USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > History of Elkhart County, Indiana; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history: portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 1
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871F 26
HISTORY
OF
ELKHART COUNTY
INDIANA;
TOGETHER WITH SKETCHES OF ITS CITIES, VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS, EDU- CATIONAL, RELIGIOUS, CIVIL, MILITARY, AND POLITICAL HISTORY; PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT PERSONS, AND BIOGRAPHIES OF REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
HISTORY OF INDIANA,
EMBRACING ACCOUNTS OF THE PRE-HISTORIC RACES, ABORIGINES, FRENCH, ENGLISH AND AMERICAN CONQUESTS, AND A GENERAL REVIEW OF ITS CIVIL, POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY.
ILLUSTRATED.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 1800 CIT WASHINGTON
CHICAGO: CHAS. C. CHAPMAN & CO., 1881.
BLAKELY, BROWN & MARSH, PRINTERS, 155 & 157 DEARBORN ST., CHICAGO.
DONOHUE & HENNEBERRY, BOOKBINDERS, 105 & 109 MADISON STREET., CHICAGO
532
PREFACE.
Hundreds of thousands of figures, dates, initials and names! How many errors should there be amid so great a quantity of his- torical data? For this history these data were obtained from the most reliable sources, often at vast expense of money and toil, and yet, as any one will see at a glance, the accounts of various individuals are often so conflicting or defective that it is imipos- sible to get everything perfect. We all know how individual accounts of any complicated event in a neighborhood will vary; we are all familiar with the fact that witnesses, even to the same simple event, will vary in their testimony before a court; and when we connect these facts with another sad truth, namely, that the earliest settlers of this portion of the West are becoming few and their memories of 50 years ago confused, it is no wonder that it is costly work to compile a satisfactory local history, which the pub- lishers of the present volume have indeed undertaken to do.
To obtain a glance at the scope and merits of a work in a few moments, it is necessary to look critically at the title-page and table of contents. First of all, study the latter, in order to obtain an insight into the plan of the work. Notice particularly that the biographical sketches are systematically given by townships, that the townships are arranged alphabetically, and the biographies alphabetically under each township respectively. A few sketches are given in the body of the history of the county.
History is a series of accomplished facts arranged in regular form. The style of the writer may be natural or classical; but if his conscience is just the facts remain the same; they cannot be lessened or exaggerated. The History of Indiana, which forms the first section of this work, has been compiled with much care and strict regard to historical accuracy. Nothing is omitted that should have a place there. From the speculative paper on the mound- builders to that on the political activities of the present day is embraced a history well worthy the full attention of citizens. It is the most complete history of the State of Indiana ever published.
The second part of the work, devoted to Elkhart county, is replete in historical incident, and not wanting in all else required to make
.
PREFACE.
up the history of a great people. Doubtless a few interesting items may have escaped notice therein; but wherever such omission occurs, it will be found on reference to township history, that a very full compensation has been made.
The cities of Elkhart and Goshen have each claimed many inter- esting pages. They contributed in the highest degree to perfect the bright story of the county, and to draw forth the best energies of her sous.
The chapters devoted to township history are as extensive as they are entertaining. The history proper may be brief, but what is lost in this respect is doubly won in the mine of biographical matter brought to light. This necessarily includes every item of town- ship history worthy of record, and forms most interesting and instructive reading.
As one of the most interesting features of this work, we present the portraits of a number of representative citizens: wish we could have given pictures of all the old settlers and prominent citizens. Many residents, no doubt, are as prominent and worthy as those whose portraits appear in this volume.
We desire here to express our hearty thanks to those who have so freely aided us in collecting material. To the county officials, pastors of Churches, officers of societies, pioneers, and particularly the editors of the press, we are particularly grateful for the many kindnesses and courtesies shown us while laboring in the county; but most of all we wish to thank those who so liberally and materi- ally aided the work by becoming subscribers to it.
C. C. CHAPMAN & CO.
CHICAGO, January, 1881.
CONTENTS.
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
FORMER OCCUPANTS. 17
The Firet Immigration
18
The Second Immigration.
20
The Tartare ...
