Marion County, Indiana - Chapter 9, 1884

Banks, Bankers, And Insurance

For twenty-five years the old State Bank and its Indianapolis branch furnished the best and the only safe paper currency in the State. The hard times of 1841 to 1845 were alleviated to some extent by the issue of " State scrip," and until the Free Banking Act of 1852 the only home currency we had was made up of State paper and State Bank paper. The beginning of this serious crisis in the condition of the State and Marion County occurred while Nathan B. Palmer was in the State Treasury, the end of it while Samuel Hannah was there, when the progress of the old Madison Railroad gave promise of a new era.

Hon. Nathan B. Palmer was born at Stonington, Conn., Aug. 27, 1790, and by the death of his father left an orphan at the early age of ten years. Subsequent to this event his mother removed to New York State, accompanied by her son. Here he grew to man's estate and married Miss Chloe Sacket, who aided not a little to her husband's success in life. The newly-married pair removed to Pennsylvania in 1812, in which State Mr. Palmer was elected to more than one oflSce of trust and honor before his thirtieth year, in each of which he acquitted himself with credit. More than two-thirds of a century ago Mr. Palmer came down the Ohio River and settled in Jefferson County, Ind., where he resided for fourteen years, and during this period was chosen to represent his county in the State Legislature. In 1833 he was elected Speaker of the House, and displayed marked ability as an efiScient and just presiding officer. In 1835 he became a permanent resident of Indianapolis, having been chosen to fill the responsible oflSce of State Treasurer. As a public servant, having large and important trusts in his hands, his career was marked by the most scrupulous integrity and exactness. While in charge of the State finances large amounts of scrip were issued and used as a circulating medium. He was in 1841 made examiner of the State Bank and its branches, and in this responsible position manifested the same ability and shrewdness that had characterized his previous official career. He was during his lifetime identified with more than one public enterprise of moment, and took a leading part in both local and State politics. Having the sagacity to discern that railways must eventually supplant canals, he was an energetic mover in the construction of railroads in various parts of the State, and by his example and efforts gave this class of improvements an impetus which was long after felt in Indiana. The construction of the old Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, the first in the State, was in no small degree the result of Mr. Palmer's exertions, and the company for a number of years had the benefit of his services as president and chief executive officer of the line. He was during his life a member of the Democratic party, though his integrity and ability were such as to command the political support of those not identified with his own party. The death of Mr. Palmer occurred April 13, 1875, and that of Mrs. Palmer, June 10, 1871.

Their children are Charles C, Aurelia E., William S., Jane C, Jerome W., Louisa S., Jane M., Minerva A., Trumbull G., Blackford M., Marshall E., Edward L., Nathan B., Jr., and Mary L.

Samuel Hannah was born Dec. 1, 1789, in the State of Delaware. At six years of age he removed with his father's family to Brownsville, Pa., on the Monongahela River, thirty miles above Pittsburgh. He was married July 11, 1811, to Eleanor Bishop, who died Sept. 26, 1864. Their family numbered eleven children, four daughters and seven sons. Anna married Gen. Solomon Meredith, Eliza married Hon. John S. Newman, Sarah married Rev. Dr. F. C. Holliday, Ellen married Dr. John M. Ross, Alexander M. married Elizabeth N. Jackson, Henry R. married Jerusha Cain, William P. married Margaret A. Dunham. James, Israel, Thomas, and Septimus died in youth. In the spring of 1815, with his wife and two children, Mr. Hannah went in a flat-boat to Cincinnati, and thence by wagons to Warren County, Ohio, where he taught school for two years, numbering among his pupils some who were afterwards distinguished in the learned professions and other vocations.

He left Ohio in 1817, settling in what is now Washington township, Wayne Co., Ind., and resided on his farm until December, 1823. Having been elected sheriflF of Wayne County, he removed to Centreville, the county-seat. Belonging to the Society of Friends, and conscientiously opposed to the collection of fines for refusing to do military duty, he resigned his ofiBce in the spring of 1825. The following August he was elected as a representative to the Legislature. He declined a re-election, but was in 1826 elected a justice of the peace, which office he held about four years. The county business being then done by the board of justices, he was | chosen and continued president of the board until 1829, when the board of county commissioners was restored. He was appointed postmaster at Centreville under the administration of John Quincy Adams, and held the office until removed under that of Andrew Jackson, in 1829. He was one of three commissioners appointed by the Legislature to locate the Michigan road from the Ohio River to the lake, and to select the lands secured to the State by a treaty with the Indians, held on the Upper Wabash in 1826. In 1830 he was elected clerk of Wayne County, and served seven years. In 1843 he was again elected to the Legislature. In December, 1846, he was elected by the Legislature,. treasurer of State, and served three years. After his election to this office he removed to Indianapolis, where he resided until his death, with the exception of a residence of about two years at Centreville during the construction of the Indiana Central Railway. In March, 1851, he was chosen first president of the company, but resigned in July following. He was the same summer elected treasurer of the Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Railroad Company. In May, 1852, he accepted the office of treasurer of the Indiana Central Railway Company, and held the position until January, 1864, when he retired from active life. He died Sept. 8, 1869, aged nearly eighty years.

Contemporaneously with Mr. Palmer in the treasury, Morris Morris, one of the pioneers of 1821, and one of the most esteemed citizens of any period, held the office of State auditor. During his administration pretty much all of the State scrip issued at all was put out and into the currency of the State. He continued in the office fifteen years, from 1829 to 1844. Morris Morris was a grandson of James Morris, who with his brothers John and Morris came from Wales and early settled in Virginia. Morris, the grandson, was born in Monongahela County, Va., in 1780, and removed in youth with his parents to Fleming County, Ky., where he remained until forty years of age. He received a thorough English education, chose the law as a profession, and practiced for many years. In 1803 he was married to Miss Rachel Morris, a descendant of John Morris above mentioned, and unwilling to rear his family amid the influences of slavery, he in 1821 removed to the free State of Indiana. Prior to this change of residence he abandoned the practice of law, giving as a reason the fact that the pursuit of his profession interfered with the Christian life he desired to lead. He did not judge others by the same rule, but believed it in his own case to be the only course in harmony with his convictions. This incident might be taken as a key to his character. He was conscientious to a rare degree, and could not be swerved from his idea of right. At the same time he never arraigned others at the bar of his own judgment. His standard was for himself only. On his arrival in Indianapolis, which had just been fixed upon as the capital of the new State, he bought land largely within and without its limits, and was among the most active in advancing the growth of the new settlement. The history of the city shows for the first score of years few events of public concern in which he was not prominent. In 1828 he was elected auditor of State, and for sixteen successive years re-elected to the same office. In 1832 he was one of the three commissioners who had in charge the building of the State-House. His son, Gen. T. A. Morris, laid out the grounds, and nearly half a century later is the commissioner in charge of the erection of the new State-House on the same spot where stood the old, and Morris M. Defrees, a grandson of Morris Morris, as civil engineer laid out the grounds. After his career as auditor of State had ended, Mr. Morris retired to private life and engaged in no business other than the care of his property, which had in the growth of the town become a large estate. In his mature years he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and until his later life was active in the advancement of its interests. Mr. Morris died in 1864, in his eighty -fourth year. The death of his wife the previous year, at the age of seventy-six, ended their married life of sixty years, eight children having been born to them. Mr. Morris was a man of commanding presence, and in his prime exceedingly robust and active. He was noted for clearness of judgment and the union of remarkable decision of character with rare gentleness.

