A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 16

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273

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as LaCroix is of Otis. But the postoffice is called Rolling Prairie. Several additions have been made to it by W. J. and B. P. Walker.

A visitor to the place in February, 1862, writes thus of it: "There are signs of improvement in several parts of Portland. Mr. Rowe, successor in drygoods business to Louis Griffith & Com- pany, has a very fine brick building nearly com- pleted for his store. There are two stores owned respectively by Mr. Rowe and Mr. Kirstead, one · hotel kept by Mr. Montgomery, several groceries, a postoffice, a wagon shop, blacksmith shop : two churches, a Christian and a Presbyterian, and a very large, fine schoolhouse in which there are several departments. John G. Laird, one of the most accomplished teachers in the west, has charge of it. There is also one good steam flour- ing mill. several sawmills near by the town, and all the facilities are there to make the town de- sirable to live in. Elder Lord, of LaPorte, had just commenced a series of revival meetings at the Christian church there, and the Good Temp- lars have a flourishing lodge."

Rolling Prairie is pleasantly situated and commands a large business for a town of its size. It contains at the present time about four hun- dred people, three general stores, one drugstore, two blacksmith shops, two saloons, and a grain elevator at the station; for the town has always been a great shipping point. It has a Presbyter- ian church, a Methodist Episcopal church and pastor, and a Disciples church and pastor. It has Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges, a tent of the Maccabees for both ladies and gentlemen. and a post of the Grand Army of the Republic. It also has a creamery and is pleasantly situated in a rolling country on the Lake Shore Railroad. It has many things to commend it as a desirable place in which to live.

Among the settlers of Kankakee township, whose names have received public notice may be mentioned Samuel J. Anderson, who came in 1837, and possessed a fine farm : C. L. O. Bell, who held a number of township offices and be- came a successful farmer : A. C. Bowell, a farmer and owner of a sawmill and cider mill ; James H. Buck, who became a farmer, a captain in the Union army, and is now president of the LaPorte Savings Bank ; Orville Buck, farmer and promo- ter of improvements in the township; Isaac Bush, who held several township offices ; Benjamin De-

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

Witt, a farmer, one of the early pioneers who came in 1835. The following also are named as early settlers : Griffin Treadway, John I. Cran- dall, George C. Havens, W. A. Place, Stephen Norton, W. W. Burhans, D. E. and I. B. Coplin, William Everhart, John Van Rust, G. W. Stew- art, J. R. Stewart, Charles W. Wing, Seth Way, Curtis and John B. Travis and others. came in 1837 : Samuel Downing. extensive farmer and trustee of the LaPorte Savings Bank ; Will- iam Downing, who though liberally educated be- came a farmer : B. S. Fail, one of the first white children born in the county : Ransom P. Goit, a native of the county, a merchant in Michigan, but afterwards a farmer of Kankakee township; Pleasant, as the name indicates, is a beautiful township, consisting mostly of upland prairie ly- ing between the Little Kankakee and Hood Caleb Harvey, farmer, stock dealer and raiser of large quantities of wheat, oats and corn ; John Hatfield. one of the first to locate in Rolling . creek. Under the labors of these settlers it soon Prairie after it was platted by Major Walker; Fred Helman, John Hillman, Nicholas Hoover and William Lown, all farmers.

Jacob S. Martin came to the county in 1847 and afterwards graduated in medicine and became a physician in Rolling Prairie. John Martin, John Miller, Miner Nesbitt, Asa C. Pease, John Proovolt, James Powell and William W. Proud, became farmers and reared families from which have come many of the good people of the town- ship. D. W. Rynearson, a farmer, was also a hunter and trapper, and killed large numbers of foxes and deer. Philip D. Sharples, M. D., be- came a physician and druggist in Rolling Prairie. Peter Shupp held the office of county surveyor and a number of township offices. W. B. Stevens became a merchant in Rolling Prairie, carrying a large stock of goods. Logan Taylor and Chester Towner became successful farmers. Samuel B. Webster and Daniel S. Wells became farmers and held important township and county offices. M. L. Walt received a liberal education and gave his time to teaching. William B. Wilson, M. D., was the first physician to locate in Rolling Prairie and soon had a large practice. These are only a few of the men who, though of different religious and political creeds, worked unitedly for the prosperity of their township. Isaac N. White- head and C. W. McCarty may also be mentioned in the list of Kankakee's prominent citizens.

The next township to develop was Michigan, and then Center; but, reserving these for an- other chapter. we pass on to Pleasant township. Among the settlers who arrived in this township after 1832 are given the names of Silas Hale, Oliver Classon, John Wilson, Andrew Harvey, and Asa Owen, who came in 1833. Valentine Nicholson also came very early. Ralph Loomis, George S. McCollum and Samuel Stewart came in 1834. James Van Valkenburgh and others

began to develop. It has only one village, which is Stillwell, the junction of the Grand Trunk and the Lake Erie and Western railroads. The former has a large coaling station here, which em- ploys several men and gives much life to the vil- lage. Three sets of section men-two of the Grand Trunk and one of the Lake Erie, have their homes here. There are also two general stores, which have a large trade. The Friends have a chapel and resident minister, there is a graded school, a town hall, a hotel, a resident physician, and the village is the center of a good farming community and a point from which considerable grain and hay are shipped.

Among the men who have given their ener- gies to the development of this township are the following: Ziba Bailey, a strong Union man in the Civil war, a justice of the peace and a success- ful farmer; George Bosserman, who visited the township in 1836 and settled here and became a prominent man; Christopher and Charles Biel- feldt, W. W. Burhans, David E. Coplin, Nathan W. Crane, James O. Crowl, Fred Dietrich, Fred- erick Geer, James M. Hannum, Jr., Frank Mill, O. J. Parkell, John A. Reeve, William Tobin, John Whitmer, John P. Oakes and John D. Wil- son, all became farmers, and indeed, farming is about the only industry in this prairie township. C .E. Young, M. D., was formerly a physician in Stillwell.

A few days before this writing, Christopher Bielfeldt passed away; that is, on February 25, 1904. He was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, April 5, 1827, and thirty years later, in 1857, he came to LaPorte with his wife and two children. His residence in the county was continuous from that period. He followed farming for many years accumulating a snug competence as the result of frugal industry. He moved to this city a number of years ago to enjoy the fruits of his labor, and

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and in the quiet life of his retirement, surrounded by his children, to whom he was devoted, he en- joyed the respect of the community and the love of his children until death in the deepening shad- ows of his years brought the everlasting sleep and closed the chapter of life. The funeral services were held in St. John's Lutheran church, on the afternoon of February 28, the pastor, Rev. P. Eickstaedt, pronouncing a eulogy in both German and English.

In Wills township Jacob Gallion, Jesse Wil- lett, Nimrod and Jesse West and J. Clark were all early settlers. In 1833 Joseph Starrett bought an Indian float and settled on it. Indian floats were land warrants issued by the government to the Indians; they were assignable and therefore did not protect the settlers but generally found their way into the hands of speculators. In March, 1834, John Bowell, wife and family came from Clark county, Indiana. Among them was A. C. Bowell, of Kankakee township, mentioned above. In November of the same year, James Drummond, son-in-law of John Bowell, came with his wife. In April, 1866, John Bowell and his wife both passed away within a week of each other, and their remains were buried on the same spot where they encamped when they first en- tered the township, where the cemetery after- wards was located. George Hunt with a family of six sons arrived in 1835. John and James Wills, James Drummond, Isaac Miller, Asa War- ner, Jacob Miller, John Cissne, Andrew Shaw, David Stoner, Howell Huntsman, Mr. Kitchen, Dr. Chapman, Matthias Dawson, Asher White, Edmund Jackson, Joseph Lykins, John Suther- land, William Ingraham, Scott West, John Hefner, Jesse Cissne, William Nixon, William West, Gab- riel Drollinger, Andrew Fuller. John Vickory, Nimrod West, Jacob Glygean, Jonathan Stoner, John Clark, George Belshaw, Samuel Van Dal- sen, Martin Baker, Jesse Cullum, John Galbraith, Benjamin Galbraith and Mr. Gallion, besides many others whose names it would be difficult to obtain, were all residents of this township in 1835. This may serve to. show how rapidly the county was being settled.

In 1835 a trading post was opened by an In- dian named Rice, in a spot afterwards known as Boot Jack. Rice left the following year, but quite a settlement grew up there, containing a tavern, a store, shops, etc., etc. How the place

came by its queer name is a mystery. Some say it is because a fork in the roads resembles the crotch of a boot jack, others that a drunken trav- eler who was expelled from the tavern turned and shook his fist at the place and in derision called it Boot Jack. The place once had some pretensions, but was never platted as a town, and no signs re- main of its former activity.

Another settlement in Wills township was In- dependence or Sac Town or "Sauktown" as it is . called. This was platted as a village, the plat being recorded on May 12, 1837. It was expected that a railroad and canal would be built through the town and form a junction with each other at this point, and for a time there were visions of coming wealth ; stores, shops, mills, and a tav- ern followed, but neither railroad nor canal ap- peared, other railroads drew the centers of ex- exchange away, stores became closed, mills were moved away, and to-day Independence is marked only by a church, a schoolhouse, and a few other buildings. But it should be remembered that with all these extinct villages, the rich farming country and farming interests remained.

Recently (March, 1904,) James L. Monahan celebrated his eightieth birthday at his home in Michigan City. He was born in Clark county and settled near Sauktown, LaPorte county, in 1834, and he has been a resident of the county. therefore, during the last seventy years. He moved to Michigan City twenty-one years ago. He was in vigorous health, and if he and Mrs. Monahan had lived until April 1, next, they would have celebrated their fifty-eighth wedding anniversary.

Another little center in Wills township with a queer name was Puddletown, on the shore of a lake by that name, in section nine. It was never platted as a village. At one time it contained a steam sawmill, which was moved there from In- dependence, also stores, shops, and other signs of life; but like other such settlements after the establishment of railroads elsewhere it deterior- ated as a village until now only a schoolhouse re- mains.

Among the names of the useful men in the history of Wills township we find the following : Dr. B. C. Bowell, a farmer and practicing phy- sician : Broadrick Bunton, Jesse Coleman, John L. Couchman, Richard Cranmer, George Dawson, Joseph Curm, O. Dawson, David Harris, Philip

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

. Haussauer, Joseph Hostotler, Jared Drollinger, Duncan M. Hunt, Jacob R. May, John P. Mills, Harvey Norris, John C. Parker, Joseph Reese, Daniel H. Roysdon, David Stoner, Jacob Weis- berger and John W. Zeigler, all farmers or farm- ers and stock-raisers. L. C. VanDusen was first a farmer and then a merchant. Hon. William H. Calkins, lawyer representative and congressman, is well remembered. These men and many others helped to develop this rolling, diversified, and productive township.

Springfield township does not have as much good soil as some other townships, but it is well timbered, its soil is warm and adapted to fruit- raising, and by fertilization yields good crops. A ride through the township discloses good homes and farm buildings which indicate pros- perity. It has a few marshes which with drain- ing would make excellent tillage. In 1833 Gil- bert Rose, Hiram Griffith, John Griffith and Erastus Quivey became settlers. In 1834 C. R. Madison, Ingraham Gould, Michael Fall, Ezekiel Blue, Abner Ross, Aaron Conklin, John Johnson, Henry S. Allen, John White, A. N. Shippe, Josiah Redding, and others came. James V. Hopkins came in 1835, but settled afterward in Michigan City, Solomon Ross in 1834 or 1835, and Phineas Hunt in 1835.

In 1833 the town of Springville was surveyed by Daniel M. Leaming, who laid it out for Judah Leaming, the original proprietor. The plat was filed for record August 19, 1835, and a post- office was established in March, 1840. It took its name from a spring of pure, cold water in the vicinity. Here also, as in other places, stores, postoffice, different kinds of shops, and even a bedstead factory appeared. The place had a tannery, a tavern, a steam sawmill, and many other signs of prosperity. Springville was on the Michigan road and was the main traveled route between Niles and Michigan City. This was made great account of by the people, who adver- tised that travelers would save eight miles by coming through Springville instead of through LaPorte. This advertisement took, and in 1842 the Springville hotel was enlarged to accommo- date the increase of travelers. One of the lines of what is now the Lake Shore Railroad was sur- veyed through this place, and it seemed probable that the road would touch this point. This raised

high hopes for the future of the town, and in the forties Springville even aspired to become the county seat. But the locomotive bells at LaPorte and Michigan City rang the knell of Springville, and to-day only a town hall, a church, and a few dwelling houses remain, though the place is with- in a stone's throw of the embankment of the Pere Marquette Railroad, which was built in later years.

Near the northwest corner of the township, within half a mile of Lake Michigan, on the Michigan Central Railroad, is Corymbo, which was platted as a village and the plat filed by Craigie Sharp, who became the first postmaster. It was once a village of log houses, it had a steam sawmill, and a store; but they are gone, and only a few buildings are left. It has been a great shipping place for wood.

This place is not without a tinge of what seems like romance. In the thirties and forties a gang of conterfeiters infested the locality, un- der the leadership of two men called Van Vester and Stroud. They had their headquarters in a cabin surrounded by dense willows and other growth, situated on a dry knoll. But they were finally detected, as such criminals are sure to be. Van Vester died in the state prison, and Stroud is said to have been lynched in Illinois for horse- stealing.

Among those who have contributed to the development of Springfield township may be mentioned Joseph Ashton, Joseph W. Field, James V. Hopkins, Calvin W. Hayes, E. S. Organ, G. W. Shippe and John A. White, all farmers ; Amos J. Ross, who chose to follow mill- ing, as did also Charles Vail, who erected a saw- mill and followed the lumber business until his death, when the business was continued by his sons. Several mills have been worn out on the same site.

Galena is the only township not traversed by a railroad, and without a village. No attempt has ever been made to make one. There are a church and cemetery at Hesston, and there used to be a store and postoffice there. Several times a store has been in operation there, but there is none now. At Hatch's Mill there are a postoffice, a store, and a town hall, the upper story of which is used as a lodge room. The inhabitants are re- markably intelligent, and the people assembled

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in that hall might well be taken for a city audi- ence. Anyone on riding over the county and en- tering Galena township, in the vicinity of Hatch's Mill, will be impressed with the fact that he has came into a new atmosphere of civilization. The community has a genius and character peculiar to itself. One is struck with this as soon as he gets over the ridge into the more open country. This township has never had a saloon, and has always been noted for temperance, law and order, and the thrift of its people.

George W. Barnes, who came in 1833, is sup- posed to be the first settler. He was a man of great force of character. In the same year came William C. Cummins, Wrightman Goit, Shubal Smith, Richard Miller, Sylvanus James and John F. Torbert. In 1834 came Hiram Bement, Mat- thew Mayes, Daniel Baldwin, Aurea and Basil Sperry, William Waldruff, Sans H. Austin, By- ron Cadwalder, John Morrow, Joshua Jordan, Elijah . Bishop, Micajah Jones, John Cooper, Ephraim Cooper, Jesse Jones, Oliver Porter, James Paddock, Charles Francis, Joseph Fuller, James Jones, Abram Purcell, Joseph Henderson, J. H. Francis, Luke Francis, W. W. Francis, Scipha Foster and Zachariah Teeter. And in 1835 came H. E. Smith, Charles Morrow, W. W. Fuller and Hiram Bement, Jr.

Among those who came later and figured in the development of this township are Charles O. Barnes, a farmer ; Wesley Barnes, who followed butchering and then farming; Martin Bates and Benjamin Beal, both farmers; George H. Bean, first a lumberman and later a farmer; Joseph Biege and William H. Billings, also farmers ; David F. Birchim, who came with his parents in 1835, and after the death of his father took charge of the farm; Benjamin Brewer, the black- smith and farmer ; Edward S. Cadwell, a farmer, who worked his way up from a bootblack and papermill boy to become township trustee, justice of the peace, etc .; Albert Coe, for fifteen years a railroad man and then a farmer ; Hon. Eugene W. Davis, who came with his parents in 1833, when Galena was a part of Kankakee township, and be- came a preacher of the gospel, state representa- tive, a writer for agricultural journals, and who has recently celebrated his golden wedding.

Richard Etherington rose by his own efforts from illiteracy to knowledge, and from poverty to

become a wealthy farmer. William W. Finley when of age left the farm to become a miller, and owned several flouring mills. Martin Foster fol- lowed his brother Scipha to the county and be- came a successful farmer. W. W. Fuller, from a hard-working boy in a sawmill, became a farmer, a justice of the peace, and notary public. James Galbraith became a Galena farmer, and his son John C., a school teacher and then a farmer. Thomas Griffin, of Irish descent, became a sturdy farmer and achieved success against great ob- stacles. J. B. Hatch became the operator of a sawmill and threshing machine. Jacob S. Heck- man came to the township with his father, Jacob, in 1835. The father was a sturdy pioneer, clear- ing away the forest and advancing the interests of the neighborhood, and the son followed in his footsteps. P. M. Hess followed farming, store keeping and milling. Hesston is named after him. David Hudson became a lumberman and farmer ; Anton Leliter, of German descent, rose from poverty to success in farming and reared a large family ; James Paddock, a pioneer of 1836, settled on the farm he ever after occupied, and filled important public offices; and A. H. and James Paddock, his sons, became successful farmers.

To the above may be added the names of Will- iam Roda, a farmer ; Edmund T. Smith, a farmer and operator of a sawmill; Robert K. Smith, Julius C. Tappan, Edwin Teeter, Captain A. B. Austin and Samuel Wilson, all became farmers. George H. Teeter became state representative. Elizabeth Woodmansee came in 1851, a widow with four boys, and located in a dense forest, where, on account of the wild beasts, it was a terror for any one to live. I. D. and J. L. Wood- mansee, her sons, became dairy farmers, making superior butter for the Michigan City market. Some of these people received a good education in LaPorte, which was then a college town.

These are some of the men who brought La- Porte county under cultivation, and built its towns and villages. They had just the genius and character necessary to settle a new country. A remarkably large proportion of them had an- cestors in the Revolutionary war, and in the war of 1812; ancestors who fought the Indians as well as the British, and were inured to hardship, and had nerve and daring. And the blood of these

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ancestors ran in the veins of our pioneers. Many instances might be given, some of which will ap- pear as we proceed; but here we content our- selves with only one. Henry P. Crane, mentioned above as one of the pioneers of Scipio, had a grand- father in the Revolutionary war under Washing- ton, and a great-uncle, who was captured by a

party of six Indians who were going to burn him, but the Indians finding a bottle of brandy among his effects became intoxicated. The uncle freed himself, killed the entire party, cut off an Indian's head, and took it back to the regiment as proof of his story.

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CHAPTER X.

PROMINENT CITIZENS.

"Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls ;

Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, noth ing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands ; But he that filches from me my good name

Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed."

-SHAKSPEARE.

It may be well at this point to present sketches of a few prominent citizens who have been, or still are, connected with the townships and vil- lages mentioned in the preceding chapter. Strictly speaking there is no such thing as history, all is biography. In other words, the history of the world, or of any larger or smaller locality in it, may be resolved into the lives of a few stalwart persons. This may be seen by glancing over the ' past chapters of this work, and it will be seen in this and in future chapters. And it has its basis in a deeper philosophy than we ordinarily see.

LEVI J. BENEDICT was born in Durham, Greene county, New York, November 29, 1816. His father was of English descent. His mother was of German descent on her father's and of English descent on her mother's side. He was one of the Benedict family who first settled New Durham township as related in Chapter III. He was therefore a pioneer boy, accustomed to the hardships and privations of the settler's life, and his educational advantages were limited. He early learned to use the bow and arrow and shot much wild game with these weapons. In snow- shoes he hunted coons and fed cattle. He was married in 1840 to Miss Dorothea Taber, a na- tive of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, who came to this county with her parents in 1836; of which

union were born four children. Mr. Benedict had in his possession several relics-a piece of the first house the family lived in when they came to the county, a cane made from one of the tim- bers which fifty-one years before he dragged on the ground with oxen and chain, an ornamental center table worked from the wood, and a piece of brick burnt in the first kiln in the county, in 1832.

HENRY NASSAU CATHCART was born at Cadiz, Spain, on May 2, 1817. His father was James Leander Cathcart, a native of Ireland ; and his mother, Jane Banker (Woodside) Cathcart, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the time of his birth his father was United States consul at Cadiz. His parents returned to Amer- ica when he was a few months old, and resided in Washington, District of Columbia, most of the time until the son started for Indiana, in 1833. He reached LaPorte, May 13, 1833, and went to work with his younger brother, C. W. Cathcart, at the carpenter's trade. He worked a few days putting up a shop for Dr. Vaughn, in LaPorte, and then went to Stanton's Mill to work. He had never been away from his parents before, and the change from the comforts and indul- gences of a good home, to the hardships of his new surroundings in the backwoods, was very

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Henry Nassau batheart

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

great. The mechanics were Admiral, Peter and Calvin Burch, C. W. Cathcart, and himself. Henry Vail had charge of the job. But we will let C. W. Cathcart tell the story of their labors. He says :

"The next year (1833) two of my younger brothers came west; the oldest took to farming, the youngest worked with me at carpentry in and about LaPorte. Among the jobs we worked at one under circumstances never to be forgotten. It was the building of a sawmill in the heavy timber north of LaPorte. The weather was ex- cessively hot-the heat aggravated by the density of the unbroken forest and the low and sheltered position of the mill site. The mosquitoes and gnats were upon us in untold millions, so bad that we could not work unless protected by a heavy smoke; and if they were so bad in the day time, you may well imagine how they punished us at night. We had to sleep without the comfort of a bed, in the loft of a small log cabin, in that sweltering climate, and to be run over by swarms of bacon bugs, a cursed crew that looked sus- piciously like bed-bugs. The people with whom we boarded had no other place to hoard their bacon. It was trying enough on me; but upon my brother, who had but shortly before left his father's house and a kind mother's care, it was doubly hard. When we got through we should- ered our tools and started for LaPorte. The first opportunity we had to breathe free and open air was upon the banks of Clear lake. We here seated ourselves with feelings too grateful for ex- pression. The infernal insects had almost flayed my brother alive. We confined our operations after that in the summer season to the open prai- rie." (Cathcart's Reminiscences.)

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 16

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1273

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273