23
Relics of the Mound-Builders. 23
Indians .. 31
Mannere sud Customs. 34
EXPLORATIONS BY THE WHITES 87
Earliest Explorere 37
Quabache .. 39
Vincennes 89
NATIONAL POLICIES 41
The Great French Scheme. 41
Pontiac's War. 46
British Policy 46
American Policy. 46
Indian Savagery
47
EXPEDITIONS OF COL. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 52
Clara's Ingenious Ruse. 64
Subsequent Career of Hamilton. 64 Gibault. 65
Vige 66
GOVERNMENT OF THE NORTH - WEST
67
Ordinance of 1787. 70
Liquor and Gaming Laws. 74
MILITARY HISTORY, 1790 TO 1800. 75
Expeditions of Harmar, Scott and Wil- kiuson .... 75 78
Expeditions of St. Clair and Wayne. . . Wayne's Great Victory 79
TERRITORIAL HISTORY 82
Organization of Indiana Territory. 82
First Territorial Legislature. 81
The Western Sun. 84
Indiana in 1810 81 DIVORCE LAWS
GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE INDIANS.
87
Harrison's Campaign 92
Battle of Tippecanoe 98 WAR OF 1812 101
Expedition against the Indians 103 Close of the War 108
TECUMSEH. 111
CIVIL MATTERS 1812-5 116
Population in 1815. 118
General Vie v .. 118
ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE 121
BLACK HAWK WAR 123
LAST EXODUS OF INDIANS. 131
INDIAN TITLES ... 132
LAND SALES 133
HARMONY COMMUNITY 134 PIONEER LIFE 136
The Log Cabin. 136
Sleeping Accommodations 138
Cooking. 141
Women's Work 142
Drees and Manners. 149
Family Worship 145 The State Prison Senth .. 206
Hospitality . 147
Trade.
148
Money 148
Milling. 150
Agricultural Implements 150 Hog-Killing. 151 STATE OFFICERS 802 U. S. SENATORS FROM INDIANA 806 REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS. 307 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:
Prairie Firea. 152 Wild Hogs 156
Wolf Hunts .. 157
Bee-Hunting. 158 Snakes 158
STATES OF THE UNION.
319
Shakes
159
Education 160
"Past the Pictures."
161
Spelling-School 165
Singing-School .. 167
Guarding against Indians. 168
The Bright Side ..
What the Pioneers Have Done. 173
Military Drill. 1~5
"Jack, the Philosopher of the 19th Cen- tury." 176
"Too Full for Utter nce. 177
Thieving and Lynch-Law .. 1,9
Curing the Drunken Husband. 120 The "Choke Trap." 181
MICHIGAN BOUNDARY. 185
MEXICAN WAR. 186
SLAVERY 194
15th Amendment. 197
THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 198
198 Lincoln did net seek the Presidency States Seceding 199
The Fail of Sumter. 200
A Vast Army Raised in 11 Days. 201
Sherman's March to the Sea. 202
Character of Abraham Lincoln
The War Ended-The Union Restored. 204
The Morgan-Raid Regimente .. 2.27
Six Menthe' Regiments. 229
The 100-Daye' Volun teere 233
024
The President's Call of July, 1864. Dec.,
234
Independent Cavalry Company of Indi- sna Volunteers 238
Our Colored' Troops. 239
Batteries of Light Artillery. 239
After the War 246 250
FINANCIAL 251
State Bank
253
Wealth and Progress .. 254
Internal Improvementa.
GEOLOGY 256 262
COAL.
264
AGRICULTURE.
266
State Board of Agriculture.
266
The Exposition .. 267
Indians Horticultural Society. 269 Pomological 270
EDUCATION
272
Public Schools
Indiana State University 279
Purdue University .. 231
Indiana State Normal School. 295
Normal School, etc., at Valparstso. 286
Denominational and Private Institutions 287
BENEVOLENT AND PENAL INSTI- TUTIONS .. 291
Institute for the Education of the Blind 291
Institute for the Deaf and Dumb ... 293 Hospital for the Insane. 295
44 = North 297
Female Prison and Reformatory. 298
Indians House of Refuge. 300 STATE CAPITOL. 301
Native Animals 157 Of Governors. 910 Of U. S. Senators 816
THE SUPREMACIES
819
CONTENTS.
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY. 331
First Settlers in the North .. 335
CHAPTER II.
NATURAL HISTORY. 338
Quadrupeds 338
Birds .. 338
Reptiles 342
Fishes
342
Botany.
343
CHAPTER III.
PIONEERS' ASSOCIATION 35S
Pioneers' Song. 360
Members
362
Septuagenarians. 364
A Retrospect.
367
A History in Brief. 368
Organization
369
Location of the County-Seat .. 370
The First Grist-Mill 371
Platting Goshen 379
The Board of Justices Abolished 379
First Settlers at Goshen .. 372
The First Circuit Court. 379
" Northwestern Pioneer 373
The Bashful Man Craving Fame. 374
The Sac War 374
Court-House
375
Navigation of the Elkhart River.
