USA > Indiana > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, together with historic notes on the Wabash Valley; gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic sources > Part 1
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NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08181997 5
( Montgomery)
Dechwith
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofmontgom00beck
FIRST COURT-HOUSE OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
(From plans and specifications on file in the archives of the county.)
HISTORY
OF
MONTGOMERY COUNTY,
TOGETHER WITH
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE WABASH VALLEY,
GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS, PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES.
BY H. W. BECKWITH,
OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO.
WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATION3.
CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND N. IDDINGS, PUBLISHERS. 1881.
- Biog waback river and valley - Hill. . Fountain Bounty, Ind. - Hist. G.D.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 790994 A ASTOR, LENOX AND TILPAN FOUNDATIONS * 1086 L
COPYRIGHT, 1881,
BY H. W. BECKWITH AND SON.
PRESS
KNIGHT & LEONARD
CHICA
A
PREFACE.
IN presenting this History to the public the editors and publishers have had in view the preservation of certain valuable historical facts and information which without concentrated effort would not have been obtained, but with the passing away of the old pioneers, the failure of memory, and the loss of public records and private diaries, would soon have been lost. This locality being compara- tively new, we flatter ourselves that, with the zeal and industry displayed by our general and local historians, we have succeeded in rescuing from the fading years almost every scrap of history worthy of preservation. Doubtless the work is, in some respects, imperfect ; - we do not present it as a model literary effort, but, in that which goes to make up a valuable book of reference for the present reader and the future historian, we assure our patrons that neither money nor time has been spared in the accomplishment of the work. Perhaps some errors will be found. With treacherous memories, personal, political and sectarian prejudices and prefer- ences to contend against, it would be almost a miracle if no mistakes were made. We hope that even these defects which may be found to exist may be made available in so far as they may provoke dis- cussion and call attention to corrections and additions necessary to perfect history.
The "History of the Wabash Valley "-necessarily the founda- tion for the history of this part of the country, by H. W. Beckwith, of Danville-has already received the hearty endorsement of the press, of the historical societies of the northwestern states, and of the most accurate historians in the country. Mr. Beckwith has in his possession perhaps the most extensive private library of rare historical works bearing on the territory under consideration in the world, and from them he has drawn as occasion demanded.
6
PREFACE.
The general county history, written by P. S. Kennedy, will be found by our readers to be in a bold, fearless style, dealing in facts as so many causes, and pursuing effects to the end without turning to the right or left to accommodate the opinions or prefer- ences of friend, party or sect.
The war record, which is as complete as can possibly be obtained, it is believed will give eminent satisfaction to the many brave boys who still survive and who took their lives in their hands and went forth to battle for the Union, and who have liberally patronized us in this work.
The township histories, by Messrs. Cowan, Cochran, Raymond, Hyde and Turner, will be found full of valuable recollections, which, but for their patient research, must soon have been lost forever, but which are now happily preserved for all ages to come. These gentlemen have placed upon the county and the adjacent country a mark which will not be obliterated, but which will grow brighter and broader as the years go by.
The biographical department contains the names and private sketches of nearly every person of importance in each township. A few persons, whose sketches we should be pleased to have pre- sented, for various reasons refused or delayed furnishing us with the desired information, and in this matter only we feel that our work is incomplete. However, in most of such cases we have obtained, in regard to the most important persons, some items, and have woven them into the county or township sketches, so that, as we believe, we cannot be accused of either partiality or prejudice.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
Topography - The drainage of the Lakes and the Mississippi, and the Indian and French names by which they were severally called. 11
CHAPTER II.
Drainage of the Illinois and Wabash - Their tributary streams - The portages connecting the drainage to the Atlantic with that of the Gulf 17
CHAPTER III.
The ancient Maumee Valley - Geological features - The portage of the Wabash and the Kankakee.
21
CHAPTER IV.
The rainfall-Cultivation of the soil tends to equalize rainfall, and prevent the recurrence of drouths and floods ..
