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 28
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Mr. Cutler is the father of five children (his wife dying in 1912), of whom a son and a married daughter are living.
FIRST SAWMILLS
Moots Creek furnished water power for the two early sawmills which supplied the settlers in the eastern part of the township with lumber for their houses and farm buildings. The first industry in that line was established by Robert Barr in 1838. He dammed the creek about a quar- ter of a mile above where the mill was located, in section 31, and con- structed a race which worked well when the water was high enough, usually in the spring months. The saw was one of those up-and-down arrangements and was kept quite busy-when there was power-for about a decade. For many years some of the old timbers remained to ยท mark the spot where the first sawmill of the township was erected.
The second and last sawmill was erected in the Gay settlement, in the southeastern corner of the township, about 1862. It was built by P. M. Kent, who also attached machinery for grinding wheat and corn. The grist mill was discontinued after about a year of well-meant efforts, and the sawmill struggled along for five years, when the entire enterprise was abandoned.
BROOKSTON, INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL CENTER
Since that time the industries of the township have centered at Brookston, now a village of 1,000 people, situated on the main line of the Monon route and surrounded by a beautiful and productive country of fruits, grains and live stock. It is to the southwestern part of the county what Monon is to the northwestern-the chief trading and bank- ing center for a prosperous country covering a radius of several miles.
Brookston was platted in April, 1853, when the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad was put through that section of the county, and was named in honor of James Brooks, who was then president of the railway company. It has grown steadily, which fact largely accounts for the increase in population of the township as a whole. In 1890 there were 1,885 people in Prairie Township and in 1910, 2,181.
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
VILLAGE OF SPRINGBORO
Some time during the prosperous days of the Wabash and Erie Canal, probably just a few years prior to the Civil war, while Pittsburg, over on the Wabash, was an important trading point, there sprung up in the little valley at the mouth of Spring Creek, in the eastern part of Prairie Township, a little village called Springboro. The first house was prob- ably built by a German from the wine producing countries of Southern Europe, who planted an extensive vineyard on the southern slope of the hill on the north side of the valley and engaged extensively in the pro- duction of wine. He also kept a general store which was used as a distributing point for the neighborhood mail sent out there from the regular postoffice at Pittsburg. This, with a blacksmith shop, a cooper shop and two or three dwellings, constituted the village in its most prosperous days.
Springboro was located on what was known as the Finch Grove Road, leading from Pittsburg to Brookston, only a short distance from where that road crossed the Tippecanoe River, and first became generally known over the county in December, 1869, when Asa Haff and others filed a petition asking that a bridge be built at that point. As the river here forms the boundary line between the counties of Carroll and White, a joint meeting of the boards of commissioners of the two counties was held "at the house of Lucas Trontle" February 9, 1870, at which it was ordered that a bridge "be built of wood, covered, weatherboarded and painted." On March 8th this order was set aside and another joint meeting called for March 30, 1870, also "at the house of Lucas Trontle." This meeting was held under considerable difficulties. The roads were almost impassable and the White County officials were compelled to go to Brookston by railroad and thence to Springboro in a wagon drawn by six horses, arriving there late in the evening. There were present from Carroll County James W. Glasscock, John A. Troxell and Warren Adams, commissioners ; John A. Kane, auditor ; John W. Jackson, sheriff ; Barney Daily, county attorney ; and several other interested parties from Pittsburg and Delphi. From White County there were Christopher Hardy and James C. Gress, commissioners-Theodore J. Davis, the other White County commissioner, not being able to reach the meeting-George Uhl, county auditor ; William E. Saunderson, deputy sheriff ; and Thomas Bushnell, county attorney. It was then ordered that an iron bridge be built, Carroll County to pay in round numbers seven-elevenths and White County to pay four-elevenths of the cost. A contract was later let and the bridge built at a total cost of $22,540.98; and Charles Angel, Lucas Trontle, Isaac Wilson, Levi Riley, James Gay, John W. Jackson, John Gay and Cyrus Barr bound themselves to pay the first year's interest on this amount.
This old history is of special interest at this time, as the bridge here mentioned has been condemned after forty-five years of service and a petition for a new structure is now pending, again requiring the joint action of the two counties.
