USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A standard history of Elkhart County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development, Volume I > Part 19
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
ASSOCIATE JUDGE DIDDY
Mr. Diddy, it will be remembered, was one of the first associate justices of the Circuit Court. He had settled on Two Mile Plain, on the St. Joe River, in 1829, and became one of the most prosperous farmers of the famous Elkhart Prairie.
"FRIENDS, LET'S PAUSE A MOMENT"
In brief, the foregoing are the main personalities strongly woven into the pioneer times of Elkhart County, and such details as can be gathered to bring them more clearly before the reader are now to be presented. As an introduction, may be quoted the following verse of a poem read before the Old Settlers' Society, at Goshen, nearly sixty years ago, by Dr. E. W. H. Ellis, then editor of the Democrat :
"Friends, let's pause a moment
Amid good feeling's flow,
To toast the lads and lasses
Of thirty years ago, Who left their homes of plenty
And broad Ohio's shore, The forests and the prairies
Of Elkhart to explore.
Come along, gee along, now begin to go Towards the blooming prairies of the bright St. Jo. Oh, the earth is very broad and her bosom rich and rare, Like the Goshen of old Egypt, it has milk and honey fair."
GOSHEN PIONEERS ANTE-DATING 1840
The historic edition of the News, published in 1901, gives an interesting array of facts concerning the Goshen pioneers whose coming ante-dated 1840. While they are reproduced, they should be read with the comment that since they were recorded the follow- ing local veterans have passed away :
Only a few of those men and women who came into Elkhart Township in the early '3os or were born here during that period are living today. It is a strong coincidence that the first white child born in the township and the first one to be born in the original plat
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
of the town should be living today. John H. Violett who lives on the old homestead just south of the city, within sixty rods of where he was born, was the first white child to see the light of day in this new country. November 22, 1829, is the date of his birth. Down on New Street George W. Carpenter lives; he was born in a log house overlooking Rock Run, June 6, 1830, and has always made his home in the city.
ANTHONY DEFREES
Anthony Defrees came to Goshen in 1833 with his brother, who was one of the prominent figures in the town for many years. In 1837 they started the first newspaper and Anthony was actively engaged in the business management. His home is on Washing- ton Street. A history of the paper will be given in another section of the work. Dr. A. C. Jackson, son of Col. John Jackson, has always resided here. He was born on the prairie and for over fifty years has practiced medicine in this community. His brother Ira Jackson still lives on the prairie and is a well known figure on the streets of the city. Isaac Carpenter and John Carpenter, brothers of George, lived here for seventy years. Joel P. Hawks came with his father, Cephas Hawks, to Waterford, in 1834, and Mrs. Hawks, his wife, was the daughter of Ebenezer Brown, one of the first mer- chants of Goshen; the family home is on Third Street. J. D. Vail, who passed away in December, 1900, was a merchant at Benton in 1836. Among others still living in this vicinity are Israel Hess, Balser Hess, John E. Thompson, Jacob Cline, Daniel Hess, Jacob Baker, Charles Thompson, Mrs. Youmans, David Darr, Mrs. C. S. Hascall, Henry Cook, Dr. C. C. Sparklin and Mrs. Wagner.
THIE VIOLETTS AGAIN
John H. Violett was always one of the most progressive citizens of the county and had a handsome home on the edge of Elkhart prairie. His father, Major Violett, was the first county recorder and played an important part in the upbuilding of Goshen. In 1854 he built the Violett House upon the corner now occupied by the Hotel Alderman and from which it was remodeled. The first landlord was a man by the name of Todd. Major Violett never changed his residence, always living on the farm where he had
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
located in 1829. Below the Hawks Mill at Waterford, he erected a sawmill, and farther down John Violett erected another mill at a later day. Well does he remember the day when all of the country side turned out to the pulling bee and the courthouse square was divested of its unsightly stumps. One of the first circuses that came to the town pitched its tents on the square and here the first county fair was held. No stalls were erected but the prize cattle were tied to the trees around the courthouse. Mr. Violett laid out the old cemetery at Waterford. It was located at a beautiful spot at the bend of the Elkhart.