The State officers resident in the capital as citizens prior to their election and necessary official residence have not been many in recent years, the disposition of parties inclining to select candidates outside of the city for the advantages of local influence, but among those nominated from the city latterly is Mr. J. J. Cooper, the present State treasurer, whose character and services can be appropriately noticed, in this connection, with the State officers of the last generation.

John James Cooper. - The subject of this sketch is the present treasurer of the State of Indiana, having been chosen to this important position at the November election of 1882 by over ten thousand majority. Mr. Cooper is a true type of the men selected in Indiana by the Democratic party for her standard-bearers, a man from the people, who from personal experience understands the needs of the masses to whose wants he has been called to administer.

His life bears witness to the simplicity of American character and the sovereignty of American citizenship, having been in his youth " a hewer of wood" in every sense of the term. He has always been equal to the emergency, and that emergency has never been sufficient to call into action the extremity of his resources. He is the son of James Cooper, of old Virginia stock, whose father was Robert Cunningham Cooper, an officer in the Revolutionary war. His mother's name was Virginia Du Witt, who, as her name indicates, was of French origin, her parents coming to this country with a colony who accompanied Gen. Lafayette from France. James Cooper, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a prominent and successful farmer in Ripley County, Ind., and reared a large family of children, all the survivors being now active and useful members of society.

Mr. Cooper's parents moved from Scioto County, Ohio, to Ripley County, Ind., in the year 1827, and encountered all the difficulties and privations of a pioneer life. Here their son John was born on the 20th day of January, 1830. Here he was reared, and, as might be supposed, obtained only the meagre education which that period and the surrounding circumstances afforded. But such natures as his are difficult to discourage or suppress. His quick and accurate judgment, his clear mental faculties, and an indomitable energy eminently fitted him for a successful career. In the year 1852 Mr. Cooper married Sarah F. Myers, his present wife, who is the daughter of James Myers, Esq., of Jennings County, Ind., who afterwards moved to Kokomo, Howard Co., where he remained for six years, and in 1864 made the city of Indianapolis his home. Mr. Cooper has three children living, - Charles M. Cooper, an attorney-at-law in Indianapolis, Virginia E., and Carrie M.

To be a successful man means devotion to the work in hand. This devotion and untiring enersiy has made Mr. Cooper eminently successful in business affiiirs. He has always been a trader and farmer. After moving to Indianapolis he becam^ engaged extensively in the stock business, and for several years bore an enviable reputation as one of the best judges of a horse in the State, possessing the rare faculty of " looking a horse over" in a minute. This gift contributed largely to his success in this business. Much of his time is given to farming, his greatest pleasure being derived from frequent visits to his large farm near the city, and the supervision of his fine stock thereon.

In politics he has always been a Democrat, and taken an active part in all the political campaigns of his party since his youth. In the contest of 1876 he ran as the Democratic candidate for sheriff of Marion County, but was defeated, as was the whole Democratic ticket. In 1882 he was nominated at the State Convention for Treasurer of State, was elected, and assumed the office Feb. 10, 1883. His acquaintance with prominent men in Indiana is very large, as also with the distinguished men of his party over the whole country. His frank manner and genial character have made him numerous friends. Coupled with these characteristics is a firm will and great steadfastness of purpose. He is a gentleman of fine physique, standing six feet two inches in height, and finely proportioned, a splendid, type of physical manhood, and possessing the superior quality of heart as well. He also evinces marked decision of character, a quality which, while it has not detracted from his popularity, has aided him greatly during his active life. Mr. Cooper is a supporter of the Third Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, of which Mrs. Cooper is a member.

A short time before the first issue of " State scrip" a Mr. John Wood, who was concerned with Mr. Underbill in establishing an iron foundry here in 1835, put out a considerable amount of his own notes called " shinplasters," thinking probably that the storm in the East, which set in in 1837, would not be much of a shower here. He went down in the fall of 1841, after being in operation about three years, making about the heaviest financial smash that had then ever occurred here. The Free Banking Act brought out a good many suggestions and projects of banking enterprises, some of which solidified into actual experiments and issue of bills, but none were very successful.

The " Bank of the Capital," belonging to John WooUey & Co., was organized under the Free Bank Act, and began business on South Meridian Street, near Washington, in 1853, with Mr. WooUey as permanent cashier and active business man, and Winslow S. Pierce and John H. Bradley as successive presidents. The nominal capital was four hundred thousand dollars. It went down September 15, 1857. The "Traders' Bank," belonging to John Woolley and Andrew Wilson, began business on North Illinois Street, near Washington, in 1854, and suspended in a few months. The " Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank" was started by Col. Allen May, then recently State agent, and Mr. G. Lee, with the colonel's nephew, W. Frank May, as cashier, early in 1854, on the ground-floor of the old Masonic Hall.

Frank May embezzled ten thousand dollars and ran away. He was succeeded by 0. Williams, but the bank never recovered that lost money and never recovered from the effect of it. The " Central Bank," owned chiefly by the late John D. Defrees and Ozias Bowen, its successive presidents, began business with a nominal capital of half a million dollars in July, 1855, in a room at No. 23 West Washington Street. It wound up in a year or so with no serious loss. The " Metropolitan Bank," started by Alexander F. Morrison and some associates, with John P. Dunn as president and Jerry Skeen as cashier, began business in 1855 in Blake's Block, corner of Washington Street and Kentucky Avenue, but did little business beyond issuing its notes and getting them back.

These are all the banks of issue except national banks that have been formed in Indianapolis, but there have been a number, some still existing, that were banks of deposit and loan only. The first of these was the " Indianapolis Insurance Companyj" chartered in 1836, with a nominal capital of two hundred thousand dollars, authorized to do both a banking and insurance business. It did not do much, and suspended in 1840. In 1853 it was revived by the late J. D. Defrees, Gen. Morris, and others, and after six years of moderate operations suspended again. In 1865 it was again revived and reorganized, with a nominal capital of five hundred thousand dollars, by a new company, and has since done a large business in the old Branch Bank building, corner of Virginia Avenue and Pennsylvania Street. Its business is exclusively banking. The name was changed to the Bank of Commerce some five or six years ago.

clearly defined and strictly adhered to. He trusted to the laws of legitimate banking for his success. Under his wise maaagemeDt " Fletcher's Bank" soon gained, and has ever maintained, the reputation of being one of the strongest and most conservative banking institutions in the country. Mr. Fletcher's business was by no means limited to his bank. He was one of the principal owners of the Indianapolis Gas-Light and Coke Company, of which he was one of the founders. He had also acquired a large amount of real estate, mostly in and near the city of Indianapolis, including many valuable farms, chiefly in the White River Valley, in Marion County.

