USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > A history of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Indiana : a complete and concise account from the earliest times to the present, embracing reminiscences of the pioneers and biographical sketches of the men who have been leaders in commercial and other enterprises > Part 2
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After I had presented my introductory letter to Messrs. Thorne and Linek, I inquired if they could tell me where I could find Gen. Evans. They said, " There is the old gentleman sitting in his arm chair by the fire," a place where he generally spent his morning hours. He lived near by, about one square away. He was a very feeble man and showed signs of great exposure, which he informed me he had contraeted in camp-life during the Indian war of 1811, having been a colonel and general in the army and on the staff of General Harri- son at the battle of Tippecanoe. The other gentlemen composing the group were Win. M. Walker, ex-sheriff, Wm. Whittlesey, county surveyor; Wm. Newman, sheriff of the county ; Daniel Miller, his deputy, and F. E. Goodsell, postmaster.
We were soon all arranged around this splendid fire of big baek
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
logs in a six-foot fire-place, and we had a very pleasant morning's chat over the past of Evausville and its prospective future. We were all detained there on account of a severe storm of snow and hail that was raging on the outside.
When we heard the ringing of the old dinner bell, that was hung on a post beside the house, we were all ready for our meal, and I was surprised to find such a splendid repast as was set before us. About twenty-five of the business men and officials of that day boarded there. The following are the names of a few of them that I remember well:
The old Catholic priest, Father Didier; John Douglas, at that time cashier of the State Bank of Indiana, which had commenced its exist- euce a year before; Mr. Pine, then connected with the Evansville Journal; A. B. Coleman; Fielding Stockwell, afterwards sheriff of Vanderburgh connty; Charles D. Boren, the clerk of the circuit court; James Cawson, a retired merchant who has relatives still living here; 'Squire Nathan Rowley and John M. Stockwell, who afterwards acquired a large fortune here and died in early life, leaving a wife and four children, all of whom have passed away.
The snow storm continued to rage all the afternoon, but toward eveniug there came a lull, and as I was tired of staying about the house, I concluded that I would try to find some chureh or place of worship.
I inquired if there would be any preaching in town that night. Some one spoke up and said: "This is not the day the circuit rider comes around, but his wife (Mrs. Knowles) is in town and will preach in the little brick schoolhouse on the public square this evening."
That was a bright idea to me, as I had never had the pleasure of hearing a lady preach, having come from the Blue Grass District of Kentucky, where such things were not tolerated.
It seemed to me that the whole town met at this little church that night to hear this noted lady-preacher. It was an unexpected treat to me to hear so fine a sermon and everybody seemed to be greatly pleased and entertained. I was then a member of the Methodist church, having joined when ten years of age.
Next day I launched into business and hung out my big tin sign that represented the business of W. M. and J. P. Elliott for many years afterward.
LIST OF BUSINESS MEN.
The following is a list of the business meu and their places of busi- ness in Evansville in 1837, the year the author first allied his interests with the young city
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
Silas Stephens-Saddle and harness shop; Walnut street, near Water.
Hotel and Boarding House-Upper corner of Locust street ; kept by Mr. Smith and Mr. Connor.
Shanklin & Caldwell-Dry goods and groceries and dealers in pro- duce; situated on the corner of Locust and Water streets.
Lyon & Wilcox-Druggists; on Water street, between Main and Locust.
Joseph Wheeler, Sam'l Lister & Jos. Caldwell-Dry goods and gro- ceries and dealers in produce; on Water street, between Main and Locust.
John S. Hopkins-Dealer in groceries and produce; on Water street, between Main and Locust.
Robert Barnes-Dry goods and groceries and dealer in country pro- duce; on Water street, between Main and Locust.
John Mitchel-Dealer in dry goods, groceries and country produce; upper corner Main and Water streets.
The State Bank of Indiana was kept in the same building; John Mitchell was president and John Douglas was cashier.
Butler & Coleman-Dealers in dry goods, groceries and produce; lower corner of Main and Water streets.
C. M. Griffith-Dealer in hardware and entlery; Water street, be- tween Main and Sycamore.
J. B. Lamphear-Dealer in liquors and fine wines of all kinds; on Water street, between Main and Sycamore.
Alexander Laughlin & Co., Samnel Orr, agent-Dealers in iron, nails and blacksmith tools; lower corner Sycamore street.
