USA > Indiana > Newton County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 18
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 18
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
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course, they made a hurried retreat. With the growth of settle- ments and the drainage of these swamp lands, this species of out- lawry has long since ceased, and Jasper County bears a reputation for a law-abiding, thrifty population second to none in the state. Its courts have had no cases of remarkable importance, save perhaps the action of the county commissioners against a treasurer of the county, and the controversy in relation to the formation of Newton County. These were both settled in the Supreme Court.
EARLY ADVENTURERS
During the period of wandering Pottawattamies, trappers, squat- ters and criminals, there is little definite information to be gathered regarding old Newton County. Immigration of the desirables and their settlement, with the avowed object of founding homes and planting families, were directed to Rensselaer, the county seat, and the more promising localities farther to the east. The development of the western part of Jasper County up to about 1854 was almost at a stand-still. Yet those who ventured, and their work, are entitled to record and praise; an inkling of which has already been given in the words of John Darroch, the father of Judge William Darroch.
THE KENOYER SETTLEMENT
Josiah Dunn and John Elliott are known to have been in the county, on the Iroquois, as early as 1832; among the very oldest settlers was an old man, Joseph Redding, who came from Ohio, and settled near the Iroquois River, in the western part of the county. He subsequently moved further west. About the close of the year 1832, the Brook settlement was formed by James W. Lacy, G. W. Spitler, Squire Lyons, T. R. Barker and Samuel Benjamin. The latter first settled on the river in the western part of the county, but left on the breaking-out of the Black Hawk disturbance, returning, however, and settling on the eastern side of the county. About this time came James Cuppy, Jacob Troup, John Meyers, Reece Dunn and Matthias Redding.
About 1836, Jacob Kenoyer came from Southeastern Indiana, to near Spitler's Creek, and about 1845 erected the first sawmill and corncracker in the county. It was run by a dam thrown across Spitler's Creek, and stood near the brick residence erected by Zechariah Spitler and now owned by George W. Spitler, his son.
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Samuel and Frederick Kenoyer came in soon afterward, and Amos Clark and Charles Anderson. These families formed the nucleus for the entire settlement which gathered in the middle-western part of the county. This colony was further reinforced at an early date by Amos White, Michael Haney and Philip Earl.
FIRST POSTOFFICE AT BROOK
The Brook settlement was the first collection of houses and people to take on the semblance of a village in what is now Newton County, and on August 23, 1837, the fact of its growing importance was recognized by the Government in the establishment there of a postoffice, with the appointment of George W. Spitler as master of it. As it was seventeen years before another postoffice was estab- lished in Newton County, the Brook concern had nearly a generation the start of the other settlements. Mr. Spitler served as its post- master from August, 1837, to April, 1840, and Samuel H. Benjamin from that time until August, 1853.
JOHN MURPHY FOUNDS MOROCCO
In the following year this monopoly of postal conveniences was broken by the opening of a postoffice at Morocco. John Murphy had laid out that place as a regular town-the first to be platted in the county-on the 28th of January, 1851. In 1838, Mr. Murphy came to this region and settled north of the Kenoyer settlement on Beaver Creek. He was a native of Virginia and moved to Ohio in 1808. In 1825, he removed to Indiana, choosing a site on the Tippecanoe River, opposite the site of the City of Lafayette, which was then a wilderness. In 1838, he came to the territory which is now Newton County. At that time, there were but about twelve families in the county, among whom were those of Bridgeman, Cuppy. Smith and himself in the edge of the Beaver timber, while on the Iroquois there were but a few families-John Lyons, Job Hunt, Frederick Kenoyer, John Myers, and a few others. The rest of the county was an unbroken solitude.
The first time he went to Chicago was in June, 1822, when he assisted in driving cattle from Ohio to Green Bay, for the United States garrison located there. It took two months and two days to make the trip. From Piqua, Ohio, to Green Bay was an unbroken wilderness, except a small settlement at Fort Wayne and the garri- son at Chicago. Just after the Town of Lafayette was laid out,
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Taylor and Linton opened a store, and Mr. Murphy engaged to take an ox team and find a road to Chicago for them, by which goods could be brought at less expense than to haul them from the east. In company with two other teams, he proceeded through Parish Grove, to Bunkum, Illinois, and thence to West French trad- ing post about a mile up the Iroquois River, on the north side. From this point, he had to make his own road, there being no trace to Chicago. The latter place had increased since his first visit to some twenty-five dwellings, but land was still very cheap. Mr. Murphy was offered lots, near where the Tribune Building stands, at $10 each, the payment to be made in potatoes or oats at 50 cents per
MR. AND MRS. JOHN ADE
bushel. Murphy was subsequently joined on the Beaver Creek by James Elijah, John Darroch, David Kessler, Daniel Deardurff, Benjamin Roadruck, Silas Johnson and others.