THE CARPENTERS
George Carpenter says that his father, Elias Carpenter, settled upon Elkhart Prairie in 1829 and the next year moved into a log house located on the hill overlooking Rock Run and within 100 yards of the Noble Manufacturing Company's plant. His grandfather, John Carpenter, erected the first gristmill.
DOCTOR SPARKLIN'S RECOLLECTIONS
"My father, Azel Sparklin settled on Elkhart Prairie in 1829, coming from Connersville," says Dr. C. C. Sparklin. "He was a Methodist minister and administered to the spiritual as well as the material wants of the early settlers. The house where we lived was built of logs and the location happened to be an excellent one, as the state road was afterwards constructed within a few rods of the house. The nearest neighbors were John Violette and Israel Hess. Banking in those days was done at Fort Wayne, fifty miles away, and three days were consumed in the trip. Flour was sent down the river in arks from the Hawks' Mill at Waterford to St. Joseph. Salt, which sold at $6 a barrel, was hauled from Mich- igan City. Produce was hauled to Niles and merchandise brought back. I remembed Barnum's Circus well when it exhibited here in 1847. The first agricultural fair was held in the court house square in 1852 and the floral hall stood on the present site of the Hotel Hattle. On Washington Street, just off of Main, stood the first tavern in Goshen. It was a double log house. Doctor Match- lette's house stood where the Economy is located. It was a peculiar
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
structure, the front part comprised two stories, the middle part one and a half and the rear one story; all faced Main street and there were three front doors, one in each part."
JOEL P. HAWKS LOOKS BACK
The milling industry played such an important part in the early history of Elkhart County, and still forms such a large source of manufacturing wealth, that it is very consistent with the general purpose of our history to quote at length from an article written by J. P. Hawks and read before a meeting of the historical society.
PIONEER MILLS OF THE COUNTY
"I will first speak," says Mr. Hawks, "of the first mill buildings. It is a question whether Goshen or Elkhart should have the honor of having the first mill. But the best authority that I have found says that the first mill was built by Mr. Carpenter on Rock Run, near the northwest corner of our beautiful Oakridge ceme- tery, in 1830 or 1831; the second on Christiana Creek, across the St. Joe from the Elkhart, and third, the McConnell Mill, situated near the present site of the Big Four freight office. The fourth was the Waterford Mill, built by Elias Baker in 1834, and then fol- lowed the Bainter Mill and the mill on Solomon's Creek and the Darr Mill in Benton and others. I have since read in an obituary of a Mr. Inks, that he built a corncracker on Solomon's Creek, the first in the county. Israel Hess says the Elkhart Mill was the first. It would be highly interesting if we could have photographs of these several mills, but that was before the days of photography. I think the first three of these buildings were all built of logs, as were most of the dwellings of those days. I think the Baker Mill was the first frame mill building in this county and for many counties adjoin- ing. It was nearly square, about thirty by thirty feet, two stories, with a high hip roof, which gaye some extra garret room over part of the house and much used for some purposes. The Carpenter Mill, I think, had but one small run of stone and without bolts, and only used for grinding corn. Of the other two mills I have no knowledge as to their outfit, but most likely it was very meager.
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
THE OLD MILL
The dear old mill is standing where in happy days of youth I used to hear in rapture sweet the singing of the wheel; And they were happy days for me, when hope and joy and truth Held potent sway and everything seemed destined for my weal.
We all remember how we used to hear the waters swish And ripple in an ecstasy that brought us all delight ; And how we used to gather in a myriad of fish-
For spearing then was going some and law was out of sight.
The olden days, the golden days, the days of long ago- The days when youth was busy with a mission to fulfill, Are right on deck with me today, in memory aglow, All centered in the visions of the dear old water mill.
Ah, me! the dear old places-what a never ending change- And old familiar faces fade away, until I bring them back again to me with true and certain range By picturing, in fancy's eye, the dear old water mill.
The singing of the wheel has ceased, the mill is in decay- But pictures that around my dearest recollections throng Are bright and clear and vivid, and I hear again today In retrospective cadences the wheel's familiar song.
And soon with me the wheel of life must close its varied task, And all my little, feeble, vain endeavorings grow still- And sentiment, perhaps it is, but from the heart I ask That I may be remembered like the dear old water mill.