Charles Harrington-Hotel and boarding house; situated on Water street, where the St. Cloud Hotel now stands.
Alanson Warner-Hotel, afterwards known as the Mansion House, run by Francis Linck, who became the owner; situated on the corner of First and Locust streets, where the Peoples Theatre now stands.
Stewart & Goodsell-Wholesale dealers in groceries, commission merchants; afterwards sold out to Asa Bement and Charles Viele, who carried on the business for years afterward; situated on Main street, near where the Old National Bank stands.
Hazzard & Hebberd-New York Store; Main street, near corner of Second.
John W. Lilliston-Dealer in drugs, paints and oils, on the corner of Main and First streets; afterward sold to Wm. aud Crawford Bell, who sold to other dealers, and after that the building was occupied by John Healey as a book and stationery store.
Thomas Johnson-Hotel; situated on the upper corner of First and Vine streets.
Gardiner Bowles-Blacksmithing and horseshoeing; situated on alley between First and Second streets and between Main and Syca- more.
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
Bowles & Whiting-Dealers in dry goods and groceries ; Main street, between First and Second.
Polk Bros .- Cabinetmaker shop; First street, bet. Locust and Wal- nut, where now stands the residence of the late Dr. Daniel Morgan.
Mr. Herman-Cabinetmaker ; Third street, between Locust and Walnut.
Abraham Gumberts-Merchant tailor; in John Mansell building on Main street, between First and Second.
Jacob Sinzich-Bakery and boarding house ; Water street, between Sycamore and Vine.
Greek & Schmall-Groceries and produce ; Main street, between First and Second.
Robert Fergus-Cabinetmaker; Main street, between Third and Fourth.
Warner & Setchell-Livery stable; on the alley between Locust and Walnut, in the rear of where the St. George Hotel now stands.
Seth Pritchett-Blacksmith and repair shop; on the alley above Main street, near Igleheart's mill.
John Henson-Carpenter and undertaker ; Main street, between Fourth and Fifth.
Varney Satterlee-Wagonmaker and blacksmith ; Main street be- tween Fourth and Fifth.
William and Jacob Hunnel-Carpenters and builders ; on the alley where the Kohinoor Laundry now is.
Thomas Eaton-Carpenter and builder ; on the alley between Main and Locust, in the rear of Sampson & Albin building.
James Steele-Carpenter and builder ; working for Field & Stock- well, contractors.
Wm. Renschler-Blacksmith ; Fourth street, between Main and Sycamore.
George W. Chad-Blacksmith ; Vine street, between First and Water.
John Trible-Carpenter and builder ; Fourth street, between Vine and Division.
Parvin & DeGarmo-Blacksmiths; Main street, between Fourth and Fifth.
Aaron Harrington-Jewelry; Main street, between Second and Third.
Charles Wade-Watchmaker and jeweler; Main street, between Second and Third.
John J. Marlett-Livery stable; on the alley between Locust and Walnut, having purchased from Warner & Setchell.
Mr. Meyers-Gunsmith ; Second street, between Main and Syca- more.
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
William Newitt-Florist, near Jacobsville.
Edgar Dunk-Florist and gardener, near Jacobsville.
Abraham Sullivan-Brickmaker, Sullivantown.
Robert Parrett-Brickmaker, Upper Second street.
Allis & Howes-Grocers, produce and liquors ; Main street, between First and Second, in what was known as Checkered Store.
Burbank & Carpenter-Dry goods, groceries and produce ; Main street, between Second and Third.
Scantlin & Sons-Dealers and manufacturers of tinware and stoves ; Main street, between First and Second.
Brackett Mills-Carpenter and builder.
Fielding Stockwell-Carpenter and builder; Second street, be- tween Walnut and Cherry.
ATTORNEYS.
W. T. T. Jones, Charles I. Battell,
Amos Clark, William Jones, James Lockhart.
John Law,
PHYSICIANS.
William Trafton-First street, between Locust and Water.
Daniel Lane-Second street, between Main and Locust.
Dr. Phillips-Second street, near Main.
A. P. Hutchinson, Main street, between First and Second. Daniel Morgan-First street, between Main and Locust.
M. J. Bray, with Dr. Trafton-First street, between Locust and Walnut.
George B. Walker-Main street, between First and Second.