26
CHAPTER V.
Origin of the prairies-Their former extent- Gradual encroachment of the forest - Prairie fires - Aboriginal names of the prairies, and the Indians who lived exclusively upon them
29
CHAPTER VI.
Early French discoveries -Jaques Cartier ascends the St. Lawrence in 1535- Samuel Champlain founds Quebec in 1608 - In 1642 Montreal is established - Influence of Quebec and Montreal upon the Northwest continues until subse- quent to the war of 1812 - Spanish discoveries of the lower Mississippi in 1525, 37
CHAPTER VII.
Joliet and Marquette's Voyage-Father Marquette's Journal, descriptive of the journey and the country through which they traveled - Biographical sketches of Marquette and Joliet. 43
CHAPTER VIII.
La Salle's Voyage - Biographical sketch of La Salle - Sketch of Father Hennepin and the merit of his writings 54
CHAPTER IX.
La Salle's Voyage continued - He erects Fort Miamis 63
CHAPTER X.
The several rivers called the Miamis- La Salle's route down the Illinois - The Kankakee Marshes -The French and Indian names of the Kankakee and Des Plaines - The Illinois - "Fort Crevecoeur "-The whole valley of the great river taken possession of in the name of the King of France .
72
8
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
Death of La Salle, in attempting to establish a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi - Chicago Creek - The origin of the name - La Salle assassinated and his colony destroyed - Second attempt of France, under Mons. Iberville, in 1699, to establish settlements on the Gulf-The Western Company - Law's scheme of inflation and its consequences. 87
CHAPTER XII.
Surrender of Louisiana to the French Crown in 1731 - Early routes by way of the Kankakee, Chicago Creek, the Ohio, the Maumee and Wabash described - The Maumee and Wabash, and the number and origin of their several names - Indian villages
96
CHAPTER XIII.
Aboriginal inhabitants - The several Illinois tribes - Of the name Illinois, and its origin - The Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Tamaroas, Peorias and Metchigamis, sub- divisions of the Illinois Confederacy - The tradition concerning the Iroquois River -Their decline and removal westward of the Missouri 105
CHAPTER XIV.
The Miamis- The Miami, Piankeshaw and Wea bands -Their superiority and their military disposition - Their trade and difficulties with the French and the English - They are upon the Maumee and Wabash - Their Villages - They defeat the Iroquois -They trade with the English, and incur the anger of the French -Their bravery - Their decline - Destructive effects of inten- perance -Cession of their lands in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio-Their re- moval westward and present condition 119.
CHAPTER XV.
The Pottawatomies - Originally from the north and east of Lake Huron - Their migrations by way of Mackinaw to the country west of Lake Michigan, and thence south and eastward - Their games - Origin of the name Pottawato- mie - Occupy a portion of the country of the Miamis along the Wabash - Their villages - At peace with the United States after the war of 1812 - Cede their lands - Their exodus from the Wabash, the Kankakee and Wabash ... 137
CHAPTER XVI.
The Kickapoos and Mascoutins reside about Saginaw Bay in 1612; on Fox River, Wisconsin, in 1670 - Their reception of the Catholic fathers - On the Maumee in 1712- In southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois - Migrate to the Wabash - Dwellers of the prairie - Their destruction at the siege of De- troit - Nearly destroy the Illinois and Piankeshaws, and occupy their country -Join Tecumseh in a body -They, with the Winnebagoes, attack Fort Harrison - Their country between the Illinois and Wabash -Their resem- blance to the Sac and Fox Indians 153
CHAPTER XVII.
The Shawnees and Delawares - Originally east of the Alleghany Mountains - Are subdued and driven out by the Iroquois - They war on the American settlements - Their villages on the Big and Little Miamis, the St. Mary's, the Au Glaize, Maumee and Wabash - The Delawares - Made women of by the Iroquois - Their country on White River, Indiana, and eastward defined -They, with the Shawnees, sent west of the Mississippi. 170
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Indians -Their implements, utensils, fortifications, mounds, manners and customs
... . 180
9
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIX.
