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 32
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In February, 1839, he returned to his old home in Ohio. After visiting his friends he went to Mason county, Kentucky, where he found an old associate teaching school. Failing to get a situation as a clerk in a store, at the suggestion of his friend he began teaching school in the backwoods of that county. While teaching he devoted all his spare time to finishing his own education in the common or English branches. In this he succeeded well.
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WILLIAM J. GILLESPIE.
On the 2d of June, 1842, he was married to Miss Julia Whaley, and immediately commenced farming. On this farm he built a flouring and saw mill, also a wool-carding machine-all of which were propelled by steam.
In November, 1852, he sold out his farm and establishments, and removed to Thorntown, Boone county, Indiana. He soon got a posi- tion as passenger conductor on the Indianapolis and Lafayette railroad, and as such was popular with the traveling public. In 1854 he removed to Indianapolis. In 1857 he was elected a member of the city council. He made a good and efficient member, and while there did much to- ward bringing to perfection our present fire department.
During the past two years he has held the office of city weigh- master, and performed its duties to the entire satisfaction of the many with whom he necessarily transacted business.
Captain North is a genial, clever gentleman, always meeting his. friends with a friendly shake of the hand and welcome smile.
WILLIAM J. GILLESPIE,
The subject of this sketch, was born in what was then the village of Indianapolis, on the 27th day of March, 1843; his father, Mr. James Gillespie, with whom the writer was well acquainted, had been a citizen for several years, and died when Mr. Gillespie was a mere child, leav- ing him to combat with the difficulties incident to the life of an orphan and make his way through the world as best he could. Determined to have an education he attended the public schools, including the old high school, and then entered the Northwestern Christian University and acquired a good English education, which was sufficient to make of himself a good business man.
Early in life he embarked in business, first with partners, then on his own account, and has been quite successful Although he has not yet reached the meridian of life he has attained a high position as a business man, and has a reputation for honor and integrity unimpeachable. In the thirty three years of Mr. Gillespie's life and residence he has witnessed the comparative village of Indianapolis grow to a beautiful city. Should he be blessed with the length of life generally allotted to man, he may see the present population quadrupled.
Mr. Gillespie believing that it was not best for man to live alone, a few years since woed and won the hand of Miss Mary E., the fair and. accomplished daugher of Judge A. L. Roache, and they are now travel-
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ing down the stream of time, hand in hand, as helpers to each other. May their declining years be as peaceful and happy as their beginning has been, loving and prosperous.
SCHWABACHER & SELIG.
These two young Bavarians, Joseph Schwabacher and Abram Isaac Jacob Selig, came to this city in the year 1866, and immediately engaged in the wholesale liquor business. They were directly from Peoria, Illi- nois, where they were engaged in the same business for a short time. Since they became residents of Indianapolis they have succeeded in building up a fine trade. Although this city was well supplied with simi- lar business establishments, they have now a trade throughout this as well as other western States.
Since he became a resident of this city Mr. Schwabacher has taken a life partner in the person of Miss Matilda Bakrow, one of the belles of Louisville, Kentucky, and daughter of the late John Bakrow, who was a well-known and wealthy dry goods merchant of that city.
Mr. Selig has also taken a partner in life's rugged journey, and selected the sister of his business partner, Miss Lena Schwabacher. May their young loves never be sullied or their lives be o'ercast and darkened by sorrow.
Early in 1877 they removed from their old place of business, on South Delaware street, where they have done an immense business, to more commodious apartments at Nos. 92 and 94 South Meridian street, in the midst of the wholesale trade of the city. Messrs. Schwabacher and Selig are well-known throughout the entire country that trade at Indianapolis. Without any disparagement to other establishments of the kind I must say that for integrity and fair-dealing they stand irre- proachable. The writer has known them well since they first began business in this city, therefore speaks of them understandingly.
WILLIAM P. WALLACE
Was born in Hancock county, a few miles from Fortville, on June 29, 1843, but was brought by his parents to Indianapolis in the following year, where he has since resided.
When at the age of eighteen he wrote some very pretty verses for the Waverly Magazine under the nom de plume of Will. S. Raymond ;
WILLIAM P. WALLACE.
