USA > Indiana > White County > A standard history of White County Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. I > Part 19
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
G. W. Cornell. Doctor Medaris was for many years president of the board of trustees and by far the most influential member connected with the management of the academy.
CORN-CRIB AND REGULAR SCHOOLS
Honey Creek and Round Grove townships did not join the class of educators until the second state constitution had partially licked into shape things educational. The first schoolhouse built in the former was erected in the original plat of Reynolds in 1855. It was a subscription affair, Benjamin Reynold donating the ground and Nathanial Bunnell giving $25 toward the building. Miss Nannie Glazebrook is said to have been the first teacher to hold forth in this first regular school in Honey Creek Township, albeit Miss Ann Braday may, as the story goes, have taught in a big corn-crib in the summer of 1854. The crib, which was 12 by 30 feet, is said to have made a very fair summer schoolhouse and furnished accommodations for twenty pupils during the three warm months.
FIRST ROUND GROVE SCHOOLHOUSE
In 1857 the Stanley Schoolhouse, a frame structure, was erected near the center of Round Grove Township. It was 16 by 18 feet and Elizabeth Ballintyne had the honor of opening it.
PRESENT COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
As now organized and systematized the public schools are under the control of the county board of education, consisting of one trustee from each of the eleven townships, the presidents of the town and city school boards and the county superintendent, who is made president of the entire board. The present county superintendent is Henry J. Reid, and the township trustees who went into office January 1, 1915, as fol- lows : Big Creek, Robert W. Barr, Chalmers; Cass, William E. Stillwell, R. 19, Idaville ; Liberty, Cassius D. Imler, Monticello ; Jackson, David A. Scroggs, Idaville; Monon, Henry C. Thompson, Monon; Honey Creek, Levi Reynolds, Reynolds; Union, William Paschen, Monticello; Round Grove, J. E. Burdge, Brookston ; West Point, Andrew Humphreys, Wol- cott; Prairie, Edgar M. Ferguson, Brookston; Princeton, E. J. Dibell, Wolcott.
H. C. Johnson is president of the city school board of Monticello, and the following are presidents of the town boards : Brookston, Lawrie T. Kent; Burnetts Creek, John C. Duffey ; Monon, Carl C. Middlestadt ; Wolcott, Charles Martin.
TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION AND INSTITUTES
The teaching force of the county is in close combination through the Teachers' Association and the township institutes. The president of the association is T. S. Cowger, of Monon, and the principals of the township institutes are: Big Creek, J. C. Downey; Cass, Ivy Morris; Honey Creek, F. E. Young; Jackson, Fred Francis; Liberty, Rolla Ben-
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
jamin; Monon, T. S. Cowger; Prairie, Finis Oilar; Princeton, Russell Wooden; Round Grove, Gus Collins; Union, each teacher in turn, prin- cipal ; West Point, John Humphreys.
The County Teachers' Institute is held annually the last week in August and the following dates are reserved for the township institutes : First Saturday, Big Creek, Honey Creek, Prairie and Round Grove; second Saturday, Jackson, Princeton, Union and West Point; third Sat- urday, Cass, Liberty and Monon.
RULES AND REGULATIONS
The White County Board of Education has promulgated a set of rules and regulations for the government of the public schools which are worthy of study. They bear with insistence on the necessity for the observance of orderly and moral conduct, the restrictions as to the use of tobacco and cigarettes being especially strict, as witness :
"Tobacco shall not be brought to school, and using tobacco on the way to or from school shall be considered conclusive evidence that tobacco was brought to school.
"Pupils, teachers, superintendents, principals, janitors and hack drivers shall not use tobacco while at school work. The carrying of pipes to school is prohibited. Pupils with the odor of tobacco on their person or clothing shall be dismissed from any session of school and a persistent violation of this rule shall be a just cause for expulsion.
"As to cigarettes, below is Section 1, Chapter 223, page 643, of Law of 1913: 'Section 1-Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of Indiana, That it shall be unlawful for any person under the full age of twenty-one years, by himself or through any other person or by any means, directly or indirectly to buy, receive or acept for his own use or the use of any other person whatsoever, or to keep or own or to have in his possession, to sell either as principal or agent, or to use any cigarette, cigarette paper, cigarette wrapper or any paper or wrapper containing morphine, nicotine, oil of hemp, or any deleterious or poisonous ingredi- ents or substance, or intended, suited, made or prepared for the purpose of being filled with tobacco for smoking, or any substitute for such ciga- rette paper, cigarette wrapper or other such paper.' ".