A striking quality of Mr. Fletcher's mind was his power to read character; he seldom erred in his judgment of men. He formed his judgments independently, and when he reached his conclusions he could not be shaken by the dissenting opinion of those who were about him.

A notable trait of his business' career was his careful attention to details. Nothing was small or unimportant in his estimation. He could not bear to see carelessness or unnecessary waste in the smallest things. His was an economy which despised nothing that had value in it, which could also coexist with generous living and liberal benefactions to objects that seemed to him deserving. He was known in the community as an unostentatious man, simple in all his habits. He never sought or held public office. He avoided publicity, especially in his acts of beneficence. He was accustomed to make others almoners of his charities that he might not be known as the giver. He was broad and catholic in his sympathies. Churches and institutions of all faiths that he believed were doing good were aided by him.

Even his nearest neighbors, seeing this plain, methodical man daily passing from his house to his place of business, might easily fail to understand him. He had a life outside of his business to which he seemed so devoted. He was a great lover of nature, and a close observer of her moods and habits. He knew the notes of birds, and had an intimate knowledge of their peculiarities. He used to say the trees and rocks around the old home of his youth

Although he walked somewhat apart from general society, he discovered to his intimate friends the finest social qualities ; with them he was hearty and free and fascinating in the sparkle of his wit. He had a pleasant word for those engaged in his service, and always took an interest in improving their condition.

Mr. Fletcher was thrice married, the first wife being Maria Kipp, of Western New York, by whom .he had two daughters, Mrs. L. F. Hyde and Mrs. Maria F. Ritzinger. His second wife was Miss Julia Bullard, of Massachusetts. Two sons of the five children of this marriage survive, Stoughton J. Fletcher and Allen M. Fletcher. His third wife, Mrs. Julia A. Johnson, survives him. There were no children by this marriage.

He died March 17, 1882, esteemed by all who knew him, and leaving a colossal fortune, which his careful business habits and unswerving integrity had vouchsafed to him.

On the 1st day of January, 1857, two years before the expiration of the old State Bank charter, the president and cashier of the Indianapolis branch, Mr. Calvin Fletcher, Sr., - brother of Stoughton A., Sr., and father of Stoughton A., Jr., - and Mr. Thomas H. Sharpe established a bank of loan and deposit on the southwest corner of Washington and Pennsylvania Streets, now occupied by the fine four-story stone front of the firm of Fletcher & Sharpe, and there they carried on a very successful business till the death of Mr. Fletcher, in 1866, since which time Mr. Fletcher's sons, Ingram and Albert E., in association with Mr. Sharpe, have maintained the bank in still more extended operations with equal success and security.

Thomas H. Sharpe. - Ebenezer Sharpe, the father of Thomas H., was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and resided in Kentucky. He was married to Miss Eliza Lake, of Scotch descent, and a native of Edinburgh. Their children were Alexander W., Thomas H., Isabella M., Robina B., Eliza B., Amos H., James McC, and Hester A., all of whom, with the exception of the latter, were born in Kentucky. The birth of their son Thomas H. occurred in Payette County, of the latter State, on the 2d of August, 1808. In 1819 he became a resident of Bourbon County, his early youth having been spent in his native county. He was educated first at the Transylvania University, in Lexington, and later in Paris, Ky., after which he removed with his parents, in 1826, to Indianapolis, and became for two years assistant to his father, who - had supervision of the public school of the city. He then spent a year as deputy clerk in the oflSce of James M. Ray, the first county clerk, after which he engaged for two years with William H. Morrison in mercantile pursuits. Mr. Sharps then became identified with the register's department of the land office, and remained until 1835, when he entered the Indianapolis branch of the State Bank as teller, and filled this responsible position for a period of ten years, when he was appointed to the more important ofSce of cashier of the bank. Here he remained until the expiration of the charter of the bank, when, in conjunction with Calvin Fletcher, Esq., he established the Indianapolis Branch Banking Company, which is still in existence under the style of Fletcher & Sharpe, with Mr. Sharpe, S. A. Fletcher, Jr., Ingram Fletcher, and Albert E. Fletcher as the firm. The State Bank, under the cashiership of Mr. Sharpe, attained a high degree of prosperity, and was largely profitable to its stockholders, paying an average annual dividend of eleven per cent, until the close of its career. Mr. Sharpe is at present part owner of and director in the Indianapolis National Bank. He has been identified with many important public enterprises, having been for several years director and treasurer of the Bellefontaine Railroad, now known as the Bee Line, and director of the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Railroad. He filled the office, in 1831 - 32, of school commissioner lor the county, having in charge the lauds appropriated by the general government for school purposes. Mr. Sharpe, while engaged in advancing the material interests of Indianapolis, has not been unmindful of the demands which the poor and neglected classes may with propriety make upon more fortunate citizens. He has aided greatly as president of the Indianapolis Benevolent Association, and as one of its finance committee.

in disbursing the necessaries of life and promoting in various ways the comfort and happiness of the city poor. He was one of the projectors and is now a director of the Crown Hill Cemetery Association, whose picturesque and attractive grounds are in the city suburbs. Mr. Sharpe was formerly a stanch Whig in his political affiliations, and later joined the ranks of the Republican party, but is devoid of ambition for official honors. He was, in 1836, appointed by the Governor agent of State for the town of Indianapolis, having in charge the lands donated the State by Congress for a permanent seat of government. Upon these lands the capital of the State is now located. He is in religion a Presbyterian, and an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, as was also his father. Mr. Sharpe was, in 1837, married to Miss Elizabeth C. Wilson, daughter of John Wilson, of Pennsylvania. They have had eleven children, of whom the survivors are Ebenezer, Mary (Mrs. Joseph A. Moore), Isabella M., Eliza L. (Mrs. Albert E. Fletcher), Anna H. (Mrs. H. H. Hanna), Jessie (Mrs. Elbridge Gerry), and William E.

In May, 185-1, Alfred Harrison, a prominent merchant for many years, in connection with John S. C. Harrison, opened an exchange office in the second story of the "Johnson Block," next to the present site of the bank, and remained there till the followingij^ year in August, when they removed to the present building, and have there conducted a steadily sound and profitable private banking business. Samuel W. Watson has been the cashier for many years. In the spring of 1852, John Woolley & Co. opened a private bank on the east side of South Meridian Street, in a little frame now replaced by Blackford's Block, and did a good business apparently till they joined it with the " free" Bank of the Capital, when both went under in 1857 with eighty thousand dollars of debts and fifty-six thousand dollars of nominal assets that paid very little. William Robson and A. L. Voorhees established a savings-bank in Odd-Fellows' Hall, and each was president, with Joseph R. Robinson as cashier, who succeeded to the ownership in 1857, just in time to go down under the strain made by the failure of the Woolley bank. It went into the hands of a receiver who paid all its liabilities fully. In the fall of 1862, Kilby Ferguson opened the " Merchants' Bank," at No. 2 North Pennsylvania Street, speculated in gold, and fell the next year in the summer. He absconded for a while, but after some years returned and settled with his creditors. In 1856, George S. Hamer opened an exchange and broker's office in the basement of the American (now Sherman) House, put out a few " shinplasters," and found himself strongly suspected and finally arrested for circulating counterfeit good paper as well as his own genuine good-for-nothing paper, and giving bail, disappeared finally.

