USA > Indiana > Sullivan County > A history of Sullivan County, Indiana, closing of the first century's history of the county, and showing the growth of its people, institutions, industries and wealth, Volume I > Part 16
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Graysville has always been a religious center. The Methodists built a church there during the fifties, and the Presbyterians were established there over thirty years ago. The Presbyterian church was dedicated December 10, 1871, by Rev. J. P. Fox of Carlisle.
Pleasantville.
During the present decade the town of Pleasantville in Jefferson township has become an active center for the coal mining industry. Sev- eral companies secured acreage in this vicinity, and a considerable num- ber of miners lived and worked in the shafts in and about Pleasantville.
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The working of the coal deposits in this locality is an old story, coal hav- ing been taken out by "slope" and "stripping" processes by some of the early residents, among them being the O'Havers and Timmermans. Jesse Beck, James Mayfield, James Harvey, Nathan Hinkle, Elias Newkirk were among the other first residents of this vicinity. Elias Newkirk built a blacksmith shop just south of the village site many years ago, and his son, F. M. Newkirk, was the village blacksmith until within recent years. A steam mill was constructed early in the sixties, and this was the real nucleus of the village of Pleasantville.
When the townsite was laid off a few years later it was named for Pleasant O'Haver, who was the first postmaster and who also at the time had become owner of the mill. Jackson Hinkle and W. P. O'Haver were also early postmasters and merchants. In 1871 a two-story brick school- house was built. The citizens took much pride in their school, and the record of the township in education stood high at a time when free school facilities were very imperfect in the county.
Cass Village.
The village of Cass, in the township of the same name, was laid out along the line of the narrow-gauge railroad in the summer of 1880. The postoffice from the first has been known as Cass, but the village for some years was called Buell, named in honor of a'railroad man. The general store of Pope and Usrey was the principal business establishment for a number of years. Dr. N. H. Brown, as postmaster and physician, was also prominent in the early affairs of the village. It was four years after
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the founding of the village before a religious service was held there, Rev. J. H. Metcer preaching there in September, 1884.
Dugger.
Dugger, near the east line of Cass township, originated in the popu- lation and community growth that often center about coal mines. A coal operator named Dugger had a large mine on the "narrow gauge" railroad about twenty-five years ago, and his name was given to the little village that was formed at that point. Dugger has ever since been a coal town. The Vandalia Coal Company about the beginning of this century acquired control of most of the mines in this vicinity, and about 1903 the village entered upon a period of great progress. A movement was begun to in- corporate the village, and the census, taken in August, 1903, preliminary to the election, showed the population to be 757, there being 172 heads of families. The townsite, to which some extensive additions had been re- cently made, covered about four hundred acres. When the matter of in- corporation was submitted to the voters in October, it was defeated by a majority of sixteen, said to be the result of opposition on the part of the saloonkeepers.
Some of the important improvements in the village made about this time were the erection of the Odd Fellows' building, the founding of the Dugger Enterprise (October 2, 1903), and the dedication of the M. E. church (June 19, 1904). It was estimated in the summer of 1905 that the population of the village was 1,200, most of it the result of the growth of the previous four years. There were then about twenty stores and
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merchandise houses, and the Christians and Methodists both had churches. The State bank was established in July, 1904, by Joseph Moss.
The movement to incorporate the village has recently succeeded. At an election held January 2, 1909, 147 votes were cast for and 40 against incorporation, and Dugger has now a town government.
Fairbanks.
The village of Fairbanks originated during the lively days when the old state road from Vincennes to Terre Haute was the route for a con- siderable commerce and the daily passage of stage coach and road wagon. Benjamin Ernest, James Pogue and Samuel Myers were the men who, about 1840, set aside a tract of twenty acres which was surveyed and platted as a townsite. The town was given the name of the township, which was bestowed to honor a lieutenant who was .massacred by the Indians while escorting a train of supplies toward Fort Harrison.