The truant laws are strictly enforced, hygienic measures are formu- lated and the modern movement of encouraging the transformation of schools into social centers is given full support. Domestic science and home sewing are strongly urged, and the suggestions as to getting the most practical good out of the agricultural course are as follows: "In the one room schools, only the boys of the 8th grade will be required to do the work in Agriculture.
"The boys in the 7th grade and girls in the 8th grade may do the work if the teacher thinks it advisable.
"Do the work as outlined in the State Course and in the Tentative Course of Study in Agriculture. If the teacher does not have a Tenta- tive Course of Study in Agriculture, he may get one of the county superintendent.
"Special emphasis is to be placed on soils and crops. Use 'Produc-
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
tive Farming' by Davis as a text, but only such parts as are needed to follow the course.
"Perform as many experiments as possible."
Young peoples' reading circles are warmly encouraged and this sen- sible warning is sent out: "Teachers should see that children have clean games and sport, both indoors and out. Every teacher ought to know enough good games and sports to be able to start one or more when the children do not seem to play some good game of their own. The best way to get rid of bad games.or unsatisfactory play is to suggest a good game or sport and teach them how to play it.
"Ball, bean-bags, jumping-rope, horse-shoe, dare-base, blind-man's buff, London Bridge, black-man, tag, see-saw, tap-ring, drop the hand- kerchief, guessing games, ciphering."
The last session of the Indiana Legislature gave the state the most advanced law on industrial and vocational education of any of the states. It made the age limit for compulsory attendance at school sixteen years instead of fourteen unless the child obtains work papers. It gave the state uniform text books for the high school. It created another class of teachers under the minimum wage law and several other laws were en- acted of great importance to the public schools of the state. In all of which progressive legislation White County is receiving its due benefit as a stable unit of the great state system of public instruction.
PRESENT STATUS OF THE COUNTY SYSTEM
The last figures compiled by County Superintendent Reid for 1915 indicate that the total value of property in White County now amounts to $15,246,560, the enrollment of those of school age to 4,330, number of teachers, 124, and number of schoolhouses, 99. The details follow :
Townships and
Value of
Corporations
Enrollment
Teachers Houses
Property
Big Creek
270
7
5
$ 1,280,900
Cass
277
9
9
538,870
Honey Creek
268
7
8
1,109,380
Jackson
276
8
5
931,330
Liberty
276
10
9
648,410
Monon
253
9
10
1,395,810
Prairie
211
8
10
1,906,830
Princeton
213
9
10
1,329,850
Round Grove
110
6
8
864,380
Union
202
9
10
1,279,440
West Point
212
9
9
1,250,080
Brookston
269
5
1
375,280
Burnettsville
239
4
1
185,760
Monon
384
8
1
428,730
Wolcott
295
6
1
374,470
Monticello
575
10
2
1,347,040
-
Totals
4,330
124
99
$15,246,560
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
DR. WILLIAM S. HAYMOND
No more learned or versatile character has ever cast his lot with the progress of White County than Dr. William S. Haymond, successful phy- sician and surgeon, mathematician, linguist, railroad president, congress- man, orator and author. Two decades of his remarkable career were spent in Monticello; in that city was laid the foundation of his later and broader fame, which was honestly and fairly earned as a resident of Indianapolis, but toward whatever place he called his home, the affection and admira- tion of his old friends in White County were earnestly directed. His death at the state capital occurred December 23, 1885, in his sixty-third year.
From the many obituaries and eulogies which appeared in the news- papers of the state, the following from the Indianapolis Journal of Decem- ber 26, 1885, is selected as both concise and complete : "The funeral of Dr. William S. Haymond will take place from his late residence, No. 399 College avenue, this afternoon at 1:30. He was born in Harrison county, near Clarksburg, Virginia, February 20, 1823. At the age of twenty, though only possessed of a common school education, he was regarded as one of the most accomplished mathematicians in the State. At twenty- three, he began the study of medicine, and after qualifying himself for his profession moved West and located at Monticello, where, in 1852, he began the practice of medicine and surgery, soon after which he grad- uated at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York. He soon came to rank with the foremost men of his profession in the northwestern part of the state, and at different times contributed valuable papers to the medical journals. While busily engaged in his practice, he daily devoted himself to the study of languages, his course embracing Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish and Italian. He also made it a regular habit from year to year to review geometry and other branches of mathematics. In the fall of 1861 he was appointed assistant surgeon in the Forty-sixth Indiana Regiment. He remained in the army until 1863, when, by reason of ill health, he was compelled to return home. In 1866 he received the unanimous nomination by the Democrats and Liberals as their candidate for the State Senate, but was defeated for election.
