USA > Indiana > Hamilton County > A History of the Formation, Settlement and Development of Hamilton County, Indiana: From the 1818 to the close of the civil war > Part 1
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THE COLLEGE LIBRARY
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Purchased from the income of a fund for American History bequeathed by Annielouise Bliss Warren_ in memory of her husband CHARLES WARREN '89
VETRI SE LAS V.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Oct. 8.1902 ,
Edward Forsythie
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Augusters Fruch. Shirts
A HISTORY
OF THE
FORMATION, SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF
HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA,
FROM THE YEAR 1818 TO THE CLOSE OF THE CIVIL WAR.
-BY-
AUGUSTUS FINCH SHIRTS.
1901.
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HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY JUN 0 7 2004
COPYRIGHT 1901 BY AUGUSTUS FINCH SHIRTS.
565689
Preface.
Primeval nature left upon rock and mountain and earth a trail so broad that it may be easily followed by the scientists of this day. Even so, the original forests of this country distinctively imprinted the soil so that, looking out over the broad acres we may readily know where the walnut, the poplar, the burr oak and the beech grew and flourished.
But in the rising tide of civilization the trail of the pioneer is obliterated; his stick-chimneyed cabin has vanished, and the plow has gone over his farm yard grave. While the deeds of these ancestors were great, their trials sore and their achievements many. yet necessarily they were recorded mainly in the hearts of those who now slumber in the tomb.
As one of the few remaining ones who shared the vicissitudes of early life in this county I have written this book in the hope at least that the materials I have gathered, and my own personal recollections, aided by many letters of the times now in my possession may afford some basis for works of greater scope which the future may produce.
AUGUSTUS FINCH SHIRTS.
Noblesville, October, 1901.
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CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I. The First Settlers-Government Purchase of the Lands from the Indians-William Conner's Post-The Set- tlement of Horse shoe Prairie-Building the Cabins and Preparing for Crops-Entering the Lands in 1822-The First Marriage-The First Mill 7
CHAPTER II. The Second Settlement-The Settlement South of Horse-shoe Prairie-William Conner's Indian Wife-The First Distillery 23
CHAPTER III. Clearing the Forest-The Manner of Preparing the Land for Cultivation-The Condition of the Land . __ 26
CHAPTER IV. Hunting-Describing the Manner of Hunting Raccoons, Deer and Other Wild Game 29
CHAPTER V. Early Industry-The Tan Yard-Distilleries- Mills-Farming-The First Threshing Machines 37
CHAPTER VI. Organization of the County- - The Charter-Elec- tion of County Officers-The Two Townships-Early Acts of the County Commissioners-Location and Laying Out of the County Seat-Public Buildings-The First Jail-The Board of Justices 45
CHAPTER VII. The Hamilton Circuit Court-The First Term- Judges and Officers-The First Grand Jury-The April Term-Some of the First Cases-Name of Resident Attor- neys from 1823 to 1865, Inclusive 60
CHAPTER VIII. County Officers from the Year 1823 to the Year 1865 70
CHAPTER IX. Internal Improvements-The Central Canal- Brick Court-house - Bridges - Peru Railroad - Water Courses-Early Newspapers-The Common School Fund- County Seminary Fund-Asylum for Poor 81
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X. The Townships-Delaware, Noblesville, White River, Fall Creek, Clay, Jackson, Washington, Wayne, Adams; a more particular account of each-The Township Trustees 115
CHAPTER XI. Cities and Towns-Noblesville, Strawtown, Cicero, Westfield, Boxleytown, Deming, Carmel, Clarks- ville, Eagletown, New Britton, Ekin, Mattsville, Atlanta, Arcadia 171
CHAPTER XII. Incidents and Stories-The Indian Murders- Trial of Sawyer-The Old Ferry Boat-The Story of John Rhoads-The Case of Eli Terry-An Unusual Prize Fight- Flood, Fire and Storm-Old Settler's Meetings-Agricul- tural Society-Early Election Methods Collecting a Debt -Paying the Costs-Capt. Howe's Cabin-Domestic and Social Enjoyments-Hauling Away Surplus-Female Cour- age-The Pack Peddler-The Corn Thief-Some Yankee Gratitude-The Pioneer Elopement-Corn Pone-Locating the Capital-Clocks-The Lawyer's Defense-School Pun- ishment-The Lost Child 230
CHAPTER XII. The Record of Hamilton County in the Civil War-The Governor's Call for Troops-Acts of the Coun- ty Commissioners During the War-The Names of the Sol- diers from Hamilton County-The Letter of Major-Gener- al McCook 305
CONCLUSION 368
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY,
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CHAPTER I.
The First Settlers.
