The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-13
DEATH ROLL IN INDIANA
EX-ATTORNEY-GENE WOOLEEN
OF FRANKLIN, PASSES AWAY.
Hon. Patrick $. O'RourISc, Former SUI
Derintendent of the G. n. & L.
Other Deaths in the state.
Special to the indianapolis Journal.

FRANKLIN, Ind, Feb. 12.-Ex-Attorney
General Thomas w. wooIlen died at his
home In this city at o'clock this morning.
after an illness of year. Mr.. WoolIen was
nearly sixty-eight years old. having been
born April &c, 1880. Until six months ago,
when his illness necessitated his retirement
from active life, Mr.. Woollen was a ma
tional bank president
Twenty years ago Thomas w. Woollen
was one of the Democratic leaders of In
diana, a friend and associate of Thomas A.
Hendricks and an intimate fried Of the late
Daniel w. Voorhees,. He came of a stanch
Democratic family many members OF
which had been prominent in the party His
political career reached it's height when he
was elected attorney general in 1878, defeat
ing his opponent, Judge Baldwin of Lo-
gansport, by over 1900 majority. He had
rendered signal services to his party and
the State in the Legislature, being the ac-
knowledged Democratic leader in the House
in 1872 He was the author of the protest
made by the Democratic members against
the passage of the apportionncnI bill of that
year. His first political position was as a
deputy in the clerks office of Jefferson
county, which he filled until 1852, afterwards
serving in the treasurers office. He was a
candidate on the Democratic ticket for
treasurer of jefferson county in 1854, but
was defeated by James H. Smith, the Know
nothing candidate. In 1856 Mr.. Woolien
left Madison and went to Vernon, Jennings
county, where he entered the clerks office
Afterwards he moved to Franklin and en-
tered into law partnership with ex-Rep-
resentative j. ID. New. He was first elected
to the Legislature from this county in 1862,
md
on benevolent institutions. He Immediately
sprang into prominence in the party coun-
ellis In 1866 he was the Democratic can
didate for judge of his judicial circuit but
was defeated at the polls by Cyrus C.
Hines, of indianapolis. He was elected
judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1868,
holding the office two years and resigning
TO take charge of the First National Bank
of Franklin. In 1870 he resigned the place
and resumed the practice of law, being
again elected to the Legislature in 1872
In the American Biographical History of
eminent IndianianS, Judge Woollen is thus
described: He is a man of commanding
presence is full six feet high and weighs
mind is analytical and judicial He is not
brilliant speaker and does not deal in
strophes and imagery but he has ready
command of language, and in his public ad-
dresses uses the simplest words that will
convey his meaning. lie is a logical speaker
and is stronger before a court than jury
Mr.. Woollen was born in Dorchester
county, Maryland his family springing
from John Woollen, an Indian interpreter.
who lived on the Delaware river in the first
half of the seventeenth century. In 1912
Captain LambertOn came to Delaware with
a company of colonists from Connecticut
and employed Woollen as an interpreter.
The latter remained with him until the
English colony destroyed by the
SwedeS. How long WOolen had been there
when Lamberton came to Delaware is unl-
known, but it must have been several years,
for he was evidently well acquainted with
the language of the aborigines who inhab-
and Chesapeake bays The integrity and
courage of this Indian interpreter figures
extensively in colonial history. The brothers
of Thomas w. Woollen include William
Wesley WoOllen, formerly banker and
city controller of Indianapolis Levin James
Woollen, an ex-senator from Ripley county;
Edward Newton Woollen, formerly auditor
of Johnson county, and Francis Pinkney
Woollen, formerly cashier of the Meridian
National Bank of Indianapolis.
The subject of this sketch came to In
diana in 1S48 In 1850 at Brownstown, he
married Miss Harriet j. Williams, daughter
of the late Judge Jackson. By her he has
five children living. She died in 1869, and ia
1872 he married Mrs. Kate Pulaski, nee By
field. BY her he has two daughters.
In the Democratic State convention OF
1874 four of the five Woollen brothers We're
delegates from different parts of the State.
Many Of Thomas w. Wooliens friends rec
GREETED his return to Franklin after his
term as attorney general, as he was very
popular with his party at that time, and
they believed he would soon become one or
the idols of Democracy in Indiana