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 6
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During the Presidential term of James Monroe, John C. Calhoun was Secretary of War. He and the Governor had been intimate friends when the Governor was a delegate in Congress. He wished the Secre- tary to send him some ordnance for the protection of the State. The order he couched in this laconic way :
" Dear good John C., I send to thee For three great guns and trimmings ; Pray send them to hand Or you'll be damned, By order of Jonathan Jennings, Governor of Indiana.
These were the guns used in saluting General Lafayette, when he visited Indiana in the summer of 1824.
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JONATHAN JENNINGS.
Governor Jennings was twice married, but had no children. In height he was about five feet nine inches, would weigh about one hun- dred and eighty pounds, was of rotund form without corpulency, had round, smooth features, a mild blue eye, florid complexion and light hair.
Jonathan Jennings, the first Governor of Indiana, was born in Rock- bridge county, State of Virginia, in 1784. His father, Rev. Jacob Jen- nings, a Presbyterian minister, emigrated from New Jersey to Virginia at the close of the Revolutionary war, and thence removed to Fayette county, Pennsylvania, about the year 1790. His early life was spent on his father's farm on Dunlap's creek, where he acquired a common school education. At a suitable age he was sent to the grammar school of the Rev. John McMillin, D. D., at Cannonsburg, Pennsyl- vania. Having availed himself of the advantages of this school in obtaining a knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, and of mathe- matics, he commenced the study of law, and before being admitted to practice emigrated to the Indiana territory. Proceeding to Vincennes, he obtained employment as a clerk in the office of Nathaniel Ewing, receiver of public money at that place, and during the intervals of service as clerk progressed with his law studies. At the election for a delegate to Congress from the Indiana territory, in the year 1809, Jen- nings was elected after an exciting canvass with an able and popular competitor. He was re-elected and served as delegate in Congress until 1816. In a letter to the citizens of the territory, July 27, 1813, he informed them that the general government had authorized the raising of four additional companies of rangers for the protection of the frontier. On the 14th of December, 1815, he presented the memorial of the ter- ritorial Legislature praying Congress to order an election of members to a convention to form a constitution and State government for Indiana. This was referred to a committee of which he was chairman, and on the 5th of January, 1816, he reported a bill to enable the people to form a constitution and State goverment. To this convention he was elected a representative from the county of Clarke, and at the assembling of the convention, June 1, 1816, was chosen its president. The able manner in which the duties of that convention were performed is exhibited in the ordinances and constitution adopted. That old con- stitution is of itself a monument to the projectors. This year, 1816, Mr. Jennings was elected first Governor under the constitution, his com- petitor being Colonel Thos. Posey, late territorial Governor of Indiana, a brave and gallant officer of the Revolution. His first message to the
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
Legislative Assembly was delivered November 7, 1816, in which he re- commended the enactment of laws for the promotion of morals, the pre- vention of crime, trial and punishment of criminals, the dissemination of useful knowledge, a plan of education as prescribed by the constitution, a law to prevent unlawful seizure of persons of color legally entitled to their freedom. At this first session of the Legislature a code of laws was enacted suited to the wants of the people. The members of the Assembly being from different States of the Union, and bringing with them prejudices as diversified as the laws and localities from whence they came, exhibited much zeal and temper in the transaction of legisla- tive business. To reconcile conflicting opinions, and allay factious opposition, required tact and prudence of no ordinary character, and to Jonathan Jennings much is due for the accomplishment of this object.
