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 50
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In February, 1861, the subject of this sketch entered the practice of law, and was admitted to the bar at the February term of the Fountain Circuit Court the same year. He devoted himself to the study and practice of his profession and soon took rank as one of the leading law- yers of the State. On December, 25, 1862, he was married to A. Cor- delia Wilson, daughter of Dr. W. L. Wilson, of Attica, Fountain county. He remained a resident of Attica until the fall of 1870, when he removed to Indianapolis, where he has since resided.
From the time he commenced the study of political economy at schools he discovered the fact that the economic laws of a country de- termined the question of the general distribution of the wealth of that country as it was annually produced. He, in connection with his pro- fessional studies and as a part of same, made himself thoroughly con- versant historically with the laws and governmental systems of other countries as well as with his native land. ' He could see that the wealth of the civilized countries of the old world was not in the hands of the producers of that wealth ; but that it was concentrated into the hands of non-producers to such an extent that the producers were in the main paupers, and that this state of things was rapidly progressing in this country. By close observation, he saw that the wealth concentrated into the hands of those who dealt in and handled money, and the agency that drew the wealth from the producers of it to the hands of the money dealers, was interest or usury. That this usury accumulated on debts, and that the monetary system of a country determined the question as to whether the business of a country should be done with private inter- est-bearing debt or with cash. That if done with cash, debt and usury would not exist and work the bankruptcy and injustice that is worked by virtue of them. But that with a just monetery system a just distribu- tion of wealth would ensue, which just rate of distribution he formulates into the following proposition, viz .: "That each and every citizen should enjoy the full value of the products of his own industry." He opposes the communistic rule of an equal distribution ; also, for the
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HENRY C. ADAMS.
same reason, opposes the monarchial rule that the producers are only entitled to retain sufficient to furnish food and clothing of a coarse char- acter and all the balance to be turned over to the nobility; both systems he denounces as unjust because they take from the producer without just compensation the products of his industry. To give effect to the just rule he states he has for years advocated a change in the monetary system of this country, so that money could be put in circulation with- out interest-bearing debt being made at the point of issue, and be in sufficient quantity to make the distribution of the wealth cash, thus avoiding debt and usury and consequent injustice and bankruptcy.
JOHN CARLON.
Mr. Carlon is a native of the "Green Isle," born in Roscommon county in 1838. When eleven years of age he came to the United States and settled in Rutland, Vermont, where he learned the printing business and lived until he came to Indianapolis, in 1865. In January, previous to coming to this city, he was married to Miss Fanny Riley, of Rutland, He has been engaged nearly the entire. time since his resi- dence here in the Indianapolis Publishing House, of which firm he is now a member and one of the active managers.
Mr. Carlon is a Democrat "in whom there is no guile," and is train- ing up four young Carlons in the same political school ; all being boys, he hopes they will live to swell the Democratic vote of the State. Mr. Carlon is a thorough, practical printer, and well-qualified for the posi- tion he now holds, being of a generous and accommodating disposition, which is calculated to draw business to the house. They are doing most of the publishing business of the city, besides a large share of other kinds of job work, which will compare favorably with that of any similar establishment in the west.
HENRY C. ADAMS,
More generally known as Harry Adams, was born in Indianapolis on the 8th of April, 1844; he is the eldest son of the late Reuben Adams. Mr. Adams is married to Miss Stella Barneclo, who was a belle of the southside. During the war he was a lieutenant in the 26th regiment Indiana volunteers ; he enlisted as a private. In 1866 he was appointed deputy sheriff, a position which he held until 1875. While Mr. Adams was in the sheriff's office he did the most important part of the business.
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He was nominated by the Republican party for sheriff in 1874, but was defeated by Mr. Albert Reissner. Mr. Reissner magnanimously offered to retain him, but he preferred other business. He is now engaged as assignee in bankrupt cases, and does most of the business in that line in this city.
Mr. Adams' father was one of the earliest settlers of Marion county, and himself a deputy sheriff for a considerable time, and for a length of time engaged in the dry goods business. There was a large family of Adams, uncles of Harry, living near Bethel, in the southeast part of the county. Harry Adams is perhaps as well known in this county as any man in it.
FRANKLIN LANDERS.
