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 34
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ISAAC S. VINSON AND WIFE
How long the bachelors Hudson and Dyer remained on the ground is not divulged by any accessible records, but it is known that Isaac S. Vinson, who had brought his wife and two children to Union Township from Ohio, about the time that they built their cabins on the banks of Big Creek, appeared in that locality in the spring of 1838 and bought the Hudson land, with improvement-if the shack could be thus dignified. But it was a family shelter and a protection against wild beasts. The Pottawatamies had an encampment just across Big Creek, but they were friendly and, at times, of actual use.
From all the accounts which filter down, Mrs. Vinson's bartering with the dusky brothers was largely in her favor, such exchanges as the saddles, or hindquarters of a deer, for two cold corn cakes, or a number
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of saddles for a loaf of bread, being nothing out of the ordinary. In those days deer and game birds were especially plentiful, and one winter the lady of the house made a trap and caught 101 prairie chickens.
The Vinsons remained on their homestead on Big Creek for a number of years, during which Mr. Vinson bought land in section 12, and in 1855 moved to the new town of Reynolds in Honey Creek Township, where the man of the house established himself in business and as a hotel keeper. Mr. and Mrs. Vinson raised a large family. The father died in August, 1883, at the Indiana Hospital for the Insane, Indian- apolis, where he had passed a number of years laboring under religious mania. His remains were brought to Monticello and buried from the residence of one of his sons.
FIRST LAND ENTRY
The first entry of land in the township was made by John T. Bunnell, June 18, 1834, his tract being in section 15, as were the lots of Hudson and Dyer. But there is no evidence that Bunnell ever made any im- provements on his land, or participated in township affairs.
SICKNESS DROVE AWAY THE PRICES
Soon after the arrival of the Vinson family, however, John Price and his wife came into the township, but the latter was taken ill and the couple returned to their Ohio home. Mr. Price appeared on his claim soon afterward alone, but was stricken with inflammatory rheu- matism, and for three months lay in almost a helpless condition at the Vinson house. During the following spring he sold his property and left the township permanently.
LAND ENTRIES OF 1835
From the Tract Book it appears that in 1835 the following made land entries in West Point Township: Andrew Brown, in section 11; John Lewis, in section 12, and Armstrong Buchanan, in section 14.
WOULD RATHER HUNT THAN EAT
The next person to settle in the township after Shelby Hudson and Oscar Dyer was Isaac Beezy, a noted hunter, who came in 1837. But he was of the uneasy, erratic kind, and his stay was short. It is said that his desire for hunting was so keen that he would go for days without eating; as many as twenty unskinned deer are known to have been in his smoke-house, frozen stiff, and the gaunt Beezy still hunting more. The hunter never made much improvement on his land, soon left the township and settled in Pulaski County, where he was killed by an ex-convict.
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THE VAN VOORSTS AND THEIR FRAME HOUSES
In 1841, John and Sylvanus Van Voorst came from Ohio and pur- chased large tracts of canal lands in sections 14 and 22, probably 300 acres. John also bought 160 acres in section 10. They brought their houses with them, procuring the frames in Toledo, which they shipped, with other necessary material, by way of the Wabash and Erie Canal, to Delphi and thence by wagon, twenty-five miles, to West Point Township. The house of John Van Voorst was a large two-story frame and was placed on a high knoll in the prairie near the point of timber which gave the township its name. Its site, as well as its size, made it by far the most imposing house in the township.
Abram Van Voorst, who died at the Monticello home of his son, Henry, in 1899, did not locate in section 12 on the border of Big Creek Township, until 1849. Most of his life in White County was spent as a resident of Reynolds.
DOCTOR HALSTEAD BUYS LAND
In 1841 and 1845 Dr. John Halstead, the first physician in the town- ship, entered considerable canal land in sections 2 and 4, in the north- eastern part, and is said to have actually located for practice and speculation in 1844. He came with his brother, Bartlett Halstead.
WILLIAM JORDAN LOCATES
About the same time William Jordan, a resident of Tippecanoe County, moved into the township, settling on his entry in section 35, southwestern portion, which he had taken up in 1842. He afterward purchased the bulk of the 480 acres of canal lands in section 36, but fixed his homestead on the tract in section 35, which comprised the large and beautiful grove bearing his name. Within the eighteen square miles comprising the east half of congressional township 26, range 6, and the west third of West Point Township, the Jordan family represented, for many years, its sole residents.
