USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Sketches of prominent citizens of 1876 : with a few of the pioneers of the city and county who have passed away > Part 1
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Gc 977.202 In3n 1333103
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02302 2285
Piepietfully yours 924 13 Notand e
SKETCHES
OF -
PROMINENT CITIZENS
OF 1876,
WITH A FEW OF THE PIONEERS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY WHO HAVE PASSED AWAY.
By JOHN H. B. NOWLAND.
A SEQUEL TO "Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis." 1820-'76.
" Your monument shall be my gentle verse, Which eyes not yet created shall o'er-read ; And tongues to be, your being shall rehearse, When all the present breathers of this world are dead."
GC 977.202 In 3n
INDIANAPOLIS : TILFORD & CARLON, PRINTERS. 1877.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1877, by JOHN H. B. NOWLAND, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.
Any infringement of copyright will be rigidly prosecuted. The usual courtesies will be extended to the press.
1333103
DEDICATION.
The fact that there are many liberal patrons of this work who have taken a lively interest in its publication and success renders it exceedingly difficult for the author to select from the number one upon whom to bestow the slight testi- monial of regard in its dedication.
While I feel under lasting obligations to many others for liberality extended, I respectfully inscribe "SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS OF 1876," a sequel to "Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis," to AUSTIN H. BROWN.
INDIANAPOLIS, 1876.
THE AUTHOR.
$15.00
INTRODUCTORY.
IN presenting this work to the reading public I have no ambition to, nor shall I claim for it, any great degree of literary finish or elegance of style, but will write, in a plain, unvarnished way, sketches of some of the prominent citizens of the day, as well as of some of the pioneers of the city, county and State, who have gone down to the grave.
In performing this difficult and self-imposed task, I shall endeavor to be just, truth- ful and impartial. I shall seek to "render. therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's," and hope to merit the confi- dence of those leading men who have come forward and aided me by their connte- nance as well as subscriptions for the work. I shall premise some matter in regard to the early history of the city that I have referred to in a previous work, in order that the present citizens may know to whom this beautiful valley of White river originally belonged, when acquired by the Government and settled by the whites, and the great difficulties, dangers and privations incident to the settling of a wilderness whose in- habitants were almost entirely savage-
"Where nothing dwelt but beasts of prey, And men as fierce and wild as they."
In this, however, I shall be brief, and hasten to the prime object in view, and the work that the title indicates.
In these sketches I shall endeavor to set forth the part each has taken in building. up this great railroad center with its one hundred thousand inhabitants, its thirteen railroads, its beautiful temples of fashion and worship, its magnificent business blocks and banking honses, our unequaled fire department, and that magnificent specimen of architectural grandeur, the Court House. Men die, but the memory of their virtues and services to their country live after them if inscribed on the pages of its history. We would have known but little of William Penn or Benjamin Franklin, or their great services to the country, if it had not been handed down to us in written history. The
6
PREFACE.
present generation would scarcely have heard of Washington, Jefferson, Adams and other patriots and founders of the government, had no record been kept of their emi- nent services. We would have known nothing of Emmet, the patriot and martyr for the freedom of Ireland, had his history not been written. Of the poets, painters and composers of music who lived centuries ago, and whose works are the admiration of the present age, we would never have heard if there were no biographies written of them. The marble or granite monuments that marked their last resting place have long since crumbled and fallen to the earth, but their heroic deeds and services are fresh in the minds of their countrymen and their memory as enduring as the Rock of Ages.
" The living record of their memory 'Gainst death and all oblivious enmity, Their praise shall still find room Even in the eyes of all posterity."
A distinguished author once wrote,
" The evil that men do lives after them, The good is often interred with their hones."
The reverse of this, I think, is the fact, and that it is the good that is remem- bered. In support of this theory I will instance the case of Tom Paine, whose writ- ings and services in behalf of American independence are remembered with gratitude, while his heresy and pernicious religious opinions and teachings are execrated and are smouldering with his bones.
In writing these sketches, if I should err in any particular it will be unintentional on my part. I hope my patrons will remember that "To err is human, to forgive divine."