Mr. Landers is a native of Indiana, born in Morgan county, about twelve miles southwest of Indianapolis, on the 22d of March, 1822. His father, the late William Landers, settled there in the fall of 1819, and was one of the nearest neighbors of the Whetzel family, and, like them, inured to the privations of pioneer life. In his early youth Franklin Landers worked on his father's farm during the summer, and in the winter availed himself of such meager school advantages as the neighborhood afforded. After he became of age he became a teacher himself, and taught in the same building where he had received the most of his own education. By economy he saved up three hundred dollars of capital, and engaged with his brother, Washington Landers, in a dry goods store at Waverly, in his native county. He continued in partner- ship with his brother four years with great success. They then dis- solved, and he continued the business one year on his own account. He then purchased a section of land in Clay township, in the same county, in 1854, and laid out the present town of Brooklyn, formerly known as Lyon's Mills ; here he again engaged in the dry goods business. Mr. Landers remained there several years selling goods and farming. In 1858 he was the Democratic candidate to represent Morgan county in the Legislature, and was defeated by the late Cyrus Whetzel. In 1860 he was nominated by the Democratic convention that met at Morgantown as a candidate to represent the district composed of the counties of Morgan and Johnson in the Senate, and was elected over Samuel P. Oyler of Johnson county, by a majority of 374. Soon after Mr. Landers' Sena- torial term expired he moved to Indianapolis and engaged in the whole- sale dry goods business on South Meridian street, and subsequently en-
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DR. BENJAMIN ATKINSON.
gaged in the purchase and packing of pork. He has abandoned the dry goods business, but still continues the pork business. In 1874 he was nominated by the Democracy to represent the capital district in Congress and was elected over the Hon. John Coburn, who had repre- sented this district some time. In 1876 his name was urged before the convention for Governor of Indiana, being defeated by the Hon. J. D. Williams, the present Governor ; subsequently he was re-nominated for Congress and defeated by the Hon. John Hanna, in 1876. On the 20th of May, 1850, he was married to Miss Mary Shuffleburger, of Johnson county. Mr. Landers is a thorough-going business man. He is also a politician of more than ordinary character, and understands the people and their wants, and with them is very popular, being of a social and cheerful disposition, and ever ready to accommodate a friend.
HENRY SLUSHER.
Mr. Slusher's parents were born and raised in Washington county, Pa., and removed to Indiana in 1833. Henry Slusher lived in Pike township fifteen years, then came to this city and learned the jewelry business, and for some time carried it on. In 1876 he sold out his es- tablishment and was appointed on the police force. That business not being congenial to him he abandoned it and is again in the jewelry busi- ness at his former place. Mr. Slusher is a natural wit, and generally makes himself agreeable in any company he may be thrown in contact with. His wit is always original, which makes it the more interesting, and he knows just when and where to apply it. While in the army he wrote his mother a letter in rhyme, the last verse of which I quote. Although I have seen finer and more sentimental lines, yet this goes to show the character of the man. He concludes :
" But now, old mamma, I must quit my rhyme, For to write you longer I haven't the time ; I want you always to recollect poor ' Hen,' This is my earnest request to you -- amen."
DR. BENJAMIN ATKINSON
Was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 23d of June, 1817. He came west in 1838 and settled in Cincinnati and engaged in the business of contractor and builder. After living in Cincinnati nine years he moved to Iowa in 1847, and there lived until 1872 when he came to
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
Indianapolis. After leaving Cincinnati he studied medicine and prac- ticed sixteen years. While at Cincinnati in 1840 he was married to Miss Hannah E. Hopper, of that city. They have five living children ; his eldest son, E. Linn, is engaged in the grocery business at the corner of Fletcher avenue and Dillon street. Since Mr. Atkinson came to Indi- anapolis he has built himself a fine residence on the corner of South and School streets, besides other fine residences in the same neighbor- hood. He has retired from active business with a competency sufficient for all future emergencies.
Mr. Atkinson is a plain, outspoken man, and there is no misunder- standing him when he does speak. He has seen much of the ways and means resorted to for accumulating wealth and has profited by his ex- perience, and knows how to drive a good trade as well as the next man, and when he gets property he knows how to take care of it, a secret but few understand. In politics as well as religion the doctor accords to every one the right to think and act according to the dictates of his own judgment, without regard to religious creeds or political parties.