375
Mail Route Established.
376
Political Reminiscences
376
" He would Connect Two Hemispheres" Elections and Politicians.
377
Goshen " Express "
Presidential Vote. .
378
Products .. 37S
Time and Change. 379
Happy Memories. 382
CHAPTER IV.
HABITS AND CUSTOMS ....
390
CHAPTER V.
THE FIRST RECORDS. 404
The Cary Mission. 404
Northern Indiana 407
Before the Era of Railways 408
Work of the Board of Justices 409
Session of 1831.
414
The New Board 417
CHAPTER VI.
THE BUILDING OF THE FORT 431
Sac War Concluded 412
CHAPTER VII.
A COLLECTION OF FACTS 457
Reminiscences of Elkhart. 459
Principal Citizens .... 459
Elkhart and its Institutions
459
Railroad Matters.
460
An Editor and a Lawyer .. 460
Miscellaneous .. 461
1843-a Retrospect .. 463
The Graves of Age and Youth 465
>
The Jackson Lot .. 468
CHAPTER VIII.
LAW: ITS PILLARS AND VICTIMS 450
The First Disturbers. 471
The Circuit Court. 475
The Reign of Terror. 478
Reminiscences of the Bar. 450
"Squire Rose and the Whigs 450
The Profane Hog-Robber 481
Washington Earle's Boots ..
482
The 'Squire's Democracy . 483
The Witty Barrister and the Judge. 484
Looking for Political Honors
456
The Auditor and the Immigrant.
486
The Farmer And the Lawyer.
487
The Profane Man and Judge Sample 488
Seven Citizens and the Long-Haired Stranger 489
The Oid Pioneer 490
The Terrible Judge. 494
The " Surrogugeon " Court .. 495
The Present Bar.
496
CHAPTER IX.
THE REPUBLIC MUST BE GUARDED .. 497
Presidential Vote of the County. 500
Other Election Statistics.
502
State Senators and Representatives.
502
Congressional Apportionment
503
CHAPTER X. COUNTY INSTITUTIONS AND OFFI- CIALS 506
The Court-House 506
Provision for the Relief of the Poor .... 513 The State Hospital and Elkhart County 516 County Judges, Justices and Officials .. 516
CHAPTER XI.
A MILITARY HISTORY. 527
The Goshen Guards 527
The War with Mexico. 529
A Nation's Roli of Honor. 535
Company Rosters ..
537
Losses by Death or Disease 566
Oak Ridge Cemetery 566
Jackson Cemetery
567
The Families of the Soldiers. 5G8
CHAPTER XII.
COUNTY FINANCES AND STATISTICS 575
Population by Townships. 582 Marriage Statistics 583
Number of Deaths Indicated by Appoint- ment of Administrators. 584
CHAPTER XIII ..
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND INDUSTRIAL .. 586 The County in General. 586
The Rivers and Streams. 587 A Sketch of Old and New Industries. 5SS
Railroads ... 591
Telegraph Company 593
Agricultural Products. 593
County Fairs.
593
Resources
599
CHAPTER XIV.
NEWSPAPERS AND THEIR CONSTITU- ENTS. 603
Goshen Democrat. 606
Goshen Times. 612
Goshen Independent .. 614
Elkhart Review. 615
Millersburg Enterprise 617
Bristol Banner 617
Elkhart Democrat 617
Nappanee Weekly News. 618
Elkhart County Journal 618
Light and Shade 620
The Danger of Being a Bachelor. 620
All about Apples
624
How Editors Commune with one Anoth- er. 624
A Milchiganer's Epistle to an Elkbart Girl ... 624 Delinquent Newspaper Subscribers .. . 625
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XV.
THE CHURCHES. 626
The Methodist Church. 629
The North Indiana Conference. 633
The Baptist Church ..
633
The Evangelical I'nited Mennonite
Church.
634
EDUCATIONAL. 642
The Episcopal Church. 634
The Presbyterian Church 635
The Catholic Church 635
Township Statistics
651
TOWNSHIP HISTORIES AND BIOGRAPHIES.
Baugo
655
Locke. 1041
Benton
660
Middlebury 1069
Cleveland
685
Olive. 1101
Clinton
692
Osolo .. 1115
Concord. 724
I'nion. 1128
Elkhart ..
881
Washington 1149
Harrison.
987
Jackson
999
Jefferson
1028
Noah B. Metzler 1180
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Map of Elkhart County 14 & 15
Pontiac. 193
Scene on the Ohio River. 25
The Shawnee Prophet. 195
Ifieroglyphics of the Mound-Builders ..... 29
Lincoln Monument at Springfield 204
LaSalle Landing at the Mouth of St. Joseph's River
43
View on the Wabash River. 247
Y Gen. Rogers Clark.