HARRY S. CHESTER.
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
THE OLD HAWKS MILL AND OFFICE
"About the Waterford Mill I can be more specific in description of outfit and working. My father, Cephas Hawks, Sr., bought this mill of Mr. Baker in 1835. It then had two runs of stones : one run was a regular made burr for wheat, and the other made from the natural stone, commonly called nigger heads, and was used only for grinding corn. I think these stones were made by the Mr. Inks above spoken of. It had one bolting reel, about twelve or
TYPICAL OLD SAW MILL, ELKHART
fourteen feet long and covered with three grades of bolting cloth, the first four or five feet being very fine for getting the superfine flour ; the next section, coarser for common flour; the third, still coarser to catch middlings and shorts, while the bran was thrown out at the end of the bolt. In those days corn meal was never bolted at the mill, and hence the necessity of a corn meal sieve in the outfit of every well regulated family. Custom so increased that the sec- ond year after some grand improvements were made in the old mill. Another run of wheat burrs was put in, the holding capacity was
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
increased and moved into the garret, elevators were made for carry- ing the meal up into the bolts, etc., etc. But, oh, the labor that was necessary to do the work of that mill! Every bushel of grain had to be shouldered and carried three or four times, first from the wagon into the mill, then shouldered again to pour into the hoppers and again when ground, and lastly from the mill to the wagon. What wheat we bought for making flour for sale must be taken first to the platform scales, then up one and sometimes two pair of stairs to the bin. Having established a reputation for making the best flour in the county, our custom was very large and widespread, reaching from the state line on the north to the Wabash on the south, and embraced all of Elkhart, Noble, LaGrange, Kosciusko and parts of Whitley, Marshall and St. Joe counties. Of course, coming so far, they must bring large grists, and come prepared with provi- sions and horse feed to wait until it could be ground, which was sometimes a tedious waiting of two or three days. A strict watch was kept that they were not cheated in their turn, and it often required much diplomacy to keep the peace among them. It often looked about the yard like an army encamped, or a camp meeting, so many teams in waiting. A unique feature of that old mill was the ten by twelve foot square room in one corner, called the office. Its furnishing was a large old-fashioned parlor cook-stove, having a large oven over the fire pot for baking, and a hole and lid on top for boiling the tea kettle. A wide board bench around three sides, with a small rough board desk nailed up on cleats in one corner, constituted the furnishings of that room. These benches, with a bag of bran for a mattress and an overcoat or a bunch of bags for a pillow furnished beds for many waiting customers. On cold nights that little room would be filled with customers or village loungers, and heated up to about one hundred degrees, with the flat top of the old stove covered with corn. Many a jolly evening was spent eating parched, not popped corn, telling stories, cracking jokes and cracking nuts, all of which were very plenty in those days. And such a looking place was that room! The floor was inches deep with flour paste mixed with tobacco juice, crumbs of bread and meat from the customers' lunch, and with popcorn and nut shells. Oh, it was a beauty!
"One unique character who came about four times a year from the Haw Patch, with his big prairie-schooner wagon and his four large fat horses, himself sitting proudly erect on his wheel or saddle
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
horse, holding his one line in his left hand and his black-snake whip in his right hand, was Mr. McDavitt. You could hear the crack of that whip and the word of command to that team, calling each horse by name, for a quarter of a mile. Never were horses under better command. He could turn a corner, wheel a circle, cramp and back to the mill door to the very dot and never missed. He would some- times, while waiting, hitch up just to give us exhibitions of driving, and would always draw a crowd.
