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 40
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The eldest son, William Askins, lives in the immediate neighbor- hood of his father's old homestead, and is one of the prosperous and reliable farmers of the county. I see him pass my residence almost daily, with some of the many products of his farm for the city market. Oliver Newhouse, living in the same neighborhood, married one of the daughters of Thomas Askins. He, too, is "a well-to-do" and thrifty farmer.
With the subject of this sketch the writer was well acquainted during his entire residence in Marion county. He died about the year 1865, regretted by a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
HENRY ACHEY.
It is a very difficult matter to find a starting point to give the reader a true appreciation of the character of Mr. Achey, his many peculiar- ities, eccentricities and great versatility. His person was short, rotund in form, with short legs, inclined to bow. His whole contour was indicative of wit and humor. He was an American citizen of German descent, having been born and raised in Lancaster county, Pennsyl- vania. He was well known throughout the States of Ohio and Indiana as a popular hotel keeper. He had kept tavern in several towns and villages in Ohio. He came to Indianapolis early in 1852, and for sev- eral years kept the Wright House, now transformed into Glenns' Block, where the New York Store is kept. Mr. Achey always kept a first- class house, and but few ever stopped with him that would not call again, not only on account of his superior accommodations, but he pos- sessed the faculty of making all feel at home under his roof, with his great fund of anecdotes, with which he would amuse his guests. He had a smile for all, a frown for none. He seemed to think there was more of sunshine than shade in the lot of man. However, he looked on the bright side, and cast off dull care. There are many anecdotes of him extant, as well as those he told. His peculiar manner of telling them, and suiting his actions to his words, none ever saw that can for-
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get. His way of drawing up his face and distorting his features, and the fact that he never smiled while relating his stories, was remarkable.
After having kept hotel in several different places in Ohio, he took the Galt House in Cincinnati. It was arranged between him and his predecessor that he should take possession on Saturday evening, after supper, at which time the boarders generally paid their week's board in advance. The old proprietor told him that his boarders had been very prompt, with one exception, and that he had not paid any board for six months ; that he did not like to turn him off, lest he should lose what he already owed him, and pointed out the person to whom he alluded to Mr. Achey. After the several boarders had paid their bills, this gentleman stepped up to the office, and addressed Mr. Achey in this way:
"I believe you are the gentleman who proposes keeping this house ? "
"Yes," was the reply, " that's my intention,"
" Your name is Achey, I believe ?"
"Achey is my name," was the answer.
" Henry Achey, I think ?"
" Yes, Henry Achey."
" You once kept tavern at Dayton ?"
"Yes, I kept at Dayton."
"Then at Middletown? Then, I think, at Hamilton ?"
"Yes, I kept at both those places."
" Last, I believe, you kept Sportsman's Hall, near this city ?"
" Yes, I kept Sportsman's Hall for awhile."
"Now you are here. You are a kind of traveling, or itinerant hotel· keeper ? "
"Yes, I have moved around considerably," was the answer.
"Now, Mr. Achey," said the boarder, "if I should pay you a week's board in advance, what assurance have I that you will be here a week hence ? "
Mr. Achey acknowledged the force of the gentleman's remark by handing him a receipt for the week's board, and inviting him up to the bar.
While Mr. Achey kept the Galt House an old friend, a drover, put up with him ; he had several hands that had assisted him with his stock who also stopped at the Galt. During the evening one of those men had bought at auction a cheap fiddle, and was seated by the stove in the office drawing from the bowels of the machine a very doleful, and,
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to Mr. Achey, disagreeable noise ; how to get rid of the annoyance without offending the man he did not know; at last he hit upon this expedient. Said Mr. Achey to his clerk, "Dan, I wish to get rid of that noise, how will we do it?" Without waiting for any suggestion from his clerk, he said, "I have it, we will talk here for a few moments in a loud and angry manner as though quarreling, and then I will go out by the stove and get within reach of the fiddle; then you come out and renew the quarrel, and I will snatch the fiddle from his hand and break it over your head ; mind, Dan, and keep on your hat."
At the preconcerted time Mr. Achey took a position by the stove, and within easy grab of the fiddle. Dan came out from behind the counter and renewed the quarrel.
