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 5
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Temple of Honor, 383
Temple, S. R., 336
Temple, Mrs. S. R., 338
Territorial legislation, 120
Territory of Indiana, first legislature of, 16 Terwillager, Matthew, 91
Test, Charles H., 148
Tevebaugh, Jacob, 86
Tevis, Charles, 557
Thacker, Edward N., 174
The Junior, 166
The National, 166 Thichart, John, 219
Thomas, E. B., 373
Thomas, Evan, 265, 266
Thomas, Isaac, 215
Thomas, Jacob, 293
Thomas, James, 355
Thomas, James H., 776
Thomas, J. E., 374 Thomas, J. H., 154, 250
Thomas, W. C., 373
Thompson, Benton, 504
Thompson, Henry C., 117, 133, 972
Thompson, Joseph, 69, 91, 230
Thompson, Joseph H., 61, 215, 233, 238, 249 Thompson, J. N., 374
Thompson, Mary, 238
Thompson, Samuel W., 869
Thompson, Sarah, 338 Thompson, Sarah R., 870
Thompson, Smallwood, 424
Thompson, Thomas M., 96 Thompson, T. M., 382, 384 Thorne, R. W., 354, 366 Thornton, Matthias M., 209 Tilden, Benjamin F., 160 Tilton, Daniel, 297
xl
INDEX
Tilton, Daniel J., 503
Tilton, Daniel M., 199, 201, 246, 293, 503
Tilton, D. M., 382 Tilton, Rebecca J., 255 Tilton, Richard, 202 Tilton, Richard J., 247, 255
Timber, 34 Times, 173 Timmonds, William, 274
Timmons, Charles, 700
Timmons, Jacob D., 274, 328
Timmons, J. D., 327
Timmons, John E., 698
Timmons, Mrs. John E., 274
Timmons, John G., 945
Timmons, Milton, 700
Timmons, Rebecca J., 369
Timmons, William F., 369
Tinnison, Jesse, 282
Tioga Dam (view), 88
Tippecanoe, battle of, 26
Tippecanoe Electric and Power pany, 324
Com-
Tippecanoe, first record of, 9
Tippecanoe Hydraulic Company, 296
Tippecanoe River, 35, 49, 64
Tippecanoe River, East of the Public Library (view), 301
Tippecanoe Street, North from Public Library (view), 301
Tippecanoe Thread Mills, 325
Tipton, John, 22
Todd, John, 85
Tolen, Thomas, 882
Torpy, James, 250
Town commissioned high schools, 131; Monon, 345; Wolcott, 352; Brookston, 359; Idaville, 368; Burnettsville, 374 Townships, subdivisions of, 45
Township surveys, 44
Township trustees, 121
Townsley, George T., 729
Townsley, James M., 368
Townsley, John B., 230, 366, 368, 369
Townsley, Thomas, 272, 275
Tracey, William, 156
Trail Creek, 46
Trees, willows, 37; red cedar, 37 Tribal title to lands, last, 31
Tri-County Farmers' Association Fair, 143
Trontle, Lucas, 221
Trook, Andrew, 162
Trowbridge, W. V., 156
Troxell, John A., 221
Truesdale, D. C., 362
Tucker, Leven, 247, 890
Tucker, William, 891
Turner, J. M., 339
Turner, John M., 321, 328
Turner, Joseph F., 190
Turner, William, 247, 399, 504
Turnipseed, William, 1004
Turpie, D., 178
Turpie, David, 92, 99, 297, 340, 417
Turpie, Emma J., 343
Turpie, James, 251 Turpie, J. H., 172
Turpie, Judge, 178
Turpin, Francois, 86
Typical Pioneer Farm (view), 150
Uhl, George, 221 Uhl, Stewart C., 803 Uhl, William E., 164, 651 Union Township, 64; general features, 191; soil and products, 192; settled before the township was organized, 193; land entries in 1831-34, 194; first township officers, 200; settlers in 1835, 201; land entries, 201; busy land year, 1836, 201; construction of good roads, 202; appraisement of for 1915, 425
United Presbyterian Church of Idaville, 370
Universalist Church, 362
University Extension Club, 317, 341
Unthank, A. J., 348, 366
Up the River from the Monon Bridge, Tioga (view), 326
Vadney, Alexander, 86
Van Alstine, George W., 328, 544
Vanaman, Daniel, 273
Vanaman, Elias, 273
Vanatta, John C., 359, 377, 917
Van Blaricum, David, 272
Van Buskirk, Jay B., 583
Van Buskirk, J. B., 153, 157, 166, 173
Van Buskirk, Z., 304
Van Buskirk, Zachariah, 72, 230, 295
Van Cleave, W. H., 348, 354
Vanderburgh, Henry, 85
Vandervolgen, Cornelius, 253, 254
Vandeventer, Christopher, 128, 265, 266 Van Landingham, J. A., 307
Van Pelt, Nicholas, 283
Van Scoy, Thomas, 172
Vanscoy, William, 239, 298
Van Voorst, Abram, 250, 281, 377, 505
Van Voorst, Bert, 327
Van Voorst, Charles, 875
