Marion County, Indiana - Chapter 7, 1884

Commercial And Mercantile Interests Of The City

The early commerce of Indianapolis was a matter of road-wagons and country stores. The most of it was barter and all of it was mixed. Dry-goods, drugs and groceries, cutlery, queensware and leather, books, tubs, and salt fish were all to be found in the same establishment, and whiskey was universal. A half-dozen yards of red flannel swung over the door on two sticks and hung down the sides was an unfailing sign ; a name over the door was not. The trade that was not barter - and that was not much - was managed with Spanish silver. The railroads of those days did all the transportation, but the rails were as often an obstruction as an assistance, as already related. The cars that ran upon them and across them were usually drawn by four horses, - rarely less than three, - and rang their bells in a bow above the i hames in an incessant and not unmusical jangle. The canvas cover was full a dozen feet along the top, following the deep hollow from the uptilt at each j end, and six or seven in diameter. A good big wagon loaded and belled, with a good team well harnessed, and a driver of the Clein Peery school mounted in his " wagon" saddle - a different variety from the " riding" saddle, being made with black harness-leather skirts cut square - on the " near" wheel-horse, and driving with a ten-feet line of inch bridle-leather fastened to the "bit" of the " near" leader, his " blacksnake" whip in hand - and your teamster would have held it a shame to use anything else - cracking as merrily as an Italian cabdriver, was an inspiriting sight. In good weather, along the old Michigan road, on the way to Cincinnati by Lawrenceburg, or to Madison by Napoleon, one might sometimes see a dozen of these gigantic white caterpillars following each other, loaded with goods for McCarty, or Wright, or Hedderly, or Hannaman, or Justin Smith, and driven by Clem Peery, Bill Stuck, his brother Perry, Sam Ilitchey and his brother Arnold, Wash Norwood, or Charley O'Neal, a brother of the noted criminal lawyer Hugh O'Neal, or some of the teaming fraternity, who took the place of the railroads, engines, and trains of to-day. They rarely took anything away, so the trip one way had to pay for both. Our exports usually went out afoot. Hog driving was almost a separate occupation forty years ago and before, and all the time till railroads came. It was a slow, eold, wearisome business, for it could only be done in winter; was usually done to Cincinnati ; the roads were rough, the way long, and the night was consumed in feeding the " grunting herd." Wagons sometimes followed to take care of the lame and exhausted, or what are now called "slow" hogs. The hog drover, in his normal night condition, was covered with the slop of thawing roads, tired, cross, and hungry. In this condition the late Oliver H. Smith carried to Cincinnati with his drove of hogs the news of his own election to the United States Senate. The elder John Wood drove horses to New Orleans in the same fashion, but less unpleasantly. He was

John Wood, who was of Scotch-Irish parentage, was born July 25, 1784, in Orange County, N. Y., where his boyhood was spent in school or in various active pursuits. He married, in 1806, Miss Rachel Brown, and had children, - Daniel B. and Rachel (Mrs. George Myers), both of whom died in Lancaster, Ohio, in 1832, and one whose death occurred in infancy. He married a second time, in 1812, Miss Sarah West, of Brown County, Ohio, to whom were born children, - Eleanor (Mrs. Thomas M.

Smith), John M., Phebe (Mrs. M. A. Daugherty), Mary (Mrs. Robert L. Browning), Martha (Mrs. E. K. Foster), Cornelia (Mrs. R. L. Browning), and William E. Mr. Wood early became a dealer in horses, and continued this business first in New York State and later in Kentucky, to which State he removed. While residing in Maysville, in the latter State, he took horses in large numbers to the New Orleans market, and was the first man from Kentucky to engage in this enterprise. In September, 1834, Mr. Wood made Indianapolis his residence, having for a brief period resided in Lancaster, Ohio, and purchased a farm of four hundred and eighty acres, most of wliioli is now embraced within the city limits. He continued his business in Indianapolis, and became a large shipper of horses to Other localities. He also opened an extensive liveryand sales stable, to which his son John succeeded in 1840, and has since transferred to his son, Horace F. Wood. Mr. Wood was in politics a firm and uncompromising Whig, but not an oflBce-sceker, his ' time and attention having been entirely absorbed in ; the management of his extended private business. He was, however, active in the political field, and eager for the success of his party. He was a member of the order of Free and Accepted Masons, ; which he joined at an early day in Kentucky, as [ also of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows. His death occurred Jan. 6, 1847. in his sixty-third i year. Two of his children, John M. and William E., still reside in Indianapolis.

Among the merchants of this primitive period of transportation were Lawrence M. Vance and David S. Beaty (of the firm of Vance & Beaty), both dead now after lives of honorable activity, cut off in their prime.

Lawrence Martin Vance was the youngest of nine children of Capt. Samuel Colville Vance, who for many years held the responsible position of paymaster of the Northwestern Territory, with headquarters at Fort Washington, now Cincinnati. He subsequently removed to a locality on the Ohio River which he named Lawrenceburg, after his wife's maiden name. His wife, Mary Morris Lawrence, mother of Lawrence M. Vance, was a granddaughter of Gen. Arthur St. Clair.

L. M. Vance was born at Cincinnati, July 16, 1816. His youth until eighteen years of age was spent at Lawrenceburg. He was a companion in boyhood of Governor A. G. Porter, who speaks of him as a bright, venturesome lad, with sanguine temperament and open, manly nature. Those traits certainly characterized his later life. His opportunities for early education were ample, but, freed from restraint by the death of his parents in early childhood, he followed his inclination to engage in active business pursuits and never completed a collegiate course. He removed in early manhood to Indianapolis.

There he engaged in general merchandise in partnership with the late Hervey Bates, whose eldest daughter, Mary J. Bates, he married in 1838.

With the first internal improvements in Indiana he became interested in railroads and railroad building. He, was an officer of the first railroad to enter Indianapolis, and a large contractor and builder of one of those subsequently constructed. These enterprises occupied the remainder of his active business life. He possessed a very large share of musical talent and no little culture, and was a member of the first choir in the city, that in Mr. Beecher's church.

From the first agitation of the " irrepressible conflict" he was an ardent Republican, and a most zealous supporter of the principles subsequently established by that party. He sent three sons to the war in defense of the Union, and himself was active and earnest in the cause, being intrusted with many important commissions by the War Governor. His death, from pleurisy, occurred in March, 1863. His name is perpetuated in one of the largest business blocks in the city, erected by Mrs. Vance since his death.

Mr. Vance possessed a large, whole-souled, emotional nature, and Christian faith and work was a pleasure as well as a duty with him. The characteristics of his nature were those that came under obedience to the higher law of morals with natural ease and grace.

Socially, his wit and humor made him a most agreeable companion ; his intelligence and good sense made him an instructive one. Warm-hearted, kind, afiiectionate, a stranger to malice, he was the life of every circle in which he moved. He was a true friend, an affectionate father, a faithful husband, an upright and honest man.

