as they had reached the outside of the school house door. He watched the writer, who was also watching him, and did not touch the spring until out of his hearing ; consequently he was always after that selected to carry the watch, but was always very careful never to touch the spring within a reasonable distance of the school house, but enjoyed its musical strains when distant. Mr. Thomas H. Sharpe tells me that he still has the watch.
Among Mr. Sharpe's pupils were Thomas A. and John D. Morris, Hugh O'Neal, Thomas D. and Robert L. Walpole. The former has risen to distinction in his profession, that of civil engineer; the three latter might in theirs, had they paid that attention they should have done to the example and precept of their worthy tutor. I doubt whether there is a person in the State to-day connected with the cause of educa- tion and our general system of free schools, that understands the practi- cal part of a teacher, or that of the head of an institution of learning, as well as Mr. Sharpe. He was ever diligent at his books; his studies were often carried far into the silent watches of the night. He was one of the finest readers I have ever heard - his pronunciation loud, clear and distinct ; his emphasis imparted great force to the language. Nor can I forget his daily moral and religious instructions to his pupils, by
IO
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which he gained their love and the esteem of their parents. It was evi- dent, from the pains he took in the instruction of his scholars, that he indulged the hope that their parents would some day reap the reward of his honorable labors in the prosperity of their children.
Often, in the absence of a minister, was he called upon by the con- gregation to read a sermon, which he would do, and impart to it quite as much interest as though it was original and the first time delivered.
He was agent of State for the town of Indianapolis for several years before his death, and was then succeeded by his son, Thomas H. Sharpe, Esq., now one of the prominent bankers of this city.
When I recur to the scenes in the old school house, where I spent a short portion of life's early years, I delight in taking a retrospective view of those days when our never-to be-forgotten teacher tried so hard to inspire us with the love of knowledge and literature.
Mr. Sharpe brought with him to this place a large family, but few of whom are now living. He died in the fall of 1835, at the age of fifty-six,
" Pleased with the present, and full of glorious hope."
His was the largest funeral that had ever been seen in Indianapolis at that time. I think there was not a vehicle in the place that was not in the procession.
THOMAS H. SHARPE,
The oldest surviving son of the worthy gentleman who was the subject of the preceding sketch, came to this place with his father a mere boy, yet in his teens, but well qualified to assist his father, as he did, in training "the young idea how to shoot."
About 1831 he engaged with Arthur St. Clair as clerk in the Land Office, and had almost entire charge of the immense sales of land in this district. It was then his business qualifications were first developed.
After his father's death he was appointed agent of State for the town of Indianapolis, a position previously held by his father. He was appointed teller in the branch of the State Bank of Indiana, and after the retirement of Judge Morris as its cashier, Mr. Sharpe was appointed his successor, and held the place until the affairs of the bank were wound up. He then engaged with the late Calvin Fletcher in a private bank, and, although Mr. Fletcher is dead, he requested that the busi- ness of the bank should be continued by Mr. Sharpe, and without change, the same as if he was yet living. This is one of the highest encomiums that could be paid to his integrity, worth and merit ; for no
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PHILIP SWEETSER.
person knew him so well as Mr. Fletcher. They had been associated in business for near twenty years. It is unnecessary to say that he now has the entire charge of one of the prominent banks of the city, and does quite as large a business as any of them. Mr. Sharpe has quite a large family of children. In the person of one of them he has brought down to the present time the good name of his father in full, and I hope it will be continued to future generations.
When he first came to this place he was a very active young man, and prided himself on his fleetness of foot, and many was the race he ran with the young men of the place, and was never beaten. He yet steps with an elasticity that leads me to believe he would be hard to beat.
In 1876 he, in connection with Mr. Ingram Fletcher, who repre- sents the interest of his father in the banking house of Fletcher & Sharpe, built a fine business and banking house on the southwest corner of Washington and Pennsylvania streets, which indicates that he has not lost any of the energy and enterprise of his youthful days.
PHILIP SWEETSER
Was a native of the State of New Hampshire, born in the village of Morrow, in the year 1795. He was educated at the same college and in the same graduating class with that eminent Massachusetts lawyer, Hon. Rufus Choate, and had he lived to the age that gentleman did, I have no doubt he would have stood equally high in his profession.
