USA > Indiana > Kosciusko County > A standard history of Kosciusko County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development. A chronicle of the people with family lineage and memoirs, Volume I > Part 32
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ON THE SHORES OF GRASSY CREEK
Ephraim Muirheid, of Virginia, was the next permanent settler of prominence ; in fact, he built a cabin near the outlet of Boydston's Lake, as early as the winter of 1834-35, but in the following spring returned to his old home in Virginia, and when he re-visited his claim in Tippecanoe Township, in the summer, found that his kins- man, Benjamin Johnson, had occupied his own cabin and was fairly established as a permanent settler.
ROAD AND MILLS BUILT
The first road, running from White Pigeon, Michigan, to Hunt- ington, Indiana, by way of Goshen and Northeastern Kosciusko Coun-
WEBSTER LAKE, INDIANA
Superb
SCENES AROUND WEBSTER LAKE
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. ty, had already been surveyed through the township, so that the pioneers of the late '30s were not completely shut in by the wilds of this section of Northern Indiana.
In 1836, Mr. Muirheid erected a saw mill near his cabin home, and in the following year built a grist mill in the immedate vicin- ity. The latter was remodeled in later years and was in good run- ning order in the early '80s.
In 1837 William Barbee also erected a saw mill near the outlet of the lakes which had taken his name.
In 1835-36 William Divinney settled near Benjamin Johnson on section 9, and Henry Warner also joined them in that locality. Messrs. Divinney and Warner were Ohio men, In the latter year (1836) Thomas K. Warner also came from Cincinnati and located on the present side of North Webster, and Andrew Woodruff, of Huron County, Ohio, took up his homestead in section 6, near the. northwestern shores of Tippecanoe Lake.
In fact, not a few of the early settlers of Tippecanoe Township were either from Virginia or Ohio.
The Warners were especially prominent at this time. The first school in the township was taught by Thomas K. Warner in the win- ter of 1838-39 in a cabin which had been built by Warren Warner.
The first marriage in the township was celebrated in 1840 between Rev. Samuel K. Young and Miss Amelia Ann Warner.
VILLAGE OF NORTH WEBSTER
In May, 1837, R. R. Shoemaker platted the village of Webster on the southeast quarter of section 10, near the western end of what was then Boydston's Lake. Henderson Warner was its first mer- chant.
The first postoffice was established at Boydston's Mill, abont a mile east of the village in 1848. Thomas G. Boydston was the first postmaster and an empty flour barrel did duty as a general deliv- ery. The postoffice was moved to the village in 1861; then returned to the mill in 1862, and, within comparatively recent years, the little town has taken the name of its postoffice, North Webster.
North Webster, although quite a distance from any railroad, is the center of quite a large rural territory, and supplies the farmers with general goods, as well as with their banking accommodations. The Farmers State Bank of the place has total resources of over $120,000 and operates under a capital of $25,000. Its average de- posits are about $90,000. The officers of the Farmers State Bank of North Webster are as follows: Albert Garber, president ; Samuel Miller, vice president ; James E. Ruhl, cashier.
BARBEE LAKES 5 INDIANA
Where the Angler finds an Abundance of Sport
THE BARBEE LAKES
CHAPTER XXIII
SEWARD AND JACKSON TOWNSHIPS
SEWARD TOWNSHIP WELL WATERED-EARLY SETTLERS AND EVENTS -- BURKET-JACKSON TOWNSHIP-EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND SET- TLERS-VILLAGE OF SIDNEY.
Seward Township embraces another thirty-six square miles of varied country, the central districts of which are largely occupied by lakes. The surface is sufficiently undulating to supply a good natural drainage, and artificial ditching has largely supplied the means of bringing under cultivation many lands which otherwise would have been useless to the farmer.