David Sandpord Beaty. - John R. Beaty, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born Dec. 8, 1782, and married Elizabeth Sandford, born May 4, 1791. The birth of their son, David Sandford, occurred Dec. 31, 1814, in Brookville, Ind., where the years of his childhood were spent. After obtaining the rudiments of an education, he became a pupil at the State University, located in Blooming- ton, Ind. He then determined upon a business career, and choosing Indianapolis as a promising field for professional and business undertakings, he i became an employ^ of Hervey Bates, Esq., and remained with that gentleman until his later connection with L. M. Vance in the establishment of a general dry-goods business. He was one of the chief promoters of the scheme for lighting the city with gas, assisted in the organization of the gas company, and was for many years its eflBcient secretary. Mr. Beaty then established a general business agency for the collection of debts, the settlement of decedents' estates, and the exercise of guardianship.

These duties absorbed his time and attention and called him much into the Probate Court, in which he had extensive business connections. His ability ! and undoubted integrity soon threw upon him a large responsibility, and, in the special department which he controlled, so increased his labors as to make serious inroads upon his health, which was at no time robust. The trusts confided to him were often of the most important and delicate nature, requiring the greatest fidelity and keen business perception. The records of the county indicate how faithfully they were discharged, and many widows and orphans recall with gratitude the scrupulous manner in which their interests were guarded. Mr. Beaty also for a while engaged in farming pursuits, but not to the exclusion of other matters of greater import. He was one of the first to introduce and encourage the system of public schools, and an early member of the School Board of Indianapolis. He was in politics first a Whig and later a firm adherent of the principles of the Republican party. In politics, as in other matters, he was a man of profound convictions, which led him to be regarded as a strong partisan. He was in religion a supporter and member of the Christian Church. Mr. Beaty was married, on the 25th of October, 1842, to Miss Nancy Singleton, daughter of Dr. John Sanders, of Indianapolis, and had eight children, of whom four survive. Mr. Beaty's death occurred Jan. 17, 1875, in his sixtieth year. He was regarded as " an honorable, upright man, whose life was pure and whose reputation was as bright as burnished silver."

- As before intimated, the early stores of the city mixed up groceries and dry-goods always, and it was thirty years or more before the separation was made complete and a customer had no reason to expect to find salt and silk, coffee and calico in the same house. When the separation was made, and hardware and groceries were kept to themselves, among the first in the enterprise of maintaining an unmixed grocery stock was John W. Holland, and in the similar maintenance of hardware was Abram Bird. John W. Holland is the son of John Holland, who was of Southern birth, and resided successively in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. Removing to the latter State in 1816, he settled in Franklin County, and engaged in the trade of a grocer. In 1825, Johnson County, Ind., became his residence, from whence he removed to Bartholomew County, and in 1827 he became a citizen of Indianapolis, where he remained until his death in 1865, in his eighty-eighth year. He was married to Sarah Crisfield, and had children, - George B., Nancy H., John W., David S., Samuel J., Rebecca E., and two who died in infancy. John W., their second son, was born in Wellsburg, Brook Co., W. Va., Oct. 23, 1810, and early removed with his parents to Franklin County, Ind., where, after receiving a plain education, he served an apprenticeship in the printing business with Rev. Augustus D. Jocelyn, at Brookville, in the above county. In 1829 he removed to Lawrenceburg, and pursued his trade until the following year, when Indianapolis became his home. Here he engaged as clerk in the store of A. W. Russell & Co., at one hundred and twenty dollars per year and his board, and was thus employed until 183G, when he became a partner, and continued a member of the firm until 1839, when the business was closed. In 1842 he entered the establishment of William Sheets & Co. as clerk, and in 1847 began the commission grain business under the firm-name of Blythe & Holland. Connected with it was the jobbing of groceries, which was continued until 1850, when the firm removed their stock to the corner of Washington and Pennsylvania Streets, and conducted an exclusively grocery jobbing business. This was conducted under various firm-names until 1877, when the disasters of the panic, together with enfeebled health, occasioned Mr. Holland's retirement. He, however, still maintained his character for integrity and honor by liquidating all his indebtedness. It was proverbial that in all his business transactions " his word was as good as his bond." Mr. Holland is in politics a Republican, though not an active worker in the political ranks. He is in his religious aflBliations a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, having for fifty-two years identified his name with the Old Wesley Chapel, in Indianapolis, and continued his relations with that church until his later connection with the Roberts Park Methodist Episcopal Church. He has at various times filled the positions of class-loader, exhorter, local deacon, and local elder. Mr. Holland was, in 1834, married to Miss Nancy A., daughter of William Farquar, of Louisville, Ky., to whom were born seven children, the survivors being Charles Edward, Theodore F., Francis R., John H., and Edmonia M. Mrs. Holland died in 1848, and he was a second time married, in 1849, to Eliza J. Beckwith, daughter of

Abram Bird. - Heury Bird, the father of Abram, was a native of Virginia. His wife still survives, in the eighty-eighth year of her age. Their son Abram was born Nov. 8, 1817, on a farm r-.ar Shelbyville, Ky., from whence, after some years devoted to farm labor, interspersed with limited educational advantages, he removed to Indianapolis, at that early period but a small village. His first business experience was as a clerk in a hardware-store, where by industry and economy he, after several years of service, accumulated sufficient means to establish himself in the same business near the northeast corner of Washington and Illinois Streets. At this time Washington (then called Main) Street was not adorned with shade-trees, Mr. Bird having been the pioneer in the planting of trees in this locality. This disinterested act called forth the warmest commendation from the editor of the Sentinel, who presented him, as a tribute of regard, a year's subscription t« the paper. Mr. Bird developed early in life unusual business capacity, which with assiduous devotion to his various enterprises secured a competence, with which he retired about the beginning of the late war. Though not directly associated with any religious organization, he manifested a keen interest in church enterprises, and frequently contributed toward the erection of churches and the furtherance of religious causes. In politics he was an ardent Whig until the dissolution of that party, when he espoused the principles of the Democratic party, of which he was in later years a zealous defender. He was in November, 1843, married to Miss Ann Maria, daughter of George Norwood, of Indianapolis, to which union two children were born, William F. and Georgia (Mrs. Goldsberry). The death of Mr. Bird occurred Oct. 20, 1881, at his home in Indianapolis, at the age of sixty-four years.