JOHN ADE LOCATES THERE
Two years afterward, and a few months before the postoffice was established at Brook, John Ade came on from Cheviot, the Cincinnati suburb, where he had been a toll keeper and a farmer, to take charge of a branch store opened at Morocco by Ayres & Company, of Bunkum, Illinois. They were old friends of his and naturally had confidence in his ability to make the enterprise pay. Bunkum, which was in reality the popular name for two towns on either side of the Iroquois River just over the Illinois line, was then the center of a large country trade. It had four large general stores, the. bulk of the business being controlled by Ayres & Company. Vol. I-12
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Mr. Ade remained there for six weeks with his wife and baby, obviously for the purpose of familiarizing himself with the business, and on April 25, 1853, arrived at Morocco.
MOROCCO AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD IN 1853
In 1911, when he was eighty-three years old, Mr. Ade wrote as follows of his recollections of Morocco and vicinity, as he found the country in 1853: "At that time the town was about two years old and had some six or seven houses. On the road from Bunkum to Morocco, after passing the Dunning farm, about half a mile from Bunkum, until we reached the Robert Archibald farm, a dis- tance of ten miles, all was open prairie, with the exception of an improvement just commenced by William Plummer, which was about half way between these two points. Of those living in Morocco at that time, David Pulver and A. W. Bebout are the only ones left among the living. Mrs. Pulver passed away since I began writing these recollections.
"At that time Morocco was the only town in the territory now comprising Newton county. The nearest postoffice was Bunkum on the west, twelve miles, and Rensselaer on the east, eighteen miles. There was a postoffice at the residence of Amos Clark, called White's Grove, established September 27, 1853. This house stood about a half mile southeast of what is now known as the Pleasant Grove meeting house, near the Iroquois river, in Jefferson township. On April 27, 1854, it was moved to the residence of Zechariah Spitler, and again on June 20, 1861, to the residence of Elijah Kenoyer, where it remained until October 15, 1861, when it was discontinued.
"There was also a postoffice called Brook, several miles farther up the river, both supplied by mail carried on horseback once a week. The first office was about two miles southwest of the present town of the same name.
"The Brook postoffice was by far the oldest in the county. Morocco had no mail connections with Brook or White's Grove. We communicated with the outside world through Bunkum, Illinois (the postoffice was Concord), and Rensselaer, Indiana.
"In 1854 we succeeded in getting a postoffice at Morocco on condition that the citizens would agree to carry the mail once a week to Rensselaer and back, also keep the postoffice for the proceeds of the office, so that it should be no expense to the government.
"As this was the best arrangement that could be made, the condi- tions were accepted. John Ade was appointed postmaster and David
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Pulver appointed mail carrier. A few months later an office was established in Jackson township, called Pilot Grove, and Stephen Elliott was appointed postmaster. This condition of things existed for some three years, when John Ade was removed for offensive partisanship. There was no civil service in those days but, as a prominent state politician put the case : 'The times now require that every government official must be a firm supporter of the adminis- tration.'
"At the time above spoken of, envelopes and postage stamps were unknown. When a letter was written, it was folded and fastened either with a wafer or sealing wax. The rate of postage depended upon the distance the letter had to be carried, and the money could be received from the sender or collected at the destina- tion. This necessitated making out a way-bill with each package of letters sent to the different offices, showing the amount paid and the amount to be collected on each package. Few of our institu- tions have shown a more decided change than the mail service."
LANDS IN THE GOODLAND REGION
The rich, undulating prairie in the southeastern part of the present County of Newton did not attract attention as early as it should, on account of the swamp lands scandal which made emigrants cautious in their investments throughout all the region. In 1859, after the building of the Logansport & Peoria Railroad, the land upon which Goodland is located, with several adjoining sections on the east, was bought, mostly by speculators, at marshal's sale, for about $3.50 per acre. The town was not platted until about seven years later, when permanent settlers in that section of the county had commenced to improve their farms and develop the country as a productive and thrifty region of grain and live stock.