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IMPROVEMENT IN RURAL CONDITIONS
While there has been little, if any, increase in the population of the rural districts in the township, those who have remained to improve their homesteads and raise their grain and live stock have reached a high grade of comfort and contentment; for to the natural fertility of the soil they have added such artificial developers as fertilizers, crop rotations and scientific drainage. What is as much to the point, in the way of bringing comfort and contentment to the farmers of Prairie Township- they can now get their produce to market, even if they are raised miles from the railroad.
LEADING GOOD ROADS TOWNSHIP
In the early days before the inauguration of the Good Roads Move- ment, it was almost impossible for the farmers to market their products in the western or prairie districts-in the very sections of the bumper crops. The fall, winter and spring rains, which rarely failed, made passage over the dirt roads with loaded wagons almost an impossibility. It made little difference how much work was done in the way of grading and ditching. As one who has floundered through those muds remarked in disgust, "the higher the grade the deeper the mud." Until the surface of the prairies was frozen over in winter or dried by the summer suns, the farmers were forced to allow their grain to lie in the cribs and bins, awaiting a favor- able time to deliver it to market.
The last thirty, especially the past twenty, years have brought a rad- ical change for the better in the construction of roads which enable the farmers to readily get everything they raise to the desired market. Among the townships of the county, Prairie leads in the progress of the Good Roads Movement within her bounds. The bonded indebtedness in- curred in the construction of fine macadam or gravel roads which thus accommodate her farmers and residents as a whole, amounts to $85,570, divided among the different roads as follows: Schneider, $2,400; Kelley, $6,400; Dobbins, $3,600; Carson, $4,000; Sleeth, $2,750; Nagle, $2,850; Vanderbilt, $5,000; Redding, $3,780; Holwerda, $2,650; Anderson, $4,500; Younger, $4,500; Brackney, $13,600; Gay, $17,640; Krapff, $5,400; Fewell, $6,500.
CHAPTER XV
JACKSON TOWNSHIP
SOUTH HALF FIRST SETTLED-PIONEER SETTLERS AND LAND OWNERS- THE HANNAS-ENTERED LAND BEFORE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION- PIONEER OF 1835-38-FIRST RECORDED ELECTION-DANIEL DALE, LEADING POLITICIAN-HANNA REJECTS DEMOCRACY-THE WHEEL OF LIFE-PIONEER SCHOOL MATTERS-BURNETT'S CREEK POSTOFFICE- HIGH STANDARD OF MORALITY-SMITH'S DISTILLERY OF 1840-50- VIOLENT DEATHS-THE MORMON BRANCH OF 1842-45-FARMINGTON MALE AND FEMALE SEMINARY-BURNETTSVILLE FOUNDED-SHARON AND BURNETTSVILLE CONSOLIDATED-IDAVILLE FOUNDED-DRAINAGE AND GOOD ROADS.
Jackson was one of the four townships created when White County was set off into civil divisions at the first meeting of the board of com- missioners in July, 1834, and included all of its territory east of the Tippecanoe River. It assumed its present area of thirty-six square miles through the creation of Cass and Liberty townships, in 1837. and the subsequent demarkation of the eastern boundary of Union Township.
SOUTH HALF FIRST SETTLED
The south half of the township was first settled, as it was com- paratively level, well timbered and not subject to overflow, as were the lands in the northern sections. The rich loam, with subsoil of clay, was found to be adapted to the raising of wheat especially, with corn, oats, rye, roots, fruits and vegetables following closely as second choice. As most of the first settlers were thrifty farmers from Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York, with quite a number from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, who usually came stocked with horses, cows and poultry, and provided with farm implements and enough cash to "pull them through until they got on their feet," they naturally selected the southern portion of the township in preference to the dreary-looking swamp lands, inter- spersed with high ridges, which stretched away to the north. They could not await the time when that waste would be reclaimed and brought into the market as even more productive than the tracts favored by nature.
PIONEER SETTLERS AND LAND OWNERS
The dispute as to priority of settlement in Jackson Township is even more lively than in the majority of such discussions, since several located
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
in the vicinity of the present Town of Burnettsville, about 1831-Eliab Fobes, John Scott, Joseph James, Thomas Harless and Aaron Hicks. From the records showing the entries of Government lands it seems that Fobes filed a claim on land in section 25, at or very near the present site of Burnettsville, and that the Hicks tract, about an equal distance from that place and Idaville, was not entered until June 18, 1834. Mr. James, also mentioned as one of the pioneers, selected a tract earlier in the month in section 18, on the western border of the present township.