OTHER ENTRIES IN 1836-45
Besides those already mentioned, the following entered land in the sections designated, previous to and including the year of the formation of the political township in 1845: In 1836-Thomas H. Brown, in sec- tion 1, township 26 north, range 5 west, and in section 12 of the same; Andrew Brown, in sections 12 and 13, and Thomas Price, in section 15; in 1839-Joshua H. Scarff, in section 1, and George McGaughey, in sec- tion 11; in 1841-Jesse T. Vinson and Jacob Nyce, in section 1; John Halstead, in section 21, and William J. Galford, in section 13; Mary Halstead, in 1844, and John Halstead, in 1845, both in section 4.
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TOWNSHIP VOTERS
At the June term of the Commissioners' Court, in 1845, it was ordered by that body that all of congressional township 26 north, range 5 west, and all west of that to the county line, should comprise the political township of West Point. In the preceding year a log schoolhouse had been built, 18 by 24 feet, and this was designated as the place for holding elections. At the first election, held in the following August, the fourteen citizens of the township who turned out to exercise their rights of the elective franchise were Ira Emery, Sylvanus Van Voorst, Alexander Page, Jesse Tinnison, William Vodyce, Isaac Beezy, William Jordan, John Halstead, Barney Spencer, Gideon Brecount and Isaac S. Vinson, several of whom will be recognized as acquaintances.
THE VAN VOORST FRAME SCHOOLHOUSES
Several years after the building of the old West Point schoolhouse, Abram Van Voorst erected two frame buildings for educational purposes, one on section 7 and the other on section 15. As there were no sawmills in the township, he hauled the material for their construction from Delphi. Each of these frame schoolhouses was 20 by 24 feet, cost $500 and was considered quite a demonstration of township enterprise. All the Van Voorsts were promoters of frame buildings, and induced quite a number of the early settlers to enter the ranks of progress in that regard.
CHURCHES OF THE TOWNSHIP
The religious needs of the pioneers were met almost immediately by such old and faithful circuit riders as Rev. Mr. Lee, of the Methodist Church, who preached quite often at the old Vinson house and other cabins before the organization of a regular class in 1844. In that year a little log church was erected on section 2, range 5. Later the United Brethren held services in Schoolhouse No. 2, and the Presbyterians and other denominations have organized societies with varying success.
ANDERSON IRION AND DAVID DELLINGER
In 1853 Capt. Anderson Irion and David Dellinger became settlers of the township. The former, who had received his title because he had organized a company for the Mexican war while residing in Fayette county, Ohio, located in West Point Township about seven miles south- east of Wolcott, and became quite prominent in county affairs, serving as commissioner and in other public capacities. Several of Captain Irion's sons also became prosperous farmers and leading citizens.
David Dellinger also came from Ohio and bought a large farm in the northern part of the township, seven miles southwest of Reynolds. Both he and Captain Irion made a specialty of raising live stock.
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LAND ENTRIES, 1847-51
Probably at the time (1853) these two well known residents settled in West Point Township its entire fifty-four square miles could not show twenty-five families. Many of those who came during the period previous to the early '50s were single young men, some of them speculat- ing and others prospecting for future homes. Those who entered lands from 1845 to 1852 were as follows: In 1847-John Nyce, Sarah Adams, Samuel P. Edmonson, Sarah J. Halstead and Walter McFarland, in section 4, and Isaac S. Vinson, in section 12; in 1848-Isaac M. Cantwell, in section 9, and Nicholas Van Pelt and Samuel McFeer, in section 10; in 1849-John Herron, in section 2; Drury Wood, in section 5; Grant Wynkoop and James Wynkoop, in sections 6 and 7; Peter B. Kennedy, in section 7; Henry Britton, in section 12, and Marquia Higson, in section 22 ; Eli Meyers, in section 12, in 1850; in 1851-James Stroud, in section 6, and Daniel Davis, in section 23.
PARMELEE'S MEADOW LAKE FARM -
It is estimated that of the fifty-four square miles comprising the area of the township fully forty were purchased by non-residents, mostly as military, canal and swamp lands. That fact usually was a great draw- back to actual settlement and improvements, although there was one noteworthy exception to the rule. As late as 1879 Frank Parmelee, the widely known 'bus man and storage-house proprietor of Chicago, pur- chased what was known as the Meadow Lake Farm, a fine stretch of 1,700 acres in the northern part of the township, 31/2 miles south of Wolcott. Within the following two years he erected a handsome resi- dence and magnificent farm buildings, and founded one of the finest live stock farms in the state. His specialty was Hereford cattle. But the Parmelee case was, as stated, a grand exception.
With the drainage of the swamp lands, the fair assessment of the benefited properties, the subdivisions of large tracts held for purely speculative purposes and the construction of adequate highways, the residents of West Point Township have long been comfortable and con- tented citizens.