53
Surrender of Indians to Wilkinson Court-House. 329 289
· Tecumseh. 109
Old Court-House. 419
Indians Attacking Frontlersmen 123
Jali
509
A Pioneer Dwelling. 139
Hunting Prairie Wolves. 153
Goshen High-School Building. 897
PORTRAITS.
Allen, J. W.
365
Metzger, Jacob. 843
Anderson, Leander.
609
Milier, Samuel R. 569
Beebe, Calvin.
807
Mulholland, M. D., John R. 9.19
Beyerle, H. J ...
627
Myers, Jonas H. 579
Compton, James.
383
Neweil, Nathaniel 589
Congdon, Dr. J. R.
401
Randolph, Horace ..
645
Cummins, S. M.
915
Rippey, Joseph. 681
Dansman, David.
437
Rippey, Matthew. 1017
Davenport, B. L.
347
Rippey, Mrs. Matthew 1017
Eckelman, F. C.
825
Shaver, John .. 599
Ellis, Joel ..
455
Simonton, David S
861
Ellis, J. W. 473
Smith. Nicholas
1051
Evans, T. H. 491
Strong, S. S .. 699
Gorman, William B. 519
Thompson, David. 879
Heatwole, Joel P
529
Thompson, John E. 717
Hlibish, Tilman
663
Van Frank, John. 735
Hixon, Solomon Landis
539
Violett, John H. 993
Kessler, A. P.
549
Werntz, C. I. 753
McDowell, William
559
Wright, A. P. 771
The Congregational Church
639
Neff's Church.
610
The German Methodist Church
640
The Mennonites.
640
CHAPTER XVI.
Revenue 644
Address of Prof. Moury. G18
The Lutheran Church.
639
York 1171
Elkhart High-School Building 789
Trapping.
169
Opening an Indiana Forest .. 235
» Gen. Arthur St. Clair 89
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=
HISTORY OF INDIANA:
FORMER OCCUPANTS.
-
PREHISTORIC RACES.
Scientists have ascribed to the Mound Builders varied origins, and though their divergence of opinion may for a time seem incom- patible with a thorough investigation of the subject, and tend to a confusion of ideas, no doubt whatever can exist as to the compar- ative accuracy of conclusions arrived at by some of them. Like the vexed question of the Pillar Towers of Ireland, it has caused much speculation, and elicited the opinions of so many learned antiquarians, ethnologists and travelers, that it will not be found beyond the range of possibility to make deductions that may suffice to solve the problem who were the prehistoric settlers of America. To achieve this it will not be necessary to go beyond the period over which Scripture history extends, or to indulge in those airy flights of imagination so sadly identified with occasional writers of even the Christian school, and all the accepted literary exponents of modern paganism.
That this continent is co-existent with the world of the ancients cannot be questioned. Every investigation, instituted under the auspices of modern civilization, confirms the fact and leaves no channel open through which the skeptic can escape the thorough refutation of his opinions. China, with its numerous living testi- monials of antiquity, with its ancient, though limited literature and its Babelish superstitions, claims a continuous history from antediluvian times; but although its continuity may be denied with every just reason, there is nothing to prevent the transmission of a hieroglyphic record of its history prior to 1656 anno mundi, since many traces of its early settlement survived the Deluge, and became sacred objects of the first historical epoch. This very sur- vival of a record, such as that of which the Chinese boast, is not at variance with the designs of a God who made and ruled the universe; but that an antediluvian people inhabited this continent,
18
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
will not be claimed; because it is not probable, though it may be possible, that a settlement in a land which may be considered a portion of the Asiatic continent, was effected by the immediate followers of the first progenitors of the human race. Therefore, on entering the study of the ancient people who raised these tumu- lus monuments over large tracts of the country, it will be just sufficient to wander back to that time when the flood-gates of heaven were swung open to hurl destruction on a wicked world; and in doing so the inquiry must be based on legendary, or rather upon many circumstantial evidences; for, so far as written narra- tive extends, there is nothing to show that a movement of people too far east resulted in a Western settlement.
THE FIRST IMMIGRATION.
