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 36
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In 1842 he was called by the Legislature to the office of president judge of the fifth judicial circuit, and again by the people in 1859, over which he presided seven years.
Judge Finch is now practicing in partnership with his son, John A. Finch, the firm being Finch & Finch. John A. Finch has won a world wide reputation as an insurance lawyer, having given much time and attention to that branch of his profession, having lectured before the public on that subject in New York and other eastern cities. Mr. Finch has done a great deal in exposing the ways and means wild cat insurance companies use in swindling the public. While he is opposed to those swindling institutions and their preying upon the credulity of the public, he has done much for the reliable and safe companies, for which he should receive their lasting gratitude.
A few years since there was a meeting of insurance commissioners at New York; Indiana having no representative, Governor Hendricks appointed Mr. Finch special commissioner for this State, where he took a front rank, so much so that European papers complimented him very highly.
Now that Judge Finch is approaching the sunset of life he must feel justly proud of leaving such a scion and the memories of a well spent life behind, and can calmly say "I have tried to do my duty to my fellow- man, my family and my God." Such a record will Fabius Maximus Finch leave when called home.
393
HENRY C. GUFFIN.
LUCIAN P. BARBOUR
Was born in Canton, Connecticut, on the 4th of March, 1811. After receiving a primary education at the common schools of his native town he entered Amherst College, and graduated in 1837, having, while receiving his own education, been a teacher himself. He removed to Indiana, and studied law at Madison. He then came to Indianapo- lis and commenced practice. He was for several years the law partner of the late William W. Wick. He was appointed by President Polk United States district attorney ; acted a number of times as arbitrator between the State of Indiana and private corporations. In 1852 he was appointed a commissioner to prepare a code of practice for the State. He was a Representative in the Thirty-fourth Congress from the capital district.
While a partner of General Wick, he became his brother-in-law by a matrimonial alliance with the sister of Mrs. Wick, Miss Alice Bar- bee, of this city.
Mr. Barbour was a Democrat up to the time of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, since which time he has acted with the Re- publican party, and as such was elected to Congress. He is yet prac- ticing his profession in the different courts of Marion county, as well . as in the Supreme and United States courts. Mr. Barbour is seldom if ever seen before the city or magistrate's courts.
Although he is in his sixty-seventh year he is quite active, and nearly always found at his office or in the courts. Mr. Barbour has ever stood foremost in the ranks of our judicious lawyers.
HENRY C. GUFFIN.
Mr. Guffin's father was a native of Kentucky, born in Mason county in 1801. When twenty-one years of age he came to Rush county, Indiana. Soon after coming to the State he was married to Miss Mar- garet Reed, who was born and raised in Fayette county ; she bore him seven children, of which Henry is the youngest ; she died on the 25th of November, 1841, when the subject of this sketch was eleven months old. Three years later the father died, leaving him an orphan. Henry found a home with an estimable aunt of Fayette county, by the name of Rebecca Reed ; with her he lived on the farm and was used to farm labor until he was sixteen years of age, picking up the rudiments of an education whenever an opportunity presented. He was for some time
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a student of the Northwestern Christian University, and graduated on the 3d of July, 1863, with complimentary honors. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in February, 1865.
He was elected and commissioned prosecuting attorney of the Marion County Criminal Court on the 4th of November, 1870, and served the term for which he was elected to the entire satisfaction of the public, since which he has continued the practice of his profession in all the courts of the city and county. He is engaged at this time in one of the largest and most important land suits ever brought in the county, if not in the State.
In 1864 he was married to. Miss Hillis, daughter of William Hillis, Esq., of Decatur county, one of the pioneer citizens of that county. She is well known in this city as Lotta Guffin, the artist. Mrs. Guffin is spoken of, by those competent to judge, as possessing artistic accom- plishments of the highest order, and destined, should she live, to win a name among the prominent painters of the age. They have two child- ren, Willie and Jessie.
Mr. Guffin possesses a goodly share of the frankness and candor peculiar to the people of his father's nativity, plain and unpretending in his intercourse with those with whom he has dealings. Being left an orphan in his early years, he had no time for young dreams, but over- came obstacles and began to educate himself for future usefulness.