SEWARD TOWNSHIP WELL WATERED
Yellow Creek Lake occupies nearly all of the south half of sec- tion 27, and has an outlet by way of Yellow Creek, which flows from the northern extremity of the lake through Seward and Franklin townships. Its neighbor, Beaver Dam Lake, lies to the southwest in the central part of section 33, and in the very early times was the favorite resort of the industrious little wood cutters. Again to the east of Yellow Creek Lake and the south of Beaver Dam, are pretty widenings of the creeks into little lakes or ponds. The entire coun- try is so well watered as to furnish almost ideal surroundings for live stock.
EARLY SETTLERS AND EVENTS
Among the early settlers of Seward Township were Samuel Bishop, William Davis and James Garvin, who located in 1836; Girdon Hurl- but, with his three sons, who settled in 1837; John and Robert Robin- son, who came in 1838, and Milo R. Barbour, who joined the Seward Township colony in 1839.
The first white child born in the township was a girl Rhoda L., the daughter of C. B. and Gratia Hurlbut. Her birthday was Sep- tember 23, 1838.
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
The first marriage was solemnized between Daniel Hulbut and Ann Robinson, on September 10, 1839.
Rev. Asa Johnson, a Presbyterian minister from Peru, Indiana, conducted the first religious exercises in the township some time in 1839, but the first house of worship was not erected until 1850.
Also in the year 1839, William Magner built a saw mill on the north fork of Trimble Creek, and operated it successfully for several years, when he sold it to Thomas King.
The first schoolhouse was erected on the farm of John Robinson in 1842, and Mark Smith, Sr., was the teacher.
A number of churches were organized near Yellow Creek Lake many years ago-the United Brethren in March, 1859, and the Church of God in February, 1863.
BURKET
There was no center of population, business or finances, however, until the Nickel Plate line cut across the northern sections of the township in the early '80s, and the station and postoffice of Burket was established. This place has now a number of stores, a bank, two cream stations, two saw mills, a grain elevator, two coal depots and a hay station. The Burket High School, with Howard Berkey- pile as principal, has a good reputation for thoroughness, and two churches conserve the religious principles and morals of the place : First Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. Henry Lacey, pastor, and the United Brethren Church, Rev. H. C. Pence, pastor.
JACKSON TOWNSHIP
Jackson Township is in the well-drained southeastern part of Kosciusko County, which is netted with creeks, but not so abun- dantly studded with lakes as to be overburdened with what the old settlers used to call "wet lands." In fact, it has no body of water large enough to be dignified by the name of lake. The surface of the township is usually rolling, the natural drainage is excellent, and the farms, whether devoted to grain or live stock, are unusually produc- tive.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND SETTLERS
Most of the early settlements of the township were made in the northeastern sections, not far from where the Nickel Plate line
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
passed through its northern and northeastern sections in the early '80s, and on which Sidney and Kinsey became stations.
In September, 1834, James Abbott and family came from Preble County, Ohio, and located on section 13, near the Eel River and not far from where the Vandalia line now passes. His son, Samuel Abbott, and wife, however, entered 160 acres on section 25, in the northeastern part of the township and there resided for many years.
In the fall of 1835 Abner McCourtney and Alexander Hapner, of Montgomery County, also Ohio, each entered eighty acres in sec- tions 25 and 26, and in the year 1836 Jesse Kyler and James Per- kins both settled on section 25.
The first white child born in the township was Abner Abbott, son of Samuel Abbott and wife, and his coming dates from June 11, 1835.
The first postoffice was established at the house of Jesse Kyler, on section 25, in the year 1839, and that gentleman was postmas- ter. He served in that position until his decease, when his son Jacob succeeded him.
Jesse Kyler was also elected one of the first justices of the peace for the township, at the election held in the spring of 1838 in the house of Abner McCourtney.
The first road in the township, surveyed in 1837, also passed through its northeastern sections, being a part of the highway run- ning from Warsaw to Springfield, Whitley County.