CHAPTER XXII
ROUND GROVE TOWNSHIP
SLIM TIMBER AND ROUND GROVE-FIRST SETTLER, TRUMAN ROLLINS- EARLY LAND ENTRIES-THE STOCKTON PURCHASES-BECAME LAND OWNERS IN 1850-53-CARVED OUT OF OLD PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP-ELEC- TIONS AND VOTERS-VARIOUS PIONEER MATTERS-FORMER POSTOFFICES -PROGRESS IN THE TOWNSHIP.
Round Grove Township comprises the thirty-six square miles in the southwest corner of White County, and is described by the surveyors as the west half of congressional township 25 north, range 5 west, and the east half of congressional township 25 north, range 6 west.
SLIM TIMBER AND ROUND GROVE
Round Grove was the western part of the original Prairie Township, created in 1834, and remained attached to it until it assumed a separate political body in 1858. It is in the eastern borders of the Great Prairie and has only two pronounced tracts of timber within its limits; the narrow strip near the north line is appropriately called Slim Timber, and the considerable wooded area known as Round Grove (from which the township is named) lies in the southeastern portion, mostly in section 29.
The first settlements were made in the northwestern and the south- eastern sections of the township, and most of the logs for the pioneer cabins in those localities came from Round Grove, which covered an area of some fifty acres. Although it is a matter of record that Charles L. Stockton entered the land in section 29, which virtually embraces the famous grove, in 1836, he did not take up his residence in the township until years afterward.
FIRST SETTLER, TRUMAN ROLLINS
Truman Rollins, pronounced to be the first who came to reside perma- nently, was a farmer of Tippecanoe County and did not arrive on the wild prairie of section 11, in what is now the northwestern portion of the township, until the spring of 1850. It did not take Rollins long to cut enough logs from Round Grove for his cabin of 16 by 18 feet. As it stood in the open prairie, it was the only building in what is now Round Grove Township, and there was none other for miles around. Besides the tract upon which he built, Mr. Rollins had entered lands in section
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10, during 1846, and in section 15, 1848, and he subsequently bought various pieces of swamp land in section 14. He was, therefore, the leading land owner in the northwestern sections.
Jeremiah Stanly, a son-in-law of Rollins, also ventured into the town- ship, in the spring of 1850, and for a short time shared the solitary cabin. A little later he erected a house of his own, within calling distance of his father-in-law. Before the end of the year Thomas Rollins. also appeared on the scene and shared the pioneer cabin with its builder.
EARLY LAND ENTRIES
The first entry recorded for what is the present Round Grove Town- ship is that of John White, who filed his claim on certain lands in section 22, township 25, range 6, near the western county line, in February, 1835. The second is that already briefly noted, of Charles L. Stockton, in section 29, township 25, range 5. Then, in April, 1846, comes the Rollins entry in section 10. In 1847 the following entered lands in township 25, range 5: John Rowland, in section 19; Newberry Stock- ton, in section 20; James S. Chilton, in section 29.
The following purchases of Government land were made in township 25, range 6: In 1848-Patrick H. Weaver, in sections 10 and 11; Tru- man Rollins, in section 15, and E. C. Buskirk, in section 22; in 1849- James Carson, in section 10, and Martin Bishop, in sections 10 and 11. These tracts were in the western and northwestern sections of the township.
THE STOCKTON PURCHASES
In 1850, about the time that Truman Rollins was actually making settlement and taking up lands in the northwestern portion of the town- ship, both Charles L. and Newberry Stockton were about to enter exten- sive tracts of land in sections 30, 31 and 32, south and west of Round Grove. In section 30 alone they purchased 160 acres of canal lands. Their descendants still own large farming tracts in that portion of the township.
BECAME LAND OWNERS IN 1850-53
Other entries in 1850 were by Cornelius Morris, in section 19, town- ship 25, range 5, and Patrick H. Weaver, in section 14; Jacob Weaver, in section 15, and Daniel Brawley, in section 22, township 25, range 6.
The following entered lands in 1851, in township 25, range 5: John Carroll, in section 7; Charles White, in section 8, and Jasper Vidito, in section 19. In township 25, range 6, these entries were made: Truman Rollins, in section 11; John Carroll, in section 12, and Austin Ward, in section 13.
In 1852 the following entered lands in township 25, range 5: All of section 4 purchased by Phineas M. Kent, and certain lots by Newberry
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Stockton in section 19. Martin Bishop purchased lands in section 14, and Michael Carroll, in section 12, township 25, range 6-also in 1852.