The lands within the bounds of Hamilton County, Indiana, together with other lands, were purchased by the Government from the Indians in 1818. At that time there was but one white man permanently located within the present bounds of Hamilton County. This man was William Conner. He was at that time living in a double log cabin with his Indian wife. This cabin was situated four miles south of the present site of Noblesville, on the east bank of White River. His place was called a trading post. In one room of his cabin he kept beads, lead, flints, steel knives, hatchets and such other goods and trinkets as were usually necessary in such a place. These articles he exchanged for pelts taken by Indians and brought to him for trade.
Mr. Conner had a brother named John, then living on or near the present site of Connersville. This brother was the proprietor of a trading post at that point. Both of these men were taken by the Indians
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PRIMITIVE HISTORY OF
when young, and detained. This explains their presence among the Indians and also the fact that they had Indian wives. John Conner received his supplies from points along the Ohio River, and William Conner re- ceived his supplies from his brother John.
The furs purchased by William Conner from the Indians were dressed, stretched, and then packed in proper form and sent by him by means of pack horses to his brother, and in a like manner the goods furnished William by his brother John were transported from John Conner's post to William Conner's post. At that time there was no road leading from this point in any direction. There was an Indian trail leading from the John Conner trading post to William Conner's place by way of the present site of New Castle and Anderson to the mouth of Stony Creek, thence down the river to William Conner's place. This was the route over which the supplies mentioned were transported. The distance from one post to the other was sixty miles over this trail and no settlement between the points; all were forests, Indians and wild beasts. Soon after the pur- chase of these lands by the Government the people began preparations for moving to the lands called the "new purchase" for the purpose of selecting suitable homes to be purchased by them when the lands could be bought.
A white man, one Marshal, lived with William Con- ner a short time before the Conner Indians left. When
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HAMILTON COUNTY, IND.
John Conner's Indian children left, this man Marshal went with them in the late fall of 1818. My father, George Shirts, moved his family from or near the pres- ent site of Connersville, on pack horses, to the William Conner place, in the month of March, 1819. My father made a trip from the William Conner place on horse- back to the John Conner trading post at Connersville. On his return trip to this county he was joined by Charles Lacy, who came with my father and camped upon an old Indian field, now known as the Tunis Gerard farm. Mr. Lacy did not bring his family with him. He came for the purpose of building a cabin and putting out a small field of corn. The implements brought with him were carried on his horses, pack- saddle fashion.
On the first day of April, 1819, Solomon Finch, his wife Sarah, his daughters Rebeccah, Mary and Alma, and his sons James and Augustus, then living near the present site of Connersville, left their home for the horse-shoe prairie, two miles southwest of Noblesville. Their route was over the Indian trail, spoken of above. With them came Israel Finch. Amasa Chapman, James Willason, William Bush and two sons hardly grown. William Bush and Israel Finch were married men, but left their families at their home until cabins could be built for them. Solomon Finch was the only one among them who was accompanied by his family. Wagons and teams were used; to these wagons two 1
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PRIMITIVE HISTORY OF
yoke of oxen were attached. But very little household goods were bought. A few tools and implements, a few sacks of meal, and the children, too small to walk, were all the wagons contained. Some cattle, two horses, a few sheep and one or two brood sows comprised the stock outfit. Aaron Finch drove the team. Solomon Finch and one or two of the men with him were constantly, when moving, in front of the team, axes in hand, cut- ting out a road and removing logs and brush.
James Finch, son of Solomon Finch ,rode one of the horses. I don't know who rode the other. Those on foot looked after the stock. The weather during their journey was very inclement-raining or snowing almost every day. When they came to Blue River, that stream was so badly swollen from recent rains that it could not be forded, and they were compelled to bridge the stream. This required two days. This trip to the mouth of Stony Creek occupied nineteen days. When they came to White River they found it could not be forded, so they hunted up a canoe or two and ferried their goods, including their wagons, over to the west side of the river; and then and there the settlers went into camp.
On the next morning the pioneers gathered up their stock, put their wagons together, yoked their cattle and harnessed their horses and started in a northwest- erly course across the horseshoe prairie for the timber,
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when they came to the first rise in the land above high- water mark. They went into camp and decided that in that vicinity they would build their cabins and there make their future homes. Before they had had time to build a cabin a severe storm of wind and rain came upon them. A large limb from a tree near by was broken off and fell upon a tub of dishes belonging to Mrs. Solo- mon Finch, breaking most of them. This was a great loss, as they were all the dishes they had in the camp, and none could be had nearer than Connersville, sixty miles from this point.