Although all inward transportation was so largely done by wagons, and wholly by them after the first decade of the settlement, a considerable amount was done by keel-boats up to that time, while all exportation of any consequence was done by flat-boats, as related in the earlier part of this work. Of the extent and character of the commerce of that day some notion may be obtained from a report in the Journal oi 1827. The total "imports" of the year j amounted to about ten thousand dollars, embracing ' chiefly seventy-six kegs of tobacco, two hundred barrels of flour, one hundred kegs of powder, four thousand five hundred pounds of spun yarn, and two hundred and thirteen barrels of whiskey, besides seventyone barrels made here. Except this statement we have little account of the early commerce of the city, and no means of making comparisons or estimating advances from one period to another. But in one j of the earliest copies of a daily paper published in Indianapolis, dated Jan. 16, 184;5, - the earliest daily was but a year older, - there is an interesting indication of* the business of that time in the advertisements. Though irrelevant to this particular topic, it ! is relevant to the general history to notice here the fact that legal advertisements were published in this paper for Morgan, Hendricks, Boone, and Hancock Counties, - a fair indication that forty years ago neither county had a paper of its own. The first business advertisement is that of our pioneer artist, Jacob Cox, still easily the first and most eminent, and his brother Charles, that they are selling " cooking stoves," a ! comparatively recent innovation then. " Brandreth's Pills" are advertised largely as for sale at the bookstore of Charles B. Davis, still a resident here. Tomlinson Brothers advertise " Sand's Remedy" and " Dr. E. Spohn's Remedy for Sick-Headache." One of the brothers is still living here. Benjamin Orr advertises ready-made clothing ; he was the first to open a : house of that kind here in 1838. E. Hedderly, a leading grocer then, advertises printing ink. Daniel Yandes, one of the leading pioneers in all enterprises, advertises a pocket-book, with "ten dollars and valuable papers" in it, lost " during Mr. Clay's speech" the preceding October. Judge Blackford advertises his reports of the Supreme Court, cheap then, invaluable now. John Lister advertises a new " liverystable on the alley north of the Palmer House" (Occidental). The late William W. Weaver adver- j tises a " cabinet warerooin." Day, Tyler & Co. advertise bookbinding. Mr. Tyler is now a farmer in Perry township. Peck & Willard (Mr. Willard is still living) advertise a stock of the miscellaneous character usual at that period, - " machine cards, ladies' shoes, cambric linen handkerchiefs, silk shirts, ladies' gloves, hemp and mauilla cordage. Chine silks for ladies' dresses ; want two thousand pounds of geese feathers." Craighead & Brandon, predecessors of Browning & Sloan, take a whole column for their patent medicines. E. Hedderly and Justin Smith take another column for their groceries. Mr. Smith was father-in-law of Mr. John H. B. Nowland, the well-known local author. Last of all, E. J. Peck and B. Hedderly advertise to farmers that they have made preparations " to manufacture lard from oil, and are ready to receive lard in large or small quantities ;" " mast-fed pork will be taken at a small difference in price." Mr. Peck was master bricklayer on the old State- House, subsequently largely interested in the gas company here and the Vandalia Railroad, of which he was superintendent and president.

Edwin J. Peck was among the foremost citizens of Indianapolis, and actively identified with its commercial and religious interests. His birth occurred near New Haven., Conn., on the 16th of October, 1806, where his life prior to his advent in Indiana was spent. He was on his arrival in Indianapolis employed in superintending the mason-work of the new State-House then being erected, and intended during the fall of 1836 to return to his native State. He was, however, so greatly impressed with the enterprise, hospitality, and extended opportunities offered in the capital city that he decided upon making it his permanent residence. Very speedily engaging in business, he contracted for and built the Branch Bank buildings at Madison, Terre Haute, Lafuyette, and South Bend. He was a director of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad in its most prosperous days, and prominent in the projection of the Indianapolis and Terre Haute Railroad (now the Vandalia Line), having given it his personal supervision during its construction as well as the survey. He was elected its first treasurer, and afterward became its president, and was for a period of twenty years associated with its management. He was also president of the Union Railway Company. He was for several years president of the

City Of Indianapolis

Indianapolis Gaslight and Coke Company, and for a long time one of the directors of the Insane Asylum. In connection with other prominent citizens he laid out and beautified the burial-place near the city known as Qreenlawn Cemetery. Mr. Peck possessed a large-hearted generosity, and manifested this trait in many unostentatious deeds of kindness during his lifetime. Especially was this manifested in the substantial aid given to individuals in business enterprises and in encouragement to manufacturing interests. He was a man of strong convictions, of steadfast purpose where a principle was involved, and with courage to defend the right and combat the wrong. He was cautious in all business operations, - a trait which contributed greatly to his successful career. In his religious convictions he was a Presbyterian, and a liberal contributor toward the erection of the Second Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, to which he made a munificent bequest on his death. Wabash College was also the recipient of a legacy of very considerable proportions, as was the Protestant Orphan Asylum. Mr. Peck was in 1840 married to a daughter of Rev. John Thompson, who still survives. His death occurred Nov. 6, 1876, soon after his seventieth birthday, leaving the record of a virtuous life that rendered him greatly beloved.

As related in a preceding chapter, several attempts to establish an Exchange, or Board of Trade, or some similar organization were made before any succeeded. The late William Y. Wiley, the first real estate agent in the days when it meant something, tried to establish an Auction and Stock Exchange in October, 1853, but it died in a few weeks, and repeated attempts and failures preceded the present firmly-established Board of Trade. The present condition of the city's commerce is presented in the fact that the number of cars arriving and leaving here is about twenty thousand a week, or one million a year, of which twothirds are loaded, or at least six hundred thousand, each carrying an average of fifteen tons. This gives a total tonnage in the year of nine million, equal to the freight of nine thousand ships carrying one thousand tons each, or about twenty-five every day of the year. Much of this, of course, merely passes through the city, but what belongs and remains here appears from the report of the secretary of the Board of Trade, which says that the importations through the Custom-House for the year 1882 - the last of which any report is ready at this time - amounted to $213,119, paying duties to the amount of $81,513. The clearances of the Clearing-House amounted to $101,577,523. In the wholesale trade we have the following summary :

This was an increase of seventeen per cent, over the year before. Among the most prominent and successful of the wholesale dealers of the city may be named Mr. C. B. Pattison and Mr. William Johnson.

Coleman B. Pattison. - The Pattisons are of Irish lineage. Edward Pattison, the grandfather of Coleman B., was a native of Kentucky, and later removed to Indiana. He married Hester Day and had children, twelve in number, of whom Isaac, John, James, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, Joseph D., and Nelson survived. Joseph D. was born Sept. 10, 1809, in Kentucky, and moved in his early youth to Indiana, where he pursued the vocation of a farmer and speculator. Indianapolis subsequently became his residence, from which he repaired to Franklin township, his present home. He married Miss Lucinda Mawzy, of Bourbon County, Ky., and had daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth, and sons, Coleman B. and Joseph. Coleman B. was born near Rushville, in Rush County, Ind., April 9, 1845, on the farm of his father. In early life he was sent to Farmers' College, near Cincinnati, Ohio (of which he was a trus- tee), where he graduated in his seventeenth year, taking high rank in his class. He then came to Indianapolis, and became a clerk in the dry-goods and notion jobbing house of Crossland & Co., then doing business near Masonic Hall. He remained with this house until 1864, one year, when it changed hands, and the firm of Webb, Tarkington & Co. came into possession. He continued with the new firm for one year, when another change took place, and he came into the house as a one-third partner, the firm-name then being changed to Landers, Tarkington & Pattison. In 1867 this firm was succeeded by Hibben, Tarkington & Co., Mr. Pattison continuing with the house. This firm was succeeded by Messrs. Hibben, Kennedy & Co. in 1870. In 1875 the house again changed hands, Mr. Pattison taking an active partnership, and the firm-name being changed to Hibben, Pattison & Co. He continued in this position until July, 1880, when his interest was sold to Mr. J. W. Murphy. Such, in brief, is a history of Mr. Pattison's business career.