In 1853 Stewart Rariden and Samuel H. Buskirk became owners of land in section 18, township 25, range 5, and Austin Ward in section 13, township 25, range 6.
CARVED OUT OF OLD PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP
The board of county commissioners received a petition from a majority of the voters in the territory of White County west of the middle of range 5, congressional township 25, praying that they erect a new political township therefrom, and the prayer was granted soon after it was offered, in December, 1858. Austin Ward suggested that it be called Round Grove Township, and it was thus carved out of old Prairie Township; thereafter the voters in that part of the county were not obliged to go to Brookston when they wished to exercise their rights.
ELECTIONS AND VOTERS
The final touches to the new township were made on the 31st of December, when the board ordered that an election should be held at the Round Grove, or Stanly schoolhouse, which had been built near the center of the township during the previous year. It was a frame build- ing, 16 by 18 feet, and well worthy of such an honor. Austin Ward, the godfather of the township, was appointed inspector of elections, and he was on hand at the schoolhouse to see fair play at the appointed time -the first Monday in April, 1859.
At this first election in Round Grove Township, Stewart Rariden and John Rollins acted as judges of election and Samuel Ballintyne as clerk, and the following fifteen cast their ballots: John Larrabee, Robert McQueen, Roger Baker, John Apes, Stephen E. Baker, James Carrol, Thomas Rountene, Michael T. Buskirk, Granville Ward, Jeremiah Stanly, Stewart Rariden, John Rollins, Austin Ward, Samuel Ballintyne and Milton W. Weaver. The township officers elected were: Samuel Ballin- tyne, justice of the peace; Stewart Rariden, constable; Milton Weaver, trustee, and Joseph Harris, supervisor.
At the state election, held at the Round Grove schoolhouse on the second Tuesday in October, 1860, the number of voters was increased by ten, as will be proven by the list: William Beck, Thomas Rollins, Granville Ward, Isaiah Bice, Samuel Ballintyne, Stephen E. Baker, James Carrol, John Apes, Edward Steely, Robert N. Brink, James Mar- tin, L. B. Stockton, William H. Martin, Patrick Conner, Stewart Rariden, Jeremiah Stanly, John Demso, Nimrod Leister, M. W. Weaver, Robert McQueen, Austin Ward, Michael Buskirk, Samuel D. Barnes and L. W. Wolgamuth.
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VARIOUS PIONEER MATTERS
The first white child born in the township is supposed to have been Samuel Rariden, son of Stewart and Mary Jane Rariden; Nancy Buskirk was born at about the same time.
The first person who died in Round Grove Township was Truman Rollins, whose remains were interred in a private burial ground in Tippecanoe County. It will be remembered that he was also the first settler.
The first persons married were Francis M. Mullendore and Jane Ward, who afterward became residents of Monticello.
Elizabeth Ballintyne was the first teacher, and she taught in the Stanly schoolhouse, or District School No. 1.
A Methodist class was organized about 1870, and among its members were Isaac Smith, Robert Smith, John Russell, George Mitchner and Thomas Guntrip, with their wives.
FORMER POSTOFFICES
There has been two postoffices in Round Grove Township-one at Round Grove, established in 1879, and the other at Dern, established in 1881. The first postmaster at the latter was Dr. A. Jackson Dern, the only physician of the township for some time.
PROGRESS IN THE TOWNSHIP
These postoffices have been absorbed for some years by the rural free delivery, which is such a convenience, not to call it a blessing to such farming communities as compose the population and assure the prosperity of Round Grove Township. It has now little undrained land, and as the soil is rich and well cultivated the district stands well as a constant producer of good crops of corn, oats and hay. Its citizens have also been faithful, to the extent of their means, in the construction of sub- stantial gravel roads. In the prosecution of that work the various highways have incurred the following debts: Hewitt, $2,380; Parks, $7,200; Demerle, $5,920; Eller, $6,560; Krapff, $5,400. Total, $27,460.