The laws enacted by the Assembly in 1816 were accepted and ap- proved by the people, and Indiana emerged from a territorial to a State government, under bright auspices. During the first term as Governor Mr. Jennings was appointed a commissioner to treat with the Indians, and was mainly instrumental in procuring the relinquishment of Indian title to the lands in this State known as the "New Purchase." His ac- ceptance and discharge of the duties of this appointment was deemed incompatible with the exercise of his duties as Governor under the con- stitution of the State, and it was asserted that he had forfeited his com- mission as Governor. The Lieutenant Governor claimed to be, ex-offi- cio, the executive of the State, and much excitement prevailed at the capital. The succeeding Legislature decided the question, and recog- nized Jennings as the proper Governor. At the second election, in 1819, he had little opposition, and succeeded by a large majority. His messages to the General Assembly during the six gubernatorial years are able State papers; valuable to the politician on account of the pe- culiar crisis in the monetary affairs of the country, which they cover, and commendable for the watchfulness and care manifested for the in- terests and prosperity of the State. They are in the archives of the State, and too voluminous to append to this notice. The constitution of the State limited the office of Governor to two successive terms, and in 1822 Mr. Jennings was again returned to Congress by the voters of the Second Congressional District of Indiana. This district he contin- ued to represent until 1831. At the Presidential contest in 1824 he cast his own vote and the vote of the State in the House of Represent- atives for Andrew Jackson, and throughout his service as Representa- tive in Congress adhered to and voted with the Democratic party. The
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JONATHAN JENNINGS.
canvass for Congress in 1831 terminated against him. He was beaten by a small majority. On the 14th day of July, 1832, he was commis- sioned, with John W. Davis and Mark Crume, as commissioner to treat with the Miami and Pottawatomie Indians, for all the Indian lands in the State of Indiana, and for the relinquishment of the Pottawatomie title to all lands in Michigan. The commissioners, after much difficulty and sev- eral councils with the Indians, succeeded in making treaties by which the Indian title was extinguished to all lands in this State, and by which the Indians agreed to remove to lands provided for them west of the Missouri river. This commission terminated the public services of Jonathan Jennings. After leaving Congress he was frequently urged to become a candidate for the State Legislature, and could have been elected almost by acclamation, but he declined these solicitations without assigning a cause. He died on his farm, about three miles west of Charlestown, Clarke county, Indiana, in the year 1834, and was buried in the old graveyard in Charlestown.
Governor Jennings possessed thorough knowledge of the history and politics of our country. His contest for delegate in Congress at the first election, the subsequent contest for his seat on the floor of the House of Representatives, the official influence and personal exertions of the Governor of the territory against him at the succeeding election, his entrance on the political field at a period when many of our Revolu- tionary worthies and statesmen were still in the meridian of their useful- ness and their honors, and his personal association with Messrs. Clay, Pinckney, Calhoun and others of high distinction, all contributed to make him an able statesman and politician. His personal popularity at home in his own State has scarce a precedent. Free, open and generous, he was fond of social enjoyment, and cared little for money beyond the present use, and with a true heart for a friend and open hand for the dis- tressed and needy, he died poor in this world's goods.
During his gubernatorial term the revenue of the State was deficient, and resort was had to a loan from the Bank of Vincennes, then the State Bank of Indiana, and in order to meet the payment of the loan the Legislature passed an act authorizing the reception of the paper of the bank and branches for taxes. In the meantime the bank transferred the State obligations to the United States in part for a debt due the govern- ment, and suspended payment on her notes, which became entirely worthless. The consequence to the State of Indiana was a full treasury of depreciated, worthless paper, and not a cent to pay ordinary ex- penses. A resort was had to treasury notes; these also depreciated,
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
and the salary of the Governor, fixed at one thousand dollars, was paid in treasury notes worth about six hundred dollars. The amount of sal- ary thus paid was insufficient for the support of a private family and greatly below the requirements of the hospitality of a Western Gov- ernor, and especially for the liberal hospitality of Governor Jennings. His expenditures whilst Govennor were more than double the salary and involved him in debts from which after-exertion did not relieve him. The early settlers of Indiana were generally poor : they entered their homesteads at two dollars per acre and made one payment. Their pri- vations and difficulties prevented their securing the second payment and their lands became forfeited for the failure. In this crisis, when their homes were about to be wrested from them, their only hope was in the action of Congress, and the efforts of their delegate in that body to ob- tain relief. There are persons now living who attribute their earthly comfort and happiness to the exertions of Mr. Jennings in this their trial hour. He was not only their representative in Congress, but neighbor, friend, brother.