About the year 1877, Mr. Pattison's health began to fail. He was sensible from the first of the nature of the disease that had marked him as its victim, and hoping for benefit from change of climate, in the fall of 1877 went to Florida, where he remained all winter. He returned and spent the summer of 1878 looking after his business interests, and the followioi: autumn went to Europe, remaining there until the spring of 1879, when he again returned. His foreign visit, like the others, had been of but little avail, but he determined to exhaust every expedient, and after remaining at home through the summer and autumn of that year, he departed for California, and prolonged his stay until the 20th of May. Finding that despiio all he could do his health was fast failing, he returned to await the inevitable result of his malady. Up to the very hour of his death he seemed to possess all those bright, quick, keen qualities that had been so characteristic of him through his more active life. Of him it has often been remarked that he was one of the best business men in Indianapolis. He had a large circle of friends and acquaintances, both in and out of business, and by his genial temper and attractive qualities of mind and heart formed many attachments.

Mr. Pattison early in life exhibited quite a taste for literary pursuits, and had he turned his attention in that direction would undoubtedly have distinguished himself He wielded a graceful and facile pen, and has contributed numerous articles to the local press.

Mr. Pattison was married on the 6th of June, 1867, to Miss Sarah J. Hamilton. Their children are Joseph H., Emma A., Samuel L., Day Coleman, and George C. The death of Coleman 13. Pattison occurred on the 27th day of September, 1880.

WiLLiA.M Johnson. - Walter Johnson, the grandfather of William, was of German descent, and resided in Sullivan County, East Tenn., where he followed farming employments. He married and had children, - John F., Benjamin, James, Robert, Absa- lom, Garrett, William, Looney, Polly (Mrs. Snodgrass), and Betsy (Mrs. Snodgrass). Their son John F. was born in Sullivan County, Tenn., where he continued the pursuits of his father. On the 19th of January, 1806, he was married to Miss Nancy Curtin, of the same county, daughter of John and JIargaret Snodgrass Curtin, who were both of Irish extraction. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were Susannali, born in 1807, who became Mrs. Moser; Margaret, born in 1809, who was Mrs. Jones; Walter, whose birth occurred in 1810; William; Eleanor C., born in 1814, who became Mrs. Parr; Polly Ann, born in 1817, who was Mrs. Johnson; Robert, whose birth occurred in 1819 ; John C., born in 1824 ; Elizabeth Jane, born in 1826, who was Mrs. Goodrich; and Benjamin F., born in 1828. Mrs. Johnson died on the 13th of August, 1854, in Indianapolis, and Mr. Johnson November 5th, of the same year, in Benton County, Ind. The latter on his marriage removed to Hawkins County, Tenn., and remained twenty-six years, after which he returned to Sullivan County, and in 1834 made Boone County, Ind., his home, where he continued farming employments until his later residence in Indianapolis. His son William, the subject of this biographical sketch, was born in Hawkins County, East Tenn., on the 29th of September, 1812. He enjoyed but limited advantages of education, and early acquired a knowledge of farm labor, which engaged his attention during the remainder of his active life. He was on the 28th of November, 1833, married to Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Lawrence and Mary Snapp, of the same State, who died Aug. 6, 1882, in her sixty-eighth year. After his marriage Mr. Johnson removed to Virginia, and there cultivated a farm. In 1857 he made Indianapolis his home, and combined farming with general trading. He is still the owner of several farms in the vicinity of the city, and also a large holder of real estate in Indianapolis. A number of years ago Mr. Johnson retired from active business, though still maintaining a personal supervision over his varied interests. He is in politics a Democrat, and filled while a resident of Virginia the office of justice of the peace, since which time he has held no office. lie is not identified with any religious denomination, but a willing contributor to all worthy causes.

Simeon B. Carey. - John Gary, the ancestor of the family in America, came from Somersetshire, England, about the year 1634 and joined the Plymouth Colony. His name is found among the original proprietors and settlers in Duxbury and Bridgewater, the land he owned having been a part of the grant made by the Pockonocket Indians in 1639. Some of his descendants of the eighth generation still occupy a portion of the original tract. John Gary was the constable of Bridgewater in 1656, the year of its incorporation, and also the first town clerk. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Godfrey, one of the first settlers of Bridgewater, in 1644, to whom were born eleven children. Of this number his son John, whose birth occurred in 1645, married Abigail, daughter of Samuel Allen, and had eleven children. In the direct line of descent was born in 1735, in Morris County, N. J., Ezra Gary, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who married Lyda Thompson, and removed to Western Pennsylvania in 1777. Their children were Phoebe, Rufus, Cephas, Ephraim, Absalom, Elias, and George. Cephas, of this number, was born in New Jersey on Dec. 25, 1776, and accompanied his father to Western Pennsylvania, and subsequently to Ohio in 1790, stopping for a time on the Ohio near Wheeling, Va. From thence he repaired to a farm in Shelby County, Ohio, where ho resided until his removal in 1840 to Sidney, in the same county. His death occurred at the latter place, at the age of ninety-four years. Mr. Gary was married first to Jane Williamson, to whom were born eight children, and second to Rhoda Jerard, who was the mother of eight children. His son by the second marriage, Simeon B., was born Dec. 20, 1822, in Shelby County, Ohio, in a log house upon the farm of his father, where he remained until eighteen years of age, this period being occupied in labor upon the farm or in gaining such advantages of education as could be obtained at the neighboring log school-house. His father then removed to Sidney, the county-seat, where the superior advantages of a grammar school were afforded. He soon after entered a store as clerk and acted in that capacity until 1844, when a copartnership was formed with his brother, under the firm-name of B. W. & S. B. Carey. He represented the firm in the purchase of goods in New York, being the youngest merchant from that locality among the many buyers of that period. As an illustration of the difficulties of travel, it may be mentioned that his route was by stage from Sidney to Cincinnati, and by steamer from thence to Brownsville, where he traveled again by stage over the Alleghany Mountains, and thus by railroad to New York. During the time of this partnership he, with his brothers Thomas and Jason, made the overland journey with pack-mules and horses to California, tarrying at Salt Lake City, and reaching Sacramento three months from the date of departure. They soon after removed to the mountains and engaged in traffic between Sacramento and the mines. In the spring of 1851, after an absence of twelve months, the illness of Thomas Carey occasioned their somewhat precipitate return, via Isthmus of Panama and New Orleans. The death of his partner, Benjamin W., occurred in 1851, when Simeon B. closed the business, and two years later removed to New York, where a more extended field was opened to him. Mr. Carey first became a clerk in the hardware establishment of Messrs. Cornells & Willis, 36 Cortland Street, where, after an acceptable service of two years in that capacity, he in 1855 was made a partner, the firm becoming Cornells, Willis & Carey. In 1869, owing to various changes which had meanwhile occurred in the wholesale and jobbing trade, the firm was dissolved, when he removed to Indianapolis and again embarked in the wholesale and jobbing hardware business, under the firm-name of Layman, Carey & Co. This from a small business has become the most extensive and leading wholesale hardware establishment in the State, occupying a spacious building at 67 and 69 South Meridian Street, equipped with two hydraulic elevators. Their trade is not confined to the limits of Indiana, but extends into Ohio and Illinois.