ALEXANDER J. KENT AND KENTLAND
In the meantime Alexander J. Kent, the founder of Kentland and one of the strongest and most honored men concerned in the advancement of the county, had acquired thousands of acres of lands in the southern part of the county and was throwing his weight in favor of the districts along and south of the Iroquois River. For nearly a quarter of a century he directed a veritable industrial cam- paign from his home Town of Kentland, both by force of his intel- lectual character and the warmth and nobility of his heart.
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Mr. Kent was born in Oneida County, New York, August 30, 1815, and was one of the California '49-ers. In that year he equipped John Allison, W. R. Fowler, Daniel Shaw, James Izzard and J. B. Chesebrough with goods and furnished them transporta- tion to Sacramento City, where they were to furnish supplies to the miners. In 1851 he went on himself and joined the firm of W. R. Fowler & Company, the name of which was changed to Kent, Fowler & Company. The firm carried on a successful wholesale grocery business for some time. It was interrupted by a destructive fire, but resumed on a larger scale and continued for ten years. The partners then sold out and purchased the Anna Welsh, a vessel
ALEXANDER J. KENT AND WIFE
engaged in trade between San Francisco and China. That venture was also a financial success. On her return trip the Anna Welsh brought to America the first Chinese colony, and after making three trips was sold to a Chinese mandarin, its owners returning to New York.
Soon after his arrival at the metropolis, Mr. Kent's brother, Hon. P. M. Kent, of Indiana, called on him and induced him to invest in wild lands in Northwestern Indiana, and in 1853 he visited that state and invested largely. In 1855 he moved to New Albany, Indiana, and engaged in the wholesale grocery trade, having one of the largest establishments in the state. He frequently went to Northwestern Indiana and each time invested in land, until his real estate amounted to more than 25,000 acres. In 1859 he took up his residence in what is now Newton County. About this time many
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bought farms from him, with little prospect of paying for them, and had Mr. Kent pressed them for payment when it was due many who were afterward prosperous farmers would have been obliged to surrender their lands and become poor men. But Mr. Kent seldom refused to help deserving persons or worthy enterprises, and to the people suffering from the drought in Kansas in 1861 his donations were most generous. On one occasion he replied to a solicitor for corn : "Go to my crib and take out what you think I ought to con- tribute, as I don't know exactly how to deal out to the worthy unfortunate sufferers." As a result, 500 bushels of corn were taken and the keen edges of hard times were turned. At a later date, $400 worth of clothing went to Nebraska for the sufferers from grass- hoppers as an evidence of Mr. Kent's free hand and good will. It is said that he had from $50 to $300 invested in every church in Washington Township.
In 1861 came the Civil war, and untold distress was the result in thousands of households. Money was close, but Mr. Kent proved himself to be the man for the times, doing much to relieve the families of soldiers, and receiving the blessings of the widows and orphans whom his generosity had placed beyond the pale of want. On one occasion, as a company composed of his neighbors was marching to the depot on its way to the scenes of war, Mr. Kent came upon the scene and asked Capt. Daniel Ash to order "open ranks." When the order was obeyed, Mr. Kent passed through the lines and gave each man a $5 bill. "That came in good time," said one of the soldiers, "for many of us were leaving home and family without a dollar, and knew not when or where the next dollar was to come from." It is such instances as these that endeared Mr. Kent to all who knew him. He was always a'busy man and was seldom seen on the street except on urgent business.
Mr. Kent was twice married, the last time to Miss Rosamond C. Chesebrough, daughter of Noyers P. and Clara (Moore) Chese- brough, the latter a niece of Thomas Moore, the poet. The death of Alexander J. Kent occurred May 7, 1882, his wife passing away December 24, 1886. They had six children: Clara, the wife of Dr. D. R. Burrell, of Canadaigua, New York; May L., who married Dr. L. T. Desey, of Kentland; John A., deceased; Levanche E .. wife of J. L. Morrison, of Kentland ; Carroll C., now the prominent banker and citizen of Kentland; and one child, who died in infancy.