In the latter part of 1854 there came a panic in " free" bank business, and it disturbed all other business seriously. How and why it came has been related in the general history, but some incidents of it may be noted here that were omitted there. On the 7th of January, 1855, a convention of bankers met here to make such a classification of " free" bank issues, based on their securities deposited with the State officers, as would enable the public to receive and use them without apprehension, which was severely straining all forms of trade, and without any risk of loss. As heretofore stated, the best the convention could do was to designate several banks as undoubtedly safe or " gilt-edged,'' but the more important question as to the safety of banks about which business men were uncertain, was left as unsatisfactory as it wa.s found. Holders of " free" bank bills had to estimate them at the rate fixed by leading city brokers, and every man with uncertain bills in his hands hurried to spend them at their face or as near it as he could, or pay his debts with them. Those were the days, singular in all the annals of time, when a creditor was not always well pleased to see a debtor produce a roll of money to pay an old debt. A legal " tender" had to prove the value of the bills tendered. There was as much eagerness to get rid of the money of the period, from the fall of 1854 till the summer of 1857, as there usually is to get it. Nobody wanted to hoard unless it was gold, and before the war gold was a rare apparition inr the ordinary business of Indianapolis.

the State was held here in the hall of the House of Representatives to devise measures in defense of the community against the ungenerous, not to say rascally, operations of the business men of Cincinnati, who made it a point to run back here all the " free" bank bills they could get hold of and demand the gold for them. It made no diffisrence how sound the bank was, its bills were hurried back to it by these Cincinnati " horse-leech" speculators before they had been out a week. Of course no bank could stand that, and good banks began reducing or winding up their business. The trade of the State was doubly embarrassed by the character of much of the " free" bank issues, and by the abuse of what was good by Cincinnati sharks. They used only their legal right, to be sure, but they knew it was damaging Indiana business and prostrating the chance of rivalry with their houses by Indiana houses. That was the motive of it, for there was no profit in running home good bills for gold that was not worth more than a half per cent, premium. The expense was more than the gain. Naturally the business men of the city and State hated the " Hog City" - a name with a double significance then - as heartily as any one community ever did hate another without making a feud of it. The object of the convention was to change Indianapolis and Indiana trade generally from Cincinnati, which was universally stigmatized as the " Quean City," and " the meanest city on the face of the earth." David K. Cartter, of Cleveland, now chief justice of the Washington Supreme Court, and a number of leading business men from Toledo, Louisville, St. Louis, and Chicago, attended to work in the interest of their respective cities. The information given by them was not wasted. Cincinnati lost business that she never got again, and never will.

In February, 1856, a banking-house, under the firm-name of Dunlevy, Haire & Co., was opened in the corner room of Blake's Block for the especial purpose of gathering up " free" bank bills and sending them home for gold. It was a creature of the Cincinnati " gougers," and did them effective service. It sent to Cincinnati $2,000,000 in the first three months after it began operations. This was one of the pro- voking causes of the convention. On the 1st of March, 1865, the " Indiana Banking Company" was formed witli seven associates, P. A. W. Davis as president, and William W. Woollen as cashier. Its first location was the Vance corner, the next at No. 28 East Washington Street, then on the completion of the Hubbard Block, it moved there and died. It had become largely the property of the late Wm. H. Morrison some years before his death, and he had later obtained a heavy interest in the First National Bank. After his death there seems to have been some imprudent management in both the connected banks, and rumors of weakness got abroad on the 9th of August, and a day or two before, causing a run on the 9th, and the closing of both banks. The " banking company's" affairs were put into the hands of a receiver. The First National was taken hold of by some heavy capitalists who had previously held slighter interests, and made safe, with an enlargement of its capital.

J. B. Ritzinger opened a savings-bank on the 2lJth of March, 1868, at 38 East Washington Street, with A. W. Ritzinger as cashier, and has maintained it in a good business ever since. In March, 1870, Woollen, Webb & Co. opened a bank of loan and deposit on West Washington Street, which did well till the panic of 1873 caused its suspension for some months. Then it resumed, but a couple of years ago it became embarrassed, made an assignment, and closed finally. Isaiah Mansur opened a private bank on East Washington Street, corner of Alabama, some fifteen years ago. After his retirement from the presidency of the Citizens' Bank he continued there in business till his death. In 1874 the " Central Bank" was organized by J. M. Ridenour and C. B. Cones, the former as president, the latter as cashier, with Israel Taylor as assistant. In 1875, B. Frank Kennedy and James A. Wildman purchased Mr. Ridenour's interest, and Mr. Kennedy became president. The original capital was $50,000, but was increased to $100,000 when the change was made in proprietorship. It failed in 1881, and went into the hands of a receiver. Its affairs are not wholly settled yet. In January, 1876, the old " Indiana Insurance Company" was reorganized by William Henderson and others as a banking-house. In February, 1878, under a stress which caused some embarrassment, the capital was reduced, and in 1879 the name was changed to the " Bank of Commerce," which it still retains, with a profitable and considerable business. John W. Ray is cashier.

In anticipation of the close of the old State Bank a combination of capitalists obtained a charter for a sort of successor, called the " Bank of the State," with seventeen branches and a capital of one million eight hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars. It began business Jan. 2, 1857, and continued, with fair success, till the establishment of the national banking system superseded it. In January, 1865, after being in operation eight years, the Legislature authorized it to redeem its stock, distribute its surplus funds, and close up its business. It did so with convenient speed, and the branches became national banks in most cases, if not all. The first president of the Bank of the State was Hugh McCuUoch, of Fort Wayne, afterwards Secretary of the Treasury. His successor was G. W. Rathbone, and James M. Ray followed last, after serving as cashier from the organization. Joseph M. Moore succeeded Mr. Ray as cashier. The branch in this city was organized July 25, 1855, with W. H. Talbott as president and one hundred thousand dollars capital (afterwards increased to two hundred thousand dollars). It changed hands in about tfl^ years, when George Tousey became president, and C. S. Stevenson cashier, who left the place to become paymaster in the army in 1861, and was succeeded by David E. Snyder, and he by David M. Taylor in 1866. Oliver Tousey succeeded George in the presidency in June, 1866, when the latter became president of the " Indiana National Bank," in which the remains of the branch bank were absorbed. It was wound up in 1867. The " Indiana National" succeeded it in the corner room of Yohn's Block, northeast corner of Washington and Meridian Streets. V. T. Malott is now its president.