Mr. Carey is in politics a Republican, but not an active political partisan. He is in religion a supporter of the Second Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis. He was married Nov. 2, 1854, to Miss Lydia, daughter of Eldad and Olive King, of Westfield, Mass. Their children are Ida Fannie, born in New York, May 3, 1857, who died May 25, 1857 ; Nellie, whose birth occurred in New York, July 1-1, 1859, and her death Oct. 26, 1859 ; Jennie King, born Oct. 15, 1860, in New York ; and Samuel Cornell, born in Brooklyn, Dec. 16, 1861, now associated with his father in business. Jennie King was married Oct. 26, 1881, to 0. S. Brumback, of Toledo, Ohio, who was born Dec. 2, 1855, in Delaware County, Ohio, and graduated at Princeton, N. J., in 1877, receiving the degree of A.B., and in 1880 that of A.M. from the same college. He graduated at the Law Department of Ann Arbor University, Michigan, receiving in 1879 the degree of LL.B , when he located in Toledo in the practice of his profession. In the stove and hollow-ware trade the house of the late Robert L. McOuat & Co. holds a first rank, and continues unchanged under the management of his brother.

Robert L. McOuat. - The family of McOuats are of Scotch ancestry. Thomas McOuat, the father of the subject of this biographical sketch, having in 1830 removed from Lexington, Ky., to Indianapolis, he married Miss Janette Lockerbie, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and had children, - William, Thomas, George, Annie, Robert L., Mary, Andrew W., Martha, and Jennie. Their son, Robert L., was born at Lexington, Ky., Aug. 8, 1827, and was but three years of age when Marion County became his home. He was educated under the tutorship of j Thomas Gregg, William Sullivan, and James Kemj per, of the Marion County Seminary. At the age i of seventeen he abandoned school to enter an ap- [ prenticeship at the tinner's trade with Samuel Wainright. Having served his time as an apprentice, he was placed in charge of the business at the old stand by Mr. Wainright, who opened another store. In 1850, during the gold excitement in California, he with a friend made the trip, overland, to the goldmines, walking all the way from Salt Lake City, and carrying his provisions and baggage on his back, most of the time camping and traveling. Arriving in San Francisco, he immediately secured employment at his trade with one of the largest establishments, but finding the climate uncongenial he returned to Indianapolis, and opened a stove and tinware store with a small capital. Soon finding the room too small, his brother George built a room on the opposite side of the street, which was occupied for many years under the firm-name of R. L. & A. W. McOuat, during which time he was successful and acquired a little fortune. During the year 1880 he sold his interest in the business to his brother and partner, Andrew W. McOuat, to engage in the manufacture of car-wheels, forming a partnership with John May, under the firm-name of McOiftt & May, and for a period of two years met with success. Having sold large bills to a manufacturing company outside the State who were unfortunate in their business operations, the firm was compelled to suspend. Mr. McOuat subsequently secured or paid all claims, and also protected parties who were joint indorsers on paper with him.

In 1882 he received the nomination for clerk of the court of Marion County at the hands of the Democratic party, whose principles he supported, and although the county was largely Republican, lacked but a few votes of an election.

He married in 1850, Ellen C. Wallace, whose death occurred in 1863. He was a second time married on the 1st of August, 1865, to Eugenia F., daughter of Miles W. Burford, of Missouri. Their children are EfiBe B., Robert, and Burford. Mr. McOuat was an active member of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows. In religion he was an Episcopalian, and formerly senior warden and later a vestryman of St. Paul's Cathedral, Indianapolis, of which he was one of the originators, having first suggested the organization and personally presented the first subscription-paper to raise necessary funds for the salary of the rector of the parish that afterwards built the cathedral, in which he continued an earnest worker and liberal supporter. He was a man of large and liberal views and indomitable energy, a close applicant to business, but always taking pleasure, in fishing and hunting, of which he was very fond. He was strongly attached to his family and home, where his evenings were invariably passed. In all his relations, both at home and abroad, he was the Christian gentleman. Mr. McOuat's death occurred June 28, 1883, in his fifty-.sixth year.

Among the early merchants of the city whose stocks were not so miscellaneous as those of the drygoods or general merchant were the dealers in clocks, watches, and jewelry, - a trade proportionally more important now than then, - and among the earliest of

Humphrey Griffith. - The parents of Mr. GriflBth were Evan and Mary Ellis Griffith, the former having been a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the latter of the Congregational Church. Their son Humphrey was born in Dolgelly, Merionethshire, Wales, Dec. 23, 1791. His mother died when he was eleven, and his father when he was twenty years of age, leaving him to carve for himself by his own unaided efforts a career of independence. He served an apprenticeship of seven years at his trade of watchmaker and clockmaker at Shrewsbury, England. He then worked for a time in London, and in the spring of 1817 emigrated to America, experiencing some difficulty in embarking, owing to the prohibition then existing against skillful workmen leaving the country. Having sailed from Dublin, he landed in New York, and was employed first in Huntingdon, Pa. In Pittsburgh, with two others, he purchased a skiff, with which he came down the Ohio. He settled in Lebanon, Ohio, and in 1821 visited Indianapolis, where, at the first sale of town lots, he purchased property on Washington Street. In 1822 he left Lebanon and removed to Centreville, Ind., and while there made additional purchases of land in the vicinity of Indianapolis, to which place he removed in 1825, having ordered a shop built and ready for occupancy on his arrival, in which he established himself as the first clock and watchmaker in the city. The clock made by him for the old State-House fifty years ago has, it is said, never since run down or needed regulating. In the summer of 1836 he retired from business with a competency, which he increased by judicious investments. He avoided bold speculations, and scrupulously shunned contracting a debt. He felt great interest in the growth of the city, and was always prominent in every scheme of substantial improvement. In early days he was an active member of the Common Council, and also served for a term or more as city treasurer. His leading characteristics were punctuality in all things, great or little, and an investigating mind.

He was a great reader and thinker, and developed more than ordinary mechanical ingenuity. He was modest and sensitive, always truthful and perfectly reliable. He married, March 13, 1819, Miss Jane Stephenson, a native of Scotland, and had nine children, four of whom died in infancy, and three, John E., Josiah R., and Mary Isabella, in mature years. John E. and Josiah R. each left families. There are twelve grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. The two surviving children of Mr. and Mrs. GrifiBth are Pleasant H. and Mrs. Anne J. Whitehead, both living in Indianapolis. The eldest son, John E., accompanied David Dale Owen in his geological surveys in Illinois, Kentucky, and some of the Territories. He and his brother Josiah were exemplary citizens. Mary was an active Christian, and a sue cessful teacher in the Sunday-school of the Third Presbyterian Church, of which she was a member. Mr. GrifiBth twice visited the country of his nativity and the old homestead at Dolgelly in which his birth occurred. He was confirmed in the Protestant Episcopal Church in his fourteenth year, but did not continue his membership, though always a liberal contributor to all worthy religious causes. His death occurred June 2, 1870. Mrs. GrifiBth's childhood was passed near the home of Sir Walter Scott, whom she distinctly remembered, and of whom she related many interesting reminiscences. She was a lady of retiring manners and disposition, quiet in her habits, but firm in her views of truth and duty. An active member of the Presbyterian Church, she was warmly attached to its doctrines and ordinances. Her death occurred July 23, 1879, in her eighty-fourth year. Rev. M. S. Whitehead, son-in-law of Mr. GrifiBth, was born in 1831, and died in 1877. He was in 1868 licensed to preach by the Congregational Association of Indiana, and was one of the founders of the Mayflower Church of Indianapolis, which pulpit he filled at times acceptably. His work was not confined to one locality, and several churches of difierent denominations were established out of Sunday-schools organized and fostered by him. Mr. Whitehead's influence was wide-spread, and the desire to make the ministry the work of his life was completely realized.

