USA > Indiana > Johnson County > Franklin > Historical address delivered by Judge D.D. Banta, in the First Presbyterian Church of Franklin, Ind., Nov. 30, 1874 > Part 1
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Gc 977.202 F86b 1823858
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02302 1758
Historical Address
DELIVERED BY
JUDGE D. D. BANTA,
IN THE
1.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF FRANKLIN, IND. Ist.
November 30, 1874.
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D 289532 .2
BANTA, DAVID DEMAREE, 1833-
Historical address delivered by Judge D. D. Banta, in the First Presbyterian church of n.p. Franklin, Ind., November 30, 1874. [1874? 43р.
SHELF CARD
1823858
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NL 35-5595
,20648
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
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LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
The Presbyterian Church of Franklin has reached what we may hope to be the first mile- stone in its journey of usefulness. Fifty years ago, to-day, three men and twowomen united in the or- ganization of this church ; and as a man may, with profit to himself, at stated times take a retrospective view of his past life, so may the members of this church, on this its semi centennial anniversary, profit- ably spend a few moments in reviewing the history which it has made. I do not suppose that this his- tory presents any pages of special interest to the general public; it contains no startling incidents, no remarkable events, no curious revelations, no circum- stances of dramatic interest whatever. It is a simple and an unambitious history. It is the record of the work of a succession of plain, earnest Christian men and women, laboring to build up and maintain a church reflecting their views of religious belief and Christian duty. Only this and nothing more. But simple and unambitious as it may be, surely there are some fact, of encouragement or warning, some ex-
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amples of good or evil, some practices to be approved or condemned, which it may disclose, and which it may do the members of this congregation good to know.
Up to within four years before the organization of this church, the Indians actually held possession of all the territory watered by the White River and its numerous tributaries, including that comprised within the present boundaries of Johnson County. In 1820 this possession was surrendered to the Federal Gov- ernment, in accordance with the terms of a treaty made near the St. Mary's River, in Ohio, two years before, and in that year the lands within the New Purchase, as the region surrendered by this treaty was called, were thrown into the market; and in the same year the first settlers came into this county. Two paths led here. One came from the southern part of the State, and by this John Campbell, a Ten- nessean, entered the Blue River Valley and made a permanent settlement near the present site of Edin- burg, in the month of March. Another path had been cut through the woods leading from Brookville to the bluffs on White River, through the northern part of this county, as early as 1818, by Jacob Whetzel, and along this Abraham Sells, an Ohioan, came about the time Campbell located on Blue River, and made the first settlement in White River Town- ship. The wilderness had now been invaded by these two hardy pioneers, and although we can not say there was a deep and broad stream of immigration pouring into the county from that day on, as is the case with many places now being colonized in the
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Far West, yet immigrants followed at intervals, and in less than six years after Campbell and Sells came, set- tlements were established in every part of the county.
In the autumn of 1821 Joseph Young, a native of North Carolina, located in the angle formed by the junction of Sugar and Young's Creeks. The autumn following, George King, Simon Covert and Garrett C. Bergen came from Kentucky in search of homes, and being pleased with the prospect, King entered that tract which he afterward laid off as West Franklin, and at the same time he purchased from Daniel Pritchard, who had a short time before entered the same, that tract or parcel of land which was afterward laid off as the original plat of Franklin, and Bergen entered the tract north of Pritchard's entry, while Covert entered over on Hurricane, to the cast. In the month of March following ( 1823) David W. McCaslin, who was also from Kentucky, accompanied by his family, and King, and Covert, whose families (with the exception of King's daughter, Elizabeth ) remained behind, and Isaac Voris, then a young and unmarried man, arrived at Joseph Young's on their way to the purchases made the fall before. No road led farther in that direction than to the cabin of Elisha Adams, who had located near the present site of Amity ; but one was chopped out leading from Adams' to this place, and the wagons containing the families and movable goods of McCaslin were driven close after the ax-men It was late in the evening when the little party, wearted and footsore, arrived at the Hurricane, which stream was so swollen with the sprin: rains that they dared not attempt the crossing
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till the next morning, but camped for the night upon the knoll where now stand the college buildings. The next morning they crossed over, and threading their way through the " spice brush," which grew here to a most remarkable height, they began the erection of Mr. King's cabin, at a point a few rods west of the present crossing of the Cincinnati and Martinsville Railroad with Jefferson Street ; and this was followed shortly after by David W. McCaslin's, built on the south side of Young's Creek, and by Simon Covert's, on the west side of the Hurricane.