"In 1872 Dr. Haymond was elected president of the Indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago Railroad Company, and held that office until his election to Congress two years later. He was the first person who saw clearly the importance of opening a through railroad line which would give the Western States direct trade, by way of Port Royal, with South America, the West Indies and Europe. On this subject he addressed, by special invitation, a joint railroad convention at Augusta, Georgia, in May, 1873. The project having attracted widespread attention, a com- pany was formed of which Dr. Haymond was made president. At a large railroad convention held in Chicago in October, 1873, the proposed road was strongly favored. Bankers of large capital and credit had pledged substantial aid to the enterprise, when the panic inaugurated by the failure of Jay Cooke so unsettled financial matters that operations were suspended.
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
"In 1874 Dr. Haymond received, without solicitation, the unanimous nomination to Congress from the Tenth (Schuyler Colfax's) district, and was triumphantly elected-the first Democratic victory in twenty-two years. He retired at the close of the term March 4, 1877. His eulogy on the death of the speaker, Hon Michael C. Kerr, was pronounced by com- petent judges the finest literary effort made on the occasion. He was renominated for Congress in 1876, but met with a serious accident about the last of August of that year which came near terminating his life, confining him to his bed for several months. He was defeated, the dis- trict being largely Republican and because he was unable to give his personal effort and presence to the campaign.
"The Doctor was endowed with a rare executive ability and as an organizer had few superiors. In deportment he was modest, suave and rather reticent; but his social qualities were pleasant and lasting to those who made his acquaintance. About ten years ago, desiring to occupy a new field of labor and lessen the physical drudgery under which he was tiring through professional labors, he removed to this city. He took an active and leading part in the organization of the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, of this city, with which, in various positions, he was connected until his death."
To the foregoing, the editor may add that while in Congress Doctor Haymond had the reputation of being one of the most widely informed men in that body. He was a member of the Committee on Banking and Currency, which, at that time especially, was dealing with matters vital to the stability of the country. It is stated, on good authority, that upon one occasion when a certain congressman went to Speaker Cox to consult him about some financial matter, he gave this advice: "You go and see Haymond; he knows more about finance than any man on the commit- tee." The doctor's friends, who know of his characteristic thoroughness, may well believe the story.
In Doctor Haymond's list of accomplishments mention should also be made of the "History of Indiana," of which he is the author, which was published in 1879. It contains much valuable matter, well arranged, but largely deals with civil and political matters marshaled under the different gubernatorial administrations.
Looking at the subject from all sides, no man who has ever resided in White County and gone forth to participate in movements high and broad in their scope, has earned a more enduring reputation than that of Dr. W. S. Haymond.
CHARLES S. HARTMAN
Hon. Charles S. Hartman, a native of Monticello, where he was born March 7, 1861, gained prominence in the West. He was educated in the public schools of his native town and his marriage to Miss Flora B. Imes, of Monticello, as well as his admission to the bar, fell in 1884. As he also moved to Bozeman to enter practice in that year, it certainly made a distinct division in his life.
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
Mr. Hartman, although so young, came into rapid notice, and the very year of thus becoming a resident of Gallatin County, Montana, was elected to the probate judgeship. After serving a term of two years on that bench, he resumed practice as a lawyer and in 1888 was a candi- date for the Territorial Legislature. Although defeated, he was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention of the following year, under which Montana was admitted to the Union of states. Mr. Hartman served through the Fifty-third and the Fifty-fith sessions of Congress, his terms commencing in 1893 and 1899, respectively. He then returned to his large law practice in Bozeman and in 1913 President Wilson appointed him minister to represent the United States in Ecuador where he now resides.