It is impossible for the author to pass by so interesting a letter, per- taining to early Evansville, as that furnished by his old friend, D. M. Schnee, a former citizen of Evansville, now a resident of New Har- mony, Ind. Here are his recollections of those times which are now almost gone ont of memory :
" My first knowledge or sight of Evansville was sometime in 1834 or 1835. My father, Jacob Schnee, lived at that time on a farm abont two miles east of New Harmony, where he owned and was carrying on a steam grist mill, a saw mill and a distillery combined.
" At one time he had occasion to go either to Lonisville or Cincin- nati for some machinery for the mill, which then could be gotten no- where nearer. So I had to accompany him. We went on horseback
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
as far as Evansville, where he was to take a steamboat up the river. From Evansville I was to lead the horse back home.
"We started out on what at that time was called the New Harmony and Boonville road. The Blairsville road was not then laid off. We struck the old Vineennes road near what was called Stringtown, about five or six miles from Evansville, where we stopped about an hour talking with one of father's old friends by the name of Stacer, the father of Clint and Conrad. We then went on to town, where we arrived toward evening and put up at a tavern on the corner of First and Locust streets, where the People's Theater now stands. I believe it was the only tavern in the town at that time. The first man father met on arrival whom he knew was General Evans, who was on the tavern porch with a pipe in his month, talking polities with half a dozen or more loungers. The subjects were Henry Clay, his favorite, the Whig leader, and Andrew Jackson, the popular president of the Democratic party-these were the ones mostly talked about. Father and the General appeared to be well acquainted. Uncle John Schnee, father's oldest brother, had married the General's sister, Miss Naney Evans, about the year 1828. He died I think in 1829. My father died in the year 1838.
"I did not see very much of a eity on that trip, as there was not much of a town to see. A block of one-story frame store rooms on Locust, between First and Water streets, appeared to be the principal business part of the town. They were painted a brown red.
"A few years after this-in the years 1836-7-8-the town had quite a boom, when the terminus of the Wabash and Erie canal was located there and a branch of the State Bank was established in its limits.
"In the fall of 1839, at the age of nineteen, after my father had died and I had become a permanent cripple, I, with my brother Luther, (who was my guardian) visited Evansville for the purpose of getting me into some saddlery shop to learn that business, for I had taken a liking to it. That was the time which brought you, Mr. Joseph P. Elliott, and me, David M. Schnee, into more intimate relations. We then and there made a contract, which was that I was to serve or work for you in the saddlery shop for three years and you were to teach me the trade and furnish me with board and clothing during the time -- all of which was carried out fully and satisfactorily on the part of both of us. This, of course, gave me a residence in Evansville in the years 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842 and part of 1843. This also puts me in mind that the other day I was looking over some of my old papers, and I came across my identure, which was the contract between us. It was
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
written by John Ingle, Jr., master of chancery, and signed by Luther Schnee, David M. Schnee and Joseph P. Elliott. This was endorsed on the back.
" 'Received for record Jan. 6, 1840 ; recorded in Book H, page 203, of the Record of Deeds in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. C. D. Bounne. Rec. by J. Davis, Dept.'
"In reading this old paper over, it amused me very much-how I bound myself. That I should not play at cards, dice or any other unlawful game; that I should not contract matrimony during the time without your consent ; that I should not haunt or frequent taverns, tippling houses or places of gaming and the like.
"I also came across the first bill of goods I bought to go into busi- ness. It was headed :
" 'EVANSVILLE, Dec. 3, 1844.
David Schnee :
Bought of W. M. & J. P. Elliott.'
"The bill amounted to $56.15. A cash payment of $25 was made on this bill. Among the items were skirting, pad skins, } yard plush, side and other trees, &c .; &c .; piece shark skin, straining iron, skeins, of silk, &c .; &c. How different now.
"During those three years that I lived with you, much transpired that has become pleasantly reminiscent to me now in my old days. The campaign of 1840, when it was
" Old Tippecanoe And Tyler too."
I well remember. When having a jollification on the river bank one night in that campaign, old Joe Kerney, the negro who used to ring the auction bell across the street from our place, dressed up in woman's clothes and passed through the crowd in imitation of Harrison's wav- ing a petticoat. For this thing old Joe was seized and taken up stairs and outrageously whipped with a blacksnake whip from your shop to make him tell who put him up to it, but they didn't get it out of him. At another time during the same campaign, when the Whigs were having a parade up Main street, our next-door neighbor stretched a Van Buren flag across Main street to the auction house. Some of the procession had passed onder it, when a delegation of horsemen from Posey county came along. They refused to pass under it. The crowd attempted to pull it down, but could not get hold of it-until old Squire Rowley came along with half a brick tied to the end of a long line. They threw it over the rope and soon had the flag torn down. With great excitement the procession passed on.