Mr. Kent's parents, Carroll C. and Pheba Kent, were born on the same day. October 17, 1777, in Connecticut. Mrs. Kent was a daughter of Colonel Dymock, who served in the English army.
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Mr. Kent owned land at Oriskany, New York, on which was fought the battle of Oriskany, under General Herkimer, during the Revolu- tionary war. The land was afterward owned by his son, Alexander J. He died at Whitesboro, New York, aged eighty-three years. Mrs. Kent died August 21, 1827, aged fifty years.
The platting of the county seat by Alexander J. Kent on April 23, 1860, was accomplished two days after the first meeting of the commissioners occurred to perfect the civil organization of Newton County ; the two events mark the commencement of a well-defined and a well-ordered epoch in its history.
CHAPTER XV
MATTERS VITAL TO THE COUNTY
OPPOSITION TO A WESTERN COUNTY-STATE SUPREME COURT UP- HOLDS NEWTON COUNTY-THE COUNTY FIRST PUBLICLY RECOG- NIZED-FIRST OFFICIALS ELECTED AND SWORN IN -- JOHN ADE AND FAMILY-KENTLAND STILL THE COUNTY SEAT-SEAT LOCATED BEFORE TOWN WAS PLATTED-PROPOSED CHANGE TO BEAVER CITY-OTHER ATTEMPTED REMOVALS-THE OLD COURT- HOUSE-THE NEW COURTHOUSE-THE POOR FARM AND ASYLUM -ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIPS-ROSTER OF COUNTY OFFI- CIALS-THE COUNTY'S GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY-INCREASE IN POPULATION-POPULATION IN 1860, 1870 AND 1880-POPULA- TION IN 1890, 1900 AND 1910-ASSESSED VALUATION OF PROP- ERTY, 1916-OTHER STATISTICS FOR 1915-16-IMPROVED ROADS IN THE COUNTY-IN THE DAYS OF THE TRAILS AND STAGE ROUTES-PROJECTION AND BUILDING OF ITS RAILROADS.
In the year 1857 it became known that a bill had been lobbied through the Legislature proposing to erect a new county out of the north part of Jasper, with the county seat on the Kankakee River. It became evident to the citizens of the western portion of Jasper County that if they allowed the scheme to be carried out their prospects for a new county would be forever hopeless, and although the matter was considered to be somewhat premature, they at once went to work and called a public meeting of the citizens living west of the line dividing ranges 7 and 8, to be held at the Town of Morocco, at which time it was resolved to at once proceed to get petitions to the commissioners of Jasper County, asking to be set off in a new county, to be called by the name of Beaver ; after- ward, but at the same meeting, on motion of Thomas R. Barker, the name was changed from Beaver to Newton, carrying down to history the friendship of Jasper and Newton, as related by Weems in his "Life of Marion."
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OPPOSITION TO A WESTERN COUNTY
The petition was signed by nearly every voter in the territory, and in September, 1857, was presented to the commissioners of Jasper County for their action. The petition was very naturally opposed by the citizens of the other portion of the county, and after about two days' skirmishing the petition was dismissed on the ground that a part of the names were attached before the taking effect of the law. The matter was decided on Tuesday afternoon. The same night petitions were written out and the next day circulated, and on Thursday morning sent to Rensselaer for presentation. The court had adjourned the evening previous to meet the next morning at 9 o'clock, but by some means the commissioners got wind of what was coming, and two of the commissioners never came back again during the term. There was no remedy left but to watch the court until the week expired and then go home and wait until the next term.
At the December term, certain parties had prepared another peti- tion striking off the territory along the Kankakee River into a new county, and had filed their petition first, intending to hold that as a preventive against any action in favor of striking off the new County of Newton. The first day of the term all parties were on hand ; the County of Newton was represented by Silas Johnson, John Andrews, Zechariah Spitler, John Ade and a few others. The oppo- sition was led by Judge Milroy and L. A. Cole, and after a short time spent in consultation the case was continued until Thursday. On consultation of the friends of Newton County, it was determined, as the best line of procedure, to go into the territory asking to be set off as a new county along the Kankakee, and if possible get signa- tures to remonstrances against being set off as a new county. This was so far successful that quite a large majority of all the voters signed the remonstrances. This strategy was kept as quiet as pos- sible, and on Thursday afternoon, when the case was called up, the opposition had not got wind of it. Judge Milroy presented his petition, following it by a few remarks, after which some two hours were spent in hearing objections and arguments in favor of it, until finally Silas Johnson, to whom had been assigned that part of the program, stated to the court he thought there had been fatal objec- tions to the petition presented, but that he had another argument . against it which he wished to lay before the court, at the same time pulling out of his pocket the remonstrances duly sworn to, which he read and then sat down. There was silence for about two min-
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utes, after which, with but little further discussion, the petition was dismissed. Thereupon the petition for Newton County was called up.