SAMUEL V. B. NOEL.
Mr. Noel was one of the pioneers of Indianapolis, having come to the city in 1825. ' He was born in Bath county, Virginia, and at the age of three years, witli his parents removed to Harrodsburg, Mercer county, Kentucky, thence to Indianapolis in 1825. In 1828 he engaged with Douglass & Maguire, in the office of the Indiana Journal, to learn the printing business ; he continued in that office, apprentice, journey man, foreman, partner, and finally sole proprietor, for twenty years, and sold out to engage in other pursuits. It was while with the Journal that he acquired a reputation he was so justly entitled to for integrity, industry and perseverance.
After he abandoned the printing business he engaged in merchandis- ing and the produce business; owing to his too confiding nature and disposition and the dishonesty of debtors he lost heavily. He had shipped a large quantity of grain to a firm that failed owing him several thousand dollars. He did not let this loss affect his perseverance in the least, but began again with renewed energy and diligence and finally. overcame his misfortune.
Mr. Noel was one of the "bloody three hundred " that volunteered in the Black Hawk war; he was also one of the " Wild Oats of Indian-
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WILLIAM E. FEATHERSTON.
apolis" that went to the convention at the Tippecanoe Battle Ground in 1840. Mr. Noel was an ardent Whig and took great interest in the success of that old national party. In 1841 he was married to Miss Elizabeth L. Browning, daughter of the late Edmund Browning; she was one of the belles of the then village of Indianapolis.
Mr. Noel died on the 10th of December, 1875; since that time his father-in-law, who was an inmate of his house, also died. Mrs. Noel survives him. Their eldest daughter, Sarah Frances, is the wife of George W. Bull, connected with the Star Union fast-freight line ; the remainder of the children are single. His two sons Edmund B. and Small- wood, generally known as Wood, are engaged in the wholesale and retail flour and feed business at 69 North Illinois street.
WILLIAM E. FEATHERSTON
Was born in Jessamine county, Kentucky, in 1822, and with his father came to Indiana and settled near Southport, in the fall of 1828. He worked on the farm and at intervals went to school until 1840, when he came to this city and engaged with the late P. B. L. Smith as a clerk in his dry goods and grocery store ; he afterwards was a partner of Mr. Smith, and subsequently purchased the interest of Mr. Smith and con- tinued the business for himself. In 1855 he quit merchandising and engaged in the auction and commission business; he has continued the business ever since at different places in the city. He is now located at 179 West Washington street, and is doing a fair share in that line of the business of the city.
He was married in 1845 to Miss Mary J. Norwood, an estimable and Christian woman, who died in 1871, Sometime afterward he was married to Mrs. E. A. Billingsley, daughter of the late Rev. Gibbon Williams. If Mr. Featherston was unfortunate in losing a true and lov- ing wife, he was fortunate in getting another well worthy to fill her place. He has no children, but has done a father's part by some he adopted. He has been continuously in the auction and commission bus- iness longer than any other person in the city. Mr. Featherston may not have accumulated property as rapidly as some of the business men of the city, but has always done a safe and sure business. Those who give him goods to dispose of can always rely upon getting the returns in proper time and the full measure of their due. Mr. Smith's atten- tion was attracted to Mr. Featherston while purchasing a load of pro- duce of his father, and he became impressed that he was an honest boy, and one whom it would be safe to trust.
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JACKSON LANDERS.
" Jackson Landers was born in Morgan county, Indiana, August 4, 1842, which would make him at the present time about 34 years of age. He had been a farmer all his life until his election to the office of county treasurer some two years ago. He moved from Morgan to Decatur township, Marion county, in 1870-moving to this city in October, 1873. Mr. Landers became a widower a year or two since, but realizing the fact that woman was heaven's first and best gift to man, a month or two since he took to himself another helpmeet, knowing that it was not good for man to be alone.
" Jackson Landers is one of those men who deserve all honor, because, having but few advantages, they 'make themselves,' as the saying is, and rise above their surroundings. Jackson is a brother of the Hon. Franklin Landers, and possesses to a considerable degree the indomita- ble pluck and energy of that successful merchant and honored states- man.