VILLAGE OF SIDNEY
Sidney, on the Nickel Plate Railroad, in the northeastern part of the township, is the business and banking center of considerable territory. The place has also a light plant installed in April, 1917, by A. T. Ronk, and about a year afterward purchased by J. Haines and C. C. Shira.
The Bank of Sidney has a capital of $10,000 and is responsible to the extent of $300,000; average deposits, $170,000.
The village has several good stores, both general and special; a hotel ; repair and blacksmith shops and garage; hardware and agri- cultural implement store; a produce and live stock house, and a creamery.
Sidney was incorporated as a town in August, 1914.
The United Brethren Church is the only religious body of suffi- cient strength to warrant a settled local pastor, Rev. L. A. Myers being now in charge. The Christian Church has an organization, but no pastor.
CHAPTER XXIV
THREE RURAL TOWNSHIPS
PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP-ITS PIONEER WHITES-INDIANS REFUSE TO BE MADE FARMERS-GALVESTON PLATTED JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP AND ITS SETTLEMENT-THE MARSHY BARRIER-A POWERFUL SINGLE VOTE-GRAVELTON -- SCOTT TOWNSHIP SETTLED MILLWOOD AND HECKAMAN.
The three northwestern townships-Scott, Jefferson and Prairie- are entirely devoted to agriculture and live stock raising. In all this area of more than 57,000 acres of land, there are only a few miles of railroad, and only one station entirely within the limits of the three townships.
A tip of Jefferson Township is cut off to the northeast by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and Gravelton is a station near the Elk- hart County line. Atwood, in the southwestern corner of Prairie Township, on the Pennsylvania line, is partly in Harrison Township.
PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP
The first of the three divisions of this large rural domain to be settled was the distinctive prairie section in the township by that name. Fully half of the thirty-six square miles of Prairie Town- ship is covered by Turkey Creek Prairie. The soil was so produc- tive and well drained that although the country bore little or no timber, which many of the early settlers considered necessary for purposes of home-building, Prairie Township was settled several years before several of the townships farther north.
ITS PIONEER WHITES
John Powell, the first white settler of the township, located on section 21, in March, 1833, his homestead being selected near the center of its territory. There he resided until his death in 1874.
In the following month James H. Bishop, with his family, located on section 1, in the northeast corner of the township; he built his
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SCENES IN THE RURAL TOWNSHIPS
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
cabin, planted a small amount of corn, and brought other things to pass which were necessary to the advancement of the pioneer of those times.
In the summer of 1833, Jacob Smith erected his cabin on section 13, and at a somewhat later day took up 160 acres on section 14, the latter tract finally being improved as the family homestead.
Section 25, in the far southeastern part of the township, also re- ceived James Garvin in the same year as a settler.
Samuel D. Hall came to the township in 1835 and was prominent among the early settlers. He was the second justice of the peace in Prairie Township, and in 1852 was elected to the State Senate.
INDIANS REFUSE TO BE MADE INTO FARMERS
It is said that previous to the arrival of the families mentioned, the Government caused a ten-acre tract of land to be fenced and prepared for corn, in the hope of inducing the Indians to adopt a profitable occupation and engage in farming; but after the sod had been broken and all prepared to their hand, they refused to take the trouble of planting the corn; whereupon General Tipton, agent for the tribe, caused it to be planted and cultivated at Government ex- pense. It is not known that they refused it after it had been har- vested and tendered to them.
The first schoolhouse was a rude log structure erected on section 10, in 1836.
William Bowman erected the pioneer forge at Stony Point in the same year.
GALVESTON PLATTED
In the southeast quarter of section 10 and the northeast quarter of section 15, Felix Miller platted the Village of Galveston in 1846. Although it retained a postoffice for a number of years, it never be- came very much of a village. The rural settlement is now known as Clunette. The United Brethren organized a church in the village some time during 1876 and erected a house of worship therein.