This petition was presented December 7, 1857, and was opposed by a remonstrance signed by upward of 300 voters of the middle and eastern end of the county. The remonstrance was rejected, however, by the commissioners, who held that those residing outside of the territory proposed to be cut off had no voice in the matter, and granted the prayer of the petitioners, appointing Messrs. Z. Spitler, John Darroch and David Creek a committee to run the boundaries of the proposed county. An appeal was taken from this decision to the Circuit Court, which overruled the decision of the commissioners and granted an injunction restraining them from entering the order upon their records. An appeal thereupon was taken to the Supreme Court by the defeated party.
STATE SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS NEWTON COUNTY
In the meanwhile, the persons engaged in the legal struggle had secured the passage of a new law by the Legislature in the session of 1858-59, and in the following June a new petition and a new remonstrance were brought before the commissioners, who rejected both on the ground that the case could not be heard at the same time in two courts, the question having been taken to the Supreme Court on an appeal. In November, 1859, that body decided against the Circuit Court, reversing its action, and on the 8th of the following month the board of commissioners made the following order, which is self-explanatory :
"Whereas, The action of this court was heretofore so restrained by an order of the Jasper Circuit as to preclude the entry of the following order, and
"Whereas, The Supreme Court of the State, on an appeal from said Circuit Court reversed the action of said Circuit Court in said case ; it is, therefore, now ordered by this court that the following report, the entry of which was heretofore restrained by said Circuit Court, be spread upon the order book, to-wit: To the Honorable Board of County Commissioners of Jasper County, Indiana: We, the undersigned committee, appointed by your honorable body at the December term, A. D. 1857, for the purpose of establishing and laying off the boundaries of Newton County, Indiana, make the following report: Commencing at a point on the State line between Indiana and Illinois, at the southwest corner of Town 27 north, Range 10 west, at the corner of Benton and Jasper Counties ; thence
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east along the line of said counties of Jasper and Benton, between Townships 26 and 27 north, to Range line between Range 7 and 8 west ; thence north along said range line of 7 and 8 to the Kankakee river, thence west along the channel of said river to State line between Indiana and Illinois; thence south along said line to place of beginning; and hereby establish the above as the boundaries of the aforesaid County of Newton, Ind .; all which we respectfully submit to your honors.
"DAVID CREEK, president, ZECHA SPITLER, and JOHN DARROCH, members of committee
"February 27, 1858."
THE COUNTY FIRST PUBLICLY RECOGNIZED
John Ade, the young Englishman, who had spent his boyhood and youth near Cincinnati, who had become a resident of Morocco in 1853 and was living there in 1860, when the county was formed and he was elected its first recorder, has this to say of the civil birth of Newton County: "The first public recognition of the existence of Newton county took place at the February term of the Jasper County Circuit Court. I had been selected to act as a juror at this term of the court, and, on the morning of the second day of the term, I was present with other jurors. We were told to stand up and be sworn. I then stated to the court, Judge Charles H. Test, that before taking the oath I wanted to make the statement that I did not think I was qualified to act as a juror. The judge asked my reason for making the statement, and I replied I did not think I was a resident of Jasper county. The judge then inquired where I lived, and I told him I lived in Morocco. He replied :
"'Is that not a part of Jasper county ?'
"I said to him, 'I think not.'
"He then asked me to give my reasons for making such a state- ment. I said: 'It is my understanding that the supreme court has rendered its decision by which the western part of Jasper county, in which the town of Morocco is situated, has been stricken off from Jasper county, thus forming a new county.'
"The judge then asked the clerk if there was any such decision on file in his office and if so to go and get it, which the clerk did. After a little time spent by the judge in reading the decision of the supreme court, he said: 'Mr. Ade, you may stand aside. And if
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