During his service in Congress, no letter was ever addressed to him on the most trivial, as well as important matter, that was not promptly answered, and the business attended to. From the period of Tippecanoe battle, November 7, 1811, to the close of the war with Great Britain, 1815, the people of Indiana territory were harrassed by Indian depre- dations and murders, and a force of volunteer citizen rangers were kept constantly in the field for protection of inhabitants and punishment of the savages. These were all poor men, most of whom had families dependent upon them for support. The general government, at that day was not a prompt paymaster, and the citizen soldier was compelled to take promises for his own services and the property lost in the ser- vice. Not one of these old rangers, volunteer or militiamen, that has not a monument erected in his heart to the memory of Jonathan Jen- nings, for exertions in their behalf. Through him pay was obtained for personal services, and for their claims for horses and property lost in the service during the war, and through his exertions an extension of the time of payment for amount due on their homes was granted by the government. While these men live, he will be remembered as the active, faithful, persevering public servant. His social qualities and kind and gentlemanly manner may be forgotten, but his integrity, the honest discharge of every official duty entrusted to him, should not be forgotten.
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SAMUEL S. ROOKER.
SAMUEL S. ROOKER
Was the first person that ever painted a sign in this place. He came to Indianapolis in the fall of 1821, from Tennessee. At this time there was not a sign of any kind in the town. In addition to the joy felt at having gained a new citizen and neighbor, all were glad to have one qualified to announce their names and business in glowing letters. The first to order a sign from the painter was Caleb Scudder, cabinet maker. This Mr. Rooker painted on white ground with fiery red letters, and when finished it read, "Kalop Skodder, Kabbinet Maker."
Mr. Rooker soon received an order from Mr. Carter for a sign for the " Rosebush," and one from Mr. Hawkins for the Eagle tavern. It was said that Mr. Hawkins' sign was that of a turkey, with a surname attached. He afterwards painted one for Major Belles. The design was "General Lafayette in full uniform." This was a fine opportunity for the painter to show his skill in portrait painting. When he com- menced, it was his intention to paint it full size, but after finishing the head and body he found there was not room for the legs full length ; so he left out the section between the knees and ankle, and attached the feet to the knee joint, which gave the General the appearance of a very short legged man. This sign stood on the Michigan road, six miles southeast of town, for many years.
In justice to Mr. Rooker, I must say he improved very much in his profession in after years. He painted the portrait of the writer, which was complimentary to the subject and a great credit to the artist. Charlie Campbell thinks it was one of the most striking likenesses he ever saw. What became of it I do not know, but have no doubt it could be found in some of the New York art galleries.
He painted a sign for a man keeping tavern on the National road. The man had ordered a lion, full size, as the design. When it was fin- ished he thought the good-natured painter had misunderstood him, and instead of painting a lion, as he wished, had painted a prairie ·wolf. Mr. Rooker had some trouble to convince the man that this was a bona fide African lion, and not a wolf. Mrs. Rooker was very indignant that the gentleman did not properly appreciate her husband's superior skill in painting. She thought that Sammy could paint as good a lion as any other person.
" The painter thought of his growing fame,
And the work that should bring him an endless name."
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
There are many yet living who remember Mr. Rooker's own sign, that stood on the northeast corner of Washington and Illinois streets. It read, "Samuel S. Rooker, House and.Sine Painter." It is proper to say that, although sign painting was not Mr. Rooker's forte, he was a good house painter, and generally rendered satisfaction to his custom- ers in that line. Neither was he the only person that had not mastered Webster in the spelling book. A prominent merchant used to spell tobacco, "tobaker; " and bacon, " bakin."
Mr. Rooker yet lives in a neighboring town, but does not follow his profession as sign painter. He is an honest, upright man, an obliging neighbor and a good citizen.
JIMMY KITTLEMAN.
