MAY 24,  1814

200 years ago this month, William Hendricks was admitted to practice law before the 3 judge panel of the Washington Circuit Court.  He was a young attorney living in Madison having moved there from Cincinnati, Ohio in 1813.  Hendricks was raised in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania where he schooled with future Hoosier politicians Jonathan Jennings and William Wick. When he moved to Madison he brought a printing press with him and started publishing the Western Eagle.  This was one of the two newspapers in which John DePauw advertised notice of the sale of lots in the new plat for Salem. Hendricks would eventually purchase 4 lots in Salem on July 21, 1815 for speculation.

Hendricks made few appearances before the local court as he became  the US Representatives in Congress after Indiana became a state in 1816.  He then became the second governor of Indiana in 1822 when he succeeded his childhood friend and fellow Madison resident, Jonathan Jennings. Hendricks then was elected as a US Senator for the State of Indiana by the Indiana General Assembly in 1825.   He defeated Isaac Blackford who was acting as the Clerk and Recorder of Washington County, Indiana Territory when Hendricks was admitted to practice before the court that was meeting in William Lindley's house south of the Salem plat.

William Hendricks served 12 years in the US Senate as an Anti Jacksonian an then returned to Madison to practice law and manage his considerable estate.  A brother was one of the founders of Shelbyville, Indiana.
His nephew Thomas Andrew Hendricks held offices in the Indiana General Assembly, US House of Representatives, US Senate and was eventually the 21st Vice President of the United States serving under President Grover Cleveland.