Washington Houston Talbott. - The earliest members of the Talbott family came from England and settled in Talbot County, Md. The parents of Washington Houston were William and Mary (Houston) Talbott. Their son was born in the State of Kentucky on the 29th of Mar«h, 1817, and at an early age removed with his parents to Charlestown, Ind., where his father owned an extensive milling property. After enjoying ordinary advantages of education, he in 1835 became a resident of Indianapolis, and established a jewelry and book business. In 1848 he married Miss Elizabeth Coram Tinker, daughter of Capt. William and Elizabeth Tinker, of Cincinnati, though formerly residents of Maysville, Ky. Their surviving children are William H. and Mary Cleves. Mr. Talbott continued the business of a jeweler for many years, meanwhile embarking in other commercial ventures. During the year 1863 he was elected president of the State Smking Fund, and subsequently filled the same oflBce in connection with the Indiana and Illinois Central Railroad. He was also president of board of trustees of the State benevolent institutions. Mr. Talbott was closely identified with the Democratic politics of Indiana, having for several years filled the ofiBce of chairman of the State Democratic Committee. He was on successive occasions delegate at large to National Conventions. He was president of the Gatling Gun Company, and while directing the interests of that company in Europe contracted a severe cold, which occasioned his death at his home in Indianapolis.

The first extensive drug house in the town, and the first to put up a soda fountain, was that of Mc- Dougal & Dunlap, to whom succeeded the late William Hannaman and his partner, Caleb Scudder, the pioneer cabinet-maker, in whose shop the first Sunday-school was held. Both were largely concerned in the establishment of some of our early manufactures, as tobacco, wool, and oil, and Mr. Hannaman survived to an advanced age, dying within a few years past.

William Hannaman. - The Hannaman family are of German nationality, Christopher, the grandfather of William, having been a native of Prussia. He married Mary O'Neal, whose birthplace was Dub- lin, Ireland. This union transmitted to their descendants the sturdy qualities of both the German and the Irish races. William Hannaman, the father of the subject of this biographical sketch, was a resident of Cherry Valley, N. Y., and married Mary Fletcher, of Harrison County, Va. Theirson William was boru Aug. 10, 1806, at Adelphia, Ross Co., Ohio, and at the age of twenty-two removed to Indianapolis, where, having previously acquired the trade of a printer, he was for several years employed in the office of the Indiana Journal. In 1833 he embarked with Caleb Scudder in the drug business, which was continued uninterruptedly until 1863. He also, with his partner, erected a carding-machine and oil-mill on the arm of the canal at its junction with the White River, and manufactured the first flaxseed oil in the locality. Mr. Hannaman was for many years school commissioner, a director of the State Bank of Indiana, located at Indianapolis, trustee of the State University, and identified with many benevolent and charitable enterprises. He was made president of the Indiana Branch of the Sanitary Commission during the late war, and disposed of his interest iq the drug business that he might devote his time and energies exclusively to this humane work. The admirable management of his department and the good it accomplished is in a large degree due to the gratuitous and efficient service of Mr. Hannaman, who on retiring from his labors in behalf of the soldiers was appointed by Governor Morton State military agent for the purpose of collecting soldiers' claims. In 1871 he became a member of the firm of Smith & Hannaman, brokers, and continued this business connection until his death, which occurred of pneumonia, at the Hot Springs of Arkansas, on the 6th of December, 1880. Mr. Hannaman was married on the 28th of August, 1833, to Rhoda A. Luse, whose birth occurred Feb. 25, 1812, and her death September, 1876. In the summer of 1879 he was again married to Mrs. A. F. Berry, who is still living. Of seven children but two survive their father, Henry G., of Indianapolis, and Mary E., of Dakota.

John F. Ramsay, retired merchant, was born in Lebanon, Ohio, Dec. 2, 1805. His parents, William and Martha (Dinwiddle) Ramsay, were of Scotch descent, and born in Kentucky, their parents being among the earliest settlers of that State. William with his family came to Indiana Territory in 1810, landing at the site of the city of Madison, there being but one house erected at this early period, which was occupied by tlie ferryman. They settled near the site of the village of Hanover, about two miles from the block-house, to which they were compelled to resort every night for protection from the Indians. In 1812, the latter becoming very troublesome, John was sent to his grandparents, near Georgetown, Ky., where he remained a year. His boyhood was spent in helping to clear the forests and in farm labors, the lad being subjected to all the hardships and privationsof pioneer life. Educational advantages in the new country were very limited. He attended school six months when in Kentucky and a few terms in Indiana, walking a distance of three miles to the school-houge. At the age of seventeen he removed to Cincinnati, and was apprenticed to Charles Lehman, at that time the leading furniture manufacturer in the West. Serving out his apprenticeship, he worked a year in the shop, after which he repaired to Louisville, and from thence to New Orleans and St. Louis, pursuing his vocation for a time in each place. Returning to Indiana, he carried on his trade near Madison and at Paris, Ind., and removed to Indianapolis May 15, 1833. Purchasing the property adjoining the ground now occupied by the Occidental Hotel (which at that time was inclosed with a rail fence and was planted with corn), he erected a building, opened a cabinet-shop, and by close attention to business 'became the leading furniture dealer in the place. With the advent of railroad communication with Cincinnati, he abandoned manufacturing and dealt exclusively in furniture made at the latter place. After a successful career, having obtained a handsome competency, he retired from business in 1870. He has been twice married, his first wife, Elvira (Ward) Ramsay, having died in 1846. Five children were born to this union, all of whom are now deceased. He married his second wife, Leah P. Malott, widow of W. H. Malott, of Salem, Ind., in 1848. Five children have been born to them, four of whom are now living.

Mr. Ramsay was an ardent Whig during the existence of that party. Upon its dissolution and the organization of the Republican party, his strong anti-slavery sentiments led him to become identified with it. He has never held any political oflBce other than as a member of the Common Council, elected by the Whigs. He has always taken a deep interest in matters affecting the welfare and growth of the city, and in building and otherwise he has done much toward advancing its material interests. He has been a faithful and leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church during his entire fifty years' residence in the city, and, with others of the early settlers, has aided in giving an impulse to its moral and religious sentiment, that has caused it to be noted as " the City of Churches."