"Mr. Achey," said Dan, "you are certainly mistaken." "I am not," said Mr. Achey, "and I do not wish you to say so again in my presence." "You tell a falsehood," said Dan. Simultaneous with the word falsehood went the crash of the fiddle over Dan's head.
"Now," said the fellow, "you've broke my fiddle." "Yes," was the reply, "and I have broke his head."
The matter was adjusted the next morning between Mr. Achey and his guest, by Mr. Achey paying the price of the fiddle, one dollar and twenty-five cents.
On one occasion Mr. Achey had purchased a large number of horses for a distant market, and had lost heavily on them. On his return home his wife inquired of him how he had made out. " Out, out," said he ; "all out, horses, money and all." Mrs. Achey was fretting over his loss. "Shut up, shut up," said he, "when you married me you mar- ried a man, and if you will only hold on to my coat-tail I'll take you through the world flying."
That the ruling passion is strong in death has been exemplified in his case. A few days before his death an old friend came to see him. During their conversation his friend let him know that he had learned that he had joined the church. "Yes," said Mr. Achey, "Sam I have joined the church, the Methodist church. My reason for selecting that church was the fact that I have persecuted them more than any other, and this would be the last opportunity I would have of making due reparation."
A few days after this, which was in the winter of 1865-66, he died a firm believer in the Christian religion, a regeneration of his heart, and the forgiveness of his sins.
Mr. Achey possessed many fine traits of character, hospitable and
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liberal to a fault. He was a man of fair political information, and died, I believe, without an enemy. His death was regretted by many per- sonal friends and his family, who were devotedly attached to him. His wife and two children are still residents of this city.
JAMES FORSEE.
Mr. Forsee was from Elkhorn, Franklin county, Kentucky. He professed to be a lawyer, but knew as little about it as any person we ever knew, to make as much profession as he did. He was full of bom- bast, and used language that he nor any one else understood the mean- ing of.
To hear him talk you would think him wealthy, and that he lived in magnificent style. His household furniture consisted of one or two old bedsteads, a few chairs, a puncheon table, and a few half-starved dogs. He wore a cap of coon skin made by drawing the ends of the skin to- gether, so that when the cap was on his head that part of the skin that covered the animal's nose protruded over his, and the tail hanging down his back, the skin retained the original shape. The body that contained the head and brains of the profound attorney presented a rather bulged appearance, and he might be thought to be carrying a large-sized coon upon his head.
He was a large man, with blood-red hair, his face as red as a turkey's nose. His team was a pair of small steers, both of which were not as heavy as a common sized cow. Before the steers he hitched an old grey mare that most likely resembled Tam O'Shanter's mare Meg. With this team he would haul about a third of a cord of wood to town, for which he would receive twenty-five or thirty-one cents. He was fond of boasting of his rise in the world, and of being an entirely self- made man, and what a man might make of himself with perseverance and industry, and how he had risen from obscurity to his high position as a lawyer. He lived on the donation line just north of where the Blind Asylum now stands. He and his son Peter were plowing in a field near his house, when the following instructions he was giving Peter were overheard :
" Peter," said he, "take an object and plow direct to it, then your furrows will be straight. Just so in life, Peter, you must take an object and plow straight to it. It was so with me, my son; I took the law for an object, I plowed straight, and my furrows were even. You see, Peter, what I have made of myself. I now stand at the head of the
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legal profession in the capital of Indiana, and next to me stands my law partner, James Whitcomb, Esq., of Monroe county. Peter, you have advantages that but few young men enjoy, and you should improve them."
Mr. Forsee's daughter, Mary Jane, partook a great deal of her fath- er's pride, as well as looks. Her hair was as red as that of her father. She wore it in a water-fall on the top of her head .. Her face was the color of a turkey egg, but rather more speckled. She had a great pas- sion for jewelry, which was gratified by her indulgent father. She said "it was very difficult to get such articles of jewelry here as her father wished her to wear ; her father had sent to 'Sinsinnaty,' by Mr. McCarty, and bought her a pure silver ring ; it cost him three-quarters of a dollar."