THE NEW HAWKS MILL
"So much for the old mill. The time had come when it would not meet the growing demands of the country, and some time in the '40s, I think in '47, a new mill was planned, and built, larger and more complete. In size about forty by sixty feet, and five stories high, with five runs of the best burrs that could be found, with the then newest machinery and conveniences, such as elevators for both wheat and meal, larger bolting capacities for both merchant and cus- tom work, and screen and smutter for cleaning wheat (for up to that time the wheat was ground just as it came from the farmer's fanning mill), large scales, a hopper to empty into from the wagon and a drop for the wheat from the scales to the elevator, so that much of the hard lifting required in the old mill was obviated in the new. The capacity of each run of burrs was increased one-half or more by new water wheels, iron shafting and cob wheels, better and more perfect boxing, bearings, etc. So that the capacity of the new mill was sufficient to serve all of our greatly increased custom work and turn out about fifty barrels of flour per day of merchant work. This was a big thing in those days, whereas the Goshen Milling Company can now make five hundred barrels per day, and yet I will here say that ordinarily and on an average the net profits of the fifty barrels per day mill in the '50s was equal to or better than that of the five hundred barrel mill in the 'gos. The reasons are: Less expense and more profits. While we did much of the work ourselves and our own labor was never reck- oned, I might mention here, however, that the mill stuff, bran and shorts, is much more valuable today than then. Farmers had plenty of cheap corn to feed and would not buy mill feed. The bran we sold what we could at three cents per bushel or one dollar for a wagonload, and the bigger loads they took the better we liked it
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
We fed all we could ourselves, and shoveled hundreds of bushels into the tail race to feed the fish or be carried down into the St. Joe.
GETTING TO MARKET AND ARKING
"Transportation was a great item in those early days. Only two ways were open to us. The one was by teams, and that was the every-day, year-around way, and the other was by arking down the river, which we could only do in the spring and fall, or after heavy rains when the river was high. Our main markets were Chicago, Michigan City, St. Joseph and Fort Wayne. When the roads were bad, as they were most of the time, a good team could haul only ten barrels of flour, and it took eight days for a trip to Chicago, four or five to Michigan City or St. Joe or Fort Wayne. One plan was to load from five to ten teams and start from the mill early in the morning. One of us (for we were many in those days) with our own team headed the train and led the van, and we would go to the market we thought the best, sell the best we could, buy whatever we could that we needed in our trade at home, mostly salt, coffee and muslin, and giving each team a light load of these things, hasten back home with what money was left to invest in more wheat. These teams we used to pay from one dollar to one dollar and forty cents per day, according as the roads and weather might be. Of course on such wages the men could not afford to buy any- thing on the trip but stabling, hay and lodging. All carried their dinner boxes for themselves and grain for the horses. There was so much of this work to do that men who were able to own a team made this their business and supported their families in this way.
"But the arking in the time of it was the much more exciting, more rapid and much cheaper way of getting our produce off to market. These arks were made of two timbers, which we called gunnels, hewn out in the woods or sawed in the mill, about six or eight inches thick, eighteen to twenty-four inches wide, as we could find the logs to make them, and from twenty to thirty feet long, planked on the bottom with two inch plan, corked and pitched till water tight. Each one of these would carry from one hundred to one hundred and fifty barrels of flour and two and sometimes three of these cribs, as they were called, were lashed together and called an ark, with a long, heavy oar at each end to steer it with. Capt. A. C. Manning, who afterward became the popular sheriff of our county, was a very efficient man to float these expensive and valuable
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
laden arks down the Elkhart into and down to St. Joseph. Others whose names I have forgotten, used to run these arks for us. It took about six men, with the captain, to man an ark, one with the captain on the hind oar, two on the front oar, and two for extra work, such as pushing with poles to keep it off of breakers and in eddy waters to accelerate the speed, and care for the stuff. We had three dams to jump and many bridges to go under, and these were often dangerous places, for to hit a bent of the bridge meant either a bent taken out or the breaking of the ark, and in either case it was a heavy loss. So also in going over a dam, sometimes the sections of the ark, or cribs as we called them, would break apart or would dip water. The Niles bridge was about the most dangerous place on the trip, and here we once had a bad break and lost and damaged many barrels of flour. Usually one of our folks went with these expeditions to care for and make sales, and your humble writer, though then but a boy and being of less consequence as a hard worker at home, was sent on the ark. We usually carried our own provi- sions, cooked and ate our own meals, either on the ark or on the bank where we tied up for the night and in mild weather we slept out doors, or rather in our blankets as best we could.