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when at the age of twenty he wrote for the same periodical under the name of Will P. W. The following stanza from a poem inscribed to "' Nettie B.," will illustrate his originality and sweetness of verse:
" I can see thy beauty teeming Round my path where'er I go; But alas ! such mournful dreaming Makes this world a world of woe. Sacred spot, there is none dearer, To this heart which beats for thee, Hallowed mound, oh, bring me nearer, Nearer to Eternity."
In 1861 and 1862 he contributed weekly to Pleasant Paragraphs of the New York Weekly, also to the Phunny Phellow. Toward the close of the war he composed, and published by a New York firm, a beautiful patriotic song and chorus, entitled " My country dear I die for thee," which met with a ready sale in both the eastern and western States. On November 17, 1864, he was married to Miss Henrietta D. Eden, of Lexington, Kentucky; only one child so far has blessed their marriage relations-a boy ten years of age, who stands at the head of his class in our public schools. Wrote extensively for the Mirror (when published in this city) under the, nom de plume of Brute ; has also writ- ten many admired articles for The People under the nom de plumes of Brute, Smooth Bore, Run Around, James M. Taylor, M. D., Lizzie Crawford Black and Annie Laurie. Under "Lizzie Crawford Black" he contributed many gems to the city press. The following extract from a poem published in The People, under the head of "Little lost one," will serve to illustrate :
"' Little cherub flown above To the happy realms of love ; Gently tapping Heaven's door, Enter in forever more. Little feet while here below, Ever trod the paths of woe ; Little feet now in the skies, Tread the paths of paradise. Little tongue while here on earth, Ever prattling joy and mirth, Now with angels sing above Heavenly anthems, 'God is love.'"
Has been and is yet engaged in commercial pursuits with his father,
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Mr. Andrew Wallace, in the wholesale grocery business, corner Virginia avenue and Maryland street. Never was sick as long as memory serves him. Temperate in habits, but smokes like a veteran disciple of Nicotine.
HON. WILLIAM D. WILES.
Prominent among the South Meridian street wholesale merchants is the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this sketch. Mr. Wiles was born in Henry county, Indiana, 1828, and there resided until he became a citizen of Indianapolis in 1864. He immediately engaged in the wholesale grocery business and took rank as a first-class business man ; he has continued the business to the present time, the firm being Wiles, Coffin & Smith. He has represented the second ward in the city council, and was an efficient and working member of that body for five years.
In 1873 he was the 'Republican candidate for mayor of the city against James L. Mitchell, but was defeated owing to petty jealousies in his own party.
In 1877 he was elected alderman, which position he now holds. Mr. Wiles is a leader in whatever business he engages in, whether public or private. He is a man of fine presence ; his off-hand manner is sure to attract attention and win respect in whatever sphere he is called to act. His first wife was Miss Butler, daughter of a prominent citizen of his native county. She having died, he married the daughter of Matthew Long, of this city.
HENRY SCHNULL.
Among the enterprising business men of Indianapolis, Mr. Schnull will be found in the front rank. He was born in the kingdom of Prussia, on the 26th of December, 1833, where he received a good education. He came to the United States and to this city in October, 1852.
In December, 1856 he was married to Matilda Schramm, the daugh- ter of a wealthy farmer of Hancock county, where she was born.
Mr. Schnull was the first to commence the wholesale grocery business on Meridian street. He was in that business from 1855 to 1872-first under the name of A. & H. Schnull, and afterwards Severin, Schnull & Co.
Mr. Schnull was for several years president of the Merchants' National Bank of this city, and was also a partner in the foundry known as the Eagle Machine Works.
353
SAMUEL HANNAH.
He is at this time president and treasurer of the Indianapolis Cotton Manufacturing Company. By this it will be seen that since Mr. Schnull's twenty-four years' residence in the city he has been one of its active business men. He now resides in an elegant residence on North Ala- bama street. As Mr. Schnull has been so fortunate in his business transactions, he must have had his foot planted on the ladder of fortune, and has worked himself up to the top, and is considered one of the sub- stantial men of the city.
JOSEPH W. NICHOL.