After the storm had passed all hands began prepa- rations for the erection of a cabin for the family of Solomon Finch, a location having been determined upon. Some of the men began clearing the ground; others began cutting logs, and others began making the boards for the roof, loft and doors. The following is a list of the tools used: One mattock, one cross-cut saw, one hand saw, two augers, one maul, one iron and several wooden wedges, one broad axe, one chopping axe for each man and one hatchet. The ground being cleared, the logs, boards and puncheons for the floor being on the ground, they were ready to begin the erection of the cabin. The size was usually 18x20 feet, story about eight feet. The sills were placed in posi- tion; the corner men, as they were called, took their positions, axe in hand. The first thing done was to make what was called a saddle at each end of each sill.
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PRIMITIVE HISTORY OF
These sills were twenty feet long. The next thing was to notch each end of the short log to fit the saddle on the sills and place them in position; then another sad- dle for the next log, and so on up until the main body of the building was up. The two last logs were on the narrow part or end of the building, and were about three feet longer than the others and were called eaves- bearers. These logs projected over the wall, and a hole was bored in the end of each of them and a stout wooden pin driven into each. Just inside of these pins the piece of timber called the eave log was placed. The log for this place was split, the split side being next to the building, and against this the first tier of boards rested. From the eave to the comb, ribs, as they were called, were placed at proper distance, upon which the boards rested. These ribs rested upon logs placed under them that constituted the gable. This done, the first tier of boards was laid. Three pieces called knees were laid on the boards, one at each end and one in the middle, the lower ends resting against the eave log. Above the knee a pole called a weight pole was laid to hold the boards down, and so on to the top. Joists inside were placed about three feet apart and boards for the loft placed on them. The door was of boards riven out and fastened with wooden pins to cross pieces and hung on wooden hinges. Wooden latch sleepers, from eight to ten feet apart, were placed to hold the puncheons for the floor. A log was cut out for a win-
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HAMILTON COUNTY, IND.
dow, some small sticks arranged across the space ; white paper, well oiled, was fastened to these sticks. A space in one end of the house was cut out for a fire place and a frame of wood was placed outside of this space. Against this frame the mud jams and back wall were placed and a hearth was made of the same material. This was topped out with a stick chimney laid in clay. A suitable place in one corner of the cabin was found for a bed. Holes were bored in the walls, one post set on the floor with holes bored in it, connected with the walls by poles sharpened at each end; boards were laid across the top for a cord and all were covered with grass. Two or three benches, a half-dozen stools and a dresser for dishes were made by boring holes in the wall, driving pins into them and laying boards across them, with chinking between the logs daubed with mud, the cabin was complete and the Finch family ready to move in.
The attention of all was next directed to getting in a crop. Some went to clearing, some to making rails and building fences, others to plowing and planting. After the planting was done cabins were built for those who had left their families behind, including Mr. Lacy. The pioneers brought meal enough with them to last until their crops would mature. Some time in June or July they found their meal had all spoiled. Conners- ville was the nearest place where meal could be got; so they purchased a few bushels of corn from William
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PRIMITIVE HISTORY OF
Conner. They secured a log about three feet long and about two feet across. They set this block on end, cut a hole in the end, burned it out smooth and cleaned it out, shelled a part of their corn, placed it in the hole in the log and procured a piece of timber about three feet long and shaped it into a pestle. They then pounded the corn until it became as fine as it could be made, and then run it through a sieve, using the finest of it for bread and the balance or coarser part they cooked and ate with milk. They soon became tired of the mortar and pestle, so one of the pioneers, Mr. Bush, secured two good sized stones, faced them, drilled holes through them and rigged them up in such manner to make meal out of their corn. This corn, wild onions, greens, milk and butter, and such wild game as came in their way, constituted their bill of fare. In this way, however, they lived until some time in the fall of the year, when John Finch, a brother of Solomon, came, bringing with him the families of those who had come early and left their families behind, and also some other pioneers whose names I do not now recollect. After the new arrivals had been domiciled, John Finch, who was a fine mechanic, and a good blacksmith, with the help of Israel Finch, built a horse mill. This mill was a small affair, but it answered the purpose for all the new settlements, including those who settled at Indi- anapolis in 1820. This mill was run by horse power, and all persons wanting to grind corn had to furnish
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HAMILTON COUNTY, IND.
- their own horses and pay six cents per bushel toll. But the settlers were all glad to do this, for the reason that it was their only chance to get meal.
Some time in August. 1819. probably the last of it, these pioneers were attacked with chills and fever. This resulted mainly from the stagnant water in the ponds. The water could not get away then as now. Men, women and children were all attacked. There were not enough well persons to wait on the sick whilst the chills and the fever which followed lasted. When we consider that it was sixty miles to a place where medi- cine could be procured, and no one able to go for them, we must admit the situation was serious; but there were roots and barks with some medical properties that were well known to the settlers. These were utilized as far as possible.