VoLNEY T. Malott. - The parents of Volney T. Malott were William H. and Leah P. (McKown) Malott. The former was engaged in farming in Jefferson County, Ky., but in 1841 removed to Salem, Washington Co., Ind., where he embarked with his brother, Maj. Eli W. Malott, in mercantile ventures. The family settled in Kentucky soon after the close of the Revolutionary war, in which some of its members participated. The paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch engaged in the war of 1812 in Canada, and his maternal grandfather in the Indian war in Indiana. William H. Malott died Nov. 5, 1845, leaving a young widow with three small children, - Volney T., Mary C., and Eli W. (an infant, who died one month after the death of his father). Mrs. Malott, in 1847, married John F. Ramsey, and removed with her two young children to Indianapolis. Volney T., who was born in Jefferson County, Ky., Sept. 9, 1838, attended first a school taught by John I. Morrison, and later completed a commonschool education here, first under Rev. William A. Holliday, and afterwards with Professor B. F. Lang and at the Central High School. At the age of sixteen he entered the banking-house of John Woolley & Co. (Bank of the Capital), having previously been employed as clerk during vacations and for a time as messenger in the Traders' Bank. This early aptitude for business made his services in demand and secured a desirable position for the young man when he should desire to embark in the active pursuits of life. For a while he acted as teller of the bank he first entered, and in 1857 was chosen teller of the Indianapolis branch of the Bank of the State of Indiana, where he remained until August, 1862, resigning to accept the pos-ition of secretary and treasurer of the Peru and Indianapolis Railroad, to which he had been elected. He was appointed State director of the branch bank in 1864. In 1865 he, with others, organized the Merchants' National Bunk of Indianapolis, and was elected cashier, retaining the oflSce of treasurer of the railroad.

In the spring of 1870 he resigned the office of cashier of the bank to take charge of the construction of the Michigan City and Indianapolis Railroad. The road was completed early in 1871, and, with the Chicago, Cincinnati and Louisville Railroad, passed under control of the Indianapolis, Peru and Chicago Railway Company (formerly Peru and Indianapolis Railroad Company), of which he was treasurer and a director. In 1875 he was elected general manager of the road, continuing until 1879, when he was elected vice-president, having charge of the road as acting president until 1884, when it was leased to the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad Company. In October, 1878, he was elected president of the Merchants' National Bank, and in 1882 sold his interest in the bank and resigned the presidency, purchasing shares in the Indiana National Bank, which was the successor of the branch of the Bank of the State of Indiana, where he was formerly teller ; he was elected president of the bank, which position he holds at this time. As an officer of the Brazil Block Coal Company, he has aided in the extension of the block coal trade to Northern Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. He has taken a deep interest in the improvement of Michigan City harbor, and by his counsel and labor has rendered valuable aid to this important work. In July, 1883, he was elected vice-president and manager of the Indianapolis Union Railway Company, lessees of the Belt Railroad. He is also a member of the firm of John Hilt & Co., wholesale ice dealers of Laporte, Ind., the earliest firm of exclusively wholesale ice dealers in the State. Mr. Malott, in 1862, married Miss Caroline, daughter of Hon. David Macy, of Indianapolis. Their children are a son and five daughters. The great success that has been obtained by Mr. Malott in his various business enterprises is due to his steady persistence, stern integrity, and excellent judgment, qualities that rank him with the leading financiers of the State. The subject of this biographical sketch is in his religious predilections a Methodist and member of Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is trustee and chairman of the finance committee.

The first national bank organized here was formed by William H. English and ten associates, on the 11th of May, 1853, with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the name of the " First National Bank," and located in Odd-Fellows' Hall. Its capital was increased to one million dollars in 1870, but reduced to about half some years later when business declined. William R. Nofsinger, treasurer of State in 1855, was the first cashier. He was succeeded by Lewis Jordan, and he by John C. New in 1865. The bank was re- moved the following October to the Blackford Block, where it still is. Mr. New became president in 1877, purchasing Mr. English's interest, the latter retiring until August, 1883, when the bank became embarrassed by its connection with the Indiana Banking Company and other co-operating troubles, and Mr. English, with Mr. De Pauw and Mr. Claypool, formed a combination to protect it and take the affair in their own hands. Satisfactory arrangements were made with the other stockholders, depositors paid, the capital enlarged, and the bank set firmly on its feet again, with Mr. English as president.

The " Citizens' National Bank" was the second of its class organized here. It was effected Nov. 28, 1864, with two hundred thousand dollars capital. The prime mover in its organization and its first president was Isaiah Mansur, with Asa G. Pettibone as cashier. In December, 1865, it coalesced with the " Fourth National Bank," organized the previous January by T. Richardson Fletcher, for many years previously a partner of Stoughton A. Fletcher, Sr., in the "Fletcher Bank," with Joseph R. Haugh as cashier, and doing business in the Yohn Block on North Meridian Street. A removal of the combined banks was then made to No. 2 East Washington Street, and a few years later to the four-story stone-front building erected especially for it on the south side of East Washington Street, where it now is. Joseph R. Haugh was made cashier of the combination, which retained the name of " Citizens' National Bank." Mr. Mansur's health compelled his retirement from the presidency in 1868, but he subsequently opened a private bank on the corner of Alabama and Washington Streets, which he conducted till his death. He was succeeded by the late W. Canada Holmes.

Isaiah Mansur. - The parents of Mr. Mansur were Jeremy Mansur, a native of New Hampshire, and Jane Carr, born in Virginia, who emigrated to Indiana in 1816, and settled in the county of Wayne, where their son Isaiah was born on the 14th of April, 1824. His father combined the occupation of an axe-maker with that of a former, in both of which he was known as a master of his craft. The family, in 1825, removed from their first location to Richmond, Ind., when Mr. Mansur opened a retail dry-goods and grocery-store, and by industry and attention to the wants of his patrons succeeded in establishing a lucrative trade, whereby he gained a competency. He continued in business at Richmond until 1847, and then removed to Indianapolis, where he engaged in pork-packing, which, together with farming, was followed until his' death in 1874. It will be readily seen that his son Isaiah, from early childhood, breathed an atmosphere of industry which left an impress upon his character, and largely moulded his subsequent career. His early education was obtained at the public schools and at the Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, where his studies were completed in 1845. While at college he was the room-mate of the late Senator 0. P. Morton, with whom a friendship was formed which lasted during the latter's lifetime. It was largely through his friend's assistance that Mr. Morton was enabled to finish his course, his means being exceedingly limited. After leaving Oxford Mr. Mansur engaged with his father in the pork-packing business for one season, working as a day laborer for wages ; but concluding to make the law his profession, he entered the office of Hon. John S. Newman, when he was again associated in his studies with the future Senator Morton. After reading law for eighteen months his father's failing health compelled his return w the business, which had reached large proportions and required his presence. His entire attention was given to the pork-packing interests - then, as now, one of the important industries of Indianapolis - until 1862, when he projected and established the Citizens' National Bank of Indianapolis, of which he became president. He continued in that capacity until 1868, when his connection with this bank ceased, and he immediately opened a private banking-house. During the stirring times of the late war Mr. Mansur was appointed commissary-general of the State of Indiana by Governor Morton, and rendered valuable service to the cause of the Union, feeding the soldiers in camp at Indianapolis on his own credit when the State treasury was depleted. Mr. Mansur was always a consistent member of the Republican party, though not active as a politician.

He was never desirous of oEBcial place, and gave his energies entirely to business, which aside from his banking enterprise included the management of a large amount of real estate, of which he was the owner. He was a man of strict business principles, of persistent energy, and of untiring application 'to the object in view. His industry was especially one of the important factors in his success. He was widely known as a shrewd, careful, enterprising, man, whose integrity was unquestioned. These qualities rendered his career a prosperous one, and placed his name, upon the roll of citizens who have shaped the business destinies of the capital of Indiana. His death occurred Dec. 3, 1880. A widow and two children survive him.