REV. WILLIAM E. BIEDERWOLF
The editor also presents with pardonable pride a human product of White County, whose enthusiasm and inspiration for the higher forces of life are spreading his Christianizing influence over the land ; reference is made to Rev. William E. Biederwolf, whose home is still in Monticello, but the headquarters of his evangelical work, Chicago. Thence he sends out his individual literature through the Glad Tidings Publishing Com- pany, of which he is the head, and formulates his plans for his cam- paigns against the common enemy ; his weapons are an all-absorbing per- sonal conviction that he is fighting for God and truth, with a thorough intellectual and theological training and a natural eloquence behind his faith ; an accomplished patient, helpful and earnest wife as a sympathetic and tactful partner in all his work; and his Christian assistants who are specially assigned to evangelical work at different points in his itinerary. which embraces every section of the United States. Previous to the out- break of the world-war he was under an engagement to engage in evan- gelical work in London, but that dire event made all European plans impossible.
Mr. Biederwolf is of German blood, as his name implies, and was born at Monticello, September 29, 1867. He graduated from Wabash College in 1890, from Princeton College in 1894 and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1895. He rounded out his mental and theologi- cal training with post-graduate studies in various German universities covering two years. The funds which enabled him to enjoy this scholas- tic privilege were derived from the New Testament Fellowship which he had won at the Princeton School of Theology. In 1897, the year follow- ing his marriage to Miss Ida Casad, of Monticello, he entered the Presby- terian ministry and was called to the Broadway Church, at Logans- port. At the second call for volunteers during the Spanish-American war he offered his services as chaplain of the One Hundred and Sixty- first Indiana Regiment. In that capacity he served six months in the United States and a like period in Cuba, after which he returned to the Logansport Church and continued his pastorate there until 1900.
In the year named Mr. Biederwolf resigned from the pulpit to give himself to the cause of evangelization, in which he is one of the
-
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
foremost figures in America. He is president of the Interdenominational Association of Evangelists; general secretary of the Family Altar League ; general secretary of the Evangelistic Commission of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America; and a director of the Winona (Ind.) Assembly and Bible Conference and the Industrial Evangelical Foundation. He is a prohibitionist in the full sense of the word.
The books which Mr. Biederwolf has written and publishes through the Glad Tidings Publishing Company are: A Help to the Study of the Holy Spirit; How Can God Answer Prayer ?; The Growing Christian; The Christian and Amusements; The White Life; The Square Man; Un- varnished Facts About Christian Science; Russellism Unveiled and Spir- itualism. He also issues the Family Altar Magazine, a monthly publica- tion and the official organ of the Family Altar League.
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
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SPECIMEN CATTLE AND HOGS OF WHITE COUNTY
CHAPTER IX
COUNTY SOCIETIES
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-PIONEER LIVE STOCK MEN-LOCAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES-INITIAL MEETING IN BIG CREEK TOWNSHIP -FAIR OF THE TRI-COUNTY FARMERS' ASSOCIATION-WHITE COUNTY SOCIETY ORGANIZED-FIRST AND BEST COUNTY FAIR-THE SECOND FAIR-DIVISION OVER COUNTY SEAT REMOVAL-ATTEMPTS AT REVIVAL -THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION-FIRST MEETING AT. JOHN BURNS' GROVE-FIRST KNOWN OFFICERS-PRESIDENT GEORGE A. SPENCER- FIRST WELL-ORDERED ASSOCIATION-PIONEERS OF 1829-67-WHITE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY-WHITE COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY-DR. JOHN W. MEDARIS-DR. MADISON T. DIDLAKE.
There are several societies of county-wide interest and influence, the efforts and acts of which are both worthy of record. Some of their aims, laudable though they be, have failed of accomplishment from lack of membership and financial means; but the future may still bring realiza- tion to such efforts, which have been directed through co-operative chan- nels toward the education and improvement of the citizens of the county, either in specialties or in general.
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
No organization of that character was founded earlier or more per- sistently supported by a chosen few than the Agricultural Society and its practical manifestation, the county fair. Now it seemed alive; then dead; perhaps the next step was a revival, and the following a decline ; so that for many years neither the farmers nor the townsmen knew what to expect. The society is now supposed to be sleeping, albeit the general sentiment is growing that it should be awake and doing.