On the last day of the year 1822 Johnson County had been organized, and sometime during the latter part of the summer, or carly part of the autumn of 1823, the town of Franklin was located and surveyed ; but no houses were built within the town limits until the spring of 1824, when a cabin was built on the west side of the square and a tippling trade established therein. It is due to history to say, however, that the proprietor of this house remained but a short time. It is remembered of him that has poverty was so great that he was unable to bring into the market any com- modity save beer, and that, a cheap article, in a small quantity at a time. The younger men of the vicinity would occasionally visit his business house in a body, and, buying out his entire stock, would, after drink. ing a part, pour the remainder upon the ground. This was, as you perceive, a " mild-mannered" sort of crusading ; but it had the intended effect. The dealer was not wanted in this plac , and although hi, piec was paid and his beverage sold, he nevertheless took the l'int and left the county.
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Other improvements followed in 1824. John Smiley built a log house on the corner of Main and Jefferson Streets, and opened therein an inn for the "entertainment of man and beast." Daniel Taylor put up a log storeroom to the west of the new tav- ern, and exposed to sale a little stock of dry goods and groceries, while Edward Springer built a smithy on the west side of the square, and William Shaffer a dwelling-house on the northeast corner. At the same time the county authorities caused to be erected a court-house on the lot lying immediately in the rear of the bank buildings. This was a log house two stories high. A broad flight of steps on the south end led to the upper story, which was furnished with four baik -bottomed chairs, three for the judges and one for the clerk. Benches made of split logs served to accommodate lawyers, juries and spectators. In this old log court-house the members of this church met for several years, when opportunity offered, to hear the preaching of the Word. Here no doubt Bush, and Dickey, and Hill, and Duncan, and others who ministered to this people in their days of weak- ness, sowed the seed which afterward sprung up and yielded so abundant a harvest in the central part of Johnson County !
In 1822 it seems that the Rev. David Proctor came as a missionary to Indiana, and remained until August or September of 18244; but I have failed to find any record or memory of him ever visiting this county. The first Presbyterian mimster of whom we have any account came to Franklin sometime in 1823. He preacher the first Presbytenan sermon in the county
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at the house of Joseph Young on Sugar Creek; and, coming up to Franklin, he stopped at David W. McCaslin's and there preached again. Notice of the time and place of his preaching having been given by a messenger, who went with the news from house to house, the neighbors came in to the number of " some half dozen;" and the preacher, sitting by the fireside, preached to them with great power and elo- quence. This was the Rev. J. II. Johnson, who came as a missionary from the East and traveled all over Central and Southern Indiana, preaching whenever and wherever opportunity offered. He is said to have been a plain but very impressive speaker, and certain it is, that his, the first sermon ever preached in Franklin, was long remembered by those who heard it. lle subsequently settled in Madison, where he preached for many years ; but now an "old, old man," he lingers in the city of Crawfordsville, awaiting the "time of his departure."*
What other ministers may have visited this place prior to the organization of the church I have no means of knowing. A Baptist Church had been organized in the neighborhood of Edinburg, which was the first church organization in the county, and I think it likely that the first sermon ever preached in the county was by a Baptist clergyman. In Octo- ber, 1822, and before the Rev. J. H. Johnson came
Since writing the above I have learned that Mr. Johnson did not ar- rive in Indiana until somethine in December of this yen (1823), and he could not therefore have been the minister referred to. I received my in- formation from those who are now dead, and while they remembered the circumstances of the preaching, they must have got names and persons es fused. Who preached the sermon referred to is not now and probably 1. er will be known.
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to Franklin, the Rev. James Scott, a Methodist min- ister, itinerating up White River, stopped at the Bluffs and there preached to the people. Mr. Scott stood in a cabin door, with his female hearers seated within, while his male hearers stood up or lolled on the ground without, and there preached the first Metho- dist sermon that ever echoed in the woods of this county.