Mr. Sweetser, for a short time, was a teacher in the academy at Charlotte Hall, Maryland, and it was there, in that capacity, he made the acquaintance of our townsman, Esquire William Sullivan. From the latter place he came to Indiana, and for a short time practiced law in Madison, and from there to Columbus, where he resided many years and was one of the most popular and successful lawyers in the Fifth Judicial Circuit. While at Columbus he became the law partner of General James Noble, at that time a United States Senator, and after- wards the father-in-law of Mr. Sweetser. They were the principal law- yers in conducting the prosecution against the murderers of the Indians, at the falls of Fall creek, in the year 1824, and it was the opening speech in that prosecution, made by Mr. Sweetser, that first attracted the attention of the people, and the members of the bar particularly, to the Yankee lawyer, although his forte in criminal cases was defense, where he was more at home on the side of mercy; indeed, he was a
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man of too noble and generous feelings for a successful prosecutor, and he has told me himself that nothing gave him more pain than to prose- cute a criminal.
In the month of June, or July, 1833, the writer happened to be in Columbus on the day that a man named Jones was to be hung. A large concourse of people had assembled to witness the execution. Among them were many friends and neighbors of the man that Jones had murdered, all eager to see the law enforced and the unfortunate man launched into eternity. It was known that Mr. Sweetser, as the crimi- nal's lawyer, had started to Indianapolis (on horseback) only the evening before to try to have the execution postponed and the criminal respited, in order that he might get the case before the Supreme Court. There was great excitement and various threats made against Mr. Sweetser if he should be successful. About the last hour he arrived, and had gained the respite. Learning of the great excitement and threats against him, he caused the people to be collected, when he made a short speech to them, which had the desired effect and allayed all bad feelings against himself ; he convinced the excited people that he had done only what his oath, as a lawyer, and fidelity to the interest and life of his client required. They found that, amid their own departure from the rules of propriety and sober life, he was immovable and determined to do his duty, regardless of the consequences to himself. Although Mr. Sweet- ser delayed the execution, his client was subsequently hung; he had the satisfaction of knowing that he had done his duty to his client and his God.
As a lawyer and advocate, it was remarked of Mr. Sweetser that he never allowed his dignity to be lowered by vulgar or ungentlemanly remarks to the opposing counsel or of their clients ; neither did he ever use any of the "slang phrases " too common at the present day, but at the bar, as in the parlor, was governed by the same rules of propriety that stamped him the gentleman. Although a fluent speaker, his main strength before a court or jury was found in his strong and convincing arguments, which he presented with such force as to readily carry con- viction to the minds of his auditors.
Mr. Sweetser had been a constant attendant of the different courts that were held in this city from the time he first came to the State up to the time of his death, which occurred in the summer of 1843. He removed his family to Indianapolis in 1837. He has two sons who are among our well known citizens; the eldest, James Noble, who possesses a great many of the father's traits of character, and, as a lawyer, considerable
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HON. NATHAN B. PALMER.
legal ability. Another, George, who is well known to our old as well as new citizens. The younger portion of the family still live with their mother, who yet makes her home among the many friends of her departed husband.
HON. NATHAN B. PALMER.
This venerable old citizen and worthy gentleman was perhaps as gen- erally and favorably known throughout the State of Indiana as any per- son now living. He has been a citizen of the State half a century, and a great portion of the time in active public life.
No person who was a citizen of the State from 1840 to 1843, can for- get the large, bold signature of "N. B. Palmer," affixed to the "State scrip " that was authorized by the Legislature to be issued by the Treas- urer of State in payment of its indebtedness to contractors on the public works.
The name of N. B. Palmer, if not in the mouth of every citizen in the State, was in the pockets of many of them. His signature was affixed in the two classes of scrip-the old, dated in 1840, bearing six per cent. interest ; the new, or green, as it was called, dated 1841, bear- ing the fourth of one per cent. interest. These two kinds of scrip formed for several years the principal circulating medium of the State as a representative of money.
