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 32
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CATTLE RAISING AND HERDING
But the prairie lands, especially those which were high and un- dulating, increased in favor. They afforded fine pasturage for cattle, of which fact the settlers of the '50s and '60s were not slow to take prac- tical advantage. In the palmy days of the business, when the farmers were not only raising cattle of their own, but herding large numbers for eastern dealers, the country was not unlike the Far West of a later day, albeit on a minor scale.
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
This interesting and important feature of the early times in Princeton Township, when all its progress seemed to depend on the development of its agricultural wealth, is thus drawn by one who witnessed most of it himself: "The business of herding cattle on the prairie became quite an industry to the settlers, and there were few of them who failed to prepare pounds by fencing from one to ten acres of their land with rails, and stake and double-rider the lot, preparatory to receiving a herd in the pasturing season. The number of cattle taken by the settler depended upon his ability to care for a greater or a less number, ranging from 250 to 500 head; but it was found that not more than 300 head could be advantageously kept in one herd to obtain the best results.
"The price paid by the owners for herding was twelve and a half cents per month for each animal cared for, until competition among the settlers to secure a herd reduced it to ten cents per head. For this sum the settler must furnish the herder, and salt for the cattle at stated periods, and at the end of the season account for every animal short of the number counted in to him in the spring. If one died, the production of the hide and horns, with the owner's brand thereon, was satisfactory ; otherwise, the value of the animal was deducted from the amount paid for the herding.
"The furnishing a herder was a matter of small moment to the set- tler, as all members of the family, boys and girls alike, were trained from infancy to be expert riders, and it was not unusual to see a whole family out on the herding ground, rounding up and guarding three or four hundred head of cattle, until they should become accustomed to their surroundings and learn the route from the pound to the herding ground in the morning and the return route in the evening; after which the herd caused little trouble during the remainder of the season, unless a hailstorm or something unusual should frighten them and cause a stam- pede, in which case it required good generalship and plenty of nerve on the part of the herder to save the animals from partial, if not total loss.
"A herd of cattle properly cared for during the season would take on from two hundred to two hundred and fifty pounds of flesh per head, and as much as three hundred pounds have been added to the weight of thirty three-year-old cattle in the six months of pasturage. This latter, however, was in exceptional cases and under most favorable conditions, largely dependent on the care and attention of the herder.
"Another fruitful source of revenue to the settlers was the feeding of the herd during the winter, if the owner desired it. In those early days a steer was not considered marketable until after he had passed the fourth year, and as food was plentiful, and practically no market available for it, the owners would often contract with the settlers to keep the herd during the winter at varying prices per month per head, de- pendent upon the manner and material to be used in the wintering. If the diet was prairie hay and corn fodder, with an occasional change to wheat or oats straw, a very moderate price would be charged, but if the cattle were to be fed grain, in addition to the hay and fodder, addi-
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tional compensation was received. The feed lot was located on the high- est ground obtainable, usually a sand ridge covered with brush and young timber, through which narrow roadways would be made for the passage of wagons containing the feed for the cattle; and the feed, whether hay,
Courtesy of Wolcott Enterprise
HON. ANSON WOLCOTT
fodder or shock corn, would be unloaded along the roadways so as to give every animal in the lot a chance to get a portion of it. For water, a pond would be enclosed in the lot, and it was no difficult matter to find one sufficient to supply a large herd during the winter months; the only difficulty was to keep it open in freezing weather."
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LIGHT AHEAD
Until the completion of the Pittsburgh, Chicago & St. Louis Rail- road through the township on the last day of November, 1859, the farmers were unable to market either their live stock or their produce in any way which could encourage them to expand their operations. In that event and year they saw light ahead.
WOLCOTT AND ITS FOUNDER
The comfort, prosperity and health of all the residents of the town- ship were advanced by the advent of what is now the Pennsylvania road, and by the platting of Wolcott, a conveniently situated center for the purchase of supplies and general trading, in May, 1861. It was laid out in the eastern part of section 25 and the western portion of section 30, by E. G. Wolcott and Anson Wolcott, his brother and attorney in fact, an able New York lawyer, then in his fortieth year, who had been a resident of the township for three years. In 1847 he had been ad- mitted to practice in the Supreme Court at Buffalo, New York, and in 1852 in the Supreme Court of the United States. After the platting of this town, Mr. Wolcott devoted himself to its improvement, practiced his profession and became interested in questions of state and politics. In 1868 he had so far attained leadership in the republican party as to be elected to the State Senate, and served in the sessions of 1869 and 1871. For many years he was adjudged one of the most able and thor- oughly educated men in the county, and was mentioned several times as a candidate for Congress. He died at his home in Wolcott on Janu- ary 11, 1907. A more detailed biography will be found in connection with the history of the Town of Wolcott.