The first and most probable sources in which the origin of the Builders must be sought, are those countries lying along the east- ern coast of Asia, which doubtless at that time stretched far beyond its present limits, and presented a continuous shore from Lopatka to Point Cambodia, holding a population comparatively civilized, and all professing some elementary form of the Boodhism of later days. Those peoples, like the Chinese of the present, were bound to live at home, and probably observed that law nntil after the con- fusion of languages and the dispersion of the builders of Babel in 1757, A. M .; but subsequently, within the following century, the old Mongolians, like the new, crossed the great ocean in the very paths taken by the present representatives of the race, arrived on the same shores, which now extend a very questionable hospitality to them, and entered at once upon the colonization of the country sonth and east, while the Caucasian race engaged in a similar move- ment of exploration and colonization over what may be justly termed the western extension of Asia, and both peoples growing stalwart under the change, attained a moral and physical eminence to which they never could lay claim under the tropical sun which shed its beams upon the cradle of the human race.
That mysterious people who, like the Brahmins of to-day, wor- shiped some transitory deity, and in after years, evidently embraced the idealization of Boodhism, as preached in Mongolia early in the 35th century of the world, together with acquiring the learning of the Confucian and Pythagorean schools of the same period, spread all over the land, and in their numerous settlements erected these raths, or mounds, and sacrificial altars whereon they received their
19
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
periodical visiting gods, surrendered their bodies to natural absorp- tion or annihilation, and watched for the return of some transmi- grated soul, the while adoring the universe, which with all beings they believed would be eternally existent. They possessed religious orders corresponding in external show at least with the Essenes or Theraputæ of the pre-Christian and Christian epochs, and to the reformed Therapntæ or monks of the present. Every memento of their coming and their stay which has descended to us is an evi- dence of their civilized condition. The free copper found within the tumuli; the open veins of the Superior and Iron Mountain copper-mines, with all the modus operandi of ancient mining, such as ladders, levers, chisels, and hammer-heads, discovered by the French explorers of the Northwest and the Mississippi, are conclu- sive proofs that those prehistoric people were highly civilized, and that many flourishing colonies were spread throughout the Missis- sippi valley, while yet the mammoth, the mastodon, and a hundred other animals, now only known by their gigantic fossil remains, guarded the eastern shore of the continent as it were against sup- posed invasions of the Tower Builders who went west from Babel; while yet the beautiful isles of the Antilles formed an integral portion of this continent, long years before the European Northman dreamed of setting forth to the discovery of Greenland and the northern isles, and certainly at a time when all that portion of America north of latitude 45° was an ice-incumbered waste.
Within the last few years great advances have been made toward the discovery of antiquities whether pertaining to remains of organic or inorganic nature. Together with many small, but telling relics of the early inhabitants of the country, the fossils of pre- historic animals have been unearthed from end to end of the land, and in districts, too, long pronounced by geologists of some repute to be without even a vestige of vertebrate fossils. Among the collected souvenirs of an age about which so very little is known, are twenty-five vertebræ averaging thirteen inches in diameter, and three vertebræ ossified together measure nine cubical feet; a thigh-bone five feet long by twenty-eight, by twelve inches in diameter, and the shaft fourteen by eight inches thick, the entire lot weighing 600 lbs. These fossils are presumed to belong to the cretaceous period, when the Dinosaur roamed over the country from East to West, desolating the villages of the people. This animal is said to have been sixty feet long, and when feeding in cypress and palm forests, to extend himself eighty-five feet, so that he may
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
devour the budding tops of those great trees. Other efforts in this direction may lead to great results, and culminate probably in the discovery of a tablet engraven by some learned Mound Builder, describing in the ancient hieroglyphics of China all these men and beasts whose history excites so much speculation. The identity of the Mound Builders with the Mongolians might lead us to hope for such a consummation; nor is it beyond the range of probability, particularly in this practical age, to find the future labors of some industrious antiquarian requited by the upheaval of a tablet, written in the Tartar characters of 1700 years ago, bearing on a subject which can now be treated only on a purely circumstantial basis.
THE SECOND IMMIGRATION
may have begun a few centuries prior to the Christian era, and unlike the former expedition or expeditions, to have traversed north- eastern Asia to its Arctic confines, and then east to the narrow channel now known as Behring's Straits, which they crossed, and sailing up the unchanging Yukon, settled under the shadow of Mount St. Elias for many years, and pushing South commingled with their countrymen, soon acquiring the characteristics of the descendants of the first colonists. Chinese chronicles tell of such a people, who went North and were never heard of more. Circum- stances conspire to render that particular colony the carriers of a new religious faith and of an alphabetic system of a representative character to the old colonists, and they, doubtless, exercised a most beneficial influence in other respects ; because the influx of immi- grants of such culture as were the Chinese, even of that remote period, must necessarily bear very favorable results, not only in bringing in reports of their travels, but also accounts from the fatherland bearing on the latest events.
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