Fairbanks because of its inland situation has grown little since the railroad era. At the present time and for several years past the residents of this vicinity have indulged in the prospect of railroad or electric inter- urban facilities, which, when realized, will at once give a heavy impulse to business activity in this region. At the present time the village has its graded school, one or two churches, and the stores and professional activi- ties of the small center.
CHAPTER XIII.
COUNTY INSTITUTIONS.
The central portion of the present courthouse at Sullivan has stood for over half a century. It was built immediately after the fire of Febru- ary 7, 1850. It was the seat of government during the war, and was the arsenal from which the first militia company was supplied with muskets. To an old resident, many memories cling about the old brick courthouse. The building is about as old as the recorded official history of the county, since no record remains of the transactions of the county officers before the fire.
Courthouse.
The county commissioners (Joseph W. Wolfe, Jesse Haddon, Levi Maxwell) took action on March 15, 1850, toward the erection of a new seat of government. In the meanwhile the clerk's office was in a store ' building, and circuit and other courts were convened in the Methodist church building. In April an appropriation of $2,500 was made to begin work. It was October before the lumber and brick were delivered on the square, and the county contracted with James F. Pound and William Reed to erect the structure for $7,853. The ground dimensions were 40 by 60 . feet. When it was completed on January 1, 1852, the courthouse had cost the county nearly $9,000.
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Jail.
The first jail after the removal of the county seat to Sullivan stood on Broad street, just south of the present jail. It was a two-story build- ing, with double walls of logs, the ground dimensions being about 32 by 16 feet. The south end of the lower floor was intended for the residence of the sheriff. In the jail portion of the lower floor was one window, and in the upper story were three windows, each about eighteen inches square, latticed with iron bars riveted at their crossings, leaving open squares of about two inches through which came light and air. Heavy wooden shut- ters were used to close the windows.
In 1858 a new jail was built on the same lot occupied by the one just described. The contract price for the brick and wood work was $2,750, and for the iron work, $2,462. The building was completed in October, 1858, and was in use for over thirty years. The county commissioners began considering the building of a new jail in 1885, but did not act until 1889. In June of that year the bid of B. B. Harris, of Greensburg, was accepted for $24,875. The commissioners decided to locate the new build- ing on the corner north of the former jail, buying two lots on Washington street for $1,860. The contractor began the construction of the brick and stone building at once, and it was completed in the following spring and accepted by the commissioners in April. A bond issue of $30,000 provided the funds for this building. The old jail building was sold to Joshua Beasley for $881.
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Poor Asylum.
Sullivan county did not have a poor farm and asylum for the destitute and helpless until 1855. Previous to this time there was a county official
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who looked after the poor, but the few paupers in his care were assigned to some individual who, for a certain amount cach year, agreed to house and feed the unfortunates, at the same time getting the benefit of their labor so far as he was able to utilize it. The amount bid for the care of the poor in 1852 was $35 for each person.
In the summer of 1855 the county board bought from Henry K. Wil- son eighty acres of land lying in sections 35 and 26, of town 8, range 9. for $1,825. The little house on the farm was to be the asylum, and was improved for that purpose. In that year the pauper contract was let to Thomas Hale at $20 per person and the use of the poor farm.
The first asylum building was erected during the last year of the Civil war. The bids were received on July 27, 1864. The accepted bid was $4,480 for a two-storied front, 18 by 45 feet, and a one-story rear structure, 25 by 48 fect. The building was complete at the time called for in the contract, which was September 1, 1865. A frame building put up in 1877 was used for an infirmary. In 1885 a new infirmary was com- pieted. In 1896 plans were laid by the commissioners for the erection of a new building, modern in arrangements and sanitary conditions. The building was designed 120 feet long by 95 feet wide, the front to be for the use of the superintendent and family and the center and rear to con- tain twenty sleeping rooms and two sitting rooms and two dining rooms for the inmates. Steam heat, electric light and the most approved plumb- and ventilation were provided. The contract for the building was let in May to Briggs and Freeman of Sullivan for $15.307, without plumbing, which was a separate contract, bringing the total up to $18,554.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BENCH AND BAR.