PIONEER LIVE STOCK MEN
County agricultural societies were authorized by enactment of the State Legislature in 1838. The farmers and live stock men, especially of Honey' Creek, Big Creek and Union townships, held a number of meet- ings, but were not strong enough in numbers to organize at that early time. Besides raising barely enough grain for their family consumption, the agricultural activities of White County for some twenty years after its organization consisted largely in raising horses, cattle and hogs for
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
the markets at Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York. Sometimes the live stock was fattened for eastern parties; sometimes raised by the home farmers and driven to the East. One of the first men to make the venture of driving stock to the eastern markets was Sylvanus Van Voorst, of Reynolds. In the fall of 1849, he started a mixed drove of cattle and horses East, with no definite market in view, and continued his journey as far as New York City before he was able to sell at satisfactory prices.
But these ventures, as a rule, proved to be unprofitable, and the farm- ers who grazed the herds of eastern owners on the free range got into all kinds of wrangles as to compensation; the consequence was that along in the '50s they commenced to improve their home stock and own the herds and droves for which they cared. These pioneer live stock men most favored the Morgan, Lexington and Copper Bottom horses; Short Horn, Durham and Hereford cattle, and the Berkshire and Cheshire hogs. The first men to give their serious attention to the improvement of stock in the county were Samuel Alkire and John Barr, of Prairie Township, cattlemen; John Burns, Philip Wolverton, Jonathan High and Benjamin Reynolds, Big Creek, who bred cattle, horses, hogs and sheep; Isaac Beaby, West Point Township, horses; Peter Price and John Roberts, Union Township, and Isaac Adams, horses, cattle and hogs; James K. and William Wilson, Monon, the same; and Christian Vande- venter and Robert and Crystal Scott, Liberty and Cass townships, hogs and cattle.
LOCAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES
The result was that before long eastern buyers came regularly to White County, instead of vice versa, and the home farmers and live stock men commenced again to talk about organizing a County Agricultural Society. The townsmen, many of whom had agricultural interests, also joined in the movement. The people of Monticello and Reynolds were particulary enthusiastic, the People's Agricultural Society being organ- ized in the former place in the late '50s for the purpose of promoting agri- culture, horticulture and stock-breeding in the county.
INITIAL MEETING IN BIG CREEK TOWNSHIP
But the movement which led directly to the organization of a county society originated in Big Creek Township, the home of George A. Spencer and Benjamin Reynolds. At a meeting held on the 13th of October, 1857, of which Albert S. White was chairman and E. D. Smith, secretary, it was resolved "that this meeting deem it expedient that an effort be made to organize an Agricultural Society for White county, and that the citizens of the county be requested to assemble at Monticello, on Saturday, Novem- ber 14th, at noon, to consult upon the subject, and, if deemed advisable, to take the proper steps for the organization of such society. A general attendance from each township is requested."
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
FAIR OF THE TRI-COUNTY FARMERS' ASSOCIATION
,
In the meantime the Farmers' Association, which had been organized in the preceding February, met at Burnettsville with a membership of about forty, and on November 7th had an exhibition or fair at that place. This appears to be the first event of the kind in White County and, notwithstanding rather inclement weather, a fair attendance of spectators and exhibitors was reported from Cass, White and Jasper counties, which constituted the territory covered by the association. The exhibits embraced horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, vegetables and grain and specimens of domestic work.
WHITE COUNTY SOCIETY ORGANIZED
But the people of White County felt that they were strong enough to have a society and a fair of their own; hence the Monticello meeting of November 14th. It was held at the courthouse. Judge David Turpie presided and addressed the meeting on the necessity of organizing a County Agricultural Society. Committees on articles of association and membership were appointed, after which an adjournment was taken until December 7th. On that day the society was formed for the "Pro- motion of the interests of agriculture, manufactures and the arts in this county." . A constitution was adopted in accordance with the regu- lations prescribed by the State Board of Agriculture, and the following officers elected for the ensuing year : President, Albert S. White; vice president, Lucius Pierce; treasurer, Randolph Brearly ; directors-R. W. Sill, Honey Creek; Anderson Irons, West Point; John B. Bunnell, Princeton; C. Hayes, Prairie; John C. Hughes, Liberty; W. H. King, Cass; James Elliott, Jackson ; Peter Price, Union ; A. A. Cole, Monon, and George A. Spencer, Big Creek.
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