Stone implements used by the Indians before they came in contact with the Euro- peans - Illustrations of various kinds of stone implements, and suggestions as to their probable uses 195
CHAPTER XX.
The war for the fur trade - Former abundance of wild animals and water-fowl in the Northwest - The buffalo ; their range, their numbers, and final disap- pearance - Value of the fur trade ; its importance to Canada 208
CHAPTER XXI.
The war for the empire- English claims to the Northwest - Deeds from the Iro- quois to a large part of the country. 224
CHAPTER XXII.
Pontiac's war to recover the country from the English-Pontiac's confederacy falls to pieces - The country turned over to the English - Pontiac's death ... 234
CHAPTER XXIII.
Gen. Clark's conquest of the "Illinois "- The Revolutionary war-Sketch of Gen. Clark - His manuscript memoir of his march to the Illinois - He cap- tures Kaskaskia -The surrender of Vincennes -Capt. Helm surprises a convoy of English boats at the mouth of the Vermilion River - Organization of the northwest territory into Illinois county of Virginia 245
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Topography and geology
1
Early history . . .
9
A noted criminal trial.
28
Montgomery County in the war of the rebellion
31
Roll of officers in the civil war.
33
Soldiers of the war for the Union
44
The honored dead
102
Railroads of Montgomery County
111
County officers
114
Union Township.
116
Crawfordsville
116
Organization of city
132
Benevolent Orders
142
Fire Department.
147
Trades and professions
149
Wabash College.
153
Biographical
159
Brown Township
319
Lake Harney
322
Public improvements
324
Early history
325
Organization .
327
Towns and villages
329
Secret Orders
333
Churches
336
Brown's Valley . .
345
New market
346
Biographical. 349
Walnut Township
362
Towns ..
368
Schools and churches
370
Lodges
371
Biographical
374
Additions . 137
10
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Scott Township
406
Biographical
414
Madison Township.
431
Lodges
433
Churches
434
Biographical
435
Clark Township
443
Biographical
452
Coal Creek Township
476
Schools
484
Churches
485
Meharry Grove.
488
Biographical
488
Franklin Township
521
Organization
525
Early history .
526
First land sales.
527
Early improvements
528
Biographical
540
Sugar Creek Township
562
Biographical 570
Ripley Township
583
Wayne Township
590
Biographical
592
Biographical 587
THE WABASH VALLEY.
CHAPTER I.
TOPOGRAPHY.
THE reader will have a better understanding of the manner in which the territory, herein treated of, was discovered and subse- quently occupied, if reference is made, in the outset, to some of its more important topographical features.
Indeed, it would be an unsatisfactory task to try to follow the routes of early travel, or to undertake to pursue the devious wanderings of the aboriginal tribes, or trace the advance of civilized society into a country, without some preliminary knowledge of its topography.
Looking upon a map of North America, it is observed that west- ward of the Alleghany Mountains the waters are divided into two great masses; the one, composed of waters flowing into the great northern lakes, is, by the river St. Lawrence, carried into the Atlantic Ocean ; the other, collected by a multitude of streams spread out like a vast net over the surface of more than twenty states and several ter- ritories, is gathered at last into the Mississippi River, and thence dis- charged into the Gulf of Mexico.
As it was by the St. Lawrence River, and the great lakes connected with it, that the Northwest Territory was discovered, and for many years its trade mainly carried on, a more minute notice of this remark- able water communication will not be out of place. Jacques Cartier, a French navigator, having sailed from St. Malo, entered, on the 10th of August, 1535, the Gulf, which he had explored the year before, and named it the St. Lawrence, in memory of the holy martyr whose feast is celebrated on that day. This name was subsequently extended to the river. Previous to this it was called the River of Canada, the name given by the Indians to the whole country .* The drainage of the St. Lawrence and the lakes extends through 14 degrees of longi- tude, and covers a distance of over two thousand miles. Ascending
* Father Charlevoix' "History and General Description of New France ;" Dr. John G. Shea's translation ; vol. 1, pp. 37, 115.