In that part of the Village of Atwood which lies in Prairie Town- ship, the Methodists organized a society and built a church in the late '60s, and in 1878 the graded schoolhouse building was erected in that part of town.
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP AND ITS SETTLEMENT
Previous to its settlement in 1836, Jefferson Township was gener- ally covered by a heavy growth of timber. Through its central sec- tions, however, a marsh extended across the entire township from east to west. It was from half a mile to a mile in width, and has been subsequently drained and made arable. But, with the exception of this marsh, Jefferson Township was considered most desirable land as it came from the hand of nature.
The first white settler in the township was Jacob Brumbaugh, who came from Elkhart County with his family in October, 1836. He erected the first log cabin in the township; cleared a tract of land during the ensuing winter and in the spring planted a crop.
Late in the fall of 1836, Mr. Brumbaugh was joined by John Leatherman, Andrew Sheely, James Martin, James Simpson and George Platter, with their families.
THE MARSHY BARRIER
This settlement was formed on sections 1 and 2, north of the large marsh and near the line of Elkhart County, not far from the future site of Gravelton.
During the summer of 1837, the first settlement south of the marsh was formed by David and Samuel McCibben, Joseph Alexander and Isaac Bliven, with their families.
For some time, the marsh formed an impassable barrier between the two neighborhoods, and neither was aware of the fact that there were other residents of the township beside themselves; but later, roads were surveyed and close communication established between the north and the south of Jefferson Township.
A POWERFUL SINGLE VOTE
The first township election was held at the house of David McCib- ben, in April, 1838. He had been chosen as inspector, and, as the result of the election proved, his office was a necessary one; for of the five votes cast it was found that four were illegal, as the voters had not resided in the township a sufficient length of time to entitle them to the local right of suffrage. Thus the single legal vote of Isaac Bliven elected the ticket, consisting of a justice of the peace, constable, two road supervisors, three overseers of the poor and one inspector of election.
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
GRAVELTON
The first school in Jefferson Township was taught in 1840 in a log cabin on section 11, north of the marsh. The settlement in that section was largely German and as early as 1837 representatives of that nationality organized a Baptist Church, and held their meetings for many years in the schoolhouse. After Gravelton was platted as a station on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, a church building was erected in town and the activities of the society centered therein.
Gravelton, which is still a station and a shipping point on that line, was laid out by David Brumbaugh in 1876, at the time when the road was completed through the county. He opened the first store in the new town, and was afterward postmaster for many years.
SCOTT TOWNSHIP SETTLED
Scott Township was the last of the three northwestern townships mentioned to be settled, and it compares favorably, as to soil and drainage, with other portions of the county.
In the fall of 1837 Casper Hepler and family, Jacob and Henry Yocky and Jacob Hepler settled on section 11. During the following winter and spring, they were engaged in clearing land and planting crops. The Hepler and Yocky cabins were the first to be erected in the township, and the death of Daniel Hepler, son of David, which occurred in August, 1839, was the first in the township.
MILLWOOD AND HECKAMAN
The first postoffice was established at Millwood, on the southwest quarter of section 25, in the southern portion of the township, during the year 1853. J. D. Koffel was the postmaster and carried the mail from Leesburgh to Millwood. The location of the postoffice was after- ward transferred a mile west, to the southeastern quarter of section 27.
Scott Township settled very slowly, although a small hamlet com- menced to form in the neighborhood of the Hepler and Yocky farms. The original name of the village was Hepton. A general store, a mill, a creamery, a good school and other evidences of an intelligent and settled community gradually appeared in that neighborhood, and all were stamped by Uncle Sam as the Heckaman postoffice. Of late years this has been consolidated with the rural service; Millwood had already been discontinued, so that, at present, Scott Township has no local postoffice.