Mary Jane was invited to a quilting and log-rolling at Judge McIl- vain's. As soon as she was seated at the quilt she began to apolo- gize for her lack of jewelry. She said she "had broke her ring; that dad had a large log to load on the 'slide,' and she, in helping him, had broken her ring, and that dad had taken it to the dentist's to have it fixed, but it could not be fixed in time for her to war it to the quilting." She said, "in Kaintuck, whar they come from, 'twarn't fashionable to war jewelry, but she reckoned 'twas caze they hadn't got none. Dad said nobody wurn't nothin here that didn't war no jewelry, so he got me that nice ring."
Mr. Forsee moved from this place to the Indian Reserve, thence to California, where he, no doubt, stands high in his profession, and can indulge his daughter in her admiration for jewelry, and where, no doubt, Peter has taken an object and plows his furrows straight.
"O wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us ; It wad frae monie a blunder free us, And foolish notion."
DOCTOR JAMES H. ROBINSON.
Dr. Robinson was born near Abbington, West Virginia, on the 28th of July, 1825. He settled in Putnam county, Indiana, in 1831, where he received a common school education in one of the log school houses so common in Indiana at that day. He studied medicine with Dr. Wil- liam Matthews, of Eberle, now Fillmore, and commenced practice in that neighborhood in 1850, and has continued there since that time.
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SAMUEL HANWAY.
Dr. Robinson is also farming, and deals largely in stock, of which he is said to be a good judge.
No person can mistake his true character after ten minutes conversa- tion. He is frank and candid in his expressions, with kind and genial manners, and is a hospitable gentleman. May he live long and pros- per, is the sincere wish of the writer.
Dr. Robinson is a man of large frame, as well as a large heart, and his habits are suited to any exigencies that may arise. He is a man of a determined and reliable character.
SAMUEL HANWAY.
Mr. Hanway is the son of Amos Hanway, Sen., one of the pioneers who navigated White river from its mouth to this place in the spring of 1821, when there were not more than ten cabins in the place ; he is also the only living brother of the Rev. Amos Hanway, a well-known Meth- odist minister. Samuel Hanway was born in Indianapolis on the Ist of October, 1827. His early life was spent mostly in fishing, and, like his brother, he was considered an expert in that pleasant pastime. In after years he turned his knowledge of fishing to a lucrative business by sup- plying almost the entire population of Indianapolis with the fruits of his labor. I have often seen him with a wagon heavily loaded with the finest of White river bass and salmon, the reward of one day's work. In 1861 he was appointed by Mr. Lincoln's administration mail agent on the Indianapolis and Jeffersonville line of railroad. After holding that position some years he relinquished it to take contracts on our streets and other public work. During the real estate mania he traded largely in that business. In 1876 he received the Republican nomina- tion for county treasurer, and was elected at the State election in Octo- ber, by a majority running considerably ahead of his ticket. He is now the treasurer, and more money passes through his hands and is under his control than any other official of the kind in the State except the treasurer of the State. To say that Sam Hanway will perform his duties well and acceptably to the public is but to say what every person who is acquainted with him already knows. Sam has had a ticket in the pub- lic lottery before, when the prizes were generally small or blanks. This time Sam drew the capital.
Mr. Hanway was born under the first shingle roof put on any house in Indianapolis. Mr. Hanway is quite a large, fine looking man, and is an ornament to the new two million dollar court house, of which he now constitutes one of the tenants.
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M. H. SPADES
Was born in Cincinnati on the 15th of February, 1845, and was edu- cated at Lawrenceburg, Indiana. He came to Indianapolis in 1865, and for four years clerked in one of the principal dry goods stores of the city. In 1869 he went into business on his own account, and since that time has been doing a prosperous business. He is at this time proprietor of that elegant dry goods establishment known as the Boston Store, in Hubbard's Block, Nos. 5 and 7 West Washington street. He was married on the 26th of June, 1872, to Miss Hester, daughter of the well-known artist, Jacob Cox. It seems that the concord of sweet sounds and melody which they had been in the habit of jointly produc- ing had a more than ordinary effect upon themselves. It caused to be tied the Gordian knot of the silken thread of matrimony.
