History of New Albany, (Floyd County) Indiana United States of America

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Local History Notes:

NEW ALBANY, a flourishing city, capital of Floyd county, Indiana, on the right bank of the Ohio river, 2 miles below the falls, 3 miles below Louisville, and 136 miles below Cincinnati. Lat. 38? 18' N., lon. 85? 51' W. It is the southern terminus of the New Albany and Salem railroad, which extends to Michigan City, 287 miles, and is nearly completed. It is remarkable for its rapid growth and active trade; in fact, it may be considered the most commercial town in the state excepting Madison, which contains a nearly equal population. Steamboats arrive and depart daily to all points on the Ohio and Mississippi. The streets are wide and straight, and furnished with pleasant sidewalks. The town contains about 12 churches, a collegiate institute, a Presbyterian theological seminary, 2 banks, and 2 printing offices. Two newspapers are published. Steamboat building is carried on more extensively here than at any other place on the Ohio, scarcely excepting Cincinnati; there are also manufactories of iron, brass, bagging, &c. A plank-road, 20 miles long, extends from New Albany to Corydon. Laid out in 1813. About 1640 buildings have been erected in the city within last the year. Pop. in 1840, 4226; in 1850, 8181; in 1853, about 14,000.

Biographies:

Gilbert McMaster, clergyman, was born in Saintfield parish, Ireland, Feb. 13, 1778. He immigrated with his parents to the United States in 1791, and settled near Mercer, Pa. He attended Jefferson academy and college, 1801-03, and studied medicine, 1803-04. He was married in 1803 to Jane Brown. He studied theology in 1805-07, and was licensed to preach in 1807. He was ordained pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Duanesburg, N.Y., and held office there 1808-40, also serving at Galway, N.Y., until 1833. He was pastor at Princeton, N.J., 1840-46, when failing health obliged him to resign. The honorary degrees of A.M. and D.D. were conferred on him by Union college in 1815 and 1828 respectively. He is the author of: An Essay in Defence of Some Fundamental Doctrines of Christianity (1815); The Shorter Catechism Analyzed (1815); An Apology for the Book of (1818), and The Moral Character of Civil Government (1832). He died in New Albany, Ind., at the home of his son, Erasmus Darwin McMaster, March 15, 1854.

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

George Brown Goode, naturalist, was born in New Albany, Ind., Feb. 13, 1851; son of Francis Collier and Sarah Woodruff (Crane) Goode; grandson of Philip and Rebekah (Hayes) Goode, and of Israel Cooper Crane; great-grandson of Samuel and Mary (Collier) Goode; great, great-grandson of Samuel and ???(Bunnell) Goode, and great, great, great-grandson of Samuel and Martha (Jones) Goode. This Samuel was born in the Island of Barbadoes in 1655, and settled with his parents in Virginia about 1734. George Brown Goode's paternal grandfather had removed with four brothers from Virginia in 1804, and settled in the new state of Ohio; and his maternal grandfather came from New Jersey about the same time and settled in New Albany, Ind. George was graduated at Wesleyan university (Conn.) in 1870, and after a brief post-graduate course in zo?logy at Harvard under Agassiz, organized a natural history museum for Wesleyan university and was its curator, 1871-77. He visited Bermuda to make zo?logical explorations, 1872; studied in the Unified States national museum, 1872-73, and then became associated with Professor Baird in the work in the Smithsonian institution and as a volunteer in the U.S. fish commission on its organization, where he had charge of the division of fisheries and statistics. He was occupied in zo?logical explorations from Nova Scotia to Florida and the Bermudas; was principal curator of the national museum, 1875-80; assistant director, 1881-87, and assistant secretary of the Smithsonian institution in charge of the national museum, 1887-96. He was married, Nov. 24, 1877, to Sarah Ford, daughter of Orange Judd of New York city. Their son, Kenneth Francis was born Dec. 8, 1880. In 1887, as statistical expert for the Halifax fisheries convention, he prepared and published the first comprehensive statistics of the fisheries of the United States, and as special agent of the tenth census, he directed the fishery census of 1880, and subsequently supervised the publication the first seven volumes of "The Fishery Industries of the United States." In 1887 he was appointed United States commissioner of fish and fisheries to succeed Professor Baird and resigned the office at the end of six months in order to give his entire attention to the National museum. In 1876 he had charge of the exhibit of animal products and fisheries at the Philadelphia exposition; in 1880 he was commissioner to the International fishery exhibition at Berlin, and in 1883 U.S. commissioner in charge of the American exhibit at the International fisheries exbibition in London. He was also a member of the government boards for the New Orleans exposition in 1884 and the Ohio Valley centennial in Cincinnati in 1887; was commissioner to the Columbian historical exposition in Madrid, 1892, and in 1893 was a member of the government board for the World's Columbian exposition. In 1890 he prepared for the national commission of the Columbian exposition the plan upon which the official classification of the exhibition was subsequently based. He was one of the board of management of the American institute of civics and vice-president and registrar-general of the National society of the Sons of the American Revolution in the organization of which he took part as well as in that of the Daughters of the American Revolution, whose badge was designed by him. He was a member of the National academy of' sciences; fellow of the American association for the advancement of science, of the American philosophical society, and of the American academy of arts and sciences; a member of the American society of naturalists, of the American, Virginia and Columbian historical societies; also corresponding member of the Zo?logical society of London, the Soci?t? Zo?logique de France, the Society of natural history and anthropology of Moscow, the Soci?t?, Naturale d'Aquiculture de France, the National Fisheries societies of Germany, Great Britain and Japan; and received from the Queen Regent of Spain the decoration of Commander in the Royal Order of Ysabel la Catolica. He received the degree of Ph.D. from Indiana university and that of LL.D. from Wesleyan university. Besides many papers in the proceedings of scientific societies he published: The Game Fishes of North America, with colored plates by Kilbourne; American Fishes; The Beginnings of American Science; The Origin of the Scientific and Educational Institutions of the United States; The Museums of the Future; Virginia Cousins (a genealogical work) and, with Tarleton H. Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, an illustrated treatise on the deep sea and pelagic fishes of the world. He died at Lanier Heights, near Washington, D.C., Sept. 6, 1896.