Another difficulty was a lack of delicacies, such as our sick of the present may have. True, their garden products were now ready for use, but they were hardly palatable to the sick. However, they got along until cold weather, when the sickness subsided. The settlers raised a fair crop of corn, but they were not able to gather it. So it stood out all winter, except what they and their new neighbors used. For what they sold they received fifty cents per bushel in the field.
Indians were plenty all around them, but they were friendly and came with baskets, moccasins, dressed deer skins and venison to sell. As the settlers had some
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PRIMITIVE HISTORY OF
money, they bought a sufficient quantity of the dressed deer skins to make moccasins for all, both great and small, and to make leather breeches for such of them as did not own sheep. The hand cord, the spinning wheel and loom, which by this time had been provided, fur- nished woolen clothes for those who had brought sheep, the most of them, however, wearing the buck- skin breeches, and jackets of the same material.
My father was expert in dressing deer skins, and he taught the settlers the art. The process is as follows : The deer skin with hair on, after all flesh has been removed, was placed in weak lye at intervals until the hair would slip, then the hair was removed. A sufficient amount of brains of animals was then secured and soaked in water until a liquid was formed similar to the liquid extracted from oak bark. This liquid was then placed in a trough and the skins placed in it. From time to time the skins were drawn out and rubbed dry, or nearly so, and this process was repeated until the skin became perfectly pliable, and was considered fin- ished.
After this the settlers bought no more dressed deer skins from the Indians.
A man by the name of Baxter came to this settle- ment in 1820; he built his cabin south of the road run- ning east and west from the old mill, in the fall of 1821. This man Baxter sowed the first wheat ever sowed by white people in this county.
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The first graveyard, used exclusively by white people, is situated a little north and west of the point where Solomon Finch's cabin was built. Two of Curtis Mallory's children were buried there, two Finches, one Chapman and one Willason-this is all the names I can recall. Coffins were made from walnut timber, split as fine as could well be done. The broad-axe was used to dress the tim- bers, and they were pinned together with wooden pins. Some small trees indicate the location of this graveyard, south of this settlement.
A spring branch came from the west, through the land now owned by Peter Paulsell and Mr. Voss, and . flowed into the river. North of this branch, on the river bank, was an Indian graveyard, and south, near the Gerard farm, was an Indian village. At one time, it was said, this village was destroyed by General Harrison and his men in one of his raids against the Indians.
When the Government bought this land, in 1818, the contract to survey it was let to a man by the name of Wallace. Wallace sub-let the work to Mclaughlin, and the Government gave notice that as soon as the survey was completed the land would be put upon the market. There was no homestead law then, but there was an understanding among pioneers that where a bona fide settler selected a piece of land and improved it he would have the right to enter it. This was the idea and intent of the pioneers of whom we have been writ-
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ing. These lands were placed on the market in 1822. The land office was at Brookville, Ind. John Conner lived at Connersville and was wealthy. He secured the numbers of all the lands selected and improved by these pioneers, except Lacy and Willason, and entered all of it. The first the settlers knew of this was notice by Conner for them to vacate. They had cleared, fenced and broken about 300 acres of land, and it is said that John Conner refused to pay for any of the improve- ments.
Three incidents connected with the trip of the pio- neers from near Connersville to the mouth of Stony Creek are worth relating. Before starting out one of the men was selected, whose duty it was to see that fire would be on hand at the time of going into camp each day. Israel Finch was selected and directed to attend to the matter. It is recorded that he carried fire from day to day in a kettle.
When the pioneers arrived at the present site of Anderson they found the great Indian chief, Anderson, encamped there with a part of his tribe, but as they were friendly the pioneers had no fear. Amos Chap- man, one of the pioneers, was the owner of a fife and could play well. So, after supper, Chapman proceeded to furnish music. This pleased the Indians so well that they proposed a dance. Anderson's wife was present with her baby boy, and she decided that her boy should do the dancing. Prior to this time some person had
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cut a large tree, leaving the stump smooth. The Indian boy was placed upon this stump. Chapman furnished the music and the Indian boy did the dancing.
One morning James G. Finch, son of Solomon Finch, was placed upon a gray pony and told to ride it that day. Soon after starting a snow storm came upon him. The boy was only ten years old and but thinly clad. He was soon suffering severely and when discov- ered was in a bad condition. He was taken into a wagon and cared for and soon recovered. This same boy, now a man past ninety years of age, lives in Kansas and is the only survivor of that pioneer band.
I have related the manner in which the pioneers secured their winter wear, but not their summer cloth- ing. It was soon discovered that nettles grew in great abundance in the river and creek bottoms and that the lint on them was equal to flax or hemp. So they cut and cured the nettles just as they would flax. They hackled, broke and cleaned it in the same way. The spinning and weaving followed in the usual way, so that they did not lack for summer wear until flax could be raised.
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