Mr. Palmer was born in Stonington, Connecticut, on the 27th of August, 1790. In his tenth year, 1800, with his mother (his father having died), he removed to the State of New York, where he remained until 1812, when he, with his family, emigrated to Pennsylvania, hav- ing, in the meantime, been married to Miss Chloe Sacket, who died in 1871, and who had always proved a helpmate worthy of emulation by the young ladies of the present day.
Mrs. Palmer had ever manifested a disposition to take the world as she found it, and not try to remodel the order of nature to conform to her own peculiar views and personal convenience. Of this the writer can speak understandingly, as he was an inmate of her house for one year.
In Pennsylvania, his new home, Mr. Palmer was soon called into public life. The few years he resided there he held many offices of trust and emolument, all of which he filled with honor to himself, satisfaction of the public, and the benefit of the State.
In the year 1819 he removed to Indiana, and settled in Jefferson
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county, where he resided fourteen years and held many offices of impor tance ; he was a representative of that county in the Legislature, and was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives for the session of 1833-4. He was a prompt and efficient presiding officer, at all times commanding the respect of his associates for his knowledge of parlia- mentary rules and an impartial application of them to cases that might arise.
At the ensuing session of the Legislature of 1834-5, he was elected Treasurer of State, and immediately entered upon its duties, and re- moved his family to this place in the spring of 1835. This position he held for several years, and retired from it without the tongue of vituper- ation or slander ever reaching his public acts, which is a very uncom- mon thing with persons who have charge of large amounts of public moneys and their disbursement.
In 1841, after he had retired from the office of Treasurer of State, he was selected by the Legislature to examine the State Bank and the dif- ferent branches, and report their financial condition to the next annual session of that body.
He afterwards was canal commissioner, councilman from his ward, and held several other minor offices. In 1841 he built the "Palmer House," now Occidental Hotel, on the southeast corner of Washington and Illinois streets. This house he kept from 1844 to 1851.
Mr. Palmer died in the spring of 1875.
DOCTOR GEORGE W. MEARS.
"A man in many a country town you know Professes openly with death to wrestle ; Entering the field against the grimly foe, Armed with a mortar and a pestle."
The worthy doctor, whose name heads this sketch, came to Indian- apolis in February, 1834, fully armed as above quoted, and entered immediately upon the practice of his profession, and has continued it up to the present time.
Dr. Mears was originally from Philadelphia, but was direct from Vincennes to this place. At the latter place he had lived a few years, and was there married to Miss Caroline Ewing, a daughter of one of its most respected citizens, and a pioneer of the west. The doctor is, at this time, the veteran practicing physician of the place, and has, per- haps, stood by the sick and dying bedside of as many poor and unpay-
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DOCTOR GEORGE W. MEARS.
ing patients as any physician in the State, and with that class of people is universally popular, as well as with the wealthy.
In the doctor's extensive practice if he should, like the " New Castle Apothecary," have
" Hurled a few score mortals from the world,"
Like him, too, he has
" Made amends by bringing others into il."
He has enjoyed the confidence and respect of the citizens of this county and city as a man as well as a physician, and no person stands higher in either respect. And in his shop, like that of Dr. Hornbrook's, will be found all kinds
"O' doctors' saws and whettles Of a' dimensions, shapes and metiles, A' kind o' boxes, mugs and bottles, He's sure to hae ; Their Latin names as fast he rattles As A, B, C.
When he first came to Indianapolis it was the custom of physicians to keep in their shops different kinds of liquors for medicinal purposes. One of the "dead beats" of the place gave the doctor considerable trouble in that way when he could not procure the article at the gro- ceries. One morning he called and told the doctor if he would not let him have spirits, that, for God's sake, let him have something that would kill him, as he was tired of living at any rate. The doctor told him he would give him something, he would think, would kill him before he got through with it. He mixed a large dose of tarter emetic with some brandy, which the patient swallowed with evident self-satisfaction. In the course of an hour or so the doctor was riding near the old grave- yard, where he found, or rather heard, him in a corn field, heaving and pitching, and calling for help. The doctor informed him that he was in no kind of danger, and would certainly be better before he could pos- sibly be much worse.
