WILLIAMSON, Delano E. - Hon. - Putnam

WILLIAMSON, D. E., P. O. Greencastle, Attorney at Law; native of Boone County, Ky.; settled in this county in 1853.

Hon. DELANO E. WILLIAMSON, of Greencastle, was born in Florence, Boone County, Kentucky, August 19, 1822. In 1830 his parents, Robert and Lydia (Madden) Williamson, removed to Covington, same State, thence in 1833, to Vermillion County, Illinois, where Delano remained until his nineteenth year, and attended the common schools. In 1841 he came to Greencastle with the intention of entering college, but abandoned the plan after two weeks sojourn, and accepted the position of deputy county clerk at Bowling Green. In March, the following year, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Elliott, and the next years returned to Greencastle and entered the law office of Eccles & Hanna to complete his law studies, having previous devoted his time to that study while residing in Bowling Green. After being admitted to the bar he located in Clay County, Indiana, where he practiced until 1852, and was then elected on the Democratic ticket to the Lower House of the Indiana Legislature, to represent Clay County. In 1853 he again returned to Greencastle, and five years later was nominated for Representative to the State Legislature, but owing to a division in the Democratic party he was defeated by five votes. In the meantime, having been admitted to practice in the superior courts, he had become extensively known throughout all the adjoining counties. In July, 1859, he formed a partnership with Mr. A. Daggy, under the firm name of Williamson & Daggy, which partnership still exists. They have an extensive and lucrative practice. In 1860 Mr. Williamson took an active part in the presidential contest, and was a devoted adherent of Stephen A. Douglas, for whom he cast his last Democratic vote. In 1861 he unflinchingly espoused the cause of the Union, and zealously devoted himself to promoting the war spirit in Putnam and adjoining counties. This created a feud between him and the Democratic party which excluded him from its counsels. In 1862 he was nominated for the office of Attorney General of the State by a union convention of Republicans and Union Democrats; but party feeling ran high and was intensified by Presidents Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, and the whole State ticket was defeated. In 1964 Mr. Williamson was nominated for the same office by the Republican party, by acclamation, and was elected, holding the office three consecutive terms of two years each. In 1870 he declined a fifth nomination for the same office, and has since taken but little interest in politics, devoting himself entirely to his profession and to improvements calculated to advance the material interests of Greencastle, the city in which he lives. Mr. Williamson was a second time married, January 3, 1861, to Miss Carrie Badger,daughter of the Rev. O. P. Badger.

Few men of Putnam County and this section of Indiana enjoyed greater prestige than the late Hon. Delano Williamson, of Greencastle, as a leading citizen, able attorney and as a public official against whose record no word of suspicion was ever uttered, who, for many years, was an important factor in the history of this locality. His prominence in the community was the direct result of genuine merit, industry and integrity. In every relation of life, whether in the humble sphere of private citizenship or as a trusted leader of his fellow men, his many excellences of character and the able and impartial manner in which he discharged his every duty won for him an enviable reputation as an enterprising and representative self-made man, brilliant attourney and far-seeing statesman, whose career is eminently worthy of emulation by the youth hesitating at the parting of the ways and whose destinies are vet matters for future years to determine.

Mr. Williamson was born in Florence, Boone County, Kentucky, August 19, 1822, the son of Robert and Lydia (Madden) Williamson. The father was a descendant of Elliott Williamson, a native of Ireland, who emigrated to America in time to participate in the struggle of the colonies for independence and fought in the Continental army under Washington, and thus conferred upon his descendants the title of "Sons and Daughters of the Revolution." which is one of the very highest titles, if not the highest, that can be bestowed upon an American. On his mother's side his ancestry dates back to the time when William Penn came to America, to the family of Hollingsworth. who accompanied that illustrious Quaker to the New World.

When Delano E. Williamson was eight years of age his parents moved to Covington, Kentucky, and in 1833 they followed the tide of emigration westward and settled in Vermilion County, Illinois, and began life there amid primitive conditions. When Delano E. was nineteen years of age. in 1841, he came to Putnam County, Indiana, with the intention of entering Asbury (now DePauw) University, but after remaining in Greencastle about two weeks he abandoned the idea and went to Bowling Green, Clay County, where he accepted a position as deputy County clerk, and there found the first incentive to follow the legal profession. His education up to this time had been such only as he had obtained in the common schools of Illinois. In March, 1842, he married Elizabeth Elliott, a sister of the County clerk, in whose office he was employed. Four children were born to them, viz: Robert E., of Cloverdale, Indiana; Mrs. Fl(irence L. Ricketts. of Springfield. Illinois; Mary, who died in 1874, and Charles D., of Indianapolis. During his residence in Bowling Green, which extended over nearly two years, he devoted his leisure time to the study of the law, and with a view of continuing his law studies he returned to Greencastle and entered the law office of Eckles & Hanna for that purpose and in due time applied for examination for a license to practice law and admission to the bar, honors conferred at that time only as a reward of merit, it being necessary for the young aspirant to climb to the coveted distinction by a greater effort than is required at present. The oldtime lawyers, such as guarded the profession from intrusion by empirics in the far-away days of the forties, regarded their prerogatives as semi-sacred.

The examining committee in the case of Mr. Williamson was composed of Gen. Tilghman H. Howard, Joseph A. Wright (afterwards governor of Indiana and minister to Germany), Henry Secrest and Delano R. Eckles (afterwards supreme judge of Utah) all noted for their great abilities.

This committee reported favorably and a license was issued, signed by Judge Bryant, of the circuit court, the admission, however, was not yet complete.