Jacob S. Walker. - The grandfather of Jacob S. Walker was a soldier of the war of the Revolution. He married Miss Mary Hazelet, and had among his children a son Thomas, who married Mrs. Mary Rutherford, of Dauphin County, Pa., and had two sons, Jacob S. and James, and two daughters, Susan and Eliza. Jacob S. Walker was born in January, 1814, at Harrisburg, Pa., where the early years of his life were spent. At the age of sixteen, after enjoying such advantages of education as the common schools offered, he determined to render himself independent by acquiring a trade, and became master of the carpenter's craft. In 1835 he removed to Indianapolis as a builder and contractor, and during a period of ten years erected many important edifices and built dwellings, which were afterward sold by him. He then embarked in the lumber business, and continued thus engaged for twenty years, after which he retired from active employments. Mr. Walker was a man of modest demeanor and of humane instincts, who oared little for mere display and esteemed highly the more substantial pleasures to be derived from books. He was a judicious reader of the best literature, and possessed a mind well informed on all subjects. He conferred upon his children opportunities for education, and implanted in them by precept and example the principles which guided him through life. In politics he was a Whig and later became an ardent

Republican, but never sought or accepted office at the hands of his party. In religion he was a stanch Presbyterian and an officer of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's church when a pastor in Indianapolis. He received the contract for the erection of this edifice, as also for the First Protestant Episcopal Church in the city. He was at an early period a deacon of the Second Presbyterian Church. He was also a member of the Independent Order of Odd- Fellows. Mr. Walker was married in 1837 to Mrs. Sarah A. Landis, of Harrisburg, Pa., to whom were born children, Thomas R. and Mary F., wife of George Knodle, a son of Adam Knodle, an early shoe merchant in the city. He married again Mary A., only child of Thomas Lupton, who is of English descent and came from Chester County, Pa., to Indianapolis in 1835. The children of this marriage are Jacob L., married to Miss Keziah Rutherford, who is of

Scotch-Irish extraction ; Edwin J. ; Louis A., who married Miss Eugenia, daughter of Dr. D'Acuel, of St. Louis; Robert P., and Harry L. The death of Mr. Walker occurred May 16, 1870, in his fiftyseventh year.

Dealing in real estate may be fairly enough classed among the subjects covered by the title of commerce, and in real estate the dealings have been very large. In 1873, during the period of speculative excitement, the sales amounted to $32,579,256. Since that time no record has been kept of them that will enable a comparison to be made. In a year or two later, in fact, the reaction came, and real estate was hard to sell and not always easy to give away if it had no special advantages. Of the amount of sales in the past year or the year before no oflficial statement is made, but the reports in the daily papers show that they ranged from five thousand dollars to thirty thousand dollars a day, or an annual total of probably five million dollars. Among the first of our real estate dealers was the late James H. McKernan.

James H. McKernan was born at Wilmington, Del., in December, 1815. In his seventh year he removed with his family to Muskingum County, Ohio, where his father settled on a small farm of fifty acres, subsequently increased to seventy-five. He was able only to enjoy the merest rudiments of education. At the age of seventeen he was left by the death of his father the sole support of the family, with no means other than the farm. But he was a brave-hearted boy in the battle of life. He worked hard, and rented land to eke out the inadequate yield of his own land. Among his neighbors his reputation for business capacity, promptness, integrity, and prudence was most enviable. On attaining his majority he had paid all his father's debts, erected a valuable dwelling, and accumulated money in addition with which to start in business. Heroism and self-dependence, combined with grasp of mind and energy, were inborn elements of his character. In 1836 he began trading in produce, and in 1837 embarked with a partner in mercantile pursuits at Lafayette, Ohio. In 1842 he established himself in the foundry business in the same town, and in 1845 removed to Indianapolis, where he began his active career with Jesse Jones as a dealer in dry-goods. But his tastes and talents inclined strongly to inventions and the mechanic arts. Whatever his immediate occupation mechanical constructions, improvements, and suggestions were always floating in his mind, several valuable inventions having been patented. A man of his energy quickly sought and created the widest field of action. He speculated in real estate, bought whole forests, built saw-mills to cut them, and erected streets of cheap but serviceable houses, extending Indianapolis on the southwest far beyond the dreams of its inhabitants. In the prosecution of his real estate and other enterprises, however, Mr. McKernan did not lose sight of a subject which had led him into many expensive experiments, - the reduction of iron ore by means of ordinary Western coal. He had satisfied himself of its practicability, and detected the defects in the operation of those who had attempted it and failed. So certain was the result in his mind that he determined to settle the question finally and fully. In the spring of 1867 he obtained the abandoned furnace of the Pilot Knob Company, at St. Louis, and after changing its construction made experiments which were completely successful, first-class iron having been produced. This was a great success for Mr. McKernan. He had fully realized his hopes, though every one before him, with vastly more capital -and better opportunities, but lacking his original theories and combinations, had failed. He had shown St. Louis a new source of business and prosperity of immense value. He found it necessary, however, to obtain additional means or abandon his enterprise. The St. Louis Board of Trade and several large capitalists urged him to remain and prosecute his work. Additional means were promised him, and under the promise of the Board of Trade and prominent citizens the work of the furnace was- in 1867 resumed, and the results, after inconveniences resulting from his business associations, were such as amazed everybody, and made ironsmelting with cheap Western coal a fixed fact. This success, however, did not in a pecuniary sense profit Mr. McKernan. He sacrificed all his prospective gains, and returned home no richer than he departed. St. Louis has reaped the benefit of his investigations, and the iron industry has risen to be one of the prime elements of her prosperity. A leading journal stated that, " in view of all the facts, it becomes St. Louis to decide fairly what acknowledgment she owes to him who has achieved the great result in making iron, and whom she by failing in her promise forced to sacrifice all his interests and prospects in his own discovery." Mr. McKernan returned to Indianapolis, and at once embarked extensively in real estate operations. While liberal and indulgent with those indebted to him, he was particularly prompt in the payment of all demands against himself. His daily life was marked by a ceaseless activity. Bold and confident in his temperament, he inspired others with like feelings. The praise of far-seeing men of sound judgment was ever awarded to him, and the success that crowned his eiforts was of a character to constitute a public as well as a personal benefit. In all personal relations he was social, frank, and courteous, and at, his home hospitable and cheerful. In his religious views he was a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. McKernan was married to Miss Susan Hewitt, whose children were David S., Lewis, Joseph V., William E., and Leo A. The death of James H. McKernan occurred in January, 1877, at his home in Indianapolis.

The lumber trade of Indianapolis is a very important part of the total, bhe retail trade of 1882 amounting to $1,500,000. From the general statement of business it would appear that the total receipts of lumber for the year 1882 were 124,000,- 000 feet, and the shipments 66,000,000. Saw-mills cut 22,000,000 feet of veneer that year.

A specialty of the lumber trade is the trade in " hard wood" lumber, especially black walnut. Until the close of the war not much was done in this direction, or in any general lumber business. For the first thirty-five years of the city's history pine lumber was little used. Oak made the frame-work of houses, and poplar the weather-boarding, shingles, and finishing. But slowly, after the development of the railroad system, pine began to be used in the place of poplar, and later in the place of oak. Lumber-yards began to figure among the forms of trade that required capital and made money for the city.