11
12
HISTORIC NOTES OF THE NORTHWEST.
this river, we behold it flanked with bold crags and sloping hillsides ; its current beset with rapids and studded with a thousand islands ; combining scenery of marvelous beauty and grandeur. Seven hundred and fifty miles above its mouth, the channel deepens and the shores recede into an expanse of water known as Lake Ontario .*
Passing westward on Lake Ontario one hundred and eighty miles a second river is reached. A few miles above its entry into the lake, the river is thrown over a ledge of rock into a yawning chasm, one hundred and fifty feet below ; and, amid the deafening noise and clouds of vapor escaping from the agitated waters is seen the great Falls of Niagara. At Buffalo, twenty-two miles above the falls, the shores of Niagara River recede and a second great inland sea is formed, having an average breadth of 40 miles and a length of 240 miles. This is Lake Erie. The name has been variously spelt,-Earie, Herie, Erige and Erike. It has also born the name of Conti.+ Father Hennepin says : " The Hnrons call it Lake Erige, or Erike, that is to say, the Lake of the Cat, and the inhabitants of Canada have softened the word to Erie ;" vide " A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America," p. 77; London edition, 1698.
Hennepin's derivation is substantially followed by the more accurate and accomplished historian, Father Charlevoix, who at a later period, in 1721, in writing of this lake uses the following words: "The name it bears is that of an Indian nation of the Huron language, which was formerly settled on its banks and who have been entirely destroyed by the Iroquois. Erie in that language signifies cat, and in some accounts this nation is called the cat nation." He adds : "Some modern maps have given Lake Erie the name of Conti, but with no better success than the names of Conde, Tracy and Orleans which have been given to Lakes Huron, Superior and Michigan."#
At the npper end of Lake Erie, to the southward, is Maumee Bay, of which more hereafter; to the northward the shores of the lake again
* Ontario has been favored with several names by early authors and map makers. Champlain's map, 1632, lays it down as Lac St. Louis. The map prefixed to Colden's "History of the Five Nations" designates it as Cata-ra-qui, or Ontario Lake. The word is Huron-Iroquois, and is derived, in their language, from Ontra, a lake, and io, beautiful, the compound word meaning a beautiful lake ; ride Letter of DuBois D'Avaugour, August 16, 1663, to the Minister: Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 16. Baron LaHontan, in his work and on the accompanying map, calls it Lake Frontenac; ride "New Voyages to North America," vol. 1, p. 219. And Frontenac, the name by which this lake was most generally designated by the early French writers, was given to it in honor of the great Count Frontenac, Governor-General of Canada.
+ Narrative of Father Zenobia Membre, who accompanied Sieur La Salle in the voyage westward on this lake in 1679 ; vide "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi." by Dr. John G. Shea, p. 90. Barou La Hontan's "Voyages to North America," vol. 1, p. 217, also map prefixed ; London edition, 1703. Cadwalder Col- den's map, referred to in a previous note, designates it as "Lake Erie, or Okswego."
# Journal of a Voyage to North America, vol. 2, p. 2; London Edition, 1761.
13
THE LAKES.
approach each other and form a channel known as the River Detroit, a French word signifying a strait or narrow passage. Northward some twenty miles, and above the city of Detroit, the river widens into a small body of water called Lake St. Clair. The name as now written is incorrect : " we should either retain the French form, Claire, or take the English Clare. It received its name in honor of the founder of the Franciscan nuns, from the fact that La Salle reached it on the day con- secrated to her."* Northward some twelve miles across this lake the land again encroaches upon and contracts the waters within another narrow bound known as the Strait of St. Clair. Passing up this strait, northward about forty miles, Lake Huron is reached. It is 250 miles long and 190 miles wide, including Georgian Bay on the east, and its whole area is computed to be about 21,000 square miles. Its magnitude fally justified its early name, La Mer-douce, the Fresh Sea, on account of its extreme vastness.+ The more popular name of Huron, which has survived all others, was given to it from the great Huron nation of Indians who formerly inhabited the country lying to the eastward of it. Indeed, many of the early French writers call it Lac des Hurons, that is, Lake of the Hurons. It is so laid down on the maps of Hen- nepin, La Hontan, Charlevoix and Colden in the volumes before quoted.
