USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume I > Part 7
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One of Mr. Robinson's old friends described him as "affable, familiar, plain, hospitable, kind and accommodating, enjoying the wielding of influence and fond of gaining celebrity." Although not a professed Christian, none did more than he in the founding of early churches and Sunday schools and the inculcation of temperance and general morality. These acts were in line with one of his life eodes which he laid down in one of his many published articles: "Happiness and not wealth should be the aim of all, though no man should allow himself to be happy without he is doing some good in the world-promoting the happiness of his fellow creatures as well as of himself."
THE ORIGINAL BUTLER CLAIMS
Previous to Mr. Robinson's arrival on the site of Crown Point, and even before the claim register of the Squatters' Union was in force (in June or July, 1834), William Butler made four claims on what is now the townsite of Crown Point-one for himself, one for his brother (E. P. Butler), one for George Wells and the fourth for Theodore Wells. He made claims, but no settlement, and evidently engaged a man to put up
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LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION
some cabins to make his titles solid. Mr. Robinson states that the day after his arrival he was greeted by Henry Wells and Luman A. Fowler, and that within the next two or three days they bought claims (Butler's) and two log-cabin bodies built by one Huntley.
A HAMLET BORN
A hamlet was soon born on this section 8, for in January and Febru- ary, 1835, some other families joined Mr. Robinson from his home county of Jennings-the Clark family, seven in number, headed by William Clark; the two Holton families, also seven members, whose fathers were J. W. and W. A. W. Holton ; and the Robinson family, a third collection of seven. This community of twenty-one persons, which was massed on sections 5 and 8, comprised three married men and four married women (one a widow), five young men and two young ladies, four boys and three girls-elements which promised well for the growth of the little colony of Crown Point.
MAIN STREET LINED OUT
Early in the following spring the first furrow was turned on the prairie which was afterward to be Main Street, Crown Point. This is the picture, as painted by eye witnesses: A large breaking plow with a wooden mold board had been provided, four yoke of oxen were attached to the plow, and the women and children came out from the cabins to see the first furrow turned in the greensward of the prairie. Judge Clark held the plow; Thomas and Alexander (his sons) guided the oxen. W. A. W. Holton walked behind to aid in turning over any refractory turf, himself then young and vigorous, with that jet-black hair that cares little for exposure, which has characterized the Holton young men : while in front of all, to enable the oxen and boys to keep the line, walked the tall. spare form of Solon Robinson, even then as white-haired as Christopher Columbus when he stood on the deck of the Santa Maria.
DISAPPEARANCE OF THE OLD ROBINSON HOUSE
Before taking formal leave of Solon Robinson (for his name will repeatedly appear in various portions of this history) we must make note of the final disappearance of the old log house which was so long his home and the center of the many activities which made Crown Point such an attractive place before the northern portions of the county com-
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LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION
menced to develop so prodigiously. The account, which is found in one of the "Reports of the Historical Secretary of the Old Settler and Historical Association," is as follows: "As the month of November, 1902, draws to a close, one of the old landmarks in Crown Point is disappearing from view. This is the old log house built by Solon Robinson, which has been standing northwest of the northwest corner of the public square on Court Street back of a row of large locust trees, beyond the memory of most of the present inhabitants of Crown Point. Having siding on the outside, perhaps some did not know it was built of logs. This house has a history such as belongs to no other in Crown Point, and now that men are taking down the building is a fitting time
...
VIEW ON PRESENT MAIN STREET, CROWN POINT
to commit to the Art Preservative, as some one has called printing, some of this history. 'Here,' as the record says, 'at a meeting of a majority of the citizens of Lake County, held at the house of Solon Robinson on the fourth of July, 1836, was organized the Squatters' Union of Lake County.'
"In 1837 the house was opened by its hospitable owners several times for the preaching of the Gospel until a more roomy place was provided by the erection of the log Court House. For some years it was the home of the Robinson family, the father and mother, two sons and two daughters and often various guests, and there the youth and beauty of the early Crown Point sometimes met for dancing and for visits and other social entertainment. They dance in larger rooms now. But the varied forms of life which were in and about those log walls for the
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first twelve years after the logs were formed into a dwelling place for man cannot be expressed in a few printed words; nor can the life of forty years afterward."