PROMINENT CITIZENS OF 1876,
A SEQUEL TO
"EARLY REMINISCENCES OF INDIANAPOLIS."
EARLY HISTORY OF THE "NEW PURCHASE."
THE beautiful valley of White river, in which the city of Indianapolis is situated, once belonged to that powerful and warlike tribe of Indians known as the Delawares, who had been gradually driven back from their ancient and original homes on the banks of the stream and in the State that derive their names from them.
They were the ancestors of the identical Indians that once owned the territory where Indianapolis now stands, that smoked the calumet and signed the treaty of peace with William Penn, under the "old elm tree" at their village, "Shackamaxon," now Kensington, Philadelphia, in 1682, nearly two centuries ago.
Voltaire, in writing of this treaty, says that it was the only one ever made with the Indians that was not sworn to, and that it was the only one kept inviolate and unbroken by either party.
From the banks of the Delaware they moved to the western part of Pennsylvania and Virginia, thence to Ohio. It was with these Indians, while living in Ohio and Virginia, that the notorious Lewis Whetzel had so many daring encounters and hair-breadth escapes, while he caused many to "bite the dust."
About the year 1800 this tribe removed to White river, in Indiana. After living here twenty years, they were transferred by the government to White river, in Arkansas. That country proving sickly, they were
8
SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
removed to Kansas, where they remained until a few years since. The remnant of the tribe, now less than one thousand souls, live in the In- dian Territory.
With this tribe John and William Conner lived and did business as traders, William Conner coming to White river in 1802, and establish- ing a trading house sixteen miles north of this city, on the east side of the river, overlooking a beautiful prairie containing about one section of land. At the treaty of St. Mary's, in 1818, this section was reserved for Mr. Conner, and is yet owned by his heirs.
Up to the time that Jacob Whetzel sought a home upon the banks of White river, which was in the spring of 1819, no white man, save Mr. Conner, dared to intrude upon their soil; neither would the brave and noble Miamis of the Wabash and Eel rivers, or the cowardly Pottawata- mies of the lakes endanger their scalps by trespassing upon the soil of those fertile valleys.
This country of original privileges was guarded with a watchful and jealous eye by its dusky owners. This "boundless contiguity of shade" was considered the finest hunting grounds of the " Great West." While this dense forest abounded with game, the beautiful and transparent waters of White river and Fall creek were no less celebrated for the superabundance and great variety of their fish. Upon the banks of . these streams the amateur angler might find "a paradise on earth."
This vast domain was purchased from the Indians at the treaty of St. Mary's, in the summer of 1818, and from that time was known as the "New Purchase." It was stipulated by the articles of the treaty, that the Indians should give entire possession in the fall of 1820, and that the government might proceed in the survey unmolested in 1819.
Soon after this treaty Jacob Whetzel, who then resided on the White- water river, in Franklin county, visited the head chief of the Delawares (Anderson), at his village, where the beautiful little city of Anderson now stands, in order to obtain the chief's consent to "blaze " and cut a trace from his residence to the bluffs of White river. In this he was successful, and accordingly in the fall of that year Mr. Whetzel, with the aid of a hired man, and his son, the late Cyrus Whetzel, cut that trace.
In the spring of 1819 Mr. Whetzel and son came out on foot, pack- ing their provisions, axes and guns, and camped about three hundred yards below where the village of Waverly now stands. After selecting a tract of rich bottom land, upon which to make their improvements, the elder Whetzel returned to his home, leaving the son, a boy but nineteen years old, alone to commence the clearing.
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EARLY HISTORY OF THE " NEW PURCHASE."
The second night after the father left was a stormy one. During the night the young man awoke and found he had a brawny Delaware for a bed-fellow, the Indian having come to the camp and helped him- self to its meager accommodations uninvited. The next morning the young man was glad to find that he had not only found a camp com- panion, but one who would remain with him until his father returned, which he did, and furnished the camp with meat while the young man proceeded with the work. Mr. Whetzel has often narrated this incident to the writer, and said he felt as secure there alone with that untutored son of the forest as if he had been surrounded with whites.