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
" There was another incident which happened about this time- either in 1841 or 1842-the death and burial of a Dr. Isaac Hutchin- son, who roomed or lived up stairs on Main street opposite your shop. Some of the boys reported that the Odd Fellows were coming up Main street. We all went to the front door to see the parade. They were dressed in their gorgeous regalia, collars and aprons. They marched up in front of the Doctor's place, where they opened ranks and tenderly bore his remains through the ranks to the hearse and thence to their final resting place. This looked to me at that time very beautiful that the members of a society should thus take care of their brother. It made such an impression on my mind that I resolved then and there that I would join that society some time-which I did, now forty-six years ago and have not regretted it since."
CHAPTER II.
Original Families-Their Enterprises-Conquering the Wilderness Vie et Armis-Col. Hugh McGary the First Settler on the Site of Evansville-The First Rude Log Hut and Where It Stood-Log Houses then were Primitive Forts against the Indians-Life of McGary-Siege of Bryant's Station-First White Male Child Born Here-Purchase of the "Pocket" from the Indians-Gen. Evans.
FIRST SETTLERS.
In writing the history of primitive Evansville and Vanderburgh County, it will be necessary at times in the course of the work here undertaken to refer to older settlements in this vicinity, which sup- plied much of the brains, bones and sinew of the town of Evansville. There were many older settlements in this section of the country, such as New Harmony, Vincennes, Princeton, Boonville, Fort Branch, Newburgh, and the towns in Kentucky on the other side of the Ohio river, that supplied families who constituted the inhabitants of the in- fant town of Evansville.
The original families that groped their way through these western wilds, following Indian paths, and deer trails, directed by the sun and moon and stars and the pocket compass, were the residents of Vir-
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
ginia, North Carolina, New York, and other colonial states, who came west to better their condition by growing up with the country. They established the settlements of the towns aforesaid, before the set- tlement known as Lamasco or Evansville was thought of. Newburgh in Warrick County even beeame a more important landing place for steamboats, and in faet had a better landing than Evansville, and for many years the principal tobacco, grain and bacon markets of this section were at that port. New Harmony, Princeton, Boonville and other towns, that did not have the advantage of being located on the navigable Ohio river, were for many years successful rivals of Evansville in business, until the far-seeing and ambitious men of the surrounding towns began to acquire lands on the banks of the great Ohio river, and prepare for the founding of a town that fate had decreed was to become, and did become in half a century, the second largest eity in the State of Indiana.
When these pioneer business men began to flock from the surround- ing settlements to Evansville, it only required a few years to swallow up effectually the surrounding towns that did not possess the same progressive pioneer element. They were foreed to succumb to the enterprise and push of the business men of Evansville. The rivalry between Evansville and the other towns on the Ohio river was kept up, however, for many years; and the leading mer- chants of Henderson, Ky., and Owensboro, Ky., particularly, fought hard to retain the river trade, which they considered theirs according to the old-time rule of priority. But the business men of Evansville of that day, who saw that the Ohio river was the only channel to fortunes, soon wrested that trade from their Kentucky competitors, and left them with only two vast industries, viz., whiskey and tobacco, which they were in a position to control, simply because they were peculiarly the produets of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. These two industries our Kentucky friends and neighbors control to-day, and will perhaps ever monopolize.
It will therefore be readily seen by the intelligent reader that to write a history of the commerce and trade of Evansville, as well as a social and political history, it will be necessary to reeur frequently to faets and events in the history of the surrounding towns aforesaid ; and of the old frontiersmen, who fought many bloody combats with the Indians, taking possession "vi et armis" of that territory, under cover of title from the land offices of the United States, over all the laws of discovery and squatter sovereignty, that the copper-skinned natives believed to be theirs.
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
EARLY ARCHITECTURE.
