History of Lawrenceburg, (Dearborn County) Indiana United States of America

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Biographies:

James Buchanan Eads, engineer, was born in Laurenceburg, Ind., May 23, 1830. He removed with his parents to St. Louis, Mo., in 1843, and while en route they lost their entire household goods by fire, which calamity made it necessary for the boy to devote his time to help support the destitute family. He spent his evenings in study and acquired a fair knowledge of engineering without the aid of teachers. While purser on a Mississippi steamboat he constructed the model of a boat on the principle of the diving-bell, which in 1840 he put into practical operation in recovering the cargoes of sunken freight boats and finally in floating the boats with their cargo by means of pumps which discharged the sand and water weighting them down. He sold out his inventions in 1845 and erected in St. Louis the first glassworks established in the Mississippi valley. In this he failed to make money and be resumed the wrecking business. In 1856 he proposed to congress a scheme by which he agreed to keep the channels of the western rivers clear of wrecks, snags and other obstructions to navigation for a term of years. His proposition was accepted by the house but was not acted on by the senate. In 1861 he proposed to the war department the practicability of era ploying light draft iron-clad gunboats in western rivers and within 100 days constructed eight such vessels which were accepted by the government and were first used by Commodore Foote in the capture of Fort Henry, Feb. 6, 1862, over one month before the Monitor encountered the Merrimac in Hampton Roads, Va. He also constructed the monitor and gunboats with revolving turrets, operated by steam, used in the capture of the various forts on the banks of the Mississippi river and in Mobile bay. He constructed the steel arch railroad bridge across the Mississippi river at St. Louis, 1867-74, and his method of building by the aid of caissons the granite pillars supporting the central arch, which had a clear span of 520 feet, was afterward generally adopted by bridge builders. This bridge, built at a cost of $6,536,729.99, was opened to the public on July 4, 1874. He then proposed to the government the deepening of the entrance to the Mississippi river by means of jetties. This suggestion was ridiculed by scientific engineers, but congress finally made an appropriation for the improvement of the South Pass, and on July 4, 1871, Eads satisfied the U.S. inspecting officer that he bad obtained the maximum depth proposed. With his theory thus practically demonstrated he outlined to congress in 1879 the practicability of extending the deep water channel from his jetties at South Pass to the mouth of the Ohio, and in 1880 the Mississippi river commission was appointed, of which he was made a member, and an appropriation was made for continuing the work. After extending the improvements for a distance up the river congress discontinued the appropriation, but the work already done demonstrated the feasibility of the entire project. On failing to receive the support promised by congress Mr. Eads interested himself in the projected ship railway across the isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico, and secured from the U.S. senate in 1887 favorable action on a bill to incorporate a private company for carrying out the project. While so engaged he was employed by the several authorities to devise and report upon means for deepening the St. Johns river, Florida, the Sacramento river, California, the harbor at Toronto, Canada, the harbors of Brazil, the entrance to the ports of Vera Cruz, Mexico, and the estuary and port of Mersey, England. He also visited and inspected the great engineering accomplishments made to the canals and rivers of Europe, Asia and Africa. In 1884 he was awarded the Albert prize medal given by the Society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures and commerce, organized in 1754, the first American so honored; was president of the St. Louis academy of sciences, 1872-74; vice-president of the American society of civil engineers, 1882-83; and a member of the National academy of sciences from 1872. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of the state of Missouri in 1877. See Addresses and Papers of James B. Eads together with a Biographical Sketch (1881). He died at Nassau, N.P., March 3, 1887.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Thomas John Lucas, soldier, was born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., Sept. 9, 1826; son of Frederick and Letitia (Netherby) Lucas. His father, a native of Rennes, France, was educated for the priesthood, but became a soldier under Napoleon and immigrated to the United States in 1816, where he learned the trade of watch-making and worked at his trade in Baltimore, Md., Marietta and Cincinnati, Ohio, and at Lawrenceburg, Ind., where he married and established his home. Thomas learned the trade of watch-maker, and in 1847 He enlisted in the 4th Indiana volunteers as drummer boy, and the next day was made 2d lieutenant of the company, and while in service in Mexico was promoted 1st lieutenant and adjutant. He resumed his trade in 1848. In 1861 he raised a company of volunteers, was chosen captain, joined the 16th Indiana regiment, was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and distinguished himself at Ball's Bluff, Va., where he covered the retreat of the defeated federal army. On Aug. 19, 1862, he was chosen colonel of the regiment, which re-enlisted for three years or during the war. He engaged in the battle of Richmond, Ky., Aug. 28, 1862, and his regiment, after a loss of 200 men, was completely routed, escaped to Lexington, Ky., and was sent to Indianapolis, Ind., and furloughed. The regiment was reorganized, embarked for Memphis, Tenn., Nov. 23, 1862, at which time the officers presented Colonel Lucas with a sword, and in December joined Grant's army at Vicksburg, being assigned to the 1st brigade, 10th division, 13th army corps. He served at Weisburg, where his regiment covered the retreat from Chickasaw swamp, and at Arkansas Post, where his command made a charge and was the first to gain entrance to the fortifications. He was slightly wounded three times, on account of which he went home on furlough, June 10, 1863. On his return in August, 1863, he was assigned to the command of the post of Vermillionville, La., and was placed at the head of a cavalry brigade, including his own regiment, mounted, Oct. 24, 1863. He served in the Red River expedition, commanding the 1st brigade of Gen. A. L. Lee's cavalry division, first in the advance and next in covering the retreat of Banks's army at Alexandria, and led the advance to the Mississippi in 1864. He was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers, Nov. 10, 1864, and commanded his brigade of cavalry in the operations around Mobile, defeated the Confederates at Claiborne, and led raids into western Florida, southern Georgia and Alabama. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers, March 26, 1865, and after his brigade had been mustered out was ordered to New Orleans by General Sherman, where he served until the affairs of the French in Mexico were settled, and he returned to Lawrenceburg, Ind., in January, 1866. He was employed in the U.S. revenue service, 1875-81; was postmaster of Lawrenceburg, 1881-85, and was an unsuccessful candidate for representative in congress on the Republican ticket in 1886.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