The seventh article of the constitution of 1851, as originally adopted, provided that "The judicial power of the state shall be vested in a su- preme court, in circuit courts, and in such inferior courts as the general assembly may establish." Under the power so granted, the legislature, by an act approved May 14, 1852, provided for a court of common pleas, to consist of one judge, elected by the voters of the proper district, who should hold his office for four years.
This court was given the jurisdiction of the old probate court, with certain additional civil and criminal jurisdiction, inferior to the jurisdic- ton of the circuit court. It was the old probate court greatly improved, and with its powers and usefulness much enlarged.
By an act approved June 11, 1852, provision was made for the election of a district attorney in every common pleas district. The duties of this officer in the court of common pleas were quite similar to those of the prosecuting attorney in the circuit court, except that his jurisdiction, like that of the common pleas judge, was in general limited to prosecutions for misdemeanors. As in case of the old probate court, appeals might be
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taken from the court of common pleas either to the circuit court or to the supreme court. Appeals from justices of the peace might be taken to the court of common pleas or to the circuit court. There were four terms of court each year. At first these terms were fixed for the first Monday in January in each year, and for the first Monday of every third month there- after. The length of each term was made to depend upon the population of the county, varying from one to three weeks. The clerk, however, in the absence of the judge, was, for many purposes, required to keep the court open "on every judicial day of the year."
The common pleas court was abolished by the act of March 6, 1873, its business being transferred to the circuit courts of the respective counties.
Probate Courts.
Acting under the provisions of article fifth of the constitution of 1816, authorizing the establishment of courts inferior to the circuit court, the legislature, by an act approved February 10, 1831, provided for the or- ganization in each county of a probate court, consisting of one judge, to be elected every seven years by the voters of the county. The court was given "original and exclusive jurisdiction in all matters relating to the probate of last wills and testaments"-granting letters testamentary, let- ters of administration, and of guardianship; including also "the protection of minors, idiots and lunatics, and the security and disposition of their persons and estates." The probate court was also given concurrent juris- diction with the circuit court in actions "in favor of or against heirs, de- visees, legatees, executors, administrators, or guardians, and their sureties
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and representatives"; also "in the partition of real estate," and some other like cases.
The procedure as to pleadings, writs, trial, judgment, executions, etc., was in all respects similar to that in the circuit court, including the right to trial by jury. There might be an appeal either to the circuit court, or directly to the supreme court. The clerk of the circuit court and the sheriff of the county were alike officials of the probate court. As finally fixed by statute, the court met regularly on the second Mondays of Febru- ary, May, August and November-except in case the circuit court or the board of county commissioners should be in session on such day, when the probate court was to sit on the succeeding Monday. The sessions of the court were limited to six days, and the compensation of the judge was three dollars per day.
Circuit Court.
By article fifth of the constitution of 1816, it was provided that "The judiciary power of this state, both as to matters of law and equity, shall be vested in one supreme court, in circuit courts, and in such other inferior courts as the general assembly may from time to time direct and estab- lish."
The same article of the constitution further provided that the circuit courts should consist each "of a president and two associate judges"; that the state should be divided into three circuits, for each of which a president should be appointed, who should reside within his circuit; that the legislature might increase the number of circuits and presidents as the exigencies of the state might from time to time require; that all judges
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should "hold their offices during the term of seven years, if they shall so long behave well, and shall at stated times receive for their services a com- pensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office"; and that "The presidents of the circuit courts shall be appointed by joint ballot of both branches of the general assembly ; and the associate judges of the circuit courts shall be elected by the qualified electors in the respective counties." There was this further provision, that "The presi- dent alone, in the absence of the associate judges, or the president and one of the associate judges, in the absence of the other, shall be competent to hold a court, as also the two associate judges, in the absence of the presi- dent, shall be competent to hold a court, except in capital cases and cases in chancery."
