Judge John Green 

John is Joseph's brother. This biography was found in a book called "Representative Men From Indiana" published in 1880.

GREEN, JOHN, attorney-at-law, of Tipton, was born in Yancey County, North Carolina, May 20, 1807.  His parents were James and Catherine Green.  His mother’s maiden name was Blankinship.  Both of his grandfathers were in the Revolutionary War.  His paternal grandfather was among the first to receive a pension.  He had been all of his life a member of the society of Friends, but this step put him out of the pale of the organization.  After the war he joined the Baptist Church, and their religious views have marked his descendants, except the subject of this sketch. 

The parents of John Green removed to Indiana, then a territory, in 1810, and located in Jefferson County.  During the War of 1812 his father was enrolled as a ranger, or home-guard.  He was furnished with government arms and received a land warrant.  His wife was a woman of great energy of body and mind, to whom the son is much indebted.  In the year 1828 he entered Hanover College, the institution being then in its infancy.  Up to this time his is the familiar history of the backwoods lad of that day.  He entered the school in view of the ministry, as did most of the students at that time.  His mind underwent a change on religious matters, and in 1832 he retired to a farm, where he followed the usual occupations of a farmer until 1839.  In this year he commenced the study of law, under the Hon. Wilberforce Lyle, of Madison. 

 While progressing with his studies he had the misfortune to be crippled for life with a broken leg, be being thrown from a buggy.   This occurrence caused him to lose nearly two years from his studies.  In 1844 he was licensed to practice law.  His certificate was written by Hon. Miles Egleston, then Circuit Judge in Jefferson County; the other judge signing his license was the Hon. John H. Thompson.  He was admitted to practice in the Federal and Supreme Courts soon afterward, and selected Madison as the scene of his first legal experience.  Judge Green is said to have had a strong military spirit in his youth; he was promoted to the command of a company: but his military ardor declined, and he turned his attention in another direction. 

While living in retirement on his farm he was elected a Justice of the Peace for five years.  He took a very active part in school matters, and served seven years as trustee at a time when our school system was in its infancy, meeting with much bitter opposition.  Judge Green has always been the warm friend and supporter of improvement in both his county and state.  He took a very active part in the construction of the two railroads making Tipton an intersecting point.  Had it not been from his energetic efforts in securing the location of the Lafayette, Muncie and Bloomington Railroad by Tipton, the people would not have possessed this line of road.

The law of Indiana in regard to gravel and piked roads is more due to him than to any other person.  The original bill was drafted by another, but its passage in 1867 is mainly due to his own efforts.  The next four years he was in the state Senate, and here he was the constant and vigilant friend of this law.  He removed to Tipton in 1848, in which place he still continues to reside.  In 1856 he was elected to the state Senate from the district composed of Tipton , Boone, and Hamilton Counties, and served four years.  While a member of the Upper House he was chairman of the Swamp Land Committee.  At the above-mentioned time the swamp land question was one of the great issues of the day.  At the expiration of his senatorial term he was elected Judge of the Common Pleas Court for a district embracing five counties, where he again served four years.

In 1868 his constituents a second time chose him as their Representative to the Senate.  During the term he filed the position of the chairman of the Committee on the Organization of Courts, in addition to his connection with the other committees.  Judge Green is a very stanch Republican in politics.  His first vote for President, in 1828, was cast for Adams, and his has voted ever since for the Whig and Republican candidates, including Mr. Hayes.  He has never missed an annual election, and his experience and influence are of great weight with his party in shaping its policy in matters of either local or state interest.  He was for many years chairman of the county central committee.  He has been time and again a member of the different state committees.  In his profession, Judge Green is without a peer in his county, his practice being unusually large and successful. 

He was married, April 14, 1829, to Mrs. Mary Marshall, of Jefferson County, widow of Robert Marshall, who was the mother of two children, Sallie and Margaret.  This lady died in 1865, leaving six children, of whom Sallie, Milton, Alice, and Catherine are still living.  He was again married in 1866, to Miss Catherine A. Humerrikhouse.  She died in 1875.  His present wife was Mrs. Caroline Passwater, of Noblesville, a daughter of Judge Cottingham.  Judge Green, on locating in Tipton, began the preparation of a home for his old age, which he has now completed.  His home farm, of two hundred acres, joins the town of Tipton on the west.  He is gradually retiring from the practice of law, and leading a more quiet and retired life.  In this town he has resided for thirty years.  He is not a communicant of any Church, but attends services regularly with his wife.  Wherever she belongs there he goes.  He has been an active man in railroad and other public matters, and a citizen whose death, aside form a sorrowing sense of loss, would cause a vacancy in the community not easily filled.