CHAPTER XXV
FRANKLIN AND MONROE TOWNSHIPS
FOREST LAND ALONG INDIAN HIGHWAY-PIONEERS DRIFT IN-FIRST BIRTH AND MARRIAGE - SCHOOL AND CHURCH COME TO STAY - BEAVER DAM POSTOFFICE - PRIMITIVE INDUSTRIES - VILLAGE OF SEVASTOPOL-MONROE TOWNSHIP-THE PIONEERS-MILLS-TOWN- SHIP ORGANIZATION-FIRST AIDS TO AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT.
In the southwestern corner of Kosciusko County, Franklin Town- ship has an irregular area of thirty-six square miles, its northern portions five miles east and west, by six miles north and south, with a southeastern projection of six square miles. Its soil is mostly black loam and the surface of the township is naturally drained by Yellow Creek, the waters of which have also been thoroughly utilized by means of artificial ditching until there is little waste land.
FOREST LAND ALONG INDIAN HIGHWAYS
As the township was originally covered with a dense growth of timber, the saw mill industry was for many years in the lead of its sources of industrial support.
As Franklin Township was right in the Indian highway from Peru to the Northwest and for years after its first settlers located therein, the red man's trail could be distinctly traced on its soil, it was of late occupancy by the whites. The first roads surveyed through this section of the county were the Logansport and Misha- waka State Road, in 1836, and the Logansport and Warsaw State Road in 1838.
PIONEERS DRIFT IN
Midway of these years the first white settlers in Franklin Town- ship commenced to drift in from Ohio and Northern Indiana. Ben- jamin Blue, the leader of the Ohio colony, settled on section 2 in 1837, and continued to reside in the township until his decease in the '70s.
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
For a number of years Mr. Blue's only neighbors were Pottawa- tomies. Benjamin West built a cabin and settled on section 7, where he remained for two years; but his homestead was two or three miles east of the Blue place, although in those days all within that distance were considered by many as constituting a "neighborhood."
Mr. West remained but two years, during which he made some improvements, but then left the county permanently. His land was purchased by John Bybee, Sr., who continued the good work and made the place his home for life.
Dr. I. H. Jennings located on section 10, not far from the south branch of Yellow Creek, in 1838, and in the fall of the same year Jesse Myers settled on the northwest quarter of section 19, adjoining the present site of Sevastopol. Mr. Myers also remained about two years, when he sold his land to Rudolph Hire and left the county.
FIRST BIRTH AND MARRIAGE
The first white child born in the township was James, son of Benjamin Blue, and the year 1839 marked his advent. In the fol- lowing year occurred the pioneer marriage, Hugh Bryan uniting his lowly fortunes to those of Miss Anna Nichols, daughter of Prosper Nichols, a former resident of Harrison County, Ohio, who had just settled on section 35, in the southern part of the township. In those days a marriageable daughter could not long be hidden; she was at a tremendous premium.
The senior Nichols died in 1868, his son, Solomon Nichols, who also settled on section 35, surviving him as a useful and industrious resident of that locality for many years.
In 1841, Amos Baldwin fixed his homestead on section 31 and George Sarber, on section 2-and there were other good men, some of whom came with their wives and children, who labored in the forests of Franklin Township to hew out their homes and destinies.
SCHOOL AND CHURCH COME TO STAY
In the early '40s both the school and the church came to stay in the township. The German Baptists first gathered at the house of Prosper Nichols, in 1840, and worshipped under the leadership of Rev. Jacob Miller, and probably in the following year Elder Amos Baldwin assembled the members of the Christian Church at the home of Jeremiah Burns. About the same time, the Baptists met at the
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
home of Benjamin Blue, where services were conducted by Rev. James Martin.
In a log cabin built on Solomon Nichols' farm, section 35, Jere- miah Burns taught the first term of school in the township during 1842.
BEAVER DAM POSTOFFICE
A postoffice named Beaver Dam was established at the house of Samuel Rickel, on section 6, in the year 1844, and that gentleman was postmaster for a period of fourteen or fifteen years. In after years both postmasters and postoffice-locations changed, Beaver Dam being for some time on the adjoining section 31. In those days, of course, the location of the postoffice depended on where the post- master lived, as his home was the government office. Beaver Dam postoffice has long since been absorbed by the rural system of delivery.