Only a part of the old building was removed in November; so the other record is this: "Monday, March 2, 1903-Today the remaining part of the Robinson house was removed to make way for the printing office soon to be erected on this spot by J. J. Wheeler, whose wife is a granddaughter of the old house-builder. And so the spot where for many years stood the bright home of the Robinson family, where ministers of the Gospel have been welcomed, where births and deaths have occurred and where the young and the aged often have met, is soon to be the home of journalism, the abode of printing presses, and the day home for those who do type-setting and press-work, and hope to enrich with printed thought thousands of living homes.
"As quite certainly the first printing in Lake County was done by Solon Robinson, and on this very spot his little printing office was kept, it seems peculiarly appropriate that in this office should be found, with his home a few yards north, Fred Y. Wheeler, a great-grandson of Lake County's first printer. And before finally leaving in our history the home spot of Crown Point's first settler, it may be added that another great-grandson, Harold H. Wheeler, and a great-granddaughter, Miss Josephine Lincoln, the one clerk of the Circuit Court and the other an assistant in the clerk's office, pass this spot daily on their way from their own homes to the Court House."
As none of the pioneers of Lake County presumed to question the authority of the Claim Register, the editors of this work do not go behind its returns. From its records it is learned that besides the Clarks and Holtons and others who settled on the site of Crown Point in the winter of 1835, the following located later in the year: In March, Richard Fancher and Robert Wilkinson, with two nephews, migrated from the Valley of the Wabash and settled on West Creek and northeast of Red Cedar Lake, the Fancher claim including the present county fair grounds. Elias Bryant, E. W. Bryant, Nancy Agnew (widow) and Jeremiah Wiggins arrived within the month.
FOUNDER OF WIGGINS POINT
Mr. Wiggins located his claim south of Turkey Creek on a wooded point of land, which was long known as Wiggins Point. An old Indian village preceded it, and as the founder of Wiggins Point died in 1838, his name disappeared in favor of Centerville and finally of Merrillville.
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LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION
PLOWING UP THE OLD INDIAN CEMETERY
Although the Indians had transferred their title to their lands, still they lingered, and seemed especially loth to abandon their burial grounds to the ravages of the white settlers. Wiggins' claim embraced the large cemetery already mentioned and the Pottawatomies were very indignant at the desecration of one of the graves which was robbed of its sacred relics for a private collection. It is said that one day after the robbing of the grave, two Indians armed with rifles came into the field where Wiggins was at work alone. They went to the grave, set down their rifles and talked very earnestly. Wiggins was naturally alarmed; but, although the Indians were evidently much displeased, they finally with- drew without offering any violence. Wiggins, who had claimed this part of the Indian village, then allowed his breaking plow to pass over the old burial ground.
This desecration did not pass unnoticed by the Red Men. In 1840, when General Brady, with 1,100 Indians from Michigan, passed through Lake County quite a number visited the ruined graves, some of the squaws groaning and weeping as they looked upon the violated home of their dead. A pathetic illustration of the rough "over-lapping" of the lives and customs of two diverse races !
THE BRYANT SETTLEMENT AND PLEASANT GROVE
Of the five Bryants, who commenced the Bryant Settlement in the spring of 1835, few of them seem to have made the locality a permanent home. Some of them gave the place the name of Pleasant Grove, by which it was most generally known. David Bryant moved to Bureau County in 1838 ; resided at various times in Missouri and Ohio, but finally died in Lake County at the house of his daughter, Mrs. William Fisher, then living at Eagle Creek.
Simeon Bryant only remained a year; then moved to Indian Town, near Hebron, Porter County.
Samuel D. Bryant soon returned to his Ohio home, but after a few years was drawn back to Lake County, bought a farm south of Southeast Grove in 1854, and spent his last years thereon.
Elias Bryant died on his Pleasant Grove homestead.
E. Wayne Bryant seems to have done the most for the county. As early as the fall of 1836 he provided a room for a school, where the chil- dren of the settlement were taught by Bell Jennings, "a very excellent man." He also aided in starting a Sunday School for the children in 1838, and had already put a crude grist mill in operation. Soon after
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LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION
locating he bought some hand millstones of Lyman Wells, and in the winter of 1836-37 "rigged up" a horse-power attachment, by which corn and buckwheat were ground for the neighborhood. This little mill continued to grind for two or three years and at one time there were under cover, waiting to be ground, over three hundred bushels of grain!