The Town of Wolcott, notwithstanding its setback occasioned by the fires of recent years, is one of the progressive centers of trade and civic activities in the county.
SEAFIELD
Three miles east, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, is the Town of Sea- field, platted by M. C. Hamlin, in June, 1863. It is the center of a pro- ductive farming district, but as Wolcott is only three miles to the west, and Reynolds six miles to the east, there is little chance for its ex- pansion as a village.
CHAPTER XIX
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP
TIMBER LANDS AND LOWLANDS-THE INDIAN VILLAGE-CRYSTAL D. W. SCOTT-COMING OF JONATHAN SLUYTER AND MOSES KARR-THE TOWNSHIP CREATED-FIRST ELECTION AND OFFICIALS-CHANGE OF BOUNDARIES-DIVIDED INTO ROAD DISTRICTS-SETTLERS PREVIOUS TO 1840-UNUSUAL PROGRESS IN 1840-50-PIONEERS SELL IMPROVED LANDS-NON-RESIDENT PURCHASERS-KEAN'S CREEK SWAMP LANDS -THE SLUYTER SCHOOLHOUSES-RELIGION AT THE SCOTT SETTLE- MENT-FIRST MARRIAGE AND FIRST DEATH-BUFFALO POSTOFFICE ESTABLISHED-JOHN C. KARR AND THE TOWN-THOMAS B. MOORE- KARR'S ADDITION TO BUFFALO-THE IRON BRIDGE-SITKA-THE HUGHES AND VAN VOORST FAMILIES.
The form taken by the thirty-four and a half sections of land com- prising Liberty Township, in the northeastern part of White County, is largely determined by the meanderings of the Tippecanoe River, which shapes about two-thirds of its western boundary, the continua- tion of that line northward being from a point where the southern line of section 16 crosses the stream; the northern, southern and eastern boundaries were purely land lines. The Tippecanoe passes diagonally through the three upper tiers of sections, the river, as a whole, forming the highway along which were scattered the first settlements of both red men and white.
TIMBER LANDS AND LOWLANDS
Along the river valley, and for some distance inland, in the western and southwestern portions of the township, were forests of white oak, sugar maple, poplar, ash, hickory and walnut, with a thick undergrowth of hazel, plum, haw, mulberry and sassafras, but the eastern sections were largely marsh land, interspersed with low ridges of sand. The latter tracts were sprinkled with undergrowths, but showed nothing in the way of large timber. The lowlands were naturally last to come into the market, and were not taken up to any extent until after the passage of the state law, in the early '70s, by which ditching companies were formed and the benefited lands assessed for the drainage improvements. Then the speculators commenced to sell and subdivide their large idle tracts.
THE INDIAN VILLAGE
When the first settlers came into the county in 1829-30 they found two Indian villages within its present limits; the smaller one was about
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
half a mile north of the locality now occupied by Monticello, and the larger Pottawattamie village was on the eastern banks of the Tippecanoe five miles above, near what was afterward known as Holmes' ford, some three miles west of the present hamlet of Sitka. The village embraced nearly 100 wigwams and about 400 Indians, and adjoining it were three or four acres of communal land cultivated to corn, pumpkins, squashes and Irish and sweet potatoes. As the river furnished fish, and the woods opossum, deer and other game, their diet did not lack in variety, although their cooking and seasoning were not to the white man's taste. The Pottawattamies were dirty, hospitable beggars and thieves, and the few settlers of Liberty Township who located in the valley while these red men infested it were pleased indeed when they finally abandoned their village, in 1838, and started for their Kansas reservation.
CRYSTAL D. W. SCOTT
Crystal D. W. Scott is claimed to have been the first white settler in what is now Liberty Township. The date of his coming is placed as early as 1835, although he does not appear to have entered lands in sections 1 and 11 (township 28, range 3) until August 13, 1836. On the 24th of that month Greenup Scott purchased a tract in section 11. All these lots were along the river in the northeast corner of the township.