PRIMITIVE INDUSTRIES
In 1842, Benjamin Blue established the first and only tannery in the township on section 2. Its water power was Yellow Creek. The enterprise was suspended after three or four years.
About 1849 Edwin C. Gordon erected a steam saw mill, to which, several years later, he attached a run of buhrs for grinding corn. Still later he erected a steam flouring mill near the saw mill. Both were located at Sevastopol and were in operation for many years.
VILLAGE OF SEVASTOPOL
The old Village of Sevastopol, which is now about half a mile cast of the Winona Interurban line, was laid out by George W. White, John Tucker and John Mollenhour, proprietors of the land on which it is situated, in the year 1856. This hamlet, just outside the main highway of travel, commemorates the great historic event of the middle-nineteenth century in European warfare, culminating, at the close of the Crimean war, in the fall of the Russian stronghold of Sevastopol, before the final sieges and assaults of the French and British allies, during September, 1855. The Sevastopol postoffice was established in 1857 and William Dunlap was appointed the first postmaster. Until 1861, the office was kept in his house, about half a mile west of the village; but in the year named it was moved to
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
the town and installed in the store of the new postmaster, A. J. Whit- tenberger. Sevastopol is now in the rural system of postal delivery.
MONROE TOWNSHIP
In the southeastern tier of townships, Monroe Township was in- cluded in the original timber belt which stretched across that portion of the county. It has an area of twenty-four square miles, its greatest extent (six miles) being east and west. It is a country of small lakes and creeks, which comprise some of the headwaters of the Tippecanoe River, and is admirably adapted to stock raising and farming. The township has neither postoffices nor stations within its limits, with the possible exception of Packerton, the northeastern corner of which juts over into its southwestern tip.
THE PIONEERS
The settlement of Monroe Township commenced with the coming of Hiram Bennett, in the spring of 1836. It is known that he built himself a shack against a fallen tree and sold whiskey to the Indians of the township; and that is about all which comes down to us, either by tradition or through the early prints.
Other more reputable characters and permanent settlers were William Norris, who, in 1837, is said to have cut his way through the woods from the Hayden settlement of Washington Township and located a claim on section 24, in the southeast corner of the town- ship; Joel Phillips, Cornelius Hand, father and son, and Thomas York, H. I. Stevens, John Cuppy and John Copelin, who made their homes in various localities in 1839.
Thomas York cleared the first land on section 15 and planted the first crop.
MILLS
The first mill in the township was built in 1843 by H. I. Stevens at the outlet of a small lake on his farm, and it was operated for twelve or thirteen years.
The first steam plant was the saw mill erected by Daniel Miller in 1856 on section 15, not far from the center of the township.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION
The year 1856 was rather "big with events" for Monroe Town- ship, for besides the happenings already recorded, the township was organized as a political and civil body in that year. At the March
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
term of 1856, the Board of County Commissioners appointed Jacob S. Rogers, H. I. Stevens and James Norris, trustees of Monroe Town- ship. In turn, they met at Mr. Stevens' house and appointed Daniel Miller township clerk ; also located the road and school districts.
In April, 1856, the first township election was held at the house of Daniel Miller, the newly appointed township clerk, and the fol- lowing officers were elected: J. S. Rogers, John Gripe and David McPherson, trustees, and David Miller, clerk.
FIRST AIDS TO AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT
Thus Monroe Township was given a body politic, and the ground- work laid for the education of the young people who were coming either by migration or by nature ; scattered neighborhoods were being bound together by private and public roads; mills were springing up by which the early settlers were provided with crude food-stuffs and building material, and many other first aids created for the typical American development of native life and intelligent enjoyments.
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