Robert Ginn entered lands in section 10 (the only early landsman to venture into the wet tracts of the north) in May, 1830, and in May, 1836, he filed a claim in section 22. And he later became well known in local affairs.
THE HANNAS
Robert Hanna appears to have been the prime mover in the list of those who purchased Government lands in the township and afterward resided therein-they and their children. On June 21, 1831, he entered land in section 35, just north of the Carroll County line. Several of his grandsons, now well along in years, are farmers in that locality. Two of his sons, Andrew and John Hanna, became prominent residents of the township.
Andrew came with his father from Ohio in 1833; was present at the first town meeting and cast the only whig vote. He prospered as a farmer to such an extent that he became the owner of 900 acres of land, served as county commissioner, was an influential churchman, and founded Idaville.
John Hanna, the elder brother, located in Jackson Township in 1834, the year after his father's arrival, and after farming for many years became prominent in the mercantile affairs of both Burnettsville and Idaville. He also was present at the first township election, and was one of the first petit jurors of the county. He assisted in building the first schoolhouse and was considered one of the founders of Burnettsville.
ENTERED LAND BEFORE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION
The tract book of the county giving the entries of Government land in Jackson Township indicates that the following also had become land owners previous to the first election for township officers held in Novem- ber, 1834: Thomas McCormick, in section 33, November 23, 1831; John Scott and Thomas Martindale, in section 24, on February 8 and July 30, 1832, and William James, in section 35, on October 5th of the same year ; Joseph Belen, in section 24, March 6, 1833; T. J. James, in the same section, on August 15th, of that year ; Daniel Dale in section 25, August 22, 1833; James James, in section 36, January 26, 1833, and in section 11, June 4, 1834, as well as in section 18, on the same date ; James Davis, in section 23, July 14, 1834; George Gibson, in section 25, September 22, 1834, and John Vinnedge, in the same section, November 17th of that year; William R. Dale, in section 26, June 18, 1834; John Tedford, on
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
the same date, in section 31; Christopher Birch, in section 34, May 9, 1834; George Hornback, same section, May 19th, and the following, also in the same section, with dates of 1834 as given: Amos Barnes, May 29th ; Allen Barnes, May 29th; Thomas Harless, October 6th ; and John McDowell and Solomon Burket, same date; Thomas Mclaughlin, in section 36, July 23, 1834.
PIONEERS OF 1835-38
The years from 1835 to 1838, inclusive, brought many of the resi- dents of the township who joined in her progress of many subsequent years. Those who entered lands during that period fairly cover the list of these pioneers. The tract book gives them as follows: 1835-Jona- than Shull, in section 23, September 25th ; Ephraim Miller, in section 24, September 4th; Delancy Marvin, in section 26, October 2d; Andrew Renwick, September 9th; Daniel I. Skinner, October 2d; Joseph D. Beers, December 2d, and Jeremiah Sullivan, December 2d also-all in section 28; James McCain, in section 31, November 12th ; Samuel Smith, April 30th, and John Dille, September 1st, both in section 32; Solomon McCully, June 15th ; Ephraim Chamberlain, November 7th, and James Hamill, also November 7th-all in section 33; Charles B. Hamilton, January 16th, in section 35; and James Williams, in section 36.
1836-Thomas B. Ward, July 12th, in section 13; Stephen Nutt, September 30th, in section 14; Robert Ginn, May 28th, and Thomas McCormick, October 4th, in section 15; Robert Ginn, May 28th, in section 22; Dennis Springer, November 14th, in section 23; C. J. Hand, January 26th, in section 24; Ezekiah S. Wiley, January 8th, Dennis Springer, November 14th, and William Wiley, December 5th, all in section 26; Seth Irelan, January 13th, and Thomas Beard, April 30th, in section 27; John Parr, July 15th, in sections 30 and 31; James Courtney, January 18th, John Hamill, January 19th, Andrew Hanna, February 4th, and Aaron Hicks, March 30th, in section 33.
1837-John Miller, May 31st, in section 10; James Hicks, September 27th, and A. T. Stanton, September 14th, in section 13; Lewis Shull, January 6th, John York, August 15th, and Robert Gibson, December 19th, in section 14; John Miller, May 31st, in section 15; Samuel `M. Cochran, February 15th, in section 21; George B. Garlinghouse, Sep- tember 29th, in section 22; John A. Billingsley, April 26th, and Andrew Hanna, January 13th, in section 26; William Burns, April 26th, William W. Mitchell, May 22d, Benjamin Durn, June 24th, and Cyrus B. Garlinghouse, September 2d, in section 27; Samuel M. Cochran; February 15th, and Benjamin Deen, April 26th, in section 28.