We come now to the time when this church is to be organized. Four men and three women are living in this almost unbroken wilderness who determine to found a church. For one moment let us think of the obstacles which must have appeared in the way of these heroic men and women. I have already in- dicated to you the extent of the town at that time. The county was as sparsely populated in all other parts as in this. There were not to exceed one hun- dred legal voters within its boundaries. Hensley and Union Townships had not an inhabitant living within their borders; but one man lived in Clarke; a few, not to exceed a half dozen, in Pleasant; probably thirty voters in White River; thirty or forty voters in Blue River, and a " few families" in Nineveh. And these were all poor men, poor even for the times in which they lived. Without money, and without the assistance which money brings, they had come here to make war upon nature in one of her most forbid- ding forms. Where now we may see broad fields and wide pastures of open woodland, then thickly stood the great oak, the poplar, the beech, the maple and the ash, their limbs and branches so closely in- tertwinin., that, when clothed in their summer verd-
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ure, a shade so deep and dark was produced as to shut out the sun from May to October. From the damp earth below sprang a growth of underbrush so dense that it presented in many places an impenetrable barrier to the horseman, and in some it was almost inaccessible to the footman. In connection with this, let it be borne in mind that the level lands, which oc- cupy so large a space in this county, were at that time inundated more than half the year. The for- ests were checkered over with the trunks of prostrate trees -some newly fallen, some sunk half their diam- eter in the oozy soil, and these lying in every direc- tion closed the drains, till there was scarcely any es- cape for the flood save by the slow processes of evap- oration and percolation. The soil, rich as it was and is, in organic matter, mechanically mixing with the watery clement, rendered the paths and the woods almost untraversable for man or beast. There were no great roads upon which to travel; there were no markets in which to buy or sell; there were no broad fields in which to raise grain for bread. Under these circumstances, unpropitious as they were, the pioneer settlers were compelled to maintain themselves and their families. We may well imagine that it was in many instances a very struggle for life!
But this was not all. The moral difficulties which beset the path of these church organizers were also many and great. While the majority of the pioneer settlers of this county had come here to find perma- nent homes, and was made up of men of character, there was nevertheless a considerable minority com- pose l of that class which is ever found skulking in
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the gloom of the frontier. All history proves the proneness of the human mind to magnify the past at the expense of the present. This is true of men as individuals and as communities. The aged remem- ber with lively satisfaction the pleasures of their youthful years. Forgetting the evil, they paint the past in the brightest colors that memory can com- mand, and by contrast view the present as shaded in a somber gloom. And so every nation has its " golden age," about which its poets love to sing, and around which cluster the imaginations of all. The prevail- ing habit is to find in the past less of selfishness, and less of vice, and more of generosity, and more of virtue, than in the present. But this is the result of a mistaken philosophy. That the "world moves" toward a higher knowledge of the sciences and the arts is too palpable for even the liveliest imagination to dispute; and that it moves toward a higher plane of religious truth and morality, I believe to be like- wise equally true. The mission of Christianity is to elevate and ennoble men, and the most careless stu- dent of history must see that Christianity has not failed in its mission. In some things we may have fallen behind the morality of fifty years ago. Thus in politics it can not be claimed that we are better than our fathers; but it must be remembered that our fathers did not pursue politics as a trade, as is now the case, and that with the advent of the professional politician came in the evils which all good men now deplore. And so in other particulars we may have fallen behind, but the general tendency has been up- ward; and it is no reflection upon those who have
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gone before, for us to recognize the truth of this proposition. The early history of this county is re- markable for its comparative exemption from capital crimes. There was a less number of felonies of lower grade committed than is the case now perhaps in new settlements along the frontiers; but the number was large in comparison to the present ; while in the region of crime known as misdemeanor, the spirit of turbu- lence and disorder manifested, is beyond anything with which we of to-day are acquainted. An exam- ination of the records of the Circuit Court of this county, for a few years after its organization, discloses a state of society which indicates at a glance some of the moral difficulties in the way of establishing and building up this church. At the March term of this court for the year 1824, the second term of court ever held in the county, of sir causes on docket, four were for batteries and affrays. At the September term of that year of twelve causes, eight were criminal, five being for batteries and affrays. At the March term for 1825, of fifteen causes on the docket, ten were criminal causes, seven of which were for batteries and affrays. At the September term for that year, of fif- teen causes in all, eight were criminal, and were for batteries and affrays. At the March term for 1826, of nineteen causes in all, thirteen were criminal, and of these eleven were for batteries and affrays. At the September term for the same year, of seventeen causes on docket, ten were criminal, and of these seven were for batteries and affrays. At the March term for 1827, of thirty-seven causes in all, nineteen were criminal, and of these sixteen were for batteries and affrays.