This good old man came here at an early date, say 1821 or 1822. He was a shoemaker by trade, and lived many years on the southeast corner of Market and East streets. He was an honest but simple man, an ardent and enthusiastic Methodist, and most of his earthly joy con- sisted in meeting his brothers and sisters of the church in class-meeting or love-feast. He took great comfort in relating his experience and conversion to religion, and how it was brought about, the temptations and trials he was exposed to, and how the devil first appeared to him, and the offers he made to him,
He was attending to his father's sheep-fold late in the evening, he said, when the devil appeared to him and made offers equal to those he had made our Savior when on the mountain: the sheep and cattle upon a thousand hills, if he would worship him. He said he knew the "old sarpent " the moment he saw him; so he leaned his head upon a big "wether," and prayed the Lord to give him strength to resist the tempter. When he arose the devil had gone. He often appeared to him afterwards and renewed his offer, with the addition that he could go to all the dances and play the fiddle as much as he pleased. But he had as often sought the same old " wether" to lay his head against and pray for grace, and he as often found it. " Brethren," said he, " I feel this morning that I would rather be here and hear sister Lydia Haws sing, 'We'll all meet together in the morning,' than to have all the sheep and cattle the old sinner had."
On one occasion, at a love-feast, the old man said "his sun had been behind a cloud for some days, and that he had not been in close com- munion with the Savior, but thanked God that this morning his sky was
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BILLY BAY.
once more clear, and he could read 'his title clear to mansions in the skies,' and that he was able to raise his Ebenezer, and that the cloud had passed away, and that he was beyond the reach of the devil and all his cattle." On another occasion the old gentleman got very happy in class-meeting. He looked toward the roof of the house, extended his arms in an imploring manner, and said, "Do, Lord, come right down ! Come right through the roof, right now! Do, Lord! Never mind the shingles, but come right down, Lord !" At this point the old man began flapping his arms up and down as wings, as if starting to meet the Savior. When he got in one of these ways the only remedy was to sing him down, and Sister Haws contributed a good portion, which generally elicited from the old man, after he became quieted, a "God bless Sister Haws."
In the sincerity and earnestness of Brother Kittleman there was none to doubt, but the old gentleman's zeal was sometimes greater than his common sense. He left the place many years since and removed to the far west, and no doubt is prepared to meet Sister Haws "in the morning," and "on the other side of Jordon."
BILLY BAY
Was the counterpart of Jimmy Kittleman, and his associate and brother in the first Methodist church organized in Indianapolis. He was equally zealous in the good wook, and never let anything keep him from the "Divine sanctuary." He too, like Brother Kittleman, had been very much tempted by the " old cloven-foot sarpent," and several times came very near yielding. Brother Bay was a man about five feet ten inches in height, rather spare made, a bald head, and about fifty years of age. He wore the old-style Methodist dress, round breasted or shad-belly coat. He was full of sighs on all occasions, and in church would add an amen to everything said, frequently out of place.
His main forte was in prayer. He had two stereotyped upon his mind, and ever ready for use on any and all occasions: his morning prayer and his evening prayer. He sometimes (as Tom Harvey would say ) "got the right prayer in the wrong place; " i. e., he would use the morning prayer in the evening, and vice versa. I well remember his evening prayer, having heard it nearly every Thursday night for ten years. It ran thus :
"We desire to thank thee, O Lord, that we are once more permitted to assemble together under the roof of thy divine sanctuary, and that
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while many of our feller critters, that are as good by natur and far bet- ter by practice, have sickened and died during the week that has passed and gone, and left these mundane shores, and gone to that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, we are still permitted to remain here as the spared monuments of thy amazing grace. And now O Lord, in the close of our evening devotions draw feelingly and sen- sibly nigh unto us. Manifest thyself unto us as thou dost not unto the world, and grant that we may live as we shall wish we had when we come to die. And, finally, when we are called upon to put off this mortal and put on immortality, bring us to enjoy thyself and service ; and all the glory we will ascribe to a triune God, world without end. Amen."
Brother Bay, too, sought a home on the distant prairies, and from his advanced age when he left has, no doubt, ere this, "put off this mortal and put on immortality," and has met his old classmate, Brother Kittleman, on the other side of the river, "where congregations ne'er break up, and Sabbaths never end."