WILLIAM J. BROWN
Was born in Mason county, Kentucky, August 15, 1805, and removed with his father to Clermont county, Ohio, in the spring of 1808, where he received a good English education in the common schools and at the Franklin Academy. When not quite sixteen years of age he removed with his father to Rush county, Indiana, in April, 1821. He studied law at Rushville, with the Hon. Charles H. Test, now a distinguished citizen of Indianapolis, and was admitted to the bar in 1826; and in the same year he was elected coroner, and served, ex-officio, as sheriff of Rush county nearly the whole term. In 1827 he was married to Miss Susan Tompkins, daughter of Nathan Tompkins, of Milroy, Rush county. He was elected to the Legislature in 1829, and re-elected in 1831. Near the close of the session of 1831-2 he was chosen by the Legislature prosecuting attorney for his judicial circuit, which then extended from Lawrenceburg, on the Ohio river, to Elkhart county, on the Michigan border, serving for four years with great zeal and fidelity. In Decem-
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397
WILLIAM J. BROWN.
ber, 1836, he was elected by the Legislature Secretary of State for four years, defeating the late William Sheets, the Whig nominee, though that party had a decided majority on joint ballot.
During his residence at Rushville, besides practicing law, he kept a hotel, edited and published a Jackson newspaper, and had an interest in a line of mail coaches. He removed to Indianapolis in January, 1837, and at once entered upon the duties of the office. He was also deputy clerk of the United States Court for Horace Bassett, and discharged the duties of that position for several years.
In August, 1841, lie was elected a member of the Legislature from Marion county, though the county had given, at the previous election, a large majority for General Harrison, the Whig candidate for President. Mr. Brown was re-elected in 1842, by an increased vote. He was cho- sen a Representative in Congress from the Indianapolis district in 1843, over Governor David Wallace, by nearly a thousand majority, although his opponent had two years before defeated Colonel Nathan B. Palmer, the Democratic nominee, by more than three thousand votes, in the same district.
In 1845 he was appointed by President Polk second assistant Post- master General, which office he held until March, 1849, when he was removed by President Taylor. In August, 1849, he was again elected to Congress from the Indianapolis district, defeating the Hon. William Herrod, of Columbus. Early in 1853 he was appointed by President Pierce special agent of the postoffice department for Indiana and Illinois, which position he held at the time of his death, March 18, 1857.
During the time of the proprietorship of his son, Austin H. Brown, of the Indiana State Sentinel-from 1850 to 1855-he was the chief ed- itor of that paper, and many times was chairman of the Democratic State central committee.
His widow still survives him, residing a few miles south of Indian- apolis. His children now living are Austin H. Brown, the present clerk of Marion county; Captain George Brown, of the United States Navy; Mary Ann Browning, widow of Woodville Browning-a son of Edmund Browning; and William J. Brown, now a deputy in the county clerk's office at Indianapolis. Three children have died-one named Susan, who died of smallpox in Johnson county, when quite young; Hannah Palmer, the wife of Edward L. Palmer, a son of Nathan B., died in Jan- uary, 1871; Howard, who died while serving as a lieutenant of an In- diana battery at Harper's Ferry, in April, 1862.
The Hon. O. H. Smith, in his Early Indiana Trials, published nearly
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twenty years since, and a few months after Mr. Brown's death, says of him as follows :
" WILLIAM J. BROWN .- Few men of his age in the west have filled so many high positions as the subject of this sketch, and few were so well known to so many. Mr. Brown was a man of untiring industry and of great energy of character. He held the high offices of member of the Legislature, member of Congress, and assistant Postmaster Gener- al. He had always at command an inexhaustible fund of wit, humor, and interesting anecdotes. For many years he was one of the most formidable Democratic public speaker's in the State. In person Mr. Brown was about the medium height, of rather delicate constitution, his head and shoulders slightly stooping, high, capacious forehead, light brown hair and prominent features. Ere he had reached the meridian of life he fell a victim to a fatal bronchial disease contracted by exposure while discharging the duties of mail agent in the postoffice department, in which capacity he rendered great and valuable services in detecting mail robbers and having them punished. Mr. Brown was the father of Austin H. Brown, of Indianapolis, and of Lieutenant George Brown, of the United States Navy. His body lies in the Indianapolis Ceme- tery."