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At the September term for that year, of thirty-seven causes, twenty-one were criminal, and of these nine- teen were for batteries and affrays. At the March term for 1828 there were twenty-six causes in all, eighteen of which were criminal, and of these eleven were for batteries and affrays. At the September term for the same year, of thirty two causes in all, twenty- one were criminal, and of these eleven were for bat- teries and affrays. At the March term for 1829, of thirty-six causes, eighteen were criminal, and of these nine were for batteries and affrays. At the March term for 1830 there were thirty-one cases on the docket, and of these nineteen were criminal, of which nine were for batteries and affrays. At the September term for the same year, there were thirty-three causes, seventeen of which were criminal, and of these eleven were for batteries and affrays. Ihave thus, at the risk of being tedious, gone over the court dockets for a period of seven years, in order that you might see for yourselves something of the state of turbulence and insubordination which prevailed in these early times. If you will but call to mind the sparseness of popu- lation during the time covered by these records, you can see at a glance what a large number of the people were inclined to vindicate their own personal griev- ances in spite of the precepts of religion and the penal- ties of the law. Thus, in 1826 there were one hun- dred and seventy-three votes cast in this county, and there were eighteen prosecutions in the Circuit Court for fighting, which is one fight to about every ninth voter. When I say, therefore, that the moral difficul- ties which confronted the little band of men and wo-
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men in their effort to found and build up this church, were great, I think the facts will bear me out; and when we consider both moral and physical obstacles in the way, who will say there was not a heroism dis- played by them worthy of all praise? To these faithful Christian men and women, and to all the little bands of faithful Christian men and women through- out this county and State, who, notwithstanding the adverse circumstances surrounding them, yet conse- crated themselves to the building up of churches to the living God here in the wilderness, all lovers of Christianity and of good order in government owe a debt of lasting gratitude.
In what house the little congregation met to engage in "public worship" on the occasion of the organiza- tion of this church, I am not advised; but it is not unfair to presume that it was in the old log court- house ; and while my faith does not allow me to at- tach any importance to place, I am not slow to confess that I would be glad to be able to say, with certainty, that it was in this house, dedicated to earthly justice. The church and the court-house ! Both ordained to promote good order and fair dealing among men, though working in different modes, and neither able to stand alone, in my judgment, without the other. How fitting and how appropriate, that, in the infancy of this community, the same house in which evil-doers were taught to fear the laws of the land, the con sciences of men should be taught to fear the laws of both God and man! But, be this as it may, the record chronicling the organization reads as follows:
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FRANKLIN, Johnson County, Ind., Nov. 30, 1824. This certifies that, after public worship, the follow- ing persons, who were members of the Presbyterian Church, came forward and were by administration of the subscriber, with prayer, constituted a Church of Christ, which was by agreement called Franklin.
Names of Members :
Males. GEORGE KING, JOSEPH YOUNG, DAVID W. McCASLIN.
Females.
ELENOR KING, NANCY YOUNG.
The members proceeded to choose George King and David W. McCaslin to the office of ruling elders, who were ordained to that office after a sermon by the Rev. George Bush. The session then received Jane MeCaslin, a member of the church, on examin- ation.
(Signed.) REV. JOHN M. DICKEY, Moderator.