Van Voorst, Delia, 940
Van Voorst, Ellen, 338
Van Voorst, Henry, 327, 391, 641
Van Voorst, James S., 843
Van Voorst, John, 281
Van Voorst, Sarah, 421
Van Voorst, Sylvanus, 270, 281, 282, 421
Van Voorst frame schoolhouses, 282 Van Winkle, W. P., 336 Varnum, James M., 85
Versailles, 9
Veslong, Henry, 250
Vessels, W. G., 334 Vidito, Jasper, 285
View from the Monticello Stand Pipe, 321
View of the Tippecanoe, with Tioga Bridges in the Distance, 292
Views in and about Monticello, 301
Views of Old Courthouses, 68
Vigus, Carter L., 179
Vincennes, 12, 15
Vincennes and Kaskaskia, Clark 's cap- ture of, 14
Vincennes became possession of the United States, 14 Vincennes or the Old Post established in 1727, 12 Vincennes, Sieur de, 12 Vinnage, John D., 226, 227
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INDEX
Vinnedge, John, 224 Vinson, Isaac S., 201, 250, 279, 282, 283, 382, 505
Vinson, James V., 340, 341
Vinson, Jesse T., 281
Vinson, Samuel R., 399
Vinton, David P., 417
Vinyard, Charles W., 908
Virden, A. M., 347
Virden, Louisa, 940
Virden, Samuel, 505
Virden, Silas M., 505
Vodyce, William, 282
Vogel, Bernard A., 323
Vogel, Joseph M., 853
Vogel, Michael, 376, 378, 506
Volger, Nathaniel B., 254 Vreedenburg, Hachaliah, 333, 334
Wabash and Erie Canal, 44, 220
Wagner, Nicholas, 865
Wagner, William D., 377
Wagner, William T., 359, 901
Walker, Everett A., 174
Walker, G. S., 183
Walker, Jacob, 299, 320
Wallace, David, 32 .
Wallace, James, 178, 184, 304, 361
Wallace, John H., 340
Wallace, John M., 106
Walter, William, 91, 217
Walts, Wilbur, 174
Walts, Wilbur A., 174
Wampler, John, 297 Wampler, J. M., 332
War of 1812, 176 Ward, Alfred, 132
Ward, Austin, 285, 286
Ward, Charles G., 1031
Ward, Granville, 286, 406
Ward, Granville B., 506
Ward, Jewell F., 635
Ward, John R., 189
Ward, Philip. J., 507
Ward, Samuel M., 507, 1030
Ward, Thomas B., 225
Ward, W. A., 117 Warden, Bucklin, 507
Warden, Elisha, 425, 983
Warden, Elisha, Sr., 425
Warden, Nimrod, 238, 263 Warden, William, 238, 263
Warfel, Abram, 508 Warner, G. W., 374
Washburn, E. P., 156
Washburn, George D., 508
Washburn, George W., 322 Washington Street Bridge (view), 88 Wason, Jamies P., 109 Water Courses, 1 Water Power and Mills, 295 Water Travel, 49 Water Works, Monticello (view), 318
Watkins, Benjamin, 417 Watson, Charles M., 219 Watson, Jesse L., 59, 60, 61, 214, 219, 508, 947 Watson, Lewis, 61, 219 Watson, Oscar, 1015 Watson, William, 217 Watson, William H., 781 Wattles, W. D., 167
Weaver, Jacob, 285
Weaver, Milton W., 286, 859
Weaver, Patrick, H., 285
Weaver, William G., 190
Webb, Thomas E., 334
Webster, B., 374 Wednesday Reading Club, 341 Weeks, William, 199
Weise, A., 250
Weise, William, 1024
Welch, John, 508
Welling, P., 378
Wells, C. E., 374
Wells, H. H., 361
Werner, Rudolph, 808
West Bedford, 207
Westfall, William F., 942
Westphal, August W., 701 West Point School and Town Hall, 125
West Point Township, natural features, 278; neighboring market towns, 279; road building, 279; first settlers and land owners, 279; first land entry, 280; land entries of 1835, 280; entries in 1836-45, 281; churches, 282; voters, 282; land entries 1847-51, 283; ap- praisement of for 1915, 425
Wheeler, 243
Wheeler, Clyde C., 762
Wheeler, Lewis E., 340
White, Albert S., 92, 143, 234; Turpie's sketches of, 93
White, Charles, 285
White County-Lands classified, 43; early surveys, 46; government, 59; while a part of Carroll, 59; first officers, 60; act creating county, 61; changes in territory, 63; first county officers, 64; first county board meeting, 64; di- vided into townships, 64; population in 1850, 71; population, 1890-1910, 81; growth by decades, 80; finances, 83; organization, 90; early conditions in, 121; first schoolhouse in, 122; school system, present status of, 135; news- papers, 157; newspapers, general progress of, 175; county in military matters, 176; sheep country, 295; first temperance