Since the above sketch was prepared his son, William J. Brown, Jun., died, regretted by a large number of personal friends. Who is it that did not know " Little Billy Brown," the life and humor of the circle in which he moved ?
JOSEPH F. BROWN,
A younger brother of the late Hon. William J. Brown and of Professor Ryland T. Brown, now of Indianapolis, was born in Clermont county, Ohio, May 7, 1820; removed with his father to Rush county, Indiana, when an infant, where his boyhood was spent; came to Indianapolis in February, 1837, as a clerk in the office of his brother first above named, then Secretary of State ; was educated at Bloomington and South Han- over colleges ; read law with Hon. Isaac Blackford (who then, 1839 and 1840, roomed in the old governor's house on the Circle), and was ad- mitted to practice in the Supreme Court on his twenty-first birthday ; was elected principal clerk of the House of Representatives of the Indi- ana Legislature in December, 1841, the youngest man ever chosen to that position in the State; was re-elected the following year; located in Lafayette to practice his profession in June, 1842, where he resided until December, 1843, when he accompanied his brother, William J.
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399
JACOB PADDACK.
Brown (who had been elected to Congress the August previous from the Indianapolis district) to Washington City. He was soon after ap- pointed first assistant clerk of the United States House of Representa- tives, and continued in that position until 1848, when he was appointed chief clerk of the Adjutant General's office, in the war department, where he remained eight years, and resigned to take the management of the Washington gas-light company, and remained in its employ for fifteen years.
For twelve years he was an alderman in Washington, more than half of that time was president of the board, and frequently, ex-officio, the mayor of the city. He was appointed by President Lincoln in 1861 (though a Democrat) one of the five first commissioners of the Metro- politan police of the district of Columbia, and chosen treasurer of the board at its organization, serving for six years. disbursed more than a million dollars of government money, and satisfactorily accounted for every cent.
Mr. Brown was married in Winchester, Virginia, May 7, 1846, to Miss Maria Virginia Singleton, the second daughter of W. G. Single- ton, a prominent lawyer of that place. Mrs. Brown is still living in the enjoyment of good health, and beloved by all who have the pleasure of her acquaintance.
Mr. Brown is now employed as a deputy in the clerk's office, by appointment from his nephew, Austin H. Brown, the efficient and pop- ular clerk of Marion county, Indiana. After an absence from Indian- apolis of the third of a century he has returned to make it his perma- nent home, and is astonished, like all absentees, to find one hundred thousand people living within its corporate limits, where less than five thousand vegetated when he ceased to be a resident in 1842. He says he can with truth and pride repeat the boast of a Roman emperor on returning to his birthplace after many years absence, "I left it a village of hamlets-I found it a city of palaces.
JACOB PADDACK. .
Prominent among the farmers of Johnson county is the family of Paddacks, there being several different families of them; they reside in the northwest corner of the county, about twelve miles from Indianap- olis, directly on the Waverly road.
Jacob Paddack, of whom I write, was born in Preble county, Ohio, on the 8th of August, 1827. When a boy he came with his father's
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family to the neighborhood above spoken of. In 1848 he returned to Ohio and was married to Miss Martha Bell, and with her lived on the farm, now owned by the heirs, until the time of his death, which occurred on the 27th of January, 1872. His widow was married to Mr. William K. Fullen, he dying in November, 1875. Mrs. Fullen had three sons by her first husband and a daughter by her last, all living. She owns and cultivates one of the largest farms in that portion of White river valley.
Her three sons, John Wesley, William Henry and Ebenezer, still live under the paternal roof. Mrs. Fullen is a generous and hospitable lady, and much esteemed by her neighbors; she is also a lady of taste as her handsome home indicates, as she has combined elegance with the useful. A charming place for a visit in the country, as the writer and family have experienced.
MARTIN HUG.
·Mr. Hug was born at Aechen Baden, Prussia, on the 30th of Novem- ber, 1821. He came to the United States in 1850. He was married on the 8th of March, 1855, to Miss Christina Lehrritter, of this city, a native of Bayern. He was engaged in the saloon and restaurant busi- ness, and was also engaged in a large wholesale liquor store, and did a lucrative business, in the meantime purchasing some fine city property, some of it being on Washington street near what was then known as the Capital House.