The following entered lands at even earlier dates than the Scotts : Thomas Macklin, in section 3, township 27, range 3, April 15, 1834 ; Amos Wiley, in same section, December 28th of that year ; James Crose, Decem- ber 16, 1835, in section 33, township 28, range 3; James Sampson, in section 9, November 16, 1835; John Parker, in section 21, township 28, range 3, July 21, 1836 ; John Cobler, in section 28, February 1st of that year; James W. Hall and Jacob Meyer, in same section, July 21st and July 25th, respectively ; Thomas T. Benbridge, in section 33, April 12th of that year; John Bell, in section 34, July 14th, and the following in township 27, range 3, in the year 1836: Nimrod Warden, William Warden and Jacob Slater, in section 4; William Flemming, in section 5; Samuel Benson and Jacob Cornell, in section 9.
The following entered land in township 28, range 3, after Crystal D. W. Scott, in 1836; William Fisher, Samuel Simmons, Joseph Smith, Andrew Beauchamp, William Ross and James W. McIntyre, in section 1; Elihu Harlan, in section 11; Nathaniel Bell, in section 12; William Wilson, in section 13; John W. Berry, in section 14; George I. Baum, Jabez B. Berry, Mercer Brown and John B. Niles, in section 15, and William Greathouse, in section 23, and George Snyder, in section 34.
JONATHAN W. SLUYTER AND MOSES KARR
In 1836 Jonathan W. Sluyter left the State of New York and, with his wife and Hiram and Abraham Sluyter, his sons, began settlement on a tract of land which embraced the present site of Buffalo. The account of their trip has come down to us through his living descendants. Obviously
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of Dutch ancestry, his immediate ancestors settled in the Empire State while it was yet a portion of England's colonial possessions. His branch of the family took root in Sullivan County, where Mr. Sluyter himself married Elizabeth J. Hall, of English parentage. In the spring of 1836 he started with his family overland for the western prairies of Illinois. They went by way of Philadelphia, and as night overtook them in the city they camped around their wagon in one of its streets. The trip lasted all summer, through roadless forests and swamps, under chilling rains and hot suns, until the weary pilgrims finally reached Logansport, and, several weeks later, the Tippecanoe River.
On account of the high water, the travelers were unable to cross the stream, and, as the season was already well advanced, Mr. Sluyter de- cided to camp temporarily on the spot. The family moved into a deserted log cabin, and, after spending the winter therein, concluded to locate permanently. The deciding factor in the situation had grown out of the fact that Mr. Sluyter had built a forge and worked up quite a trade with the Pottawattamies of the village below, his specialty being the fabrication of steel arrowheads at one cent each. He had learned to talk their language and established a nice business with his red friends both in barter and cash.
Mr. Sluyter sold his original place to a Mr. Bowen, and then entered 240 acres of unimproved land in and about section 28. In that locality he continued to work at blacksmithing; also cleared and cultivated his land. Later he purchased land in section 15, and when a postoffice was established on his farm in 1857 he had it named Buffalo and was ap- pointed its postmaster. It was at that locality that he passed his last years. His three sons were all born in New York State before he came west; one of them died when he was fourteen years of age, but the other two passed the remainder of their lives in White County, and their de- scendants are yet living in the localities where Jonathan W. Sluyter first invested in lands.
The year 1836 also brought into Liberty Township such men as 'Squire James W. Hall, William Fisher and George. J. Baum, whose land entries have been noted. Mr. Baum cleared ten acres of his land in section 15 and built a cabin, but soon left the township.
Among those who settled in the township shortly before or about the time of its organization were Lewis Elston, in 1836, and Rev. Abram Sneathen, James Hughes, John Parker and Moses Karr, in 1837. Mr. Karr returned to his home in Butler County, Ohio, after entering his land, but brought his family with him in 1839 and became a permanent resident.
THE TOWNSHIP CREATED
At the September term of the Board of County Commissioners it was ordered that all that portion of White County lying east of the Tippe- canoe River and north of the north line of section 16, township 28 north, range 3 west, constitute a new civil township to be designated Liberty ; and it was further ordered that all that portion of Pulaski County lying
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
immediately north of the new township be attached thereto. Until 1848, what is now known as Cass Township was within the jurisdiction of Liberty Township; consequently Christopher Vandeventer and other pioneers who are claimed by Cass Township, appear among the lists of voters applicable to the period, 1838-48.