Mr. Spades, as well as his estimable wife, have attained a reputa- tion as amateur musicians seldom reached, he as a violinist, and she as a vocalist. I can not give the reader a better idea of Mr. Spades's ability as a musician than to clip the following from the Sunday Herald of April 26, 1874. It is a merited compliment, expressing the truth :
" We have remarked, in one or two former sketches in the present series, that to determination, persevering study of, and close attention to, a mastery of the details of the musical science, several of our resi- dent musicians owe their present proficiency. Fearlessness of hard work and a defiant attack upon technical difficulties, are wanting in all pursuits, that of a study of the sciences in particular, and no one ever did or ever will achieve success in an educational branch without these qualifications. Success will come in precisely the ratio of application bestowed, and no mathematical problem was ever more correctly ad- justed than this in its application to the study of music; and to the pos- session of these qualities, in no small extent, does Mr. Spades owe his musical ability to-day. As a violinist he stands first among our ama- teurs, while in the professional ranks there are but few who are his superiors. This is an unquestionable fact, and is only the well-deserved acknowledgment of all. To win so advanced a position was not the result of a few months desultory application to practice and, study, but is rather the legitimate reward of many years hard work and close application to the detail and drudgery of the work; and if ever any man has worked hard and earned every step of advancement he has made, our friend Harry is the man. Previous to his marriage, and often since, passers by have heard the sound of his instrument ringing out a sort of
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obligato accompaniment to the tolling of the midnight and Sabbath bell.
"Although none of the members of his family are noted musicians, still it may be said that he came of a stock of lovers of music, and he is himself by no means deficient in genuine appreciation of the divine art. The origin of his violin study was somewhat peculiar. We pre- sent the incident as we had it from Mr. Spades direct, and give it to our readers for a two-fold purpose-to mark the commencement of his musical studies, and to show how slight an event may affect the entire current of a human life.
"One day, when Harry was about ten years of age, he saw two of his cousins playing with a pine fiddle of somewhat primitive structure, which instrument they had perverted into a mud boat. That 'the child is father to the man' was proved in this case, as the indignant youth, determined to put an end to so sacrilegious a proceeding, immediately seized upon the instrument and bore it off in triumph. By some means he contrived to secure a set of strings and an old bow, and straightway commenced work in earnest. Any person who hears Mr. Spades in the concert room, and notes the perfection of his bowing, and the general excellence of his technique, would scarcely believe that his entire course of instructions received from any teacher is confined to some two months lessons, which he, together with a class of some twenty-five, took from a Mr. Frank Walters, of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, at an expense of forty cents a month. We will mention in this connection that our friend Harry is the only one of that class who plays the violin to-day. Hard work, persistent and persevering study, joined to a true taste, have ac- complished great results for him, as there are few better amateur vio- linists to be found anywhere than he.
" His first public appearance was made in one of the soirees given by himself and Messrs. Stedman and Newland, in the hall of the Blind Asylum in this city, where he performed an arrangement from 'Trova- tore ' in a manner which secured him many appreciative admirers. His next appearance was at one of Professor Black's concerts at Morrison Hall, since which time he has taken a prominent part in all the leading musical entertainments given by our resident amateurs, besides assisting at many others in response to invitations from abroad. Prior to the year 1871 Mr. Spades was at the head of a resident orchestra of ten, and their performances were such as to please even the most critical musicians.
"Mr. Spades is no ordinary performer upon that great but much
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abused instrument, the violin, as a glance at the following list of classic works performed by him is ample testimony : 'Prayer,' 'Romanza,' 'Souvenir de Haydn,' by Leonard (this latter being largely written for two, three and four stopping), 'La Melancholy,' by Prunn, all of De Beriot's celebrated airs and variations, as also the most difficult of his concertos. These, together with some of the most beautiful works of Paganini, Joachim, Wieniawski and others, make up a list of works rarely found in the repertoires of amateurs, and are only found among the labors of the very best professionals.
"As we stated in the commencement of this sketch, Mr. Spades is indebted for his present artistic excellence to a spirit of determined industry and study, which never yields to obstacles, but which pushes on despite all opposition, and works out a final triumph. This same spirit actuates him in all his affairs and secures success in whatever he undertakes."
Mr. Spades is an industrious artist, and takes great pleasure in the rehearsing of classic instrumental music, and finds time apart from his business hours to qualify his taste, and as his wife is an accomplished singer, they spend their social hours in the performance of music such as artists can only appreciate.
JOHN F. HILL
Came to Indianapolis, a mere boy, in May, 1830, from near Urbana, Champaign county, Ohio, where he was born on the 24th of October, 1812. Mr. Hill became a pupil of Thomas D. Gregg, who at that time taught school on the corner of Market and Delaware streets, where " the young idea was taught to fire."
He then engaged with the Steam Mill Company as a clerk in their store, for three years, at a salary of thirty dollars for the first year, to be doubled every year until the expiration of the term of his engagement ; for the entire three years' services he received two hundred and ten dol- lars, less than some clerks in Indianapolis now get for one month.
After a short respite he re-engaged with the same company, which was composed of James Blake, James M. Ray, Nicholas McCarty and Joseph M. Moore, and remained with them until the year 1848. He was then offered and accepted a partnership with Daniel and James Yandes. They, as partners, did business three years ; then, as a partner of Isaac N. Phipps & Co., afterwards with W. W. Wright & Co., then as Hill & Wright. Finding that close confinement was impairing his health, he
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DOCTOR ABNER POPE.
quit the mercantile business and engaged in the manufacture of brick with S. V. B. Noel as a partner ; in 1850 changed partners, engaged with Levi Rogers in the same business, and in 1856 was a partner of the late James J. Drum in the wholesale grocery business. Of the many partners that Mr. Hill has had, from time to time, all are living, with the exception of his brother-in-law, Mr. Drum ; and of the many persons he did business for, but two have passed away, viz., Mr. McCarty and Jo- seph M. Moore.
Mr. Hill is now engaged in the nursery business in the eastern con- fines of the city, where he owns many acres, for which he has been offered one thousand dollars per acre. He owns a fine private residence on North Alabama, between Market and Ohio streets; so the reader will readily perceive he has not slept away the forty years he has been a resident of Indianapolis.
He is the brother of the first wife of the late Calvin Fletcher, like- wise a brother of that staid old farmer, Mr. James Hill, who also resides in the city, and looks as though he had a common lifetime yet before him.
Another brother, William, yet lives in the vicinity, but the writer for the past few years has lost track of him, but has no doubt that wherever he is, he is trying to "turn an honest penny," as was ever his wont to do.
Mr. Hill has lost by death a son and daughter within three years, both married. The son, John B. Hill, was an artist, who, although young, had made great progress in his profession, and had he lived even to the meridian of life, would no doubt have attained a high reputation as a painter. The daughter was the wife of Mr. Neal-a very beautiful and accomplished lady; she leaves a young son that will partially fill the vacuum made in Mr. Hill's household by the death of two such gifted and promising children. They have yet a son and daughter living.
DOCTOR ABNER POPE
Was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1793, a place made famous, during the last century, for the superstition of its inhabitants and the punishment of such as were suspected of witchcraft. Dr. Pope descended from an English family that came over to this country soon after the arrival of the Mayflower. Dr. Franklin (his mother being a Pope ) came over with the same family.
Dr. Pope was a Quaker, and used the plain language. "Thee,"
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" thou " and " thine," were upon his ready tongue. He also dressed in the peculiar style of that religious organization, broad-brimmed white hat and round-breasted coat, generally of the drab color. He prac- ticed medicine upon the steam or Thompsonian principle, and had in his shop a long box made water-tight, in which he placed his patients and raised the steam on them to one hundred and twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit, and after limbering in this way for some time, he would douse them head and heels into ice-cold water, and rub them well with a dry towel. Whether he killed more than he cured, I am not pre- pared to say; but I occasionally see some of our old citizens that went through this operation walking about the streets, apparently none the worse, if not considerably better for it.
In the doctor's shop and store, which were together, and located on the north side of Washington street, near where the Trade Palace now stands, was to be found all kinds of merchandise with, perhaps, the exception of bar iron, "bitter yerbs," all kinds of vegetable medi- cines, and every other article, from a paper of lettuce seed to a fine shawl, or silver thimble to silk hose. His store was generally the last resort for any article scarce in the market, and when not to be found at Dr. Pope's, the search for it was abandoned. He was a warm and enthu- siastic Whig, and advocated the measures of that party with great zeal and earnestness. In the year 1844, some waggish neighbor played a prank upon him by hoisting a rooster in front of his door.
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