In the spring of 1863 he returned to his native land in quest of health, and for the purpose of having the attendance and advice of skillful phy- sicians, he went to Waldshat Baden, six miles from his father's residence, where he arrived on the 14th of May, and there died at the hotel on the 4th of June ; by his request his remains were taken to the old homestead and buried by the side of his mother. By his marriage Mr. Hug had three children, all sons, two of whom were living when he left. The eldest, George Anthony, is bookkeeper in the tea store of H. H. Lee, West Washington street; the second son, Hugo Martin, is engaged in the office of Judge A. L. Roache, in the Franklin Fire Insur- ance building ; the third son, Martin Joseph, died when but two years old. Mr. Hug left his family well provided for, so that his estimable wife has been enabled to give her two sons a fair education, which pre- pared them for the responsible duties they are performing.
During Mr. Hug's residence in Indianapolis he made many warm
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JOHN ROWLAND, JUNIOR.
personal friends, who remember his many fine traits of character and kindness of heart ; his purse-strings were loosened to relieve distress and want wherever found, and he is now well represented in that line by his wife, who is ever ready to contribute the "widow's mite " for all charita- ble and benevolent purposes. Mrs. Hug owns and lives in a fine resi- dence, in the fashionable part of the city, at No. 515 North Meridian street, and she is well known in the fashionable society of the city; and her hospitable mansion is often filled with some of her innumerable friends, whom she entertains in style.
JOHN KOEHLER.
Mr. Koehler is one of the successful German citizens of 1876. He was born at Westphalia, Baden, Prussia, on the 13th of September, 1835; came to the United States in 1857. On the 19th of September, 1858, he was married to Miss Catharina Weederoder, the daughter of a Clay county farmer.
Mr. Koehler has been engaged in the retail grocery business, on the southeast corner of Noble and Michigan streets, for several years. In 1876 he tore down the frame building that stood there, and erected a fine business block, which he calls the "Noble Street Grocery." Mr. Koehler's great success in business is mainly owing to his cheerful and jovial disposition. He never suffers anything in business transactions to disturb his even temper. He is always accommodating, and meets his many friends with a smile; indeed, his very appearance is indicative of humor, as well as of a good liver. He is quite a large, fleshy man.
JOHN ROWLAND, JUNIOR.
Among the many citizens of Indianapolis who hail from the Emerald Isle, will be found the gentleman named above. He was born at New- port, county of Mayo, Ireland, on the 8th of February, 1848, and when a boy came to the United States.
On the Ist of January, 1866, Mr. Rowland engaged with Chandler & Taylor, of this city, to learn the trade of machinist. After learning the business and working at it some time, he abandoned it, and engaged in a family grocery on the southwest corner of Blake and New York streets, where he yet does business. He has been a member of the Emmet Guards, a military organization, since it first began to drill, and has been and is yet second lieutenant of that company. He is also pres-
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ident of the Irish Delegate Assembly of this city, of which body he has been a member for six years.
Mr. Rowland has a fine English education, is a great reader, and an admirer of the ancient poets, as well as of the works of Robert Burns, and is well versed in many of his writings as an elocutionist, particularly "Tam O'Shanter," which he renders in fine artistic style.
" Weel mounted on his gray mare Meg- A better never lifted leg- Tam skelpit on thro' dub and mire, Despising wind and rain and fire."
HENRY ALLEN.
Mr. Allen was a native of the Emerald Isle, born in the county of Tyrone on the 3Ist of October, 1824. He came to Canada in 1831, when but seven years old. He remained in Canada until 1844, when he came to Cincinnati, where he remained until 1851, when he went to Charleston, South Carolina, and thence to New Orleans.
He came to Indianapolis in 1853, and engaged in the livery busi- ness, for some time in the Palmer House stables. He then removed to his large stable in the rear of the New York store, on Pearl street, where he was doing business at the time of his death, on the 26th of October, 1876.
Soon after his return from the south he was married in Cincinnati. During Mr. Allen's twenty-three years residence in Indianapolis, he made many personal friends. He was well and favorably known among the horsemen throughout the State, who have been in the habit of visiting the State fairs. The business is still conducted for the benefit of the family.
JACOB HANCH.