FIRST ELECTION AND OFFICIALS
The first election held in Liberty Township, at the house of Crystal D. W. Scott, on the first Monday of April, 1838, brought out the follow- ing voters: Christopher Vandeventer, Joseph Smith, John McDowell, Greenup Scott, Benjamin Grant, Andrew Beechum, Jonathan W. Sluy- ter, Crystal D. W. Scott, James W. Hall, Thomas Hamilton, John Parker and James Baum. These gentlemen unanimously cast their bal- lots for Mr. Hall for justice of the peace; Crystal D. W. Scott, inspector of elections; Mr. Sluyter, constable; Messrs. Smith and Hamilton, over- seers of the poor ; Mr. Parker, supervisor, and Mr. Beechum and Greenup Scott, fence viewers.
CHANGE OF BOUNDARIES
At the May term of the Commissioners' Court, in 1838, a petition was presented signed by Jonathan Sluyter and other citizens of Liberty and Monon townships, asking for a change of boundaries, in accordance with which the board ordered that the east side of Monon Township, with the following bounds, be attached to Liberty: Leaving the Tippe- canoe River at the point where the south line of section 16 crosses the river, thence west parallel with the section line to the southwest corner of section 16, township 28, range 3, and thence north parallel with the section line to the north boundary of White County.
In the following August (1838) the following voted: Abram Sneathen, Andrew Beechum, Evan Thomas, Christopher Vandeventer, John Parker, Crystal D. W. Scott, William Davison, James W. Hall, Thomas Hamilton, Elijah Sneathen, Benjamin Grant, V. Sluyter, James G. Brown, Joseph Smith, William Cary and W. W. Curtis.
DIVIDED INTO ROAD DISTRICTS
In the early part of 1839 the township was divided into two road districts ; all of the territory lying north of section 16 constituted district No. 1, and all south, district No. 2. At the April election for that year John McNary was chosen constable; Crystal D. W. Scott, inspector of elections ; John McDonald, supervisor for the First district, and Andrew Beechum, for the Second district ; John Morris and Greenup Scott, fence viewers; and Daniel Baum and Elijah Sneathen, overseers of the poor. C. D. W. Scott, Thomas Lansing and John McNary were judges, and S. W. Hall and Christopher Vandeventer, clerks.
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
SETTLERS PREVIOUS TO 1840
The following is a list of actual settlers who located in Liberty Town- ship previous to 1840, many of the names having already appeared : Crystal D. W. Scott, Greenup Scott, Jonathan Sluyter, Thomas Mackin, Lewis Elston, Abraham Lowther, Abram Sneathen, James Hughes, John Parker, Moses Karr, William Conwell, Christopher Vandeventer, Joseph Smith, John McDowell, Benjamin Grant, Andrew Beauchamp, James W. Hall, Thomas Hamilton, James Baum, Evan Thomas, William Davison, Elijah Sneathen, James G. Brown, William Carey, John McNary, John McDonald, John Morris, Thomas Lansing, William Fisher, Jacob Funk, Joseph James, George Baum, Robison Grewell, Henry Hanawalt, David Cress, Robert Scott, William Greathouse, John S. Hughes, Thomas Wiley, John Cobler, Samuel Simmons, William Ross, James W. Mc- Entyre, Daniel Baum, Perry A. Bayard, William Fleming, James B. Cahill, James Sampson, Samuel Benson, Jacob Cornell, Jonathan Baker, James Crose, Samuel Funk, John Mikesell, David Bolinger, John Bell, George Snyder, Rodney M. Miller, Jabez B. Berry, Charles Wright, Matthew Hopper, David and Ransom McConnahay and William and James Hickman.
UNUSUAL PROGRESS IN 1840-50
With the Pottawattamies fairly out of the country and the lifting of the financial clouds which for a number of years had obscured the fair prospects of the Middle West, immigration to Liberty Township took a decided forward move, in common with most of the other sec- tions of the county. In 1840 the population of the county was 1,832; in 1850, 4,771-a larger percentage of increase than has ever occurred during one decade.
PIONEERS SELL IMPROVED LANDS
Many of those who arrived during that progressive period pur- chased land which had been partially improved by the pioneers, and as a rule they bought to advantage. With much Government land still accessible at $1.25 an acre, it was difficult for the pioneer farmers to refuse $6 or $8 per acre. True, it had cost them several years of labor in fencing, clearing and building, but with the money received from the later comers they figured that they could still purchase Government lands and have a neat sum in bank. On the other hand, the second generation, or incursion of farmers, were generally family men, with boys and girls of mature and helpful ages, some of them ready to assume their posts in the community as founders of households. In such cases it seemed the wiser part to obtain holdings which were already more or less productive.