This was one of the earliest mills of any kind to be put in operation in Lake County.
OTHER SETTLERS OF 1835
In May, 1835, came Elias Myrick, William Myrick, Thomas Reid, S. P. Stringham and Aaron Cox; in June, Peter Stainbrook; and in November David Hornor, Amos Hornor, Jacob L. Brown, Thomas Wiles, Jesse Bond and Milo Robinson, brother of Solon.
The first to make claims on Red Cedar Lake were various members of the Hornor family, who had come from the Wabash region. Certain members of the family always insisted that they first "squatted" in the fall of 1834, but the first record presented by the Claim Register makes the date November, 1835, as given heretofore. David Hornor was the father; Amos Hornor, a son. The former returned to the old home in Tippecanoe County, while Amos Hornor, then about twenty-three years of age, located in Lake County.
After the return of his father's family to the Wabash, Mr. Hornor resided for some time at Crown Point, where he married his first wife. His final home was at Ross, where he died in 1895, in his eighty-third year.
The Claim Register records the settlers for December, 1835, as being John Wood, Henry Wells, William S. Thornburg, R. Dunham, R. Hamil- ton and John G. Forbes.
SOLON ROBINSON'S HISTORICAL SYNOPSIS
As a sort of commentary on the foregoing, and a partial synopsis, the following is abridged and quoted from one of Solon Robinson's his- torical addresses :
Early Settlers :- 1. The Bennett family opened a tavern on the beach of Lake Michigan "near the mouth of the old Calumic."
2. The Berry family opened a tavern on the beach in the spring of 1834.
3. Four or five families settled as squatters in the fall of 1834: "Thomas Childers and myself in October. He, a day or two before me. His claim southeast quarter section 17; mine, northwest quarter sec- tion 8."
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LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION
On November 1st "Henry Wells and Luman A. Fowler came along on foot." Their horses had been left on Twenty Mile Prairie. "Cedar Lake was then the center of attraction for land lookers, and they passed on down to that lake without thinking to inquire who kept tavern there." They found lodging in a fallen treetop still covered with leaves, and had for supper "the leg of a roasted coon." They found there David Hornor, his son Amos and a relative named Brown, who were looking for claims and who settled in 1835.
Wells and Fowler returned next day to the Robinson camp, slept that night on the "softest kind of a white oak puncheon," bought claims and "two log cabin bodies built by one Huntley" on the south side of section 8, paying for the same $50. Henry Wells went back to Michigan for his family. Luman A. Fowler staid through the winter. "During the first winter we had many elaim makers, but few settlers."
4. "The first family that came after Childers and myself was that of Robert Wilkinson of Deep River. He settled about the last of November, 1834."
5. The next family, that of Lyman Wells, with whom came John Driscoll, settled in January, 1835, on section 25, township 33, range 9. April 4, 1835, "there was a most terrible snowstorm, the weather pre- vious having been mild as summer."
LAKE COURT HOUSE POSTOFFICE
Until March, 1836, the nearest postoffice was Michigan City. Solon Robinson was then appointed postmaster. His office was named Lake Court House, written usually Lake C. H. Receipts for quarter ending June, 1837, $26.92; September 30th, $43.50; for the next two quarters, $57.33 and $57.39. This last, the largest amount while he was post- master. Next postoffice west was Joliet.
COUNTY ORGANIZED
"In the spring of 1836 we were attached to Porter County, the commissioners of which divided this county into three townships." The county was organized in 1837. Log court house built the same year.
"During the summer of 1837 we had preaching several times in our house and in the present (1847) court room. The Baptist people at Cedar Lake also had frequent meetings this year, and I think had preach- ing at Judge Ball's, who settled there that year."
"The summer of 1838 was one of severe drought and great sickness." Muskrats went to houses to seek water. "One of them came into my
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LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION
house and never so much as asked for a drink of whiskey, but went direct for the water bucket."
In 1839 the county seat was located at Liverpool. The seat of justice had been fixed by the Legislature temporarily at Lake Court House.
In March, 1839, the land sales opened at La Porte.
In June, 1840, county seat re-located. Contest mainly between West Point at Cedar Lake and Lake C. H. The county seat was then estab- lished at Crown Point, where it remains.
By keeping these main facts in mind covering the real pioneer period of Lake County, and so well marshaled by Solon Robinson, the reader will be able to obtain a perspective in viewing the details of its development in various scattered sections.