Prominent among the younger members of the Indianapolis bar is Mr. Nichol. He was born at Lafayette, Tippecanoe county, Indiana. After receiving a primary education in his native town, he finished it at the Wabash College, Crawfordsville. He then studied law in the office of his uncle, the Hon. Joseph E. McDonald. He commenced the prac- tice of his profession at Lebanon, Boone county, in 1862, After be- ing there two years he removed to Covington, Fountain county ; thence to Indianapolis in 1866. .
.He is now the partner of Judge Samuel H. Buskirk, late of the Su- preme Court. Mr. Nichol is not only a lawyer of ability, but a poli- tician of the Democratic school, a fluent and effective speaker, and has taken an active part in the presidential campaigns that have taken place since he became a resident of this city as well as the State and local elections.
He is a man of fine personal appearance; about six feet in height, quite slim, smooth, round features, light hair, with a quick elastic step and pleasing manners, and well calculated to make a favorable impres- sion.
In 1869 he was married to Miss Hannah, daughter of the Hon. Michael G. Bright.
SAMUEL HANNAH
Was born in the State of Delaware, on the Ist of December, 1789. At the age of six years, with his father's family, removed to Brownsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania. On the 11th of July, 1811, he was married to Eleanor Bishop, with whom he lived until the 26th of Sep- tember, 1864, at which time she died.
In the spring of 1815, with his wife and two children, he went on a
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flat boat to Cincinnati, thence by wagons to Warren county, Ohio, where he taught school two years. In 1817 he settled in what is now Wash- ington township, Wayne county, Indiana. His cabin was one of the rudest of the rude, being for a while a mere shelter without door or chimney.
In December, 1823, having been elected sheriff of Wayne county, he removed from his farm to Centerville, the county seat. Belonging to the society of Friends, and conscientiously opposed to the collection of fines for refusing to do military duty, he resigned his office in the spring of 1825. In August following he was elected a representative to the Legislature ; he declined a re-election. In 1826 was elected a justice of the peace, which position he held about four years. The county busi- ness then being done by the board of justices he was elected their pres- ident and served until 1829, when the board of county commissioners was restored. He was appointed postmaster at Centerville by John Quincy Adams and held the office until removed by President Jackson, in 1829. He was one of the three commissioners appointed by the Leg- islature to locate the Michigan road, from Lake Michigan to the Ohio river, and to select the lands secured for the purpose of building the road by a treaty with the Indians at Wabash in 1826.
„In 1830 he was elected clerk of Wayne county, and served seven years. In 1843 he was again elected to the Legislature. In 1846 he was elected by the Legislature Treasurer of State and removed to Indi- anapolis and served three years. During the construction of the Indiana Central railroad he returned to Centerville and there resided about two years. In March, 1851, he was chosen president of the company, but resigned in July following. He was the same summer elected treasurer of the Bellefontaine railroad company. In May, 1852, he accepted the office of treasurer of the Indiana Central railroad company, and held the position until January, 1864, when he retired from active life. He died on the 8th of September, 1869, in the eightieth year of his age.
He has two daughters living in this city ; one is the wife of the Rev. Fernandez C. Holliday, the other the wife of Hon. John S. Newman. His son, Alexander Hannah, lives on a farm three miles south of the city on the Madison road, and is one of the solid and substantial farmers of the county.
Mr. Hannah was a man who had none of the absurdities of the day in his composition, but was possessed of those prudent and considerate virtues which are the offspring of good, common sense.
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STANTON J. PEELLE.
STANTON J. PEELLE
Was born in New Garden township, Wayne county, Indiana, on the IIth day of February, 1843, and there remained on a farm until 1859, at which time his father removed to Winchester, Indiana. Up to this time his education was only such as could be obtained in the common schools of the country, and that only during the winter season. The first school he attended was in a log school house where one log was taken out, the full length of the house, for a window, a bench of cor- responding length upon which the scholars were seated; they studied aloud and their noise resembled a swarm of blackbirds chattering in a cornfield. The writer has been there. He took a five months course of instruction during the summer of 1860 in the old seminary at Win- chester, Indiana, which he says was the only instruction that benefited him much.
In April, 1861, he commenced teaching a subscription school just north of Farmland, Randolph county. A few days after the school commenced Fort Sumpter was fired on by the Confederate forces. He closed his school in June, it being a twelve weeks term, and soon there- after enlisted in company G, 8th regiment Indiana volunteers ; he served in that capacity until December 10, 1862, in the meantime par- ticipating in the battle of Pea Ridge, Missouri. He was then discharged to accept a second lieutenancy in company K, 57th regiment Indiana infantry, the company being composed of newly drafted men under the call for nine months troops, which were organized and assigned to the 57th regiment.