In the act approved January 24, 1831, the legislature provided that the president should receive a salary of seven hundred dollars a year, to be paid out of the state treasury ; and that the associate judges should receive two dollars a day, while attending court, to be paid out of the county treasury. By an act approved February 15. 1838, it was provided that, in the absence of any presiding judge of the circuit, any other pre- siding judge of the state might hold court in such circuit. This was, in effect, a provision for a change of venue from a judge, and was so in- tended by the legislature as shown by the preamble to the act. Express provision was afterward made for changes of venue in case the presiding judge should be disqualified for any cause. In such case the special judge was allowed three dollars a day for his services.
By article seventh of the constitution of 1851 the judiciary system was completely changed. The associate judges were discontinued, and
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provision was made for the election for six years of one judge for each circuit. By an act approved June 17, 1852, the state was divided into ten circuits. With increase of population the number of circuits has grown, thirty-eight being established by the legislature in 1873, and the number being now over sixty.
The Bar.
Samuel Judah, who came to Merom about 1819-20, and lived in the county about three years, was one of the lawyers of Indiana who adapted the principles of general and statute law to the usage of the state. He was a native of New York, of Jewish stock, was educated at Rutgers College, and was admitted to the bar in 1819, when only twenty years old. He traveled west to Vincennes, which was then sufficiently supplied with law- yers, and in consequence he continued on to almost the edge of civilization and located at Merom. His practice while a resident of Sullivan county was confined to the usual routine cases entrusted to a young lawyer, but in later years, when he resided at Vincennes, he was frequently engaged in the suits that reached the highest state courts, and was not unknown as a lawyer to the nation at large. He possessed great power as a public man, and was once speaker of the house of representatives of Indiana, and in 1840 came within one vote of election to the United States senate.
The most interesting memorial of Mr. Judah's residence in this county is a letter which he wrote to his sister, dated at Merom, August 24, 1821. The village of Carlisle and some of its people seem much closer to the present as we read these lines : "To me there is nothing so amusing as the conversation of men of general information and practical knowledge.
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During a three months' sickness last fall at Carlisle, a neighboring village, I should most certainly have fretted myself to death had not the periods of intermission and the time of convalescence been relieved by exceedingly good company and books. Two young lawyers, two young doctors, one of whom had served in the Mediterranean, the other my friend McDonald, blessed with a fine mind and possessed of much knowledge and very pleas- ant manners, an editor of a newspaper whose genius was only excelled by his lightness of heart, a gentleman who as a commission merchant had resided in many of the cities of continental Europe, a disbanded United States major, absolutely the most pleasing and best natured companion I ever met with, and two old sea captains who had been all over the world, formed an assemblage affording more pleasant amusement and enlivening conversation than I expected to find in the backwoods among ten persons, laboring under the effects of sickness, at a season almost unexampled- strangers and assembled at the same place by chance. Captain Wasson lived in Carlisle, and when the others were gone, in company with him or his books, I enjoyed much pleasure and spent the time pleasantly."
The judges of the old court of common pleas, though not residents of Sullivan county, were well known to the bar of this county. One of the best known men of the time in this part of Indiana was Chambers Y. Patterson, who was the second judge to serve in the common pleas district comprising Sullivan county. He was born in Vincennes in 1824, studied law with Griswold and Usher at Terre Haute, and graduated from Har- vard Law School. He married the daughter of Hon. John Law, one of the circuit judges of southern Indiana. When in 1859 the legislature made a new common pleas district of Vigo, Sullivan, Parke and Vermilion
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counties, he was elected judge. He was defeated in 1864 by Samuel F. Maxwell, this being his only defeat during his career. He was later elected judge of the eighteenth circuit, when it was composed of Ver- milion, Parke, Sullivan and Vigo counties. He continued as circuit judge in Vigo and Sullivan counties (which in 1878 were made the fourteenth circuit) until his death in 1881. Concerning his character as a judge, it has been said: "He was not a close student of the law, and consequently his knowledge of the law acquired from books was limited. He possessed a good judicial mind, and gave close attention to the evidence in causes tried before him, and decided according to the natural equity or the right of the case. He transacted business rapidly and impartially. His decisions stood the test in the supreme court far above the average of judges."