William Canada Holmes. - William Holmes, the father of William Canada, was a native of Westmoreland County, Pa., but removed at an early age to Ohio, and in 1821 settled in Marion County, Ind., where he became an influential citizen and resided until his death in 1858. He married ^Elizabeth \ Lyons and had twelve children, of whom the third i son, the subject of this sketch, was born on the homestead May 23, 1826. He received a fair English education, and at the age of seventeen assumed the management of his father's saw-mill, which he continued to run until he had attained his twentieth year. He had, besides materially assisting his father, acquired a small capital, and finding the business profitable, continued it for a period of sixteen years. He was married, Dec. 15, 1849, to Miss Catharine, second daughter of James Johnson, to whom were born children, - Sarah Alice (Mrs. George W. Johnson), M. Ellen, Martha Ann (Mrs. Frank L. Ferguson), Johnson Canada, Catharine Snively, Rose Hannah, and two who died in childhood. In 1857, Mr. Holmes purchased the property known as the Isaac Pugh farm and built upon it an elegant residence, which was for many years the home of the family, i By the purchase of an interest in the Fourth National Bank of Indianapolis, in 1865, Mr. Holmes became its president. This bank was later consoli- ', dated with the Citizens' National Bank, of which he also acted as president. He then formed a copartnership with Messrs. Coffin & Landers, for the pur- I pose of purchasing and packing pork, under the firmname of Coffin, Holmes & Landers, which continued for one year, after which he became a member of the firm of Holmes, Pettit & Bradshaw. This firm conducted an extensive business iu pork-packing, the building and grounds alone costing over one hundred thousand dollars. In 1880 he established, with his partner, the firm of Holmes & Claypool, proprietors of the Indianapolis Hominy Mills, having prior to that date been largely engaged in the manufacture of staves near Cairo, 111. He was one of the promoters of the Union Railway Transfer and Stock- Yard Company, of which he was a director. Mr. Holmes evinced much public spirit, and in various ways promoted the material growth of Indianapolis. He donated both land and large sums of money to aid in the erection of manufacturing establishments. He was a man of great executive ability, immense industry, and of strict integrity. These qualities as a rule rendered his business ventures successful. He was a Republican in his political affiliations, but not actively interested in party difi'erences nor a seeker for official honors. He was a member of the Central Christian Church of Indianapolis, as also his wife and two daughters. The death of Mr. Holmes occurred Nov. 27, 1883, in his fifty-eighth year.

The " Indianapolis National Bank" was organized Dec. 15, 1864, with Theodore P. Haughey as president, and Ingram Fletcher as cashier. Mr. Fletcher was succeeded in 1866 by Mr. A. F. Williams. The capital of the bank is five hundred thousand dollars, its location the corner room of Odd-Fellows' Hall. Mr. Haughey is still president; Henry Latham is cashier.

Theodore P. Haughey. - The birth of Theodore P. Haughey occurred in Smyrna, Del., on the 26th of November, 1826. Here he remained until early manhood and enjoyed such advantages of education as the neighboring schools afforded, when Baltimore, Md., became his home. In the spring of 1848, having acquired a thorough business education, he removed to Indianapolis, where, since that date, he has been actively engaged in many of its most important interests. He at first obtained employment as an accountant and book-keeper, and gradually rose to more lucrative and responsible positions. In the year 1854 he was connected with Hon. John D. Defrees in the publication of tlie Indianapolis Journal. For a number of years Mr. Ilaughey was secretary and treasurer of one of the leading railroads centreing in Indianapolis. During the civil war he was appointed by President Lincoln collector of internal revenue for the Indianapolis district. This office, which was the only one of a political nature he was prevailed upon to accept, was resigned in 1864, to represented the Second Ward in the City Council of Indianapolis, and, in deference to his ability as a financier, was made chairman of the finance committee. Just prior to the late war he had the pleasure of reporting the city free of debt. He has been for thirty years treasurer of the Grand Lodge of Independent Order of Odd-Follows of Indiana, and wielded no little influence in shaping the prosperous condition of its treasury. This is said to be one of the most flourishing and wealthy lodges in the Union.

enter upon his duties as president of the Indianapolis National Bank, which position he still holds, being the oldest national bank president in the city. He enjoys the reputation of being a shrewd, careful, and conscientious financier, living up to every obligation, while free from the narrow-minded prejudices of the mere seeker after wealth. He has ever manifested a deep interest in the progress of education, and for a number of years has been a trustee of the Asbury University at Greencastle, and one of the supervisory loan iommittee of its fund. Mr. Ilaughey for six years

Mr. Haughey is a liberal supporter of all worthy enterprises, and for years has been a prominent member of the Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church of the city of his residence. He represented the Indiana Conference as a lay delegate in the General Conference held at Baltimore in 1876, and has been otherwise active in church and Sunday-school work.

Personally Mr. Haughey is a gentleman of genial character and uniformly courteous in his demeanor. He is close in his attention to business, devoid of pretence in his manner, and considerate of the opin- ions of others. On the 8th of November, 1853, he was married to Miss Hannah, daughter of C. G. Moore, of Newark, Ohio. Their children are two sons and a daughter, the latter of whom died at the age of six years. The elder son, Louis Chauncey, is engaged in manufacturing, and married to Miss Zelda, daughter of William Wallace, Esq. The younger son, Schuyler C, was named after Schuyler Colfax, a lifelong friend of his father.

The " Merchants' National Bank" was organized Jan. 17, 1865, with one hundred thousand dollars capital, and Henry Schnull as president, and V. T. Malott as cashier. It was at first located at 23 North Meridian Street, and then removed to 48 East Washington, and in the fall of 1883 to the rooms of the " Indiana Banking Company," in Hubbard's Block. In January, 1882, John P. Frenzel was elected president, and his brother Otto cashier. Mr. Frenzel, the president, has been connected with the bank sixteen years. He is a member of the school board and one of the three metropolitan police commissioners. John S. Newman succeeded Mr. Schnull in the presidency in 1866. Dr. Harvey G. Carey was for some years one of the leading men in the ownership and management of this bank, but retired recently.

Harvey Gatch Carey, M.D., an account of whose ancestry will be found in the sketch of his brother, Simeon B., was born in Shelby County, Ohio, on the 18th of August, 1826. He remained upon the farm of his father until sixteen years of age, employed in such active labor as is incident to an agricultural life. At the age of sixteen, feeling the want of better educational advantages than were offered by the winter terms of country schools, he left home and entered the academy of Harrison Maltley, in Sidney, Ohio, where he remained two years, and acquired a fair English education and enough knowledge of the ancient languages as to enable him successfully to prosecute the study of the profession upon which he was about to enter. Here also he formed the habits of systematic study and thought that moulded and characterized his professional life. At the termination of his academic course he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Henry S. Conklin, an eminent physician in that part of Ohio, where he remained for three years, and in the mean while attended lectures in the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, which embraced in its faculty some of the most distinguished teachers in the country. Though qualified to pass a successful examination at the end of the second course, he was too young to be admitted to a degree, and at the termination of the third term of lectures, in a competitive examination of one hundred and fifty students, he was elected physician to the Commercial Hospital of Cincinnati, where he served the usual term of one year. The large clinical experience thus acquired fitted him at once to take a high rank in his profession.