1838-Jeremiah Dunham, October 15th, in section 13, and William York, February 3d, in section 23.
Quite a number of those who entered lands during this formative period of the township became well known both in township and county affairs. Solomon McCully, who settled in section 33 during 1835, became one of the commissioners, and Thomas McCormick, who came in 1836 Vol. I-15
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
and located in section 15, nearly in the center of the township, was appointed an associate judge of the Circuit Court. Aaron Hicks, who took up land in that year in section 33, in the southern part, served as the first sheriff of the county and was its probate judge for some time. Andrew Hanna, who first became interested in lands in section 26, just west of the present site of Burnettsville, afterward became one of the founders of Idaville. Lewis Shull and John York took up tracts further north in section 14, and their families became well known both at Burnettsville and in the farming communities of section 10. The names of others who settled in Jackson Township in the decade previous to 1840 will be drawn into the current of this history as the story progresses.
FIRST RECORDED ELECTION
The first recorded election in Jackson Township was held at the house of Daniel Dale, on the present site of Burnettsville, November 7, 1834, and the following cast presidential ballots: Jonathan Shull, Ephraim Million, Lewis Shull, James Courtney, Robert Hanna, Ezekiel S. Wiley, Joseph James, Eliab Fobes, George Gibson, Hugh Courtney, John Gibson, Joseph James, John Morris, Joseph Winegarner, Allen Barnes, George Hornbeck, William Wiley, Aaron Hicks, John Hanna, John Smith, John Lowery, William Gibson, Stephen Nutt, Robert P. Gibson, William Price, John D. Vinnage, William R. Dale and William James. Of these twenty-eight votes, twenty-six were cast for the Van Buren, or democratic electors, and two for the Harrison, or whig ticket. At the time of this election, which is the first recorded as having been held in the township, voters were legally entitled to cast their ballots anywhere in the county of their residence, so that the foregoing list is not a true index of settlers in Jackson Township, although many names are recognized as actual residents.
DANIEL DALE, LEADING POLITICIAN
Aaron Hicks was the first justice of the peace elected after the organization of the county and the township, and to Daniel Dale was accorded the privilege of naming it. As he was a staunch Jacksonian democrat, he named it accordingly. It was Mr. Dale's house which was the political center of the township for a number of years and, as per the order of the county commissioners, most of the early elections were held there. In 1837 and 1838 the poll lists show the following new names : Dennis Pringer, Enos H. Stewart, William W. Mitchell, Solomon McCully, Madison Reeves, Lewis J. Dale, Jephtha York, Thomas McLaughlan, Andrew J. Hanna, Silas Gitt, Alexander Hornback, John A. Billingsley, Samuel Smith, John Street and James T. Mitchell.
HANNA REJECTS DEMOCRACY
The township continued to be overwhelmingly democratic, and at one . of the early elections the whigs were able to marshal only Andrew Hanna
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
as a supporter of their ticket in Jackson Township. Dale and the other good democrats tried to induce Hanna to make their vote unanimous, but the lone whig was firm and cast his ballot as his conscience dictated, and he enjoyed his brief triumph in 1840, when Harrison was elected President, but died in office after only a few months of service. Old settlers used to smile at the sanctity of the ballot box, as gauged by the accommodations furnished by Brother Dale, which consisted of an old weather-beaten hat over which was spread a handkerchief-sometimes gay, but never any too clean. The Dale house in which these early elections were held stood for many years unmoved and almost unchanged.
THE WHEEL OF LIFE
Joseph James, whose homestead was in section 18, in the western part of the township, first appeared on the records as a land owner in 1831, which is given as the year of his actual settlement. He had a large family, several of them small children, when several other pioneers took up claims previous to 1834. The inference is that some one of his babies was the first child born in Jackson Township, although the first record of a birth is that of Alexander Barnes, in February, 1835, and George H. Mitchell, deceased, of Idaville always claimed this honor. Two of Mr. James' children also appear to have died previous to December 2, 1835, when Amos Barnes, the father of Alexander, passed away. His was the first death. The family had lived in the township about a year.
In the spring of 1836, John D. Vinnage and Rachel Gibson were married, the first couple to be united in the township. Thus the wheel commenced to revolve of marriages, births and deaths.