Going northward, leaving the Straits of Mackinaw, through which Lake Michigan discharges itself from the west, and the chain of Manitoulin Islands to the eastward, yet another river, the connecting link between Lake Huron and Superior, is reached. Its current is swift, and a mile below Lake Superior are the Falls, where the water leaps and tumbles down a channel obstructed by boulders and shoals, where, from time immemorial, the Indians of various tribes liave resorted on account of the abundance of fish and the ease with which they are taken. Previous to the year 1670 the river was called the Sault, that is, the rapids, or falls. In this year Fathers Marquette and Dablon founded here the mission of "St. Marie du Sault " (St. Mary of the Falls), from which the modern name of the river, St. Mary's, is derived .¿ Recently the United States have perfected the ship canal cut in solid rock, around the falls, through which the largest vessels * can now pass, from the one lake to the other.
Lake Superior, in its greatest length, is 360 miles, with a maximum breadth of 140, the largest of the five great American lakes, and the most extensive body of fresh water on the globe. Its form has been
* Note by Dr. Shea, "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi," p. 143.
t Champlain's map, 1632. Also " Memoir on the Colony of Quebec," August 4, 1663 : Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 16.
# Charlevoix' " History of New France," vol. 2, p. 119; also note.
14
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
poetically and not inaccurately described by a Jesuit Father, whose account of it is preserved in the Relations for the years 1669 and 1670: " This lake has almost the form of a bended bow, and in length is more than 180 leagues. The southern shore is as it were the cord, the arrow being a long strip of land [Keweenaw Point] issuing from the south- ern coast and running more than 80 leagues to the middle of the lake." A glance on the map will show the aptness of the comparison. The name Superior was given to it by the Jesuit Fathers, "in conse- quence of its being above that of Lake Huron .* It was also called Lake Tracy, after Marquis De Tracy, who was governor-general of Canada from 1663 to 1665. Father Claude Allouez, in his "Journal of Travels to the Country of the Ottawas," preserved in the Relations for the years 1666, 1667, says: " After passing through the St. Mary's River we entered the upper lake, which will hereafter bear the name of Monsieur Tracy, an acknowledgment of the obligation under which the people of this country are to him." The good father, however, was mistaken ; the name Tracy only appears on a few ancient maps, or is perpetuated in rare volumes that record the almost for- gotten labors of the zealous Catholic missionaries; while the earlier name of Lake "Superior" is familiar to every school-boy who has thumbed an atlas.
At the western extremity of Lake Superior enter the Rivers Bois- Brule and St. Louis, the upper tributaries of which have their sources on the northeasterly slope of a water-shed, and approximate very near the head-waters of the St. Croix, Prairie and Savannah Rivers, which, issuing from the opposite side of this same ridge, flow into the upper Mississippi.
The upper portions of Lakes Huron, Michigan, Green Bay, with their indentations, and the entire coast line, with the islands eastward and westward of the Straits of Mackinaw, are all laid down with quite a degree of accuracy on a map attached to the Relations of the Jesuits for the years 1670 and 1671, a copy of which is contained in Bancroft's History of the United States, t showing that the reverend fathers were industrious in mastering and preserving the geographical features of the wilderness they traversed in their holy calling.
Lake Michigan is the only one of the five great lakes that lays wholly within the United States,- the other four, with their connect- ing rivers and straits, mark the boundary between the Dominion of Canada and the United States. Its length is 320 miles ; its average breadth 70, with a mean depth of over 1,000 feet. Its area is some
* Relations of 1660 and 1669. t Vol. 3, p. 152; fourth edition.