Mr. Peelle remained with the regiment until the term expired and they were mustered out, July 30, 1863, at Hillsboro, Tennessee. This regiment was attached to the Army of the Cumberland under command of General Rosecranz. They were in the battle of Stone River near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where Mr. Peelle was wounded in the hip while the regiment was under a heavy fire in front of the enemy. He left the army immediately after the battle.
He then commenced the study of law in the office of his uncle, Judge William A. Peelle, at Centerville, Indiana, and there remained until February, 1864, when he went to Nashville, Tennessee, and was em- ployed as chief issuing clerk in the depot commissary department of Nashville. In this position he remained until June, 1865, when he went to Johnsonville, Tennessee, and was employed as clerk in the Johnson-
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ville, Cairo and St. Louis packet line, and remained there until 1866, at which time he returned to Winchester and resumed the study of the law.
He was admitted to the bar of the Circuit Court, of which Randolph county was a component part, March, 1866, but did not solicit business until the fall of 1867. On the 16th of July, 1867, he was married to Miss Lou R. Perkins, of the city of South Bend, Indiana, and with her resided at Winchester until May, 1869, when through her influence and ambition he removed to Indianapolis, leaving Winchester with but sixty dollars in his pocket, being a stranger in Indianapolis among strangers and no experience in the habits of the city, but the ambition of his wife and her encouragement kept him in good spirits; he labored in his practice with nothing to do but to "hang to the willows," and, like Micawber, "wait for something to turn up."
In 1871 he began to get some business, which has increased from year to year since that time. On the 27th of November, 1873, the wife to whom Mr. Peelle says he owes all his success, died, leaving one child, a daughter, who also died on the 8th of January following, and left him alone to cherish the memories of the past. Mr. Peelle has been admit- ted to practice in the United States and Supreme Courts.
During the present year he was nominated by the Republican party, and triumphantly elected, as one of the four Representatives in the State Legislature from Marion county. He made a vigorous and effectual campaign throughout the county, and made speeches in sev- eral other counties of the State. Being a young man of fine personal appearance and a good speaker, he was calculated to be of great benefit to the party of which he was a worthy representative. I predict for him a brilliant future should his life be prolonged. His career proves him to be well worthy of it.
CAPTAIN THEODORE B. WIGHTMAN.
Captain Wightman was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, on the 20th of April, 1839, where he received a common school education.
At the age of seventeen years he left his home to seek his fortune in the far west, and for a while lived in Minnesota and Illinois, where he engaged in various pursuits until 1859, when he came to Indianap- olis.
At the commencement of the late war he enlisted in company E, I Ith Indiana volunteers, and upon the organization of the regiment was made orderly sergeant, in which capacity he served through the three
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JOHN W. THOMPSON.
months service. He then re-enlisted in the same regiment for three years, and was promoted to a lieutenancy in company K, where he served until after the battle of Pittsburg Landing, and in most of the, battles of the regiment up to that time, when failing health compelled him to resign. Soon after returning he raised a company for the 63d regiment Indiana volunteers, and continued to serve his country until the close of the war, leaving the army with the rank of captain.
On September 23, 1862, he was united in marriage to Miss Susan Tarlton, youngest daughter of Merit Tarlton, Esq., of Marion county. Captain Wightman was for a while engaged in the boot and shoe busi- ness in connection with John Dury, of this city. He afterwards engaged quite largely in real estate speculations on his own account, and has done his full share in building up the city, having built a large number of 'dwellings, at present being a large real estate owner and a heavy tax- payer.
Captain Wightman has ever evinced a disposition to aid in any en- terprise that would redound to the interest of the city. For the past six years he has been in the hotel business, and for some time sole proprietor of the Capital House; now a partner of Colonel Thomas Baker, of the Grand Hotel.
Captain Wightman's polite and gentlemanly bearing qualifies him admirably for the business in which he is now engaged.