Mr. Hanch is a native of the Keystone State, born in old Lancaster, on the 16th of January, 1807, and there lived until seven years of age. He then went to Reading, and there learned the blacksmith trade, and resided there until 1838, at which time he removed to Marion county, Indiana, and purchased what was known as the Jesse Wright farm, five miles southwest of Indianapolis, on the Mooresville pike. In 1829 he was married to Miss Mary Fry, of Bucks county, in his native State, who is yet his helpmeet.
Mr. Hanch was an original Whig, but when the Republican party
403
GENERAL BENJAMIN HARRISON.
was formed, like many others who were members of that good old na- tional party, drifted into the Democratic ranks.
Mr. Hanch's farm is a popular resort for picnic and fishing parties, where they always meet a hospitable reception. His farm is considered one of the most productive of the county-his corn crops of the present season averaging about sixty-five bushels to the acre.
Mr. Hanch's brother-in-law, Mr. John Fry, who is well-known to the old citizens of the city, resides with Mr. Hanch. Mr. Hanch pro- bably read that chapter of advice from his parents, contentment and honest industry, and now in his old age is reaping the reward of his early labors.
HENRY H. LANGENBERG
Was born in Halle, Prussia, in 1827, and there remained until May, 1847, when he came to the United States, and landed in New York. He remained in the latter city one year, and then removed to Michigan, where he remained until 1851. He afteward removed to Indianapolis and engaged in the grain, produce and grocery business on West Wash- ington street, where he was located for twenty years. He then built a fine business block on the corner of Meridian and Morris streets, where he is now engaged extensively in the wholesale and retail boot and shoe business.
Mr. Langenberg was married in 1850, to Miss Minnie Linderman, of this city, by whom he has two children.
Mr. Langenberg was the Democratic nominee for city treasurer in 1873 and 1875, and at the first election he was defeated by only one . hundred and thirty-three votes, when the city was largely Republican. This we take as an evidence of his great popularity with the masses of the people. His liberal and social qualities have rendered him a great favorite with the German population of the county, as well as of the city.
GENERAL BENJAMIN HARRISON.
General Harrison was born on the 20th day of August, 1833, at the house of his grandfather, President Harrison, at North Bend, Ohio. He received his earliest education at home, being instructed by a tutor em- ployed in the family. At the age of fourteen years he was sent to Cary's Academy, near Cincinnati, where he remained almost two years.
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
In the summer of 1850 he suffered the irreparable loss of his mother. In the fall of that year he proceeded to Miami University, at Oxford, then under the presidency of Rev. W. C. Anderson, where he entered as a junior and graduated in Jannary, 1852, fourth in a class of sixteen. After a few months vacation Mr. Harrison engaged in the study of law in the office of Storer & Grogrone, of Cincinnati, in which occupation he remained two years.
In October, 1853, at the early age of twenty years, he united in mar- riage with Miss Carrie L. Scott, daughter of Rev. J. W. Scott, D. D., of Oxford. There is issue of this marriage two children, both living, Russell B. and Carrie O. Harrison. In March, 1854, Mr. Harrison settled in Indianapolis, with the small fortune of eight hundred dollars, inherited from the estate of a deceased aunt, Mrs. General Findly, of Cincinnati. In this city he first entered the office of John H. Rea, clerk of the District Court of the United States, and while engaged there. was invited by Major Jonathan W. Gordon to assist in the prosecution of the celebrated Point Lookout burglary case, being pitted against Governor Wallace, who represented the defense. .
When the youthful lawyer sat down and Governor Wallace opened,. the latter placed his hand on the young man's head and paid him a. most graceful and merited compliment. Immediately afterward Mr. Harrison was invited by William Wallace to a partnership, and accepted the invitation. Their partnership relations were of a very pleasant nature to both parties, and they founded a very successful business.
Shortly after entering this partnership Mr. Harrison was appointed by Judge Major to prosecute a case against a negro for doctoring some coffee with arsenic at the Ray House. He had but one night for the. preparation of his case, but with the timely assistance of Dr. T. Parvin he became by the next morning a pretty good toxicologist, having spent the best part of the night with the doctor in witnessing experiments for detecting arsenic in the coffee. In 1860, Mr. Wallace having been elected clerk of Marion county, Mr. Harrison formed a partnership with Mr. W. P. Fishback, which union of interests continued until General Harrison entered the army.
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