The candidate proceeded to Owen County, where he was a second time examined by Judge David E. McDonald, from whom he also obtained permission to practice.

Mr. Williamson located as a lawyer first in Clay County, where he practiced his profession with a reasonable degree of success until 1850, when he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature from Clay County, on the Democratic ticket, by six hundred majority, over two competitors. Among his associates in the house were Ashbel P. Willard, afterwards governor; John P. Usher, afterwards secretary of the interior; and Daniel D. Pratt, afterwards senator of the United States from Indiana.

In the year 1853 Mr. Williamson removed to Greencastle and there made his home. In 185S he was again nominated as a Democrat for the Legislature, but, owing to a division in the party, was beaten by five votes.

Meanwhile he was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the state, and traveling through the adjoining counties he became well and favorably known, not only as an advocate, but also as a prominent and influential citizen, and in the practice of his profession he was eminently successful and became distinguished for his legal learning and mental acumen, easily taking front rank among the ablest lawyers of the state.

In 1859 Mr. Williamson formed a law partnership with Hon. Addison Daggy, which continued for thirty years to a day, securing a reputation and practice second to few legal firms in the state, the partners being well balanced in their characteristics and talents.

Down to 1860 Mr. Williamson had always been a stanch Democrat, and in that year he took a very active part in the campaign, being a supporter of Stephen A. Douglas for the Presidency. In 1861, immediately after President Lincoln's call for troops to suppress the rebellion, Mr. Williamson, never flinching in his devotion to the Union, became an active supporter of the government and the administration, and he devoted himself for the next twelve months with patriotic zeal to the promotion of the war spirit in his own and adjoining counties. He pressed his loyalty to the extent of producing a rupture between himself and the Democratic party, and he was excluded from its councils and leadership. In June, 1862, at the Union convention of the state, composed of the Republican party and the Union Democrats, he received the unsolicited nomination for attorney-general of the state. Among his five competitors in the convention were Senator Pratt and Judge Smith. The war spirit widened the breach between the adherents and the opponents of the government: men became estranged, and party feeling ran high and was intensified with the prosecution of the war and the Emancipation proclamation. At intervals the Democratic party in Indiana gained the upper hand, but the Union cause held on to final triumph. In 1864, 1866 and 1868 Mr. Williamson was elected attorney-general of the state, ably serving three consecutive terms, and in 1870 he refused a fourth nomination. No better evidence of his professional skill and unblemished reputation as a man of honor can be given than the unqualified support of his party for the highest legal office in the state for a period of eight years.

In 1872 he accompanied Senator Morton in his great canvass through the middle and southern counties of Indiana, participating with great ability in the campaign. In 1876 he was a candidate for Congress before the Republican nominating convention at Greencastle; but. owing to local divisions in the party, he was defeated for the nomination.

January 3, 1861. Mr. Williamson married his last wife, Carrie Badger, of Greencastle. daughter of Rev. Oliver P. Badger, a distinguished minister in the Christian church. Two children were born to them: Ida B., wife of O. G. Sercombe, of Louisville. Kentucky, and Badger Williamson, who resides in Greencastle with his mother, and whom, on May 15, 1895, was married to Eugenia Pearle Stoner. They were married by Alexander Campbell, founder of the Christian church. Of the children of his first marriage, Robert E., the eldest son, served in the Fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, participating in the battle of Antietam and in the severe winter campaigns that followed.

Politically, Mr. Williamson continued to act with the Republican party until the year 1892. By that time the issues on questions of revenue and finance had been clearly announced. On these he had always held the principles of the Democratic party. During the war epoch and the period of reconstruction he espoused the principles of the Republican party as paramount to all questions touching the tariff and the financial management of the country. The reconstruction period being closed, his old-time sympathies with Democratic doctrines revived, and being unable to influence the doctrines and tendencies of the Republican party, he ceased to act with that organization.

He was eagerly welcomed by his old political associates and in 1894 was nominated by the Democratic party as joint representative for the counties of Putnam. Clay and Montgomery. He made a gallant canvass, but, owing to the political revulsion in that year, was not elected.

Before this time, for a period of about five years, Mr. Williamson had been in very ill health. It appeared at times that his erstwhile vigorous and active constitution was giving way under the impact of disease and advancing years, but he made a splendid rally, and in 1892 and 1893 he resumed the practice of law, taking in with him, under the firm name of Williamson & Williamson, his promising son. Badger Williamson, upon whom the more active and aggressive part of the practice devolved and for years they continued to do a large business, the elder Williamson, the senior member of the Putnam County bar, retaining his rare tact and strength of intellect up to the last, and after an earthly pilgrimage of over four score years this distinguished lawyer and citizen was called to his reward on a higher plane of action, May 2. 1903, from his home in Greencastle, having bravely and heroically approached the sunset of a busy and distinguished life with every grace that adorns old age. Learned in the law and in literature, familiar with the history of his country, in sympathy with the best thought of his times, watchful of events and the trend of affairs, urbane and companionable, he rounded up a life of usefulness to his fellow men, all classes of whom revere his memory.

Religiously, Mr. Williamson was a member of the Christian church, in which body he had great local influence. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, attaining the Royal Arch degree. Personally he was a man of imposing presence, tall, erect, his broad shoulders bearing a splendidly shaped head, strong, patrician features, cleancut, expressive, showing depth of thought, strength of character and indomitable will. His manners were those of the cultured, genteel, courteous, well-bred gentleman, and he was a noted figure in any assembly of distinguished men. His success in life was largely due to a steadfastness of purpose, honesty, fidelity to right principles, a high order of intelligence and a remarkable force of character which inspired at once the confidence and esteem of his fellow men.