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

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, C. C. Chapman & co.
Number of Pages: 1192


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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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108



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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


CITY OFL GOSHEN


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SECTIONAL MAP OF ELKHART COUNTY


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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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