In April, 1849, he located in Dayton, Ohio, and continued in the practice of his profession until 1863, the date of his removal to Indianapolis. Epidemic cholera made its appearance in Dayton soon after he opened his oflBce, and, having had some experience with this formidable disease in the hospital, it served as a means of securing an early professional recognition and practice, which came to him promptly, and increased until it became the most desirable and lucrative in the city. The doctor found ample time during the early years of his professional life to cultivate the literature of his profession, and was an active, working member of the local, State, and national medical societies, and was also a regular contributor to the medical journals of that time. Finding his huahh suffering, the doctor, notwithstanding his success as a practitioner, determined to divest himself of its exactions and devote himself to new business interests that then offered, and identified himself with the management of the Indiana Central Railroad as its superintendent. In 1863 and 1864, as contractor, he built the Richmond and Covington Railroad, which forms the present continuous line from Columbus to Indianapolis. Having sold his interest in the Columbus and Indianapolis Railroad, he became a leading stockholder in the Merchants' National Bank of Indianapolis, and continued his relations with this bank, as director, vice-president, or president, until 1879, when he retired from active business. He is now a member of the firm of Layman, Carey & Co., where he has held an interest since his retirement from the bank. Dr. Carey was married, Nov. 25, 1851, to Mary

City Op Indianapolis

Ellen, daughter of Judge John S. Newman, of Centreville, Wajiie Co., Ind. Their children are Gertrude N., married to Dr. Henry Jameson ; John N., married to Mary Stewart; Sidney H., infant (deceased) ; and Jacob Lowe. The doctor manifests a deep interest in the public schools of Indianapolis. Professor A. C. Shortridge, Austin H. Brown, and the subject of this sketch drafted and secured the enactment of the present law under which the public schools of the city of Indianapolis are so successfully managed. He has been, with the exception of one term, continuously a member of the board of commissioners since the passage of the law in 1871, and most of this period its treasurer. By patient perseverance and application he laid the foundation for a career of exceptional success in his profession, while a thorough scholastic training eminently qualified him for his connection with the educational interests of the city. The doctor is in politics a Kepublican, having identified himself with that party on its formation. He has been since his twenty-first year a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and held o£Scial relations with the Meridian Street Methodist Ilpiscopal Church, which he aided in building, since his residence in Indianapolis.

David Macy has been a prominent man in several lines of enterprise that have contributed to the upbuilding of Indianapolis. He was one of the leading pork-packers before the war ; was subsequently one of the most prominent and efficient of our railroad managers as president of the Peru road, and is equally prominent and respected as a bank manager. He is now president of the Meridian National Bank, which was organized in 1871, with the late John H. Farquhar as president, and Charles F. Hogate as cashier. The present capital is two hundred thousand dollars. F. P. Woollen is the cashier.

Hon. David Mact. - The Macy family are of English descent, the earliest representative in America having been Thomas Macy, who resided in the parish of Chilmark, near Salisbury, in the county of Wiltshire, England. He embarked for America about the year 1635, and. settled near Newbury, Mass., in the year 1 659. Owing to the persecutions he and others suffered from the Puritans, the island of Nantucket was purchased by them from the Indians. He with his family embarked the same year, and located where the village of Nantucket now stands. In the direct line of descent was Joseph Macy, who resided on the same spot until thirty years of age, when he removed to Guilford, N. C, and engaged in milling and other enterprises. He married a Miss Mary Starbuck, of Massachusetts, and had among his children Albert Macy, born in 1774, at Nantucket, who, when a child, emigrated with his parents to North Carolina, where he was reared. He married Nancy Wall, of Virginia, and had children, - Joseph, Elizabeth, Hiram, David, Phoebe, William, Mahala, and Lydia. David, of this number, was born Dec. 25, 1810. He removed with his parents, when but tea years of age, to Indiana, and settled in Randolph County, then very thinly settled. He labored on the farm of his father until eighteen years of age, assisting in clearing the ground, rolling and burning logs, making rails, and doing other work incident to the life of a pioneer. During the winter months a common-school education was acquired at the country school of the neighborhood. He then began work with Hiram Macy, his brother, as a millwright, and continued thus employed for nearly three years. He then abandoned his trade and began the study of law at Centreville, Wayne Co., in the same State. Having applied himself with diligence for two years, he was admitted to the bar March 3, 1832, his license having been granted by Hon. Charles H. Test and Hon. M. C. Eggleston, the circuit judges. The same year he began practice at New Castle, Henry Co., and in 1833 he was licensed to practice in the Supreme Court of the State, and in 1835 became a candidate for representative in the State Legislature, to which office he was elected for that and the two succeeding terms. During his official career he was one of the most earnest advocates of the system of internal improvements, and supported measures for the appropriation of funds to aid in the construction of railroads, canals, turnpikes, and highways in various portions of the State. No little credit for the aqliievements of Indiana in this matter is due to his energetic and whole-souled advocacy. Mr. Macy was, in 1838, elected by the Legislature prosecuting attorney for the Sixth Judicial District of the State for the term of two years. In 1840 he removed to Lawrenceburg, Dearborn Co., and resided there until 1852, practicing his profession, serving as mayor of the city for two years, and representing the county in the State Legislature for' the years 1845-46. In 1852 he removed to Indianapolis, his present place of residence. Mr. Macy was, in 1855, elected president of the Peru and Indianapolis Railroad (I., P. and C. Railway Company), and, with the exception of a short interval, held its control and management until Jan. 1, 1880, when his resignation as president of the company took effect. In January, 1876, he was elected president of the Meridian National Bank, of Indianapolis, and continues to fill the duties of that office. Mr. Macy is a man of unostentatious demeanor, frank and candid in his bearing, with the suavity and simplicity of the old-school gentleman. He is in business relations a man of untiring energy and unimpeachable integrity, in the State a publicspirited citizen, and in the church an active and zealous member, with liberality towards all deserving objects. Mr. Macy was married Jan. 17, 1837, to Miss Mary Ann Patterson, of Indianapolis. Their only daughter, Carrie, is the wife of V. T. Malott, general manager of the Indianapolis, Peru and Chicago Railroad, which, under Mr. Macy's supervision, has become one of the most popular roads in the State.

In the fall of 1872 two savings-banks were established here, the organization of both being completed within a few weeks of each other. One was the "State Savings-Ban k," of which James M. Ray, the veteran banker, was cashier and manager ; the other the " Indianapolis Savings-Bank," of which John W. Ray - no relation of James M., but a son of the eloquent pioneer Methodi.st preacher, Edwin Ray - was cashier. The former was for some years conducted in the room of the Meridian National Bank, on South Meridian Street, in the " Condit Block," but its business increasing, it required more room and removed to North Pennsylvania Street. There it became embarrassed and was placed in a receiver's hands January, 1878. The " Indianapolis Savings- Bank," on Market Street, became embarrassed about a year later, and was put in the hands of a receiver in December, 1878. The former is about closed out with little loss to any one. The latter has paid a considerable portion of its indebtedness, but is not expected to pay in full.