Courtesy of Monticello Herald
FROM COURTHOUSE TOWER LOOKING SOUTH
--
Courtesy of Monticello Herald
FROM COURTHOUSE LOOKING NORTH
CHAPTER XXIII
FOUNDING OF MONTICELLO
ENTRIES COVERING ORIGINAL TOWN-FIRST BUILDINGS AND PIONEER MERCHANT-CIRCUIT RIDER ON THE RAW GROUND-CARRYING THE GOSPEL UNDER DIFFICULTIES-BAPTISTS AND METHODISTS ORGANIZE- THE BUSY YEAR, 1836-YOUNG TOWN CONSIDERABLY SOAKED- BUSINESS DIRECTORY FOR 1836-FERRY ESTABLISHED-SMITH, HIORTH AND THE KENDALLS-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LOCAL PRESS-FIRST WATER POWER AND MILLS-WOOL CENTER AND WOOLEN MANUFAC- TURES-THE TIPPECANOE HYDRAULIC COMPANY-N. B. LOUGHRY AND SONS-BECOMES A RAILROAD TOWN-MONTICELLO IN 1852-VILLAGE GOVERNMENT ABANDONED-WALKER, JENNER AND REYNOLDS' ADDI- TION-BARR'S ADDITION-BOOM NOT IN EVIDENCE-THIRD ADDITION -CIVIL WAR OVERSHADOWS ALL-FOURTH AND FIFTH ADDITIONS- GEORGE W. EWING A SITE OWNER-SECOND AND MORE STABLE COR- PORATION.
A general picture of the founding of Monticello must have been formed in the reader's mind if he has perused the chapters devoted to the county government and the history of Union Township. The purpose of the chapters which follow is to develop the details in connection with the establishment and progress of the urban centers of population throughout the county, which are led by its substantial and beautiful official seat and metropolis, Monticello.
ENTRIES COVERING ORIGINAL TOWN
When the county seat was laid out by John Barr, county agent, on the third of November, 1834, its site embraced the following entries of land at Crawfordsville and LaPorte: Eighty acres by Peter Price, being the west half of the southwest quarter, section 33, township 27 north, range 3 west, on the 13th of June; George Bartley, same date, east half of the southwest quarter, and on June 7, 1833, 78.68 acres, the south fraction of the southeast quarter; Robert Rothrock (in behalf of John Barr, Hans E. Hiorth and John Rothrock), 59.17 acres, being the south half of the northeast quarter, and 51.05 acres, being the north half of the southeast quarter, on September 6, 1834, and Zebulon Sheetz, 36.36 acres, being the east fraction of the section (33) east of the river, on the 1st of November, 1834.
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
FIRST BUILDINGS AND PIONEER MERCHANT
In the following spring the county office was erected on the courthouse square. It was a little wooden building for the clerk, auditor and recorder, all combined in the person of William Sill. About the same time Henry Orwig, late of Delphi, who had bought a lot at the sale of the preceding November, completed his house and store under one small roof at the southwest corner of Broadway and Bluff streets, and in May, 1835, commenced to sell from his $500 stock of miscellanies. Public and private business started simultaneously. Orwig might have been ar- rested, as he had no license to sell, but the people winked at the legal irregularity, as they were only too glad to be accommodated even to the extent of his small ability. After several months of experiment, however, Monticello's first merchant made up his mind to stay and he therefore obtained his license in the fall of 1835. Samuel Heckendorn opened the first furniture shop in Monticello. Jonathan Harbolt was the first under- taker. He would be called a funeral director.
CIRCUIT RIDER ON THE RAW GROUND
Robert Rothrock was authority for the statement that the first sermon preached in Monticello was about the time the town was laid out, in the fall of 1834, and that a circuit rider named Stalker was the worthy man who thus inaugurated religious training at the county seat. Thereafter, he appeared at the settlement monthly until February, 1836, when a small class was formally organized. Its members were Zebulon Sheetz, wife, mother and son; John Reese, wife, mother and two sisters; Okey S. Johnson, wife and sister; Lewis Dawson; Bethsheba Cowan and her three daughters; Jonathan Harbolt and wife, and Asa Allen and wife. The class met quite regularly at the cabin of John Wilson just west of town, that gentleman having joined soon after its formation.
Soon afterward, the church-goers commenced to split up into denom- inational societies, the completion of the schoolhouse furnishing them with a regular meeting place.
CARRYING THE GOSPEL UNDER DIFFICULTIES
Milton M. Sill claims that the first resident minister of an organized church in White County was Alexander Williamson, of the Presbyterian faith. He located in Monticello and delivered sermons in all parts of the county, at the homesteads of members of his flock who lived too far away from town to attend the regular morning services and would per- haps be compelled to deny themselves this comfort unless the preacher should go to their homes. Thus it happened that the minister, after delivering his morning discourse at Monticello, would travel ten or fifteen miles in the afternoon and deliver a second one at night. In pleasant weather this was not a severe hardship, but with the coming of storms and almost impassable roads, the preacher was placed in the
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same class as the country doctor. But Mr. Williamson was very diligent and faithful in his work, and never disappointed his country parishioners if it was possible to carry the gospel to them. His outside meetings were generally held at the house of Zebulon Sheetz, on the east side of the river, until the completion of the schoolhouse at Monticello in 1836.
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