It was at this point, in March, 1819, that commenced the first per- manent settlement of the "New Purchase."
The following autumn Mr. Whetzel moved his family to his new home, and was soon followed by the families of Bradshaw, Ladd, Craig, Beeler, and many others, who became permanent citizens.
The act of Congress of April, 1816, admitting Indiana into the Union as one of its sovereign States, also granted four sections of public land as a permanent seat of government or capital of the new State. In consequence of this, the central part, yet belonging to the Indians, the selection of the site was postponed, and not made until the summer of 1820. The Legislature that assembled at Corydon during the winter of 1819-1820, appointed ten commissioners to make the selection, with instructions to locate it as near the center of the State as a good site could be obtained ; these commissioners were Stephen Lud- low, John Conner, John Gilliland, George Hunt, Frederick Rapp, John Tipton, Joseph Bartholomew, Jesse B. Durham, William Prince and Thomas Emerson. Frederick Rapp and other members of the commis- sion from the southern portion of the State, met at Vincennes about the middle of May, 1820, preparatory to joining the others at the trading house of William Conner, on White river, and near where the location would most likely be made.
Matthias R. Nowland and Andrew Byrne, father and uncle of the writer, had been visiting some friends and relations in Lawrence county, Illinois. On their return to their home, which was Frankfort, Ken- tucky, they happened at Vincennes at the time that portion of the commission were about to start to the Upper White river, or the newly acquired territory, to carry out the object for which they were appointed. My father and uncle were persuaded and induced to join and accompany the party. The first settlement they found after entering the new pur- chase, was at the bluffs of White river, where there were about half a
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
dozen families, already mentioned. There they camped near the cabin of Jacob Whetzel, and remained one day to rest themselves and their jaded horses. At this point the commission was not yet full; those present were favorably impressed with the country, and afterward pro- posed revisiting that place and giving it a more thorough examination, with a view to making the location at that point.
The next stopping place, or camping ground, was on the east or left bank of Fall creek, at its junction with White river; this place has been called the "mouth of Fall creek," from the time it began to be settled. Here they remained one day, and were also favorably impressed with the location. My father told the commissioners that if this place should be selected he would not only move out to it in the fall, but would try to induce other Kentuckians to join him. At that time there were about four or five families here, viz., Hardings, Wilson, Pogue' and McCormack, all of whom had come that spring. My father and uncle remained at this place while the commissioners went to join their asso- ciates at the house of William Conner, near where Noblesville now stands. One of the commissioners, William Prince, was unable to attend. The nine present proceeded to examine John Conner's favorite location, which was where the last named town is now situated; but one or two favored this point. The party then returned to the mouth of Fall creek, and after a few days further examination this site was unani- mously chosen on the 7th day of June, 1820.
The commission was greeted with demonstrations of joy and approval by the few families here, and their scanty stores of provisions were freely divided with them. Since the White river country had been known to the whites and French traders, the mouth of Fall creek was the crossing place of White river by the Indians in journeying throughi from the Ohio to the Wabash river. It was here that Lieutenant Tay- lor (afterwards President of the United States) crossed his army when marching from Louisville, Kentucky, to build Fort Harrison, in the year 1811; this fact the writer learned from him personally.
While the army was here, the late Colonel Abel C. Pepper said he first met the celebrated Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, who was here on an embassy to the Delawares. From the time the selection was made the "mouth of Fall creek" began to attract attention in the " settlements" of the State, yet the people were deterred from moving their families to the place, as the time the Indians were to hold possession had not yet expired. I well remember the excitement it caused when my father
II
EARLY HISTORY OF THE " NEW PURCHASE."
returned to his home and announced his intention of immediately removing to the "New Purchase " in Indiana.
His friends did all they could to dissuade him from carrying out his intentions. He was told that he would be prevented by the Indians from ever reaching the White river country; that he was endangering the lives of his whole family. In short, every argument was used to deter him from carrying out so hazardous an undertaking.
But arguments were of no avail. His mind was made up the moment the location of the " capital in the woods " was made. About the middle of October we left our home to seek our fortune among strangers in a wilderness, whose population was almost entire savage. To traverse a wilderness, such as the country was at that time, was a formidable undertaking, and great caution was necessary in selecting a camping ground for the night. While the female portion of the family were preparing the evening meal, the men were hobbling the horses and getting the fire-wood for the night, during which some kept watch while the others slept. No one but those who have experienced the same joyful feeling can appreciate how we felt in the morning, when many miles from the habitation of civilized man, to find that we still retained our scalps, and that we were permitted, unmolested, to enjoy that sweet rest so refreshing to weary travelers while journeying from one part of the country to another in those primitive times.
If contented, in whatever sphere of life we are placed it requires but little philosophy to insure happiness. Still, I must confess that it required considerable fortitude to undertake such a journey as we accomplished at that time, exposed to danger on all sides and many troubles that were only imaginary. We were the first family that had traveled " Berry trace " after it was blazed out by him.
Immediately after the commissioners had made their report the Legislature confirmed their action, and passed the act authorizing the laying out of the town, and selecting an agent of State and three com- missioners to superintend the same, as well as the sale of lots.
There were several names proposed to the committee for the town ; only two of the rejected of which we remember, Delaware and Te- cumseh. The one adopted was given by Jeremiah Sullivan, the repre- sentative fron Jefferson county. Mr. Sullivan was afterwards a promi- nent citizen of the State, and Judge of the Supreme Court, and died but a few years since. The act above referred to reads as follows:
"The said town, laid out as the permanent seat of government for
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
the State of Indiana, shall be called and known by the name of In-di-an- ap-ol-is."
In accordance with the provisions of this act, General John Carr was elected agent of State; John W. Jones, Samuel Booker and Christopher Harrison, commissioners. They immediately organized and appointed Alexander Ralston surveyor.
Mr. Ralston was a native of Scotland, and was engaged and assisted in laying out the city of Washington. He came to the west about the year 1815, in connection with the expedition of Aaron Burr. He died in this place in January, 1827, and sleeps in the old cemetery, without a memorial to mark his resting place.
The winter of 1820 and 1821 was the coldest ever experienced in this latitude. The ground was covered with snow from early in Novem- ber until the first of March; yet the " settlers" seemed contented, and lived as happily in their log cabins as Friday and Robinson Crusoe. There were "none to molest or make them afraid," except their dusky neighbors, and they kept pretty quiet during the winter.
CHRISTMAS, 1820.
The first Christmas dinner we ate in Indianapolis is yet freshi in my mind. A large wild turkey was killed for the occasion within one hun- dred yards of our door, and near where Washington street now crosses the canal. The manner of cooking would be a little novel at this time. It was suspended by a small rope from a joist of the cabin, and hung in front of the fire, about eighteen inches above the clay hearth, with a pan under it to receive the gravy. The heat of the fire caused it to revolve continually, and in this way it was cooked most thoroughly. There are a few persons yet living who have never allowed any innovations on this primitive mode of cooking. What that Christmas dinner lacked in variety and style of the present day was made up in the happiness and contentment with which it was partaken.
Christmas morning the family of my father were alarmed by the re- port from five or six rifles at the cabin door, just before daylight ; but their fears were soon relieved by one of the Hardings calling for " Old Kaintuck" to "get up; we want some of your old peach." This my father understood to be some brandy, of which they had used pretty freely while assisting to raise our cabin.
The place where this city now stands was covered with a dense growth of sugar, walnut, poplar, ash, hackberry and hickory, inter- spersed with buckeye, elm, oak and beech, with a thick undergrowth of
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EARLY HISTORY OF THE " NEW PURCHASE."
spice-wood and prickly-ash. The ravines and banks of the streams were lined with leather-wood, alder and paw-paw. The ground was wet and marshy, so much so that a horse would sink above the pastern joints in the driest season of the year. Such was Indianapolis when we first saw it.
The month of March was occupied by the "settlers" in making sugar and clearing ground for raising corn.
GEORGE POGUE.
About the first of April, 1821, the first incident calculated to create alarm among the settlers occurred-the disappearance and supposed murder by the Indians of George Pogue. Mr. Pogue lived just outside of the donation line, on the east or left bank of the creek that took its name from him. His cabin was about one hundred yards north of where the starch factory is now located.
George Pogue was a large, broad-shouldered and stout man, with dark hair, eyes and complexion, about fifty years of age, a native of North Carolina. His dress was like that of a " Pennsylvania Dutch- man ": drab overcoat, with many capes, broad brim felt hat. He was a blacksmith, and the first of that trade to enter the new purchase. To look at the man as we saw him last, one would think he was not afraid to meet a whole camp of Delawares in battle array, which fearlessness, in fact, was most probably the cause of his death.
One evening, about twilight, a straggling Indian, known to the set- tlers, as well as to the Indians, as Wyandotte John, stopped at the cabin of Mr. Pogue, and requested to stay all night. Mr. Pogue did not like to keep him, but thought it best not to refuse, as the Indian was known to be a bad and very desperate man, having left his own tribe in Ohio for some offense, and was now wandering among the vari- ous Indiana tribes. His principal lodging place the previous winter was a hollow sycamore log that lay under the bluff and just above the east end of the National road bridge over White river. On the upper side of the log he had hooks (made by cutting the forks or limbs of bushes), on which he rested his gun. At the open end of the log, next to the water, he built his fire, which rendered his domicile as comfortable as most of the cabins. We well remember it as here described.
After John was furnished with something to eat, Mr. Pogue, know- ing him to be traveling from one Indian camp to another, inquired if he had seen any white man's horses at any of the camps. John said he had left a camp of Delawares that morning, describing their place to be
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SKETCHES OF PROMINENT CITIZENS.
on Buck creek, about twelve miles east, and near where the Rushville State road crosses said creek; that he had seen horses there with iron hoofs (meaning that they had been shod), and described the horses so minutely as to lead Mr. Pogue to believe they were his. Although the horses were described so accurately, Mr. Pogue was still afraid that it was a deception to lure him into the woods, and mentioned his suspi- cions to his family.
When the Indian left, next morning, he took a direction toward the river, where nearly all the settlement was. Pogue followed him for some distance, to see whether or not he would turn his course towards the Indian camps, but found that he kept on direct toward the river.
Mr. Pogue returned to his cabin and told his family he was going to the Indian camp for his horses. He took his gun, and with his dog set out on foot for the Delaware camp, and was never afterward seen or heard of.
We remember there were a great many conflicting stories about his clothes and horses having been seen in possession of the Indians, all of which were untrue.
There can be no doubt that the Wyandotte told Mr. Pogue the truth in regard to the horses, and in his endeavor to get possession of them, he had a difficulty with the Delawares and was killed. At least such was the prevailing opinion here at the time, but as to any certainty in regard to his fate it was never known, and of course at this late day never will be.
The settlers formed a company for the purpose of searching the dif- ferent Indian camps within a radius of forty or fifty miles of the place, to find some key that might unlock the mystery, but none was ever found.
A few years since we made the assertion, through one of the city papers, that John McCormack was the first white man that settled in Indianapolis, and that he built his cabin on the bank of the river on the 26th day of February, 1820. This fact had been patent up to that time and had never been denied, but I was surprised that some person had informed one of the city editors that I was in error, and that George Pogue was the first settler, and had come here in March, 1819. I imme- diately addressed a letter to the late Cyrus Whetzel on this subject, and received this answer, which was published in the Sentinel at the time :
WAVERLY, Morgan County, March 10, 1870.
MR. J. H. B. NOWLAND :- Dear Sir-Yours, of the fourth inst., is received. The subject to which you call my attention I thought was settled many years since, i. e. that John McCormack built the first house in Indianapolis, in February, 1820, and that George
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EARLY HISTORY OF THE " NEW PURCHASE."
Pogue settled on the bank of the creek that takes its name from him the following March .. I am confident that there was not a white man living in Marion county in 1819. My father and self settled where I now live in the spring of 1819, when I was in my nine- teenth year, and at an age calculated to retain any impression made on my mind.
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