JOHN W. THOMPSON
Was born in Washington county, Kentucky, on the 23d of June, 1820. His father, with seven of his ten children, emigrated to Indiana in 1824, and settled on a farm, now owned by Stoughton A. Fletcher, four and a half miles southeast of the city. After living there eight years, the family returned to Kentucky in 1832.
John W., the subject of this sketch, returned to this county in 1841, In 1846 Mr. Thompson was married to Miss Martha A., daughter of Theodore V. Denny, who is yet living. He worked on a farm and as a farm hand until eighteen years of age; he then engaged to learn the trade of brickmason. Since his marriage he has been engaged consid- erably in farming in connection with his trade. He served three years as trustee for Perry township; he also served four years as justice of the peace for the same township. For the past few years he has resided on Virginia avenue, in the city, and is engaged in contracting and building.
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Mr. Thompson has been a strict temperance man since his youth, joining the order when they were known as Washingtonians. He has also been for some years a member of the South Street Baptist church and is one of its deacons. He is a constant attendant at all church meetings, and seems to enter with spirit into the work of the Lord; having been a neighbor of Mr. Thompson for several years we can bear witness that his daily walk is in consonance with his Sunday precepts.
Mr. Thompson's mother's name was Mitchell ; she was a cousin of the mother of Abraham Lincoln. She was taken prisoner by the Shaw- anee Indians and remained with them five years, and was released ac- cording to the stipulations of the treaty of peace, being seventeen years old at the time, and was married one year after. Mr. Thompson's father and mother each lived to the good old age of seventy-five years, and are buried in Washington county, Kentucky.
CHARLES COULON.
There are but few persons familiar with the different courts of the city but know Esquire Coulon ; his universal good humor and fondness for an anecdote, as well as his ability to tell one, have rendered him a favorite with all who enjoy an innocent joke. Mr. Coulon is a native of the city of Goettengen; born on the 16th of February, 1825 ; his birth- place is the location of one of the most celebrated universities of Germany, about thirty-six miles from the mountain of the Brocken, which in height is rivaled only by the Alps of Switzerland.
Mr. Coulon was baptised in the Lutheran faith and named Carl Heinrich Julius Von Coulon in honor of his great-grandfather, William Von Coulon, minister of the Interior of France during the reign of Catharine De Medicis. At that time the Protestants of France had either to flee for their lives or be beheaded. Mr. Coulon's great-grand- father left the night the beheading commenced and sailed for England, leaving all his fortune behind, which was afterwards confiscated by the French government for the benefit of the Crown. His sons joined the regular army of Hanover as officers; the father of the subject of this sketch, as also his uncle William, also entered the army.
Mr. Coulon's father resigned his position in the army and commenced the practice of law at Goettengen. Mr. Coulon is the only child of Carl Coulon, who died when Charles was but fourteen years of age.
After receiving a liberal education he learned the business of making mathematical instruments, and worked at it four years ; he then went to
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CHARLES COULON.
the cities of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Luebeck, Giessen, Marburgh, Hesse Cassel and Hanover, to complete his studies. He was then called home for military duty. In April, 1847, while at his home in Goettingen, he concluded to emigrate to the United States, and landed at Boston in the month of July of the same year ; there he remained about one year and six months. During his residence in Boston he formed the ac- quaintance of a young German girl named Josephine Bishop, of Kitzen- gen, Bavaria, to whom he was married on or about the 25th of June, 1848. They removed from Boston to Whitingville, a manufacturing place on the Worcestor and Providence railroad line. In 1851 he removed again and located at Springfield, Massachusetts, where he lived one year.
In August, 1852, he came west and selected Indianapolis as his abiding place. At that time he had but one child living, who is now known as Charles G. Coulon, who for some time was foreman of the Novelty Works, when that establishment was located on Pennsylvania street near Pogue's run. Julius Coulon was born a short time after the arrival of the parents in this city, since which time there have been added to the family five more, seven in all: Charles G., born in Grafton, Massa- chusetts ; the remaining, Julius, Amanda, Douglass, Oscar, Louis and Julia, in Indianapolis ; three others, born in this city, and one, a girl, in Springfield, Massachusetts, died in their infancy. After Mr. Coulon's removal to this city his health became impaired. He studied law with the late Robert L. Walpole, and commenced the practice in connection with the real estate business.
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