INDIANA CITY
Doubling back on our historie tracks, we find that some months after the prairie was furrowed for the Main Street of Crown Point events were occurring in the northern part of the county. As noted, Indiana City was laid out (figuratively) at the old mouth of the Calumet. It was to have been promoted by a Columbus (Ohio) company; but there is no evidence that any lots were sold, or that anybody even squatted on the site of the paper town. But it is of record that the land upon which the city was to have stood was sold for $14,000 in 1841. Exit Indiana City.
LIVERPOOL FOUNDED
Liverpool on Deep River, near its junction with the Little Calumet, had more substance than Indiana City-a little more. Either in the later part of 1835, or the fore part of 1836, two Philadelphia men, John C. Davis and Henry Frederickson, and a Western promoter, John B. Chapman, blocked out the town. The chief reasons for selecting that locality as a promising site were that a crude ferry boat had been run- ning across Deep River at that point for more than a year, and the famous pole bridge which crossed the Calumet was but a few miles east. Consequently, Liverpool seemed to be joined with more or less completeness to the outside world.
The new town on Deep River obtained such notice that during the first sale of lots, which covered three days in 1836, the proprietors realized $16,000. Among the purchasers was John Wood, the builder of Wood's Mill on Deep River. He and a friend bought nine Liverpool lots for
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LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION
$2,000; and many years afterward, when Liverpool had been almost as completely erased from the county map as Indiana City, he would bring forth the deed to his "city property" as a unique relic. The paper was written by John B. Niles, then an attorney, and acknowledged be- fore Judge Samuel C. Sample, of Porter County.
Liverpool really commenced to pick up as a town of some life with the arrival of George Earle, an Englishman of means and energy who came with his family from Philadelphia. He not only bought the bulk of the city's site, but much of the surrounding country and laid the foundation of what became a valuable estate. But the basis of the family prosperity was not laid on Liverpool real estate.
GEORGE EARLE A REAL PROMOTER
Mr. Earle induced the owners of the lake-shore stage line which ran from Detroit to Chicago to divert its route so that it included Liver- pool; but this change was not permanent, as the sand was too deep in that region and staging too heavy. The northern city also enjoyed a few months of glory in 1839 as the seat of justice of Lake County, but in the following year Crown Point, or Lake Court House, was chosen, and Mr. Earle joined his fortunes with those of Solon Robinson.
After the two had named the county seat as it is now known, the Englishman secured the appointment of county agent and performed its duties well. He continued for a time to improve his town of Liver- pool, bought more land and at length secured ten or twelve sections in that part of the county. In 1845 Mr. Earle commenced building a mill at what became the Town of Hobart, which he platted in 1848. In 1854 he returned to Philadelphia, leaving his son, John Earle, who after- ward became well known as a Chicago capitalist, to manage his interests in Lake County. The elder man did much for the Town of Hobart, although after 1854 he spent much of his time in his native town of Falmouth, England. A gentleman of varied abilities he certainly was; for he was an artist of talents, and in 1858 presented Hobart with an art gallery comprising three hundred pictures which he had painted in Philadelphia. It was said of him in the '70s: "He is tall in person, dignified and courteous in manners, manifesting the bearing of an American and English gentleman."
George Earle and Solon Robinson had many traits in common ; both were practical and successful in a worldly sense, and yet each was active in developing a higher self of ideals.
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LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION
THE JOHN B. CHAPMAN TITLES
It is worthy of note that the land on which Liverpool was laid out was an Indian reservation, or was land selected under an Indian float. In the recorder's office of Porter County (Lake County had not been organized) is a copy of a patent signed by Andrew Jackson, Presi- dent of the United States, dated June 16, 1836, conveying to John B. Chapman section 24, township 36, range 8, being 603.60 acres, in accord- ance with the third article of the treaty made on the Tippecanoe River with the chiefs and warriors of the Pottawatomies in 1832.
This same John B. Chapman also bought of Re-se-mo-jan, or Parish as the deed says, "once a chief, but now an Indian of the Pottawatomies," section 18, township 36, range 7, for which he paid $800. These sections, with `some ten others, including the localities which were afterward platted as Lake Station and Hobart, came into the hands of Mr. Earle.