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

Felix Emmanuel Schelling, educator, was born at New Albany, Ind., Sept. 3, 1858; son of Felix and Rose (White) Schelling; grandson of Ulrich and Barbara (Mesmer) Schelling and of George Busby and Jane (Hamilton) White. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, B.A., 1881, LL.B., 1883, M.A., 1884; practised law, 1884?86, and in March, 1886, was married to Caroline, daughter of James Alexander and Hannah (Palmer) Derbyshire of Philadelphia. He was at the University of Pennsylvania as instructor in English, 1886?89, assistant-professor of English literature, 1889?91, professor of English literature, 1891?93, and in 1893 became John Welsh centennial professor of English literature. He received the degree of Ph.D. from Franklin and Marshall college in 1898. He was elected member of the Modern Language Association of America and of the American Philosophical society. He is the author of: Poetic and Verse Criticism of the Reign of Elizabeth (1891); The Discoveries of Ben Jonson (1892); Life and Writings of George Gascoigne (1893); A Book of Elizabethan Lyrics (1895); A Book of Seventeenth Century Lyrics (1899); The English Chronicle Play (1902).

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

Norvin Green, telegraph official, was born in New Albany, Ind., April 17, 1818; son of Joseph and Susan Martha (Ball) Green; grandson of Francis Wyatt and Lucy (Strother) Green, and of John and Ailsie (Withers) Ball of Breckinridge county, Ky.; great grandson of Col. Willtam and Ann (Coleman) Green, and of John and Sarah Ellen (Paine) Ball; and great, great-grandson of Robert Green who came to Virginia in 1712, and married Eleanor Dunn a native of Scotland, and of Wilham and Martha (Brumfield) Ball of Berks county, Pa. Francis Wyatt Green removed to Kentucky about 1800, and his son Joseph with two brothers fought at the battle of New Orleans, Jan. 8, 1815. Norvin was a pupil at the "old field" school near his boyhood home in Breckinridge county, Ky., but received his education largely from his gifted mother. He worked on the farm, in a store and mill, on a flat-boat, as a wood cutter, in a tavern, and as a sheriff's collector, his father belding the office of sheriff for Breekinridge county. He then studied medicine and was graduated at the University of Louisville, M.D., 1840. He subsequently studied Latin under a private tutor. He was married at Currollton, Ky., April 1, 1840, to Martha Anne, daughter of James Wharton and Eliza Nuttall (Demint) English. He practised medicine in Bedford, 1841; in Carrollton, 1842-43; and in Henry county, 1843-53. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1849 and 1850; a Pierce and King elector in 1852 and commissioner of the Custom house, Louisville, Ky., 1853-57. He engaged in the telegraph business first in 1854 when with George L. Douglass and William B. Reed he leased the line between Louisville and New Orleans, and was manager and soon became president of the company reorganized as the Southwestern telegraph company in 1856. The company obtained special charters from the legislatures of the several states through which the lines ran, and Dr. Green afterward arranged a contract for mutual patronage with five other leading companies forming the North American telegraph association. In 1866 the six companies were reorganized as the Western Union telegraph company of which Dr. Green was elected one of the vice-presidents. He was again a representative in the state legislature in 1868, and a prominent candidate before that body for U.S. senator. In 1870 he resigned as vice president of the Western Union to accept the presidency of the Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexington railroad, retaining the position until the road was purchased in 1873 by the Chesapeake & Ohio company, when he was recalled to the vice-presidency of the Western Union. On the death of William Orton, April 22, 1878, he succeeded to the presidency of the Western Union telegraph company. He visited Europe in 1883, and in England was the recipient of distinguished civilities. He is the author of The Government and the Telegraph (North America Review, 1883), See Telegraph in America by James D. Reid, and Life in Memorial History of Louisville. He died in Louisville, Ky., Feb. 12, 1893.

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