At this point it may not be improper to speak a word with reference to the ministers who officiated on this occasion. From the internal evidence contained in this record, it is apparent that the Rev. John M. Dickey preached the organization sermon, if we may call it such. This man was at that time engaged in missionary work in Southern and Central Indiana. He came from Kentucky, and, after several years of missionary labor, was settled as a pastor in the south- ern part of the State, where he subsequently died. He is described as "being small, and unprepossessing m his appearance." Like Paul, his " bodily presence was w. k," but his words " were weighty and power-
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ful." Of the Rev. George Bush, who preached the ordination sermon, more is known. He was born in Vermont, in 1796, was educated at Dartmouth College, and studied theology at Princeton. In 1824 he came to Indianapolis, and remained in this State for nearly five years, performing missionary work part of that time, and pastoral a part. He is said to have been of good "bodily presence," captivating in his manners and pleasing in his address. In his preaching he was scholarly, always clear and sometimes eloquent. After leaving this field he was elected Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature in the University of New York, where he soon became celebrated for his Biblical learning. He was the author of a " Life of Mohammed," of a " Treatise on the Millennium," of "Scriptmal Hustrations," of a " Hebrew Grammar," and of a series of Bible commentaries, with which last production some of you are doubtless acquainted. In the later years of his life he adopted the Sweden- borgian faith, and about five years ago he died almost in destitution and want. We do not know that Mi Bush ever preached here again, but it is reasonable to suppose that he did, inasmuch as he remained in the field for nearly five years afterward. It is certain, however, that Mr. Dickey occasionally ministered here for several years following his first recorded appear- ance.
The church is now organized, the vine has been planted, and now let us glance over the fifty years that have come and gone since then, and take such note of the results as the opportunity allows.
The record read shows that Jane MeCaslin, who
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was the wife of David W., was the first member ad- mitted on "profession of faith." On the 25th of June following, Simon Covert and Mary, his wife, were ad- mitted on "certificates" issued by the Providence Congregation in Kentucky, and they were therefore the first members admitted in this manner. At the same time their infant daughter, Dorothy Ann, was baptized, and this was the first celebration of this or- dinance occurring within the church. In August of 1827, Mrs. Margaret Gilchrist, the wife of Robert Gil- christ, died, hers being the first death of a member of this church.
The growth of the church was necessarily slow, but there was a gradual growth from the very first. We have seen that one member, Mrs. McCaslin, was added on examination the first year. Three were added on certificate in 1825, the second year. In 1827 seven members were added on certificate, and in 1828, four on examination. At the close of this year the membership numbered nineteen, but the year fol- lowing it went up to fifty-one. Of the new members admitted this year ( 1829) ten were on certificate, and twenty-one, which was greater than the whole number in the church at the close of the year before, were converts. This is the first revival which is recorded in the history of the church. From the record it appears that the good work began in January, for on the tenth of this month, which was Sunday, the ten members were admitted on certificate, and two on ex- amination. On the twelfth four more were added in like manner. On the fourth Sunday in June eight were added, and on the fourth Sunday in August eight
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more, which is thirty-one in all. The next year, 1830, thirty members were added, all on certificate, save three.
The church has now been organized for six years, and it has grown from five members to seventy-seven. Of these thirty-two are males and forty-five are fe- males. Twenty-seven have been admitted on profes- sion and fifty on certificate. During these years there has been neither pastor nor stated place of worship. Sometimes the meetings were held at Pleasant 1Till, now flopewell, sometimes the members met at pri- vate houses, occasionally in the open woods, but oftener in the old log comt-house. Those who min- istered to this people then came at the charge of others ; Franklin was a missionary station. Of these missionaries, the names of Revs. Isaac Reed, William Duncan, John Moreland, Jeremiah Hill and William Wood are the most familiar to the reader of the records of these times. Of these men I have been able to learn but little; so little that it is scarcely worth the telling. Isaac Reed lived at Bloomington, in thus State, when preaching here, but subsequently moved to Illinois, and died in the city of Alton. Wil- liam Duncan was a Scotch divine, and the preacher of long, methodical, doctrinal sermons. Ile belonged to a ministerial school which is now believed to be ex- tinct. A dear lover of tobacco, he always preached with the "weed " in his mouth, and the younger members of his congregation counted with lively interest the number of quids taken, for thereby they could calcu late with unfailing certainty the near approach of the end. It is said of him, upon what seems at this time
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