15
LAKE MICHIGAN.
22,000 square miles, being considerably more than that of Lake Huron and less than that of Lake Superior.
Michigan was the last of the lakes in order of discovery. The Hurons, christianized and dwelling eastward of Lake Huron, had been driven from their towns and cultivated fields by the Iroquois, and scat- tered about Mackinaw and the desolate coast of Lake Superior hayond, whither they were followed by their faithful pastors, the Jesuits, who erected new altars and gathered the remnants of their stricken follow- ers about them ; all this occurred before the fathers had acquired any definite knowledge of Lake Michigan. In their mission work for the year 1666, it is referred to " as the Lake Illinonek, a great lake adjoin- ing, or between, the lake of the Hurons and that of Green Bay, that had not [as then] come to their knowledge." In the Relation for the same year, it is referred to as " Lake Illeaouers," and " Lake Illinioues, as yet unexplored, though much smaller than Lake Huron, and that the Outagamies [the Fox Indians] call it Machi-hi-gan-ing." Father Hen- nepin says : "The lake is called by the Indians, 'Illinouck,' and by the French, ' Illinois,'" and that the "Lake Illinois, in the native lan- guage, signifies the 'Lake of Men.'" He also adds in the same para- graph, that it is called by the Miamis, " Mischigonong, that is, the . great lake."* Father Marest, in a letter dated at Kaskaskia, Illinois, November 9, 1712, so often referred to on account of the valuable his- torical matter it contains, contracts the aboriginal name to Michigan, and is, perhaps, the first author who ever spelt it in the way that has become universal. He naïvely says, "that on the maps this lake has the name, without any authority, of the ' Lake of the Illinois,' since the Illinois do not dwell in its neighborhood." +
* Hennepin's "New Discovery of a Vast Country in America," vol. 1, p. 35. The name is derived from the two Algonquin words, Michi (mishi or missi), which signifies great, as it does, also, several or many, and Sagayigan, a lake; vide Henry's Travels, p. 37, and Alexander Mackenzie's Vocabulary of Algonquin Words.
t Kip's Early Jesuit Missions, p. 222.
CHAPTER II.
DRAINAGE OF THE ILLINOIS AND WABASH.
THE reader's attention will now be directed to the drainage of the Illinois and Wabash Rivers to the Mississippi, and that of the Maumee River into Lake Erie. The Illinois River proper is formed in Grundy county, Illinois, below the city of Joliet, by the union of the Kanka- kee and Desplaines Rivers. The latter rises in southeastern Wisconsin ; and its course is almost south, through the counties of Cook and Will. The Kankakee has its source in the vicinity of South Bend, Indiana. It pursues a devious way, through marshes and low grounds, a south- westerly course, forming the boundary-line between the counties of Laporte, Porter and Lake on the north, and Stark, Jasper and Newton on the south ; thence across the dividing line of the two states of Indi- . ana and Illinois, and some fifteen miles into the county of Kankakee, at the confluence of the Iroquois River, where its direction is changed northwest to its junction with the Desplaines. The Illinois passes westerly into the county of Putnam, where it again turns and pursues a generally southwest course to its confluence with the Mississippi, twenty miles above the mouth of the Missouri. It is about five hun- dred miles long ; is deep and broad, and in several places expands into basins, which may be denominated lakes. Steamers ascend the river, in high water, to La Salle ; from whence to Chicago navigation is contin- ued by means of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The principal trib- utaries of the Illinois, from the north and right bank, are the Au Sable, Fox River, Little Vermillion, Bureau Creek, Kickapoo Creek (which empties in just below Peoria), Spoon River, Sugar Creek, and finally Crooked Creek. From the south or left bank are successively the Iro- quois (into the Kankakee), Mazon Creek, Vermillion, Crow Meadow, Mackinaw, Sangamon, and Macoupin.
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