" As county treasurer Mr. Landers has made a most faithful and effi- cient officer, and thus saved a great deal to the county which his prede- cessors had given up as lost. He is no respector of persons, and everybody that was able, though may be not willing, was made to ' walk up to the captain's office and settle.' He has given the office under his charge-one of the most important in the gift of the county -- his personal attention, and by his courtesy and accommodating disposi- tion gained the esteem and good will of all with whom he came in contact.
" Mr. Landers is rather a good looking man of the brunette order, of medium height, and compactly built."
The above sketch I clip from the People of August 4, 1877. Since his retirement from the office of treasurer of the county Mr. Landers has identified himself with the the pork packing firm of which his brother, the Hon. Franklin Landers, is a partner. Mr. Landers made a very popular officer; at the same time he was vigilant in watching the inter- ests of the public.
PETER H. LEMON
Was born in what was then Knox county (now Sullivan), in the Terri- tory of Indiana, in 1813, in a log cabin surrounded by a picket fort erected for protection from the Indians. His father, Friend Lemon,
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JACOB P. DUNN.
had emigrated from Virginia and settled near Vincennes at an early day in the history of the territory.
Mr. Lemon worked on a farm until he was seventeen years of age, and then engaged to learn the blacksmith trade at Carlisle with Alonzo Coulton. Finding the business too hard for his physical powers, he abandoned it and turned his attention to books. After receiving a good education in his native county and at Vincennes, he went to Alabama in 1836, and studied law with his uncle. After finishing the study of his profession he returned to Indiana and was licensed at Merom, Sulli- van county, in April, 1839. In 1841 he moved Alexandria, Madison county, and commenced the practice of law. In May, 1845, he removed to Anderson and there practiced law; in 1848 he edited at that place the True Democrat, published by John Q. and William Howell. In 1847 he was elected a justice of the peace for Anderson township and re-elected in 1852. In 1855 he was elected clerk of Madison county against James N. Starkey, at that time deputy clerk. Mr. Lemon re- moved from Anderson to Indianapolis in 1863 ; since he came to this city he has been for some time employed in the office of the county clerk; he is now engaged in the practice of law. In March, 1839, he was ,married, at New Lebanon, Sullivan, county to Miss Sarah Ellis, daughter of Jesse Ellis, of Madison county. Mr. Lemon has lost sev- eral children by death.
JACOB P. DUNN.
Mr. Dunn was born at Lawrenceburg, Dearborn county, on the 24th of June, 1811. His parents, the late venerable Isaac Dunn, and Fran- cis Piatt, were married at the residence of Captain Jacob Piatt, in Boone county, Kentucky, in the fall of 1804, and settled at Lawrenceburg in 1806, which was their residence until their death. Jacob P. Dunn, unlike every other person in Indiana, had the best means of education of that day until he was eighteen years old. He then engaged as a clerk in the store of his brother-in-law, George Tousey, in his native town. He followed the mercantile pursuit either as a clerk or principal until 1846. On the 16th of May, 1849, he, with thirteeen others, started for California via the plains, with ox teams. They were about five months making the trip, which was very common to all who made that journey in that way. They met with great difficulties, suffering and destitution. He returned to his home at Lawrenceburg, in the spring of 1854. In the spring of 1855, with his family, he moved to
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
the farm formerly owned by General Joseph Lane, on the Ohio river, in Vanderburg county, this State, where he remained until 1859, when he returned to his old home at Lawrenceburg. In the summer of 1861 Mr. Dunn removed to Indianapolis. In 1862-3 he was connected with Mr. James McTaggert in slaughtering and packing pork in this city. In the fall of 1864, having sold his interest in the pork-packing estab- lishment, he associated with Mr. William Love in the real estate busi- ness, which they are still pursuing. . Mr. Dunn was married, at Law- renceburg, in October, 1838, to Miss Harriet L. Tate, daughter of the late William Tate, of that city. They have five children living, three sons and two daughters. Their oldest daughter, Louisa M., is the wife of Henry W. Tutewiler, late city treasurer of Indianapolis. While Mr. Dunn was a citizen of Lawrenceburg he was a member of the city coun- cil and justice of the peace. He was a brother of the late Hon. John P. Dunn, formerly Auditor of State, and a well-known public man of Indiana.