By the close of the war the lumber business had grown into first-class importance. There were a dozen or more large yards in diiferent parts of the city, some of them with mills to cut logs, some to cut veneers, and some with planing-mills, and sashand door-factories connected with them. The walnut lumber trade came later. In early times the black walnut was about the worst tree the farmer had to deal with. It was too brittle for good lumber, and too hard to be cheaply sawed. It was not good fuel, and did not make durable rails. In fact it was a nuisance. Now it is no uncommon thing to find a single walnut-tree that is worth more money than the whole farm it stands on. More than a thousand dollars worth of veneers have been cut from a single tree and left a considerable part of it. Even as late as 1868 there were hundreds of farmers and business men in Indiana and Indianapolis who were uninformed of the value of walnut wood and threw it away as refuse or burned it as rubbish.

A saw-miller in Indianapolis about that time had collected quite a heap of walnut knots from the logs he had sawed, and had thrown them aside to burn in his boiler furnace when he could get time to split them. An agent of an Eastern lumber dealer saw them and the ill-posted sawyer sold them for fifty cents apiece. He was a little worried a day or two afterwards when he learned that they would have been cheap at ten dollars apiece if they were sound and well twisted in grain. The great demand for this kind of lumber for furniture, both in this country and Europe, has thinned it out very greatly, and the trade in it is declining. It is impossible to give any idea of the development or decline of the walnut lumber trade, because no separate account or report has been made of it. In 1874 the Board of Trade report says the total receipts of lumber were 119,- 800,000 feet, of which about 60,000,000 was walnut lumber. The indications are that the total has never been so large since. The trade is still large, however, and a large part of it is in logs brought here to be sawed up. There are ten mills here sawing walnut and hard woods, and eighteen dealers who handled in the year last reported in full, 1882, to December 31st, 38,000,000 feet. This shows a de- cline from 1873 of more than one-third. The pine lumber business, however, has kept on a steady advance with other commercial interests, and occupies a score or more yards large and small, besides thosS attached to factories as stores of material. Oak appears to hold its own as firmly as it did in the last generation. The demand for it as building timber has declined greatly, but it has been made up fully by the demand for it to make cross-ties for railway tracks. Hickory, birch, and sugar have never been accounted or used as timber, and elm but little more. They went for fuel when it was deemed worth while, and now good, well-seasoned wood of these varieties is a valuable product. Coal is slowly displacing wood, but has not done it yet. The amount of coal brought to the city appears from the partial report of the secretary of the Board of Trade to have been about 400,000 tons for the year ending Dec. 31, 1882, the last of which any report has been made.

Among the articles reported for the last six months of 1882 - the last official statement published - are 20,000 bales of cotton, or 40,000 for the year; 40 car-loads of eggs, estimating in the same way ; 800,- 000 barrels of flour ; 801 tons of hides - the total value of all hides and pelts for the year is put at $1,500,000; 64,000 cars of general merchandise; 46 cars of poultry - annual value of poultry, $1,000,- 000 ; 40,000 tons of ice ; 40,000 tons of provisions ; 36,000 barrels of salt; 640 cars of shingles; 50,000 barrels of starch ; 2600 cars of stone ; 26,000 barrels of tallow ; 43,000 hogsheads of tobacco ; 300,- 000 rabbits shipped East and sold here in 1883 and winter of 1884.

In grain the trade has been steadily growing for a number of years. The receipts of wheat for the year ending April, 1883, were about 8,000,000 bushels ; of corn, 17,000,000, as appears from the report of Secretary Blake. In 1872 a company was formed to build and conduct an elevator, and that year erected the first one west of the river on the St. Louis Railroad. It has a capacity of about 350,000 bushels. In 1874, Mr. F. Rusch, in association with two or three others, built Elevator B, the second one, with a capacity of 300,000 bushels. It was entirely destroyed by fire in June, 1875, but rebuilt at once in better shape, and has been constantly busy since. Some three years ago, about the time of the completion of the Indianapolis, Decatur and Springfield Railroad, a third elevator was built by the company close to the track, in the manufacturing suburb of Hanghsville, with a capacity fully equal to either of the older ones. Besides these there are several smaller in the city.

Since 1877 the stock-yards have formed a conspicuous element of the city's commerce. They were built by the Belt Road Company on one hundred and ten acres of the old " Bayou," or " McCarty farm," on the Vincennes Railroad, at the southern border of West Indianapolis, about two miles from the Union Depot. In convenience of arrangement, amplitude of supply, and completeness of shelter and means of shipment, they are pronounced by those familiar with all the stock-yards of the country unsurpassed by any, and unequaled by any but one or two. On the northeast corner of the grounds are the engine-house and machine-shop, the blacksmith-shop, the coal platform, and the pumping engine which forces water from a well about ninety feet deep into two large elevated tanks or reservoirs, whence it is distributed all over the premises. At the north end, to the west of these buildings, is the residence of the superintendent; south of this, about four hundred feet, is the " Stock-Yard p]xchange," a large, handsome, three-story brick building, with a front of about one hundred and twenty feet, and a rear building, making a total depth of over one hundred and fifty feet. It is occupied as a hotel in the rear building and the upper stories of the front, and as offices of stock-dealers on the ground-floor. On the east of this is a large storage-house for hay and corn and stockfeed generally. On the west is a large stable for the finer grades of horses. Directly south of the Exchange, and separated mostly by a broad passage-way of forty feet or so, are the stock stables, built of red cedar posts set deep in the ground, and planked up the sides and ends high enough to make a perfect shelter for the stock. On the roof of each is an attic, with lattice sides, the full length of the stable. There are five of these, separated from each other by a narrow passage for stock, fifteen feet or so in width. They are about a thousand feet long by one hundred and seventyfive wide, with broad passage-ways down the middle and smaller lateral ones between the divisions. Stock is received on the west side, where there are railway tracks connecting with the Belt extending along the entire length of the stables. From the receiving platform, which is covered with pens, a passage leads to the scale-room, where the animals are weighed and driven off to their quarters. The western stables are chiefly appropriated to hogs. When shipped away the stock is driven to the east side, where a platform the length of the stables, amply provided with shipping-pens, enables a train to be loaded in a very few minutes.

Largest Receipts In One Day, 1882 Largest Shipments In One Day, 1882

Until the completion of the Madison Railroad no business was done off' Washington Street, except that a year or two a little family grocery was kept in a one-story brick on Indiana Avenue, at the corner of Tennessee Street. In 1847, however, commissionhouses and pork-packing houses began to be established about the Madison Depot. Foundries and shops started up in convenient openings, and during the war groceries, drug-stores, hotels, saloons, and eating-houses were put wherever they could go. Thus came business diverted from Washington Street. With this change, or a little preceding it, came the separation of different classes of merchandise into different establishments.

Below is given the annual live-stock report of the Indianapolis Stock-yards, prepared by W. P. Ijams, general superintendent. It will be noticed that as compared with the year 1882 there was a handsome increase in business, while it fell short of the business done in the years 1878, 1879, 1880, and 1881. The table given below is self-explanatory :