"Right here I must relate a joke on myself. We had tied up for the night, a chilly night, near a large farm house, and so after eating our supper we all went up to the house to secure lodging if possible. The people were very kind and accommodating, as people in new countries mostly are, and said they would do the best they could for us. So when bed time came the men were stored away, some in beds and some on the floor. But the writer had made a good impression, and the good man of the house had whispered to me to keep still till the men were stored away and then he would provide for me. The result was a place in the spare bed room and a soft clean bed. But the joke is in the sequel. In the morning when the captain called for his bill it was five cents each for himself and men. The boy boss was not cute enough to let the men get out of hearing first, but at once asked for his bill and was charged ten cents. This gave the jolly men a chance to guy me all the day for having to pay double price for lodging.
STONE-DRESSING
"One thing more and I close. The work of dressing the stones. This had to be done about every three days, so that one run of stone
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
out of the five was idle all the time in the process of dressing. To us older men this stone-dressing is fresh in our memory, though we have seen little of it in the last ten years of our lives. But to our children and grandchildren it will be something new and strange. The top, a revolving stone, was lifted by a great crane from the spindle on which it whirled while at work and turned down-side up and placed upon blocks prepared for it, and then both the upper and the bed stone was ready for surface. The furrows were picked out and deepened, and the surface between furrows carefully picked and sharpened for the grinding. When the stone became worn down smooth, it would only mash instead of grind the grain. The furrows were for the purpose of carrying or working the grain to the outer surface of the stone, where most of the grinding was done. The tool for doing this dressing was quite unique. I will add that for many years no blacksmith could be found near here that could harden and temper the steel points of these picks to stand their severe work, and consequently we had to have many of them so that some might be constantly on their way to and returning from Chicago or Buffalo for dressing and sharpening by experts.
MILL MOVED TO GOSHEN
"In 1868 this mill was torn down and brought to Goshen and erected on the Hydraulic canal at the foot of what was then Market street, but now Lincoln avenue, to which have been added from time to time, addition after addition, story upon story and improvement upon improvement, both inside and out, until the old mill is lost in the new, and in its place stands the Goshen Milling Company's big plant ; the old five runs of stone out and gone, and twenty-two stands of steel processes doing the bolting, the packing by machinery in- stead of by hand, and much more than I can take your time to tell."
THE VAIL REMINISCENCES
Among the old papers of J. D. Vail, the father of L. W. Vail, who died December 4, 1900, a curious receipt has been found, which reads :
"Goshen, Ind., June 10, 1836.
"Received of C. and J. Vail, ninety cents, for which they are licensed to vend foreign merchandise until the first of September next.
"Thomas Thomas, County Clerk."
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Mr. Vail was running a general store at Benton during the '30s, and there was a law that taxed all goods not raised or manufactured in the state, and the moneys thereby received was applied to the expenses of the county government.
Mr. Vail used to relate an incident that showed the character of the unique Matthew Boyd, who ran a ferry across the Elkhart River at Benton. He was a red-headed Irishman, and in the summer, when the water was low, he was wont to go down stream a short distance, fell a number of trees, dam and raise the water, and thereby make business for his ferry.
Until the passing away of Dr. M. M. Latta in the late 'gos, there existed in Goshen quite a famous medical triumvirate in the persons of Drs. Latta, Wickham and A. C. Jackson, all of whom had been in active practice for more than half a century.
THE GOSHEN COOKS
Henry Cook was a civil engineer and surveyor in Elkhart County for considerable over half a century. All of the city, village and township plats, with the exception of those made from 1830 to 1840, bear his name for about fifty continuous years. James Cook, his father, was one of Goshen's first merchants, and his brother, John Cook, was also in business.
MINOR INDUSTRIES
According to the best information Jacob T. Cripe was the first mechanic in Elkhart Township to follow his trade as a means of livelihood.
The cutting of millstones was a very useful art during the early years, and the first man known to have followed that line of work was John Inks, who made stones for the Rock Run and Elkhart mills.
In an agricultural community the blacksmith shop occupies a place of only less importance than the village store, and oftentimes the crossroads blacksmith shop has been the nucleus around which has grown up a thrifty town. It was only in the year 1899 that Joseph D. Knox, the first blacksmith of Goshen, passed to his final reward. He was then ninety-three years old. He had also been the first millwright in this part of the county. His daughter, Mrs. Mary G. Hale, has in her possession the first piece of furniture made in
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