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
NON-RESIDENT PURCHASERS
When those who sold their farms at the advanced price attempted to purchase at the Government figures they often found that most of the choicest pieces remaining were owned by non-residents, who were holding them for a rise. Thus it was that not a few of the earlier set- tlers suffered eventually because they chose the immediate profits. But although a considerable body of the Government land passed into the hands of foreigners, as a rule Liberty Township suffered less from the manipulations of speculators than some of the other districts of the county. As much of the land held by non-residents was unfenced, also, the home farmers used it as pasturage for their live stock, and, in view of that fact, an advantage accrued to the actual settlers.
In the '70s, when the drainage of the swamp lands commenced in earnest, the situation was reversed and the stockmen, and even owners of timber farms, often objected that the construction of certain ditches, for which they were assessed, was more to the benefit of the speculators than the resident farmers. The contentions over the building of the Kean's Creek ditch, in the southern part of the township, were of the most acrimonious nature, and caused much fruitless litigation and hard feeling. It happened, too, that nearly all the members of the drainage company had lands along the line of the proposed ditch, which were assessed accordingly.
KEAN'S CREEK SWAMP LANDS
The headwaters of Kean's Creek were in a pond half a mile in width and from four to six feet deep just beyond the east line of the township and within Cass. Thence the stream flowed westward, in an irregular course, and emptied into the Tippecanoe River in section 9. The work of the Kean's Creek Draining Company, organized under the state act, consisted in widening, deepening and straightening the channel of the creek for a distance of two miles, and thereby a large tract of land was reclaimed. Thus, in the face of much opposition, was inaugurated a movement which has brought into the market for the benefit of resident farmers many valuable tracts of land.
THE BUILDING OF GOOD ROADS
Liberty Township is not among the wealthiest districts in the county, but in consideration of its means it has accomplished much both in the matters of draining its swamp lands and constructing gravel roads within its limits. In the prosecution of the latter work it has incurred a bonded indebtedness of nearly $16,000, divided as follows: Bible road, $3,300 ; Hoch, $3,600; J. T. Moore, $2,400; Holmes, $2,210; Cran- mer, $4,440. Total, $15,950.
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THE SLUYTER SCHOOLHOUSES
In the old rough days, when Liberty Township included so much of northeastern White County, the people were just as busy in proportion to their numbers as they are today, in the very human occupations of teaching and learning, preaching and listening, marrying and giving in marriage, being born and dying. In the summer of 1837 Jonathan W. Sluyter, one of the expert axmen of the township, got out the logs for the first schoolhouse built in the township. It stood in the east half of section 15, on his land about three-quarters of a mile south of the Tippe- canoe. He did not stop to hew the timber, as half a dozen children were impatiently ( ?) awaiting its opening. The cabin was 15 feet square, and David McConnahay is said to have thrown it open to the neighborhood, and in came the Funks, Conwells, Halls, Sluyters, Louders, and perhaps some other children whose names have not come down in history.
When George Hall succeeded McConnahay, a little later, the attend- ance had reached fifteen pupils. In 1838 John C. V. Shields taught a term in the log schoolhouse, and Lester Smith succeeded him.
In 1840 Mr. Sluyter built a second schoolhouse near the first, hewing the logs and otherwise improving upon his former work, and about five years afterward a still better building was erected further south in section 22.
RELIGION AT THE SCOTT SETTLEMENT
The means for religious instruction came hand-in-hand with those provided for the training of the mind. The first denomination to or- ganize a class in the township was the New Light, which commenced its meetings in the cabin of Crystal D. W. Scott in 1837. Rev. John Scott, a circuit rider, held services there and elsewhere for two years. In 1839 a church was built in the new Scott settlement, northeastern part of the township ; it was constructed of round black oak logs and was 25 feet square. Rev. Abram Sneathen, founder of the church, min- istered to it spiritually, and the following were among its first members : Crystal D. W. Scott and wife, Greenup Scott and wife, Jonathan W. Sluyter and wife, and Mrs. Gruell and daughter, Sarah. The church was maintained, for a time with increasing attendance, during a period of about ten years.
FIRST MARRIAGE AND FIRST DEATH
Marriageable girls and women did not have long to wait in those days, the demand far exceeding the supply. The marriage of Mrs. Gruell's daughter, Sarah, to Elijah Sneathen, in the spring of 1839, caused therefore no surprise in the Scott settlement. This was the first wedding in the township. It is not known who performed the cere- mony, as James W. Hall, who had been elected justice of the peace the year before, died shortly before the wedding. He would have been the
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