The first Caucasian inhabitant of which there is any record, or knowledge of tradition, who settled on the site now known as Evans- ville, was Col. Hugh McGary, of Kentucky, who came originally from good old Virginia stock. Col. McGary landed at this side of the river in 1812 and built himself a little two-room log hut on the ground cleared by him in the wilderness.
The double log cabin of Col. Hugh McGary was a rude affair made of sections of the trunks of trees, hewn smooth on two sides, placed one above the other, and notched at the ends so as to prevent slipping. The crevices between the timbers were filled in with dried grass mixed with mud. The chimneys, of which there were two, one in either end of the hut, were made out of sticks split out of seetions of trees, and laid on top of each other. They were plastered over and between with mud. This mud, after drying, was gradually hardened by the heat of the smoke and in course of time became practically fire and waterproof. . The cabin was a double, log affair, under one roof with a passage or hallway, ten feet wide, between the two rooms. This passage way or hall was open at either end, and the only doors that the hut contained were in this passage, entering into the rooms at either end of the structure. The only windows in the rude building consisted of two holes cut into the timber walls by sawing a section out of two of the logs, making a window in the front side of either room. These windows did not contain panes of glass, for glass in those days was very expensive; besides, the subject of the sketch, who came with his family in an old cart to Evansville, had not taken the precaution to provide himself with such material. It was further- more considered wise to have as few holes in the walls of one's dwelling as possible, as a wall without holes formed a sort of barricade against the attacks of the Indians that still infested this re- gion at that time.
The windows of this, the first dwelling ever built on the site of Evansville, were closed by drop-doors made of split boards, that were fastened by a sliding beam from the inside. The same sort of fasten- ings were used in the doors. The doors were likewise made of heavy split boards, and, while through the hours of daylight, the latchstring of the Colonel's hut hung on the outside and all callers were welcomed, when it was pulled in and the doors and windows barred for the night, the little family of Hugh MeGary, especially when he was on the in- side with his trusty rifle and other weapons of defense, was quite secure
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
from the attacks of the savages and the occasional visits of the hun- gry wolves and bears that prowled about at night, much after the fashion of the murderous, yet cowardly, Indians.
Only two kinds of material were used in the construction of Hugh McGary's dwelling, viz., wood and dirt. There was actually not an iron nail in the entire structure. Nails were then thirty cents a pound and, while through boats carried them down the river to New Orleans and other southern cities, it was not until three or four years after Hugh McGary had built his hut that the first package of nails was pitched off at the Evansville landing.
Wooden pegs took the place of nails in the construction of the Colonel's dwelling, little holes were bored with augers and pegs, made with the pocket-knife, were driven into the holes, pinning the timbers together. . The split boards on the roof were held in their places by means of poles made of young sapplings, pinned down lengthwise across the roof.
The reader must not imagine that Hugh MeGary's hut was the only one ever built in this rude manner and under such disadvantages, for the fact is " the woods were full of 'em " as the saying goes; and even to this day, in some parts of Vanderburgh County, in what we now call the "baek woods" district, these same old-fashioned log houses are to be found, in the construction of which not ten pounds of iron nails were used.
The hut of Col. Hugh McGary, during the fur season, (which is during the months of the year that contain the letter R,) was adorned on the outer walls with coon skins, bear and wolf skins, and occasion- ally a buck skin, for the old Colonel was not only a brave Indian fighter, but a hunter and trapper of note in his day. Col. MeGary had a reputation as an Indian fighter (they did not call them soldiers in those days) that was equal to that of Col. Daniel Boone, of Ken- tueky, of whom he was once a neighbor and a elose companion. Col. MeGary's record as an Indian fighter began in Kentucky, as a bush- whaeker after the redskins, and, like Kit Carson or Buffalo Bill, he prided himself in running them out of the country, and in swooping down on them and breaking up their little rendezvous whenever he thought they were getting too bold. His first active experience, how- ever, in a regular warfare against the Indian tribes that persisted in robbing and killing the early settlers of that portion of Kentucky, was begun side by side with Col. Daniel Boone, Levi Todd, Col. John Todd, John Hart, Col. Trigg, Col. Logan, and other intrepid, active
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY, IND.
pioneers against the tribes known as the Wyandottes, Miamis, Pot- tawatomies, Shawnees and Cherokees.
In order to write the history of the early Indian wars of Southern Indiana, and to show the connection of Col. Hugh McGary with them, it will be necessary to give an account of these early fights in Ken- tucky with the redskins.
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