PIONEER SCHOOL MATTERS
In other respects, the year 1836 was an uneventful one. In that year the first schoolhouse in the township was built near what is now the southeast corner of Burnettsville-a log cabin, like all of its kind in those days-and William Dale was selected to teach the children of the neighborhood. It is said that even before this first regular schoolhouse was thrown open, a vacant house in the southeast quarter of section 33, near the Carroll County line, had been occupied with a small class under the instruction of James Renwick. But that arrangement lacked the permanency attached to the schoolhouse of 1836.
The second schoolhouse in the township was built about 1842, and stood on the farm afterward owned by Thomas Barnes. Among the early teachers in that house were William Barnes, Melinda Noah and Hender- son Steele.
The third schoolhouse was built about 1847 on Solomon McCully's land, in the same neighborhood, and George Hall was the first teacher, followed by Joseph Thompson, George Barnes, John Bright, Ashbury Shultz, William P. Montgomery and Josephus Tam.
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
BURNETT'S CREEK POSTOFFICE
In the eventful year of 1836 a postoffice was established to accom- modate the settlers of the township, who had largely concentrated in its southeastern sections in the neighborhood of what is now Burnettsville. It was called Burnett's Creek (named after the stream which waters the eastern half of the township), and William R. Dale was appointed postmaster, thus continuing the importance of the family name. The postoffice was located at Farmington, now Burnett's Creek, and it is still thus designated, although the village is incorporated as Burnettsville.
HIGH STANDARD OF MORALITY
From very early times the type of the communities in Jackson Township was fixed as one of morality and religious conformity. The pioneer settlers largely belonged to the Seceders' Church and strictly enforced morality among their members and children. The first meet- ings of the sect, known as the Christian Church, were held at the house of Alexander Scott near Farmington, or Burnettsville. The Methodists commenced to organize classes about 1837 and, at a somewhat later day, the Baptists. In the early '40s, members of the Associate Reformed and kindred churches formed societies at what is now Idaville ; so that at a very early date, Jackson Township was noted as a section of the county which was especially moral and religious, if not austere in its type. Drunkenness, carousing, swearing and fighting, which were so prevalent in some other sections, were uncommon in Jackson Township, and the few saloons opened were not supported, and never have been to any extent. In fact, the high standard of conduct fixed so early has been, on the whole, well maintained.
SMITH'S DISTILLERY OF 1840-50
In the early '40s two events occurred to especially stir the moral sense of the communities of Southern Jackson Township; the first was the establishment of a distillery and the second, the planting of a branch of the Mormon Church. About the year 1840 Samuel Smith set up a small still on his land, about a mile southwest of where Idaville now stands and near enough the Carroll County line to draw custom from its people. He bought or bartered small quantities of corn which he made into whiskey, his orders from the Jackson Township people con- sisting in great bulk, of stock for vinegar and liniment, bitters to ward off the ague, and the straight liquor for snake bites and general emerg- encies. Notwithstanding the scandal it produced among the strict disciplinarians of the township, the distillery was operated by Smith until his death in 1850.
VIOLENT DEATHS
A number of violent deaths have occurred in Jackson Township which have caused much excitement and justly so, as some of them were
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
in the nature of horrors. In the spring of 1860, Albert Burns, a man somewhat past middle age, who had resided on his farm two miles north of Burnettsville, for several years, shot his wife, from whom he had once been divorced; attempted to kill her youngest child whom he disowned, and then, after having placed two chairs between his wife and the fireplace that his victim might not get into the fire in her death struggles, turned the weapon upon himself. His death was probably instantaneous. The wife and mother lived until the following morning.
In 1877, a bartender at Idaville named Richard M. Herron, was found dead, his face and clothes covered with blood, about two miles east of Monticello. John Kelly, proprietor of the saloon at which he was employed and John Toothman, whom he had displaced as bar- tender, were arrested on the charges of having murdered Mr. Herron. The victim, after he received his injuries, stopped at the house of John M. Shafer, three miles east of Monticello. At the time he was covered with blood, but proceeded on his way. That was the last seen of him until his body was discovered about two days afterward. A nolle pros was entered as to Toothman, and he became a witness for the state against Kelly, who was convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to the penitentiary for six years. He obtained a new trial, which resulted in a sentence of eighteen years. Mr. Herron was an old soldier and some of his relatives yet live in White County.
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