JAMES M. RAY
Was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, in the year 1800. Early in life he emigrated to the West. His first residence in Indiana was at Lawrence- burg, in the year 1818, and afterwards at Connersville ; in each of which places he was engaged as deputy clerk. He came to where Indianapo- lis now is early in 1821, and was clerk at the first sale of lots in Octo- ber of that year. At the first election, in 1822, he was elected clerk of Marion county. Morris Morris was the principal opposing candidate, and it was a warmly contested election, Madison and Hamilton counties being attached to Marion for voting purposes. He was afterwards re- elected as clerk and elected as recorder, and held these offices until·he resigned them at the time of the organization of the State Bank of In- diana, when he was elected cashier, which position he held during the existence of the bank. He was then appointed cashier of the " Bank of the State," which position he held until he was elected president of the same.
Mr. Ray was active in the first Bible society, and helped to organize the first Sunday school ; and has been the treasurer of the Indianapolis Benevolent Society since its organization in the year 1836. He was secretary of the first temperance society, also the Colonization Society ; secretary of the first fire company, that of Marion, organized in 1835,
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GEORGE SMITH.
and one of the principal stockholders in the first steam-mill. He has ever been liberal in contributing to the erection of churches of all de- nominations. There have been but very few, if any, public enterprises undertaken in Indianapolis that he has not aided by money and coun- tenance since the first settlement of the place. And even now, at his advanced age, he does not seem to have lost any of the zeal of his younger years for the public good. His public positions and private successes were well calculated to bring down upon him the envy and jealousy of those less fortunate, but the tongue of slander and vitupera- tion has never been hurled at James M. Ray, or the defamation of his character ever attempted.
His great simplicity of character and manner; his well-known and unostentatious piety, with a pleasant word and a smile for all that busi- ness or circumstances have brought him in contact with, have endeared him to all who know him. The duties of time and the reward of eter- nity seem to be his greatest pleasure on earth. In his family circle
" His ready smile a parent's love expressed, Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distressed, To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given, But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven."
Mr. Ray is a small man, who would not weigh over one hundred and thirty pounds, but has prominent features, a mild black eye, and his whole contour at once denotes intelligence and an active mind. He was always very neat in his person and dress, even when engaged in the common vocations of life, but would never be taken for a fop.
In the late war he took an active interest in the cause of the Union, and was treasurer of the Indiana Branch of the Christian Commission, of the Indiana Freedman's Aid Commission, and also of the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Home. He also aided in selling the State bonds to procure means to arm and support our troops.
GEORGE SMITH
. Was one of the proprietors of the Indianapolis "Gazette," the first newspaper and the first printing establishment of any kind in Indiana- polis.
Mr. Smith was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and learned his trade in the office of the Lexington "Observer," in Lexington, Ken- tucky. After his apprenticeship was out he went to Cincinnati and
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worked with Charlie Hammond, in the office of the "Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette." He lived at several different places in Ohio as well as Indiana before he came to this place in December, 1821. In Janu- ary, 1822, he, in connection with his step-son, Nathaniel Bolton, issued the first number of the "Gazette." Their office was in one corner of the cabin in which his family lived. This cabin was situated near by a row of cabins built by Wilmot, called Smoky Row, west of the canal, and near Maryland street. From this cabin the "Gazette" was issued for the first year, then taken to a cabin on the northeast corner of the State House square. This paper, after changing proprietors and editors and name and location several times, we now have in the shape and name of the Indianapolis "Sentinel." Mr. Smith was the first to start a real estate agency in Indianapolis, as will be seen by his advertisment in the "Gazette " of 1827. He was afterwards elected associate judge and served two terms. He and Governor Ray were the only persons who wore their hair plaited and hanging down their backs, in a queue.
The judge had some difficulty with a lawyer named Gabriel J. John- son. The lawyer got the judge by the queue and for a while had him in chancery, but the judge rallied his "strength," and administered to the lawyer a sound threshing. He was a man of warm feeling and de- votion to his friends, and would go any length to serve and accommodate one. He cared nothing for money or property, further than to make himself and family comfortable. He had but one child, to whom he was devotedly attached. She is now the widow of the late William Martin. Her first husband, Samuel Goldsberry, is spoken of in another place.
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