About that time he quit drinking, and he told us a few days since that he had not tasted spirituous liquor for twenty-five years. This man I have referred to was in the habit, when under the influence of liquor, of calling "all the ends of the earth to come unto him;" if he ever should again he will probably not forget the worthy doctor. Although the doctor has ever had an extensive pratice, he has never sought to lay
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
up wealth by oppressing his patients and debtors, and, I have no doubt, can show as many unpaid bills upon his books as any physician in the city. Unlike the "New Castle Apothecary," his fame has more than
" Six miles around the country ran, And all the old women call him a fine man."
He, at an early day, built himself a fine mansion on Meridian street, where he yet resides. At the time it was built it was the largest family residence in the place, as well as the finest. He owns the largest piece of very valuable property of any person in the city, over the quarter of a square, in the most fashionable neighborhood. In religion he is an Episcopalian, and was prominent in organizing the first congregation of that denomination in the city, and yet worships at Christ church, and was for years one of its vestrymen. In politics he was an ardent and enthusiastic member of that good old national Whig party, now defunct and numbered among the dead. He was appointed by the Legislature one of the board of trustees to direct the organization and management of the Institution for the Education of the Blind, and subsequently to superin- tend the application of the fund appropriated by the Legislature for that purpose. He was for years president of the Board of Health of the city and county, as well as city physician, all of which he filled with entire satisfaction to the public and credit to himself.
Doctor George W. Mears is one of the leading physicians of Indi- anapolis, and is, perhaps, oftener called in consultation with his co-work- ers in the healing art than any other in the place. Long may he live to enjoy his enviable reputation, both as a man and as a physician.
JAMES W. HILL.
Mr. Hill was born in Champaign county, Ohio, near Urbana, on the 29th of August, 1806. In 1826 he came to Indianapolis, and for some time remained in the village. In the spring of 1827 he settled in the woods five miles northeast of the city, on or near where the Pendleton road now is. For some time he kept bachelor's hall-this the writer well knows, for he was there with him for a few days assisting in making sugar, and stayed until he thought that the sweetness of the sugar was somewhat soured by the amount of labor in procuring it. While there Mr. Hill supplied himself with game without much trouble, for deer and. wild turkeys abounded almost in his cabin yard.
On the 30th of June, 1829, he returned to his former home and was
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JAMES MORRISON.
married to Miss Maria Harbour, and brought her to his humble cabin, which was but twelve feet square. They traveled from Ohio on horse- back. In this cabin they lived happily for three years, then built a larger house, and there remained until 1834, and then removed to the village of Indianapolis.
Mr. Hill tells me when he first arrived here he had twelve and a half cents, and spent that for apples. He worked out at twenty-five cents per day, which was about the highest price paid at that time, and then paid in goods or trade. He says when he went on his wedding tour he borrowed twenty-five dollars of the late Henry Bradley, and it was four years before he could raise the money to pay it, and then sold twenty- five head of good cattle for seventy-five dollars in order to get out of debt. Mr. Hill's experience in the scarcity of money and the different shifts that had to be taken to get along was only that of nearly all the first settlers.
Mr. Hill was the brother of the first wife of the late Calvin Fletcher. For several years he was a prosperous farmer near where the southeast boundary of the corporation now is. He has retired from business and now resides in the city. He has two daughters married and living in the city ; one is the wife of William Spotts, the commission merchant, and the other of a Mr. Phipps.
If Mr. Hill did have to work at twenty-five cents per day, sell twenty- five·head of cattle for seventy-five dollars to pay wedding expenses and live in a twelve by twelve cabin, he has lived to find himself independ- ent in a financial point of view. I often meet him in our streets, and it never fails to bring to my mind the time I deserted his sugar camp-at this writing just fifty years ago.
JAMES MORRISON.
It is when I attempt to write a fitting tribute to the memory of such a man as Judge Morrison, that I feel the magnitude of the task I have undertaken, and my incompetency to hand down to posterity and future generations, that they may have a proper appreciation of his great legal ability, and his many moral and social virtues.
My acquaintance with Judge Morrison began when I was a boy, and before he had reached the noonday of life. Forty-five years ago I was often his fishing companion upon the banks of White river and Fall creek, he angling for the fine black bass with which those streams abounded at that time, and I for the tiny minnow he used for bait.
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
He was a great smoker, and carried a tinder-box for the purpose of lightning his cigars (this was before such a thing as locofoco matches was thought of). I have often been attracted to his place of conceal- ment on the banks of these streams by the clatter of his tinder-box, or the curling smoke from his fragrant Havana, rising above the bushes. This was when the vanities or sorry conceits of the world were strangers to me, and when my youthful spirit had known but little of the evils of this inconstant world. It was upon the banks of these streams that I learned much of the true dignity of character he possessed, and before either of us thought that we would ever bear the relationship of attor- ney and client to each other, which we did for years afterwards.
Although my hair is now silvered o'er, and my brow bears the marks of time, I have not outlived the memory of those happy days in the early history of this city; the days of so much enjoyment that I passed when a boy, and the reflection of whose pleasures lingers with me yet.
In the Indianapolis Journal of the 22d of March, 1869, I find the following announcement of his demise :
"The early settlers of the State, and the founders of our city, are dropping off in such close succession that we are warned of the near approach of the time when all shall have passed away, and the birth of Indianapolis have ceased to be a memory to any, and faded into history. Since the beginning of the year two have left us, and in the last decade they far outnumber the years. We can not think but with profound sorrow of the inevitable hours when all the names so long identified with our prosperity and honored as the links that still bind the present to the past, have ceased to speak a living presence, and to offer a living example of beauty, of goodness, and a well spent life.
"Among all that have left such sad vacancies, no one has filled a more prominent place than the Hon. James Morrison; though for some years his failing strength and feeble health have secluded him from active life, his presence has been felt, his existence has been an influ- ence, and his death is not so much the end of a flickering light as the extinguishment of a gleam that leaves darkness in its place. He died on Saturday evening, the 20th inst., of pneumonia, after an illness of several days."
From the Indianapolis Sentinel, of the same date, I copy as follows :
"Judge Morrison was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, the birthplace of Robert Burns, in the year 1796. His parents came to this country when he was quite young, and settled at Bath, in western New York.
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JAMES MORRISON.
He studied his profession with Judge William B. Rochester, a distin- guished jurist of that State, and when admitted to the bar he emigrated to Indiana and located in Charlestown, Clarke county, where he prac- ticed law for many years with the late Judge Dewey, who was one of the truly great men of the nation. He remained in Charlestown about ten years, and a gentleman who knew him during his residence there, says his devotion to his family ( he was the oldest son ) was most remark- able, and that he was their main reliance.
"In the winter of 1828-29, he was elected Secretary of State by the Legislature, and removed to this city, then a town of 1, 100 inhabitants, January 1, 1829. Subsequently he filled the office of judge of this judicial circuit, president of the State Bank for ten years, succeeding Samuel Merrill, Esq., Attorney General, the first to fill that office, and other trusts of less importance. So high an appreciation had the mem- bers of the bar for his qualifications for the judgeship, that they pre- sented him with five hundred dollars to induce him to take it. Of the Clarke county bar he leaves but two survivors, we believe, Judge Thompson, now in the city, and Judge Naylor, of Crawfordsville. Of the Indianapolis bar of 1829, the year he became connected with it, he was, as we recollect, the last, not one now left. Harvey Gregg, William Quarles, Hiram Brown, Henry P. Coburn, B. F. Morris, Andrew Ingram, Samuel Merrill, Calvin Fletcher and William W. Wick, who were his associates then, all passed away before he was called to his final rest. As we call the familiar names of those so prominent in the early history of the bar of Indianapolis, the convulsive throbs of many hearts will attest their worth and the appreciation with which their mem- ories are still cherished. Yet the sadness with which we recur to the ties of early associations, and the early friendship of the past thus sev- ered, will give place to the cheering thought that those endearing ties will he renewed, refined and strengthened in the new life upon which they have already entered.
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