In this connection may be properly noticed the organizations and agencies for the conduct of insurance business that have been put in operation here. The first of these as noticed in the general history was the " Indiana Insurance Company," formed in 1836 by the citizens of the town, with Douglass Maguire as president, and Caleb Scudder secretary, a nominal capital of two hundred thousand dollars, and never any business to correspond. After two or three suspensions and revivals, as already stated, it was solidly reorganized in 1865, with Wm. Henderson as president, and Alex. C. Jameson as secretary, and made exclusively a banking institution in the old branch bank building. The " Indiana Mutual Insurance Company" was chartered Jan. 30, 1837, and organized in February following, with James Blake as president, and Charles W. Cady as secretary. It did well for a few years, but finally failed in 1853. The " Indiana Fire Insurance Company" was formed in February, 1851, with a nominal capital of three hundred thousand dollars. It did little and suspended in a few years. The " German Mutual Fire Insurance Company" was organized in 1854, January 21, and has continued successfully ever since. The presidents have been Henry Buscher, Julius BcBtticher, and Adolph Seidensticker ; the secretaries, Adolph Seidensticker, Valentine Butsch, Charles Volmer, Charles Balke, Adolph Miller, and F. Ritzinger. Mr. Ritzinger has long stood among the most respected of the business men and commercial men of the city.

Frederick Ritzinger. - Prominent among the German citizens who assisted in transforming Indianapolis from a small town to a large city of metropolitan aspirations was Frederick Ritzinger, born June 8, 1819, at Woerrstadt, near Mayence, Germany.

His parents had destined and educated him for the priesthood, but the spirit of liberalism prevailing among the rising generation, and the conviction that nature had intended him for a more active life, caused

He devoted himself during early manhood to agriculture and wine-growing. On the 15th of May, 1841, he was married to Miss Marianne Kamp, who still survives him. When the German-Catholic movement was inaugurated by Ronge in 1844 he supported it, and also identified himself with all progressive political aspirations. From 1848 to 1850 he was one of the active and efficient supporters of the movement to liberalize the German Confederation, and consequently was imprisoned in the Castle of Mayence when the reactionary party triumphed. After his liberation he emigrated to the United States, and arrived at Indianapolis March 4, 1853.

He engaged in farming in the suburbs until 1859, when he moved to the city and established an agency for the collection of claims and estates in Germany and the sale of foreign exchange.

His obliging disposition, active habits, strong intellect, and wonderful sociability soon caused him to be sought for in public and private enterprises. He interested himself greatly for the independent German and English school, and helped to develop this enterprise to a condition of great usefulness. A very large proportion of the children of German citizens were educated in this institution. At the besrinnins: of the civil war he was prominently engaged in the organization of the Thirty-second (German) Indiana Regiment, and induced Col., afterward Gen., Willich to drill and assume its command. From 1862 to 1873 he acted as secretary and manager of the German Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Indiana, which during his management became well known and prospered by increase of business and resources.

His house served as a social centre, not only for the prominent German citizens of Indianapolis, but for .nearly all distinguished German visitors of the city. His own social tjilents, assisted by those of his daughter, Miss Mary Ritzinger, made the hours spent there memorable as occasions of pleasure.

His oldest son, J. B. Ritzinger, became the founder of the still flourishing Ritzinger's Bank, which after his premature death was continued by his two remaining sons, P. L. and A. W. Ritzinger. About one year subsequent to the death of his son, and after a long and trying illness, Mr. Frederick Ritzinger died on the 10th of November, 1879, sincerely mourned by his family and a large circle of friends.

The "Indiana Fire Insurance Company" - the second one with that name - was organized May 9, 1862, with Jonathan S. Harvey as president, and W. T. Gibson as secretary. It was located in Odd- Fellows' Hall. The " Sinnisippi Mutual Insurance Company" was organized Nov. 18, 1863, with Elijah Goodwin as president, and John R. Barry as secretary. It kept in business till 1866, when it capsized from carrying too much sail, and went into a receiver's hands. The " Equitable Fire Insurance Company" was formed on the mutual plan in September, 1863, by William A. Peelle, then recently secretary of State, as president, and B. D. Olin as secretary, with an office in Odd-Fellows' Hall. It suspended and went into a receiver's hands in 1868. The " Home Mutual Insurance Company" was organized April, 1864, with J. C. Geisendorff as president, and J. B. Foliett as secretary. It suspended voluntarily in June, 1868, and was put into the hands of a receiver. The office was at 64 East Washington Street. The " Farmers' and Merchants' Insurance Company" was organized on the 1st of April, 1864, with Dr. Ryland T. Brown as president, and A. J. Davis as secretary. The office was in Blackford's Block. It s<8pped business in the summer of 1867, and closed up its accounts. The " Union Insurance Company" was organized as a stock company in 1865, with a capital nominally of two hundred thousand dollars, and' James M. Ray as president, and D. W. Grubbs as secretary. It was opened on North Pennsylvania Street, but removed to Dunlop's building in 1867, when Elijah B. Martindale became president, and George W. Dunn secretary. It did not succeed, and in April, 1868, it voluntarily wound up its aflFairs and dissolved. The " Home" Company, of New York, took its risks. The " American Horse Insurance Company" was formed in August, 1865, with Thomas B. McCarty, then recently State auditor, as president, and J. F. Payne as secretary. Its object was the insurance against loss from the death of valuable domestic animals. Its nominal capital was one hundred thousand dollars. The " Franklin Mutual Life Insurance Company" was formed in July, 1866, with James M. Ray as president, and D. W. Grubbs as secretary. The office was first opened at No. 19 North Meridian Street, but in April, 1868, the old State Bank building, corner of Kentucky Avenue and Illinois Street, was purchased, and business has been largely and successfully carried on there ever since.

The Etna Company, of Hartford, Conn., may be noticed here as maintaining the oldest agency in the city, and having erected here on North Pennsylvania Street a handsome four-story building for its own uses and for rent. The first agent here was Simon Yandes, law partner of ex-Senator Oliver H. Smith. William Sullivan was also an early agent, but William Henderson held the agency longest and raised the business to its present level, which Mr. A. Abromet, his successor, has fully sustained. In 1851 the " Franklin Fire Insurance Company," of Franklin, Johnson Co., was chartered, and business carried on there in an indifferent way till 1871, when the company was reorganized and removed to the city. In 1874 the present handsome building was erected by it for its own use and for rent. The fullsize statue of Franklin which occupies a niche in the second story of the Circle Street front was made by a stone-cutter of the city, named Mahoney, whose artistic talent might make him noted in that direction if cultivated. The capital of the " Franklin Fire Insurance Company" is two hundred and fifty thou- * sand dollars. J. E. Robertson is president, William Wesley Woollen, vice-president, and Gabriel Schmuck, secretary.