James M. Hanna, who died on his farm in Curry township, January 15, 1872, was distinguished by service on the supreme bench of the state from 1858 to 1866, and thereafter lived in Sullivan county till his death. He served a term as state senator from this county. He was born in Franklin county, Indiana, in 1816. His son, Burton G. Hanna, was born in Clay county in 1840, graduated from the State University, entered the law and served a term as prosecuting attorney, and was prominent in Democratic politics.
A former member of the Sullivan county bar whose acquaintance with the members of the profession and whose personal standing gave him the distinction of leadership was Sewell Coulson. He came to Sullivan county in 1856. Born in Pennsylvania in 1825, of Quaker parentage, he studied law in Ohio and had attained considerable reputation in Hardin county
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before his removal to Sullivan county. He was a partner of Israel W. Booth for several years. He was retained as counsel on one side or the other of the most important criminal trials in Sullivan county courts. His ability as a lawyer never secured recognition in public office for the reason that he was a Republican, but he was long a man of influence in the pro- fession and as a citizen. In a former history of Sullivan county he was the author of the chapters on the bench and bar, and thus preserved to memory many interesting and valuable facts concerning the former law- yers and courts of this county.
Mr. Coulson died at his home in Sullivan, December 6, 1884. At a meeting of the bar, of which Judge Buff was chairman, speeches paying tribute to him were made by Murray Briggs, J. T. Hays, J. W. Hinkle, W. and C. E. Barrett, T. J. Wolfe, Alex. Massie and James B. Patten, and among the resolutions adopted was one that "in the death of Sewell Coul- son the bar of the Sullivan circuit court has lost its ablest member and the profession one of its brightest lights." The editor of the Democrat esti- mated him as one who was never known to hold malice, and in his practice was remarkably tenacious of his clients' rights, and was never accused of being untrue to those who employed him.
The present congressman from the Second Indiana district, John C. Chaney, is closely identified with Sullivan county. When a boy he at- tended the Ascension Seminary and was an honor graduate. He taught school while preparing for the law, and after a course of study in the office of John T. Gunn he entered the Cincinnati Law School and gradu- ated in 1882, after which he returned to Sullivan to begin practice in part- nership with his old preceptor, Judge Gunn. The Chaney family have
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been well known in the public life of the county for many years, yet po- litically they are Republicans and have gained honors against normal ma- jorities of the other party.
The successor of C. Y. Patterson as judge of the circuit court was George W. Buff, who was elected to that office in 1882. He was born in Darke county, Ohio, in 1843, his parents moving to a farm near Merom in 1862. He studied law with his brother, N. G. Buff, in Sullivan, and be- gan the practice of law in 1870, at first with his brother, and later with John T. Hays, and then with James B. Patten.
During the latter part of his career, Judge James C. Allen was a prominent member of the Illinois bar, was a judge of the supreme court of that state, member of Congress, and very prominent in Democratic politics. He began his career in Sullivan county when twenty-one years old. Born in Kentucky in 1822, he was a young lawyer at Merom during the last months of that town's position as county seat, and followed the court to Sullivan. In 1845 he was elected prosecuting attorney, and after his term in that office moved to Illinois to continue his upward progress in law and politics.
The pioneer, Rev. Joseph Williams Wolfe, was a versatile and very active man. In 1860 he was admitted to the bar. For some years before and for a long time afterward he was a familiar figure in the office of the circuit clerk, serving as a deputy through various administrations after he had been circuit clerk himself for eight years. At a still earlier period in the county's history he had been an active minister of the Christian church, and his name appears in many church records. He was also a large property owner. He was a Virginian, born in Frederick county in
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