James Henry Lane, soldier, was born in Lawrenceburg, Ind. Ter., June 22, 1814; son of the Hon. Amos Lane. He was admitted to the bar in 1840, and was subsequently elected a member of the council of the city of Lawrenceburg. He enlisted as a private in the 3d Indiana volunteers in May, 1846; was commissioned colonel and commanded a brigade at Buena Vista, Feb. 23, 1847, where he was wounded. He was transferred to the 5th Indiana volunteers as colonel in 1847. He was lieutenant-governor of Indiana in 1848, and was a Democratic representative in the 33d congress, 1853-55, voting for the repeal of the Missouri compromise. He removed to Kansas Territory in 1855; took an active part in politics as a member of the Free-state party, and was a member of the Topeka constitutional convention, and chairman of the executive committee. He was elected by the people, major-general of the territorial troops raised to repel the Missouri invaders; and was elected to the U.S. senate by the legislature that convened under the Topeka constitution, but the legislature was not recognized by congress. He was indicted for high treason, and obliged to leave the territory for a time. He was president of the constitutional convention that met at Leavenworth in 1857, and was again chosen major-general of the territorial troops. Upon the admission of Kansas as a state in 1861, he was elected to the U.S. senate, and he was given command of the frontier guards, organized for the defence of Washington, in May, 1861. He was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, Dec. 18, 1862, but his commission was recalled, March 21, 1862. He led a Kansas brigade in western Missouri; was severely wounded in the Lawrence massacre of August, 1863, and opposed the advance of the troops of Gen. Sterling Price in October, 1864, serving as aide to General Curtis. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention at Baltimore, June 7, 1864, and was elected to the U.S. senate in 1865. He was attacked with paralysis while returning to his Kansas home in 1866, and his mind becoming unsettled, he died by his own hand, near Leavenworth, Kansas, July 1, 1866.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Albert Gallatin Pointer, governor of Indiana, was born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., April 20, 1824; son of Thomas and Myra (Tousey) Porter, and grandson of Moses Tousey of Kentucky. His paternal grandfather removed from Pennsylvania to Belleview, an island in the Ohio river. He worked as a ferryman on the Ohio river; attended the preparatory department of Hanover college; was graduated at Indiana Asbury university, A.B., 1843, A.M., 1846; was admitted to the bar in 1845; served as city attorney, 1851-53; as reporter of the supreme court of Indiana, 1853-57, and as a member of the common council, 1857-59. He was a Republican representative in the 36th and 37th congresses, 1859-63, serving as a member of important committees; was a candidate for presidential elector on the Hayes and Wheeler ticket in 1876, and was appointed by President Hayes, March 5, 1878, first comptroller of the U.S. treasury, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of R. A. Taylor, serving until 1880. He was governor of Indiana, 1881-84; a delegate-at-large from Indiana to the Republican national convention in 1888, and was appointed U.S. minister to Italy in 1889, resigning in September, 1892. He practised law in partnership with Benjamin Harrison for several years. He was married first in 1846, to Minerva Virginia Brown of Indianapolis, Ind., and secondly in January, 1881, to Cornelia Stone of Jamestown, N.Y. He received the degree of LL.D. from Indiana Asbury university in 1870. He devoted his last years to historical research, and published Decisions of the Supreme Court of Indiana (5 vols., 1853-56), and A History of Indiana. He died in Indianapolis, Ind., May 3, 1897.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor