A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 19

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

USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana > Part 19

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

Towers, dealer in sewing machines, and then a farmer; A. M. Warren, who erected the first blacksmith shop in the county ; Seth P. Whitney, carpenter, cooper, miller and finally farmer ; and John C. Williams, classically educated in Canada, a bookkeeper, and afterwards a farmer. These are some of the men and some of the varied oc- cupations with which they helped develop the township. Some of these men held high offices in the county.

As stated elsewhere, Thomas Stillwell was the first settler of Union township. locating away from his white neighbors because he preferred the society of the Indians. But in 1833 John Winchell and family, Henry Vail, Henry Mann, Henry Davis, Theodore Catlin, Daniel Finley, Mr. Kingsbury, from whom the village derived its name, Curtis and Joshua Travis, and Joseph C'allison, became settlers. In 1834 came William Callison, Charles W. and M. S. Henry, Harrison and Norris J. Winchell, Handy Davis, Joseph G. and Mead Catlin, the latter an Adventist preacher, Albert P. Lilley, David H. Norton, Nathaniel Thurber, Darius Sayles, John Win- chell, William Walbridge, Colonel Josiah Grover, Gustavus Everts, associate judge of the circuit court, Wesley and John Diggins, and two bache- lor brothers named Page. Some of these after- ward left the county. In the year 1835 there were too many arrivals to mention. Among them were Jacob Early, Dr. Sylvanus Everts, the first phy- sician in the township, Timothy Everts, and Eph- raim Barney. It was not long before the town- ship was dotted with mills, blacksmith and wagon shops, and other signs of civilization.

Aside from the little settlement of Union Cen- ter. where there are a good store, a grain elevator and several homes, the only village in Union township is Kingsbury. This place had a black- smith shop and a store before May, 1835. At that time George W. Reynolds, a carpenter, went there and put up the first frame buildings. Kings- bury was laid out in 1835 and the plat recorded February 6, 1836. The place soon had several stores, and a postoffice with a bi-weekly mail from LaPorte. The postoffice was established in Sep- tember, 1839, with Ithream Taylor, Esq., post- master, which was declared to be a great advan- tage to the people, and the postmaster general was commended for "going ahead." The mail route

was afterward extended to Union Mills, Bige- low's Mills, and Tassinong in Porter county. When the Bigelow postoffice was discontinued, the route was changed to Hanna, and discon- tinued when these towns were supplied with rail- roads. Kingsbury postoffice was discontinued in May, 1863, for the alleged reason that there was no postmaster; but it was re-established in July, of the same year, with John F. Page as post- master. The village had its tavern, its shops of various kinds and much more life than at present. The town is situated at the junction of the Grand Trunk and the Wabash railroads, but LaPorte and other places have taken precedence as centers of trade. Kingsbury now contains an excellent Baptist church, two general stores, a drug store, a hotel, a postoffice, a blacksmith and wagon shop, a number of mechanics and some thirty-five or forty houses.

Three miles south and a little to the east of Kingsbury is Tracy Station, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Here there are a Lutheran church, a Methodist Protestant church, one gen- eral store, a schoolhouse, and several dwellings.

Only a few of those who have assisted to make Union township what it is can be mentioned, but among them are L. D. Brand, merchant, engineer, thresher and merchant again, who settled in Kingsbury, then left the state, but returned to Hudson township and then to Kingsbury ; James V. Cattron, printer, school teacher and dentist in Kingsbury ; Daniel B. Collings, farmer and stock- raiser ; Robert D. Craft, Edwin S. Ellsworth, and G. W. Ewing, farmers; Dr. H. M. Ellsworth, physician and surgeon at Kingsbury ; Hugh Glas- gow, farmer and stock-raiser; William Goodall, who followed farming and stockraising until his death ; Daniel P. Grover, farmer, county commis- sioner and present county assessor ; H. P. Lans, proprietor of the Kingsbury mills; Jacob, John and Michael Moyer, all prosperous farmers ; Dan- iel Shaw, who as early as 1838 put up several houses in Kingsbury and LaPorte; William W. Travis, a farmer and a very strong and useful personality in the township; Dr. W. W. Wilcox, druggist and apothecary at Kingsbury; Norris J. Winchell and William H. Winchell, farmers and stock-raisers, Isaiah Atkins and Charles Hewson, both of whom have passed away, and John W. Hewson, who still lives, are also to be

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

reckoned among the prominent farmers and became the larger center. It was a case of the larger fish eating up the little ones.

citizens.

On account of the very wet condition of Cass township, it was not until 1839-40 that any set- tlers made homes there. Abraham Eahart, James and Thomas Concannon, William Smith, William Batterson, John Wills and his sons Charles, John and David, all of whom came from Wills town- ship, Isham Campbell, Adam Leeper, Bishop Brockway, E. V. Waters, James and Richard Cannon, Augustus W. Vail, Hon. Edward Evans, L. M. Shurte and S. B. Rundlett were all early settlers.

Of course the centers could form only as the surrounding country was settled, but there sprang up Callao or Morgan Station, Joprice or South Wanatah, and Wanatah.

Callao, or Calloa as some have written it, is situated on the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chi- cago Railroad. It was laid off and platted in 1859 by William A. Taylor, one of the first merchants and the first postmaster ; afterward A. W. Vail, and then Charles Scarborough, held the office. Callao was laid out and several houses were built in it before the railroad was completed, the citizens anticipating that the depot would certainly be located there. William A. Taylor and William McLane put up warehouses there and purchased considerable grain. An attempt was made to build a steam mill, but the proprietor died and the work was not completed, which was well, as the sequel showed. A Methodist church was erected there in 1858 or 1859. The place had a blacksmith shop, a hotel, a resident physician, and other signs of a town.

But to the great mortification of the citizens, the depot was located a half mile west, at Morgan Station, where a village soon sprang up. The postoffice was moved there in the spring of 1861, building after building followed, the last to be removed being W. A. Taylor's store house, until by December, 1861, Callao was entirely vacated.

Morgan Station, however, began to flourish. At the beginning of 1862 it had two dry-goods stores, one hotel, several grocery stores, and other stores and shops which are usually connected with such a place, and a flourishing business was done there. To-day only a few house= remain ; the people preferred to go to Wanatah, which

In 1859 a village was started about a mile south of Wanatah called Rozelle. Joseph Unruh had a store there but moved both stock and build- ings to Wanatah, and nothing remains of the village. The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad crossed the Monon at this point, but the town of Wanatah had been started and it was too late to form a town a mile south of it. The place is now called Joprice.

Wanatah has had great promise from the first. It is situated in the open prairie, on Hog creek, at the junction of the Monon and the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago railroads. When the latter road was completed Joseph Un- ruh moved his store to the place and used the building also as a dwelling, and even as a hotel. The town was laid out by T. A. E. Campbell, Ruel Starr and Joseph and William Unruh, and the plat was recorded September 7, 1865. It began to grow as soon as there was a prospect of the Pennsylvania Railroad crossing at that point. It soon had hotels, a flouring mill, dry- goods and grocery stores, drug stores, boot and shoe shops, blacksmith and wagon repair shops, harness, butcher, millinery and tailor shops, hay presses, etc., etc. It has been a busy place from the first. Before other railroads came and made shipping stations at other points Wanatah was the shipping center of a very wide region of coun- try. Sometimes there would be a procession of wagons a mile long waiting there to unload their grain. '

At present Wanatah has no elevator, grain and other articles are loaded directly into the car, and one of the former dealers says that he has loaded as many as nine cars of wheat in a day at Wanatah. The place has a weekly paper, the Wanatah Mirror, a good schoolhouse which does high school work including the twelfth grade; five churches representing the Roman Catholics, the Episcopal Methodists, the Disciples, the Ger- man Methodists, and the German Lutherans ; four general stores, one drug store and grocery, two other groceries, two meat markets and a large roller-process flouring mill, which is one of the best in the state, turning out most excellent flour. Wanatah is a great market for hay. The

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

surrounding prairie country produces immense quantities of hay, which is pressed and shipped away. The mere wire for bailing is sold there by the carload. Wanatah is one of the busiest centers in the county.

Among the moving spirits in the development of Cass township may be named the following : Peter Woodin, the first permanent settler in the township, who aided in its organization and laid out its first road, a familiar friend with the In- dians, a California gold-seeker, and who died in the township at the advanced age of ninety- one years. Henry Bowman, a farmer, well read in German literature, who came to Cass township from Otis and from Porter county. James O. Burner, dealer in drugs, medicines and agricul- tural implements at Wanatah. Robert Gillham, A. J. Shurte, William Smith and James Wilson, farmers. William Kimball, railroad section hand, conductor and then farmer. John N. McCurdy, grain dealer, now county recorder. Francis Mc- Curdy, Wanatah. Dr. John F. Tilden, physician, farmer, and first doctor to locate in the township. Nelson Ward, physician and surgeon at Wanatah, whose wife also graduated in medicine, and Jere- miah Willson, who came first to Hudson township in 1831, then to Clinton and latterly to Cass. He was a strong and rugged personality.

Dewey township was originally in great part flooded at every rise of the Kankakee river, on which account it did not settle as rapidly as some other townships. But there were some who ap- preciated its advantages as a grazing country, and among the early settlers were George P. Shimmel, Jacob Schauer, Lewis and Michael Besler, James Lougee, Elias Osborn and Patrick and Richard Huncheon.

The two centers of Dewey township are La- Crosse and Wilder's Station. The former is situated at the junction of five railroads : the Mo- non, Eastern Illinois, Pere Marquette, Pennsyl- vania and the Chicago, Cincinnati and Louisville. One of the assets secured in the purchase of the Huncheon tract by the Illinois syndicate, as related in Chapter VIII, was the site on which the pres- ent town of LaCrosse is built. It is the plan of the gentlemen composing the syndicate to ulti- mately make this place one of consequence, but Mr. Tuesburg wisely says that it is the purpose to bring all of the farm lands to a perfect state

of cultivation before the town is allowed to boom much. In this he is undoubtedly right, for when the vast territory now being opened and peopled with the best product of American homes is fully occupied there will be afforded a substantial trade in all legitimate lines, which will go a long way toward supporting a goodsized community. The village in its present condition has felt the influ- ence of the wonderful work going on on all sides of it, and is rapidly improving. One of the first moves of the syndicate was to build a fine brick schoolhouse, for which half an acre of land was set apart. At present the Methodist Episcopal church worships in the upper hall of this build- ing. From this little town many farms are man- aged. Recently Bailey & Bunnel, grain dealers of Wanatah, at an expense of $16,000, have put up a first-class elevator with a capacity of sixty- five thousand bushels of corn. Here, on the 31st of last December, a sad accident occurred. John Aigner, of Aigner Brothers, who were doing the mason work, had gone to the upper part of the building on the inside with one of the carpenters to see how the work was progressing. While the carpenter's back was turned he heard some one falling, and on going down to investigate he found Aigner lying on the bottom floor. Calling others they examined the body and found that life was extinct. The fall had broken both arms and one leg besides otherwise bruising the body in a horrible manner. It is estimated that he fell about thirty-five feet. Besides the elevator, La- Crosse has about thirty-five dwellings, two gen- eral stores, one saloon, and a new hotel made of artificial stone, which presents a fine appearance. The hotel has many rooms and is furnished with modern conveniences. Plans have just been drawn for two or three new houses and two new stores. Physicians, druggists and others are lo- cating there, and it looks as though the place would grow even before the time comes for the land companies to boom it.

Among the most noted characters of Dewey township is Patrick Huncheon. He was educated for business ; he manufactured and repaired cars at Adrian, Michigan, until the Lake Shore road reached LaPorte, then engaged in the same busi- ness in the railroad shops there, then at Bloom- ington, Illinois, whence he returned and in con- nection with his brother became a large land-

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

owner in the Kankakee valley. He and his brother owned thousands of acres which have been purchased by the LaCrosse Land Company.

Wilder Station is situated a little over three miles south of LaCrosse, at the junction of the Monon and the New York, Lake Erie and West- ern railroads. Here there are some ten or fifteen houses, a store, a saloon, and a school. The Standard Oil pipe line crosses the township a little to the south of Wilder, and across the Kan- kakee is a pumping station.

As to Hanna township, among the earliest settlers were Emanuel West and his two sons, Isaac and Joseph, Nimrod West, William West, Sr., Amsterdam Stewart, Andrew J. Chambers and his three sons, Preston, Obadiah and Andrew J., William Tyner, Charles Strong and Thomas Hunsley. These men settled on the uplands, away from the overflow of the Kankakee. The prospect was not inviting, but they had faith in the future of the township, and time has justified their wisdom. By means of ditching thousands of acres. which once were called the Kankakee marsh have been converted into fertile fields.

In time there sprang up the village of Hanna, situated on the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chi- cago and the Pere Marquette railroads. The town was laid out and recorded in 1858. The usual stores, shops, religious societies, etc., followed and Hanna became a busy place. By 1862 it was quite an important point for business, large amounts of grain, pork and other articles were brought there by Mr. A. J. Chambers and others, it had a dry-goods store, a good schoolhouse, a harness shop, boot and shoe shop, blacksmith shop, postoffice, and several other public buildings and from twelve to twenty substantial dwellings. Mr. Young, chief engineer of the railroad. was there prospecting for a grist mill, and declaring that if the fall of the creek was insufficient steam would be used, and Mr. Bowers, telegraph oper- ator, said that Hanna would be a regular station for passengers. At the same time the people were alive to the utility of building a bridge at Cham- ber's landing, so that the people living across the Kankakee could come to Hanna to trade. With these promises and indications of success, Hanna began to grow and soon became a place where much business was transacted.

It has now three saloons, two hardware stores,

five general stores, blacksmith, barber and har- ness shops, etc., a Methodist church, a German Lutheran church, and a population of two or three hundred people. A new brick schoolhouse has recently been erected at a cost of $12,000. Hanna cannot fail to grow as the surrounding country becomes more and more developed. It has al- ways been a heavy grain market.

South of Hanna village, where the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad crosses the Pere Marquette, is Thomaston Station, which as yet has no appearance of a village, though recently a grain elevator has been erected and some busi- ness is transacted there.

Among those who have helped to develop the township may be named Noan S. Rowley and his sons, Charles H. and Samuel, John Lawrence, Charles David and John E. Wills, who came from Cass, and George Lawrence. C. J. Bunnell was township trustee. Thomas Mitchell, George Trimmingham, Erasmus Whitney, James Bell- more, William Wilson, Hiram N. Nelson, B. F. Moore, John Pratt, Clark R. Richards and E. F. Whitney became farmers and stock-raisers ; Will- iam Brown, a farmer and stock dealer; Stephen Frechette, a boot and shoe maker ; Charles Frech- ette, a manufacturer of sleighs and agricultural implements ; David Wills, a mail carrier and then a dealer in agricultural implements ; W. H. West, a farmer and carpenter ; Charles Wills, a county commissioner ; Z. T. Horine and E. D. Spahr, physicians; George S. Dennison and Lucius Avery, merchants ; and Isaac Lloyd, express and freight agent, postmaster and telegrapher. J. A. Hyatt became tradesman, cooper and farmer ; Sidney P. Mills and J. W. Osborn came from New Durham township and became farmers in Hanna. Chandler Palmer became a valuable man as farmer and public officer. Other names might be given, and many interesting anecdotes related in connection with them, but this chapter, already too long, must be brought to a close.

As Prairie township has only recently been formed from Hanna, and as some of the names given above cover that township, we will not write of it except to mention Hoyville Station in section twenty-nine. and Willvale Station near the Kankakee, both on the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad. as places where towns may spring up in the near future. And, indeed,

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under the new ownership of the Kankakee valley and with the reclamation of that region to cultiva- tion it is very likely that Prairie as well as other townships will soon boast its towns and villages.

Willvale was named for the Wills broth- ers, Charles, David and John, referred to above, who came probably from Wills township, which was named after the same family.

As nearly as can be ascertained, the first set- tlers of Lincoln township were a man by the name of Mutz and Levi Little, who settled on the north side of Fish lake about the year 1834. John Vickory came at about the same time. George Sparrow entered land in 1835, and sold in 1840 to John Lingard. Among the early settlers appear the names of Smith, Dr. Losey, Carson Siddles, Saunders E. Arbergast and Robert V. Arm- strong. These came before 1836. Later came John Davis, John Dare, Samuel Stevenson, Sharp, Bronson, Maple, Warren, Canada, Wrightman, George W. Woodburn, John Andrew, Peter and James Harness with their father, John Divine and John B. McDonald.

The only center in Lincoln township is Mill Creek, which has been platted as a village. It is situated on the Chicago and Grand Trunk Rail- road, in section nine. It contains some twenty buildings, among which are a warehouse, a gen- eral store and other stores, saloons, a school- house, etc. It is a busy place, and a large ship- ping point especially for grain, hay and wood.

Among the names of those who have devel- oped the township are those of Benjamin Wing, James Waxham, E. Thompson, Frederick Stielo, Jacob Snyder, F. M. Rowell, Jacob S. V. Bunton, and James H. Davis, a blacksmith as well as a farmer. B. Burget, a canal boatman and farmer, raised large quantities of grain. William H. Collom and his brother, George W., opened a grocery and provision store at Fish lake, carried a large stock and did a large business. Newlove Layborn was one of the earliest settlers, arriving in Lincoln in 1832, when there were but four families in the township, and the Indians were as numerous as the whites are now. They had a dancing ground in the southern part of Wills

township and their trail lay along the western line of Mr. Layborn's farm. They would us- ually return from the dancing ground at night intoxicated, and their hideous yells would arouse the settlers from their sleep. Carson Siddles and John H. Taylor may also be reckoned among those who have developed the township.

William Ake and Daniel Brown are prominent farmers of Lincoln, and James P. Siddles, James E. Gilchrist and August Schultz, also farmers, have done as much as any others if not more to develop the township during the last few years.

Johnson township lies mostly south of the Kankakee. Among the first settlers were Major John M. Lemon, John Dunn, Samuel Smith, Ed- ward Owens, Samuel Harminson, Martin Smith, William Mapes, Charles Palmer and Landon Car- lyle. Among the farmers and stock-raisers of the township may be named George W. Corner, Jr., William Robinson, Asa Jackson, George Henry and B. F. and Ira F. Place. P. Flaherty kept a resort for hunters.

The improvements which have been made in the Kankakee valley have brought Johnson town- ship more and more under cultivation and it is seen to be not a "marsh" as was once supposed, but one of the most fertile lowland prairies in the world, adapted to the raising of corn, oats, tim- othy and the grains. There, one can take his stand and in all directions as far as the eye can reach, see fertile fields interspersed with groves, a most beautiful sight. Johnson is traversed by two railroads, the Lake Erie and Western, and the Baltimore and Ohio, and can have its ship- ping centers as soon as the development of the country requires it. It is now taking rapid strides forward.

We have now given a general idea of the de- velopment of all the townships, the formation of their centers, with the exception of Center and Michigan, in which are the sister cities which re- main to be considered. And after taking this general survey we are constrained to say that few counties have more favorable natural conditions, few a better personnel of settlers, and few greater promise for the future.

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CHAPTER XII.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

"It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make man better be; Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, To fall a log at last, dry, brown, and sear : A lily of a day Is fairer far in May, Although it fall and die that night- It was the plant and flower of Light. In small proportions we just beauties see; And in short measures life may perfect be." -BEN JONSON.

A few of the characters who have been identi- fied with the development of the townships and centers mentioned in the foregoing chapter are the following :-

. BENJAMIN T. BRYANT. This settler was the son of Josiah and Mary (Turman) Bryant, natives of Virginia, of Irish and Scotch descent. He was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, in 1815, where he grew to young manhood. He came to LaPorte county and settled in New Durham town- ship on April 20, 1832. On November 5, 1834, he was united in marriage with Alpha Maria Benedict, daughter of the widow Benedict whose family were the first settlers in New Durham township, as related elsewhere. The wife lived many years and passed away after having become the mother of eleven children, among whom are named Stephen J., Levi J., Mary E., John W., Martha E., Henry R., Miriam E., and Alvin H. Mr. Bryant married for his second wife Miss Lucinda Hyde, a native of New York. His early educational advantages were poor, being only such as were obtainable in a pioneer country while engaged in the laborious work of settling a new region, but he made the most of his advantages and evinced his love of reading

by collecting in later years a good library. He owned a large tract of land in Clinton township, cultivated a well regulated farm, was a prominent man in the community, and was esteemed by his neighbors. He lived to a good old age and passed away while cared for by his children. Both he and his first wife especially deserve mention as being among the very first settlers of the county.

DANIEL LOW. One of the pioneers of Ccol Spring township who belongs in part to Michigan City, was Daniel Low. He was born in Boxford, Essex county, Massachusetts, May 28. 1806. He was the son of Joseph L. and Sally (Wood) Low, natives of the same county and of English descent. Until seventeen years of age he was on his father's farm and received a common school education, but suffering a sun- stroke at the age of fourteen years he never at- tended school afterwards. He learned the tanner and currier's trade in a morocco manufactory at Millbury, Massachusetts, where he remained four years, and then went to work for the same com- pany in their store at Providence, Rhode Island, where they carried on a large wholesale shoe trade, mostly with the south. Mr. Low remained there seven or eight years, with the exception of

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 19

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