Unlike Mr. Robinson, who was also one of the Land Lords of Lake County in the pioneer period, Mr. Earle never "squatted," but was al- ways careful to secure titles to his lands, either from the original Indian owners, or from the Government direct.
JOHN WOOD AND WOODVALE
Woodvale, in what is now the eastern edge of Ross Township, on the west bank of Deep River near the Porter County line, was the first industrial center in Lake County. It was founded by John Wood, a Massachusetts miller, whose claim was recorded in December, 1835. He spent one night in making examinations of land with Dr. Ames, of Michigan City, and three or four others, in the cabin of Jesse Pierce on the bank of Turkey Creek. He returned home and in 1836 brought his family with him.
It is stated that during his absence General Tipton of Fort Wayne. formerly United States Indian agent and at that time United States senator, had laid a float upon Mr. Wood's claim in the name of "Indian Quashma." The latter had selected the northeast quarter of section 21, township 35, range 7, as a mill site, and so according to law or usage was not properly subject to an Indian float. "But the float had been laid by a senator; the location was very much wanted by the claimant, and so he purchased the land from Indian Quashma, paying him for the quarter section, $1,000, instead of buying it of the Government for $200, as he had expected. The deed, with Quashma's signature, must still be in the possession of some of the Wood family."
In 1837 Mr. Wood erected a sawmill on his land, and in 1838 put a
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LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION
grist mill in operation. The latter did for many years a large custom work for the farmers of both Lake and Porter counties. The place was soon known as Wood's Mill; afterward, as Woodvale. Its founder was a strict temperance man, and in his lifetime refused to lay out and sell town lots, thus designing to keep saloons out of the community. In that purpose he was very successful.
The home of the family was at first on the east side of Deep River, but in a few years was moved to the west side. Several generations of Woods have carried on the large flouring mill established by John Wood, and the homes of the different families have continued the industrious and social and moral activities so well inaugurated by the founder of Woodvale.
SETTLERS AROUND RED CEDAR LAKE
Settlers had already located around Red Cedar Lake. In September, 1834, a party of five men came from Attica on the Wabash and camped
VIEW ON FANCHER LAKE
on its banks. It consisted of Richard Fancher, Charles Wilson, Robert Wilkinson (afterward known as Judge Wilkinson) and two nephews of the latter. Richard Fancher and Charles Wilson were well mounted ; the other three men had a wagon and team. The two horsemen rode ex- tensively over the central parts of the county, and as a result of this wide survey selected their tracts on or near the shores of Red Cedar Lake. As already stated, Fancher fixed his claim south of what after-
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ward became Crown Point, his lands surrounding the little lake which still bears his name and including the Lake County Fair Ground.
Charles Wilson selected his location on the west shore of Red Cedar Lake.
Soon after the coming of the Attica party came Dr. Thomas Brown and the Hornors, who made claims on the west shore. They were also from the Wabash region, and the claimants returned to the tracts they had selected during the following year.
In 1836-37 the east shores of Red Cedar Lake received not a few new settlers. Among the most prominent of these was the Taylor family, headed by Obadiah, even then well advanced in years, who came from Pennsylvania. In that colony were two Taylor sons-Adonijah and Horace-and two sons-in-law, Horace Edgerton and James Palmer, as well as a widowed daughter, Mrs. Miranda Stillson. Most of the sons and daughters of Mr. Taylor had families of their own, and formed a large share of the early communities at Creston, just south of Cedar Lake and along its eastern shores.
HERVEY BALL
The year 1837 brought several noteworthy additions to the permanent settlers on the shores of Red Cedar Lake. Among the foremost of these colonists was Hervey Ball, of an old Massachusetts family, a college man of legal education, who had moved to Georgia in his young manhood. At Augusta he had practiced law and also risen in the cavalry service of the state. He was also a practical surveyor; a man of force, fine character and broad education.
In 1836, when forty years of age-in the prime of his vigorous man- hood-he was engaged in surveying City West, Porter County, and in the following spring he brought his family from Massachusetts to that place. But he was not satisfied with that location. He and his wife and five children (the oldest only eleven years of age) sought something more varied and restful than the stretches of Lake Michigan and its sandy borders. They had come from the far East, via New York, Albany, Erie Canal, Buffalo, the stormy ice-laden lakes to Toledo, and thence by slow land-travel to City West. The new town, yet entirely problematic, did not meet their outlook.
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