Mr. Dunn is a member of the Meridian street Methodist church, and in that is following in the footsteps of his venerable father, with whom I was well acquainted. Judge Isaac Dunn died a few years since full of years and honors. We owe a debt of gratitude to the early founders and pioneers of.our State, who have nearly all passed away, but have Ieft valuable monuments of their wisdom and labors behind, and their names should be inscribed on the pages of our history, and handed down to future generations and kept fresh in the minds of the people.
EDWARD S. POPE,
The present proprietor of the Indianapolis Sun, was born in the city of Baltimore, Md., in 1819. With his parents, came to Indianapolis in 1836. He was engaged in mercantile business with his father in one of the first brick business houses built in the city on Washington street, at that time owned by Captain John Cain.
His first wife was the daughter of Jonathan Scofield. She died in 1844. In 1847 he was married to Miss Mary Kenworthy, daughter of Robert and Ann Kenworthy, of Tippecanoe county, Indiana. He then moved on a farm that is now a part of South Brookside, one of the handsomest suburb additions to the city of Indianapolis ; he there re- mained until 1856, when he removed to Blue Grass, Vermillion county, Illinois, being one of the first settlers of that beautiful portion of Illi- nois, being no house nearer than eight or ten miles, and on a wild and
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REV. WILLIAM W. HIBBEN.
unbroken prairie. While living in this uninhabited region he got lost on the prairie several times after night. On one occasion, when morn- ing came, he found he was going in a directly opposite direction from his house. In organizing the new township of Butler, which was the north half of Middlefork ; he was twice elected town clerk ; one year tax col- lector ; a charter member of Blue Grass Lodge, No. 407 of A. F. and A. Masons, and served as such most of the time until 1876. He was elected and served as school treasurer of township 22 north, range 13 west, until he removed back to Indianapolis, in the spring of 1875. His- father died in December, 1874.
Mr. Pope is now residing with his aged mother, who is in her eighty- third year. In January, 1877, Mr. Pope bought the Indianapolis Sun, and continues to send it forth to all sections of the country, where it exerts a great influence as the chief national exponent of finance and currency, and reform in monetary affairs. Mr. Pope, like his father, is a man of decided views upon all public questions. He carries into the Greenback movement the same energy and zeal that characterized his movements when the Republican party was formed over twenty years ago. Mr. Pope was an original Abolitionist, and before it was consid- ered politic to be one.
REV. WILLIAM W. HIBBEN.
Mr. Hibben is perhaps as well known to the citizens of Indiana as any minister now living within its borders. He is a native of Union- town, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, but at an early age migrated to Ohio. He was licensed as a Methodist minister at Hillsborough, Ohio, in 1832. In March, 1835, he came to Indiana and was admitted into the Indiana conference at Lafayette, in October of that year, after which he was preacher in charge of some of the most important stations in the State. In 1844, when I first made his acquaintance, he was sta- tioned in Indianapolis, and while here raised some seven or eight thou- and dollars for the purpose of building Wesley Chapel, and succeeded in stirring up a determination in the congregation to build the church, which they finished the next year. The church is now owned by W. Canada Holmes, and is occupied by the City Library and the Indiana- polis Sentinel, and Mr. Hibben is the able correspondent for the paper under the nom de plume of Jefferson. After laboring thirty years in the ministry he asked for a vacation at the close of his service as presiding elder of the Jeffersonville district. Since that time he has chiefly de --
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voted himself to literary labors and has won a reputation by his Jefferson letters as a writer perhaps equal to any other in the State. His life of Father Havens is a truthful history and popular work, and makes a good chapter in the history of Methodism in Indiana, and should be patron- ized by all the members of that church. For the last five years he has been associate editor of the Masonic Advocate, in which relation he has doubtless done much good. During the rebellion Mr. Hibben furnished four sons to help fight the battles for the preservation of the Union. Although preachers were intensely loyal, I doubt if there are many who can show more substantial devotion to the old flag than Brother Hibben. He is a man of good address, a pleasant and entertaining speaker, of genial manners, and disposed to look on the sunny side of sublunary cares. Brother Hibben is a man of intellect, a ready writer with great facility in the use of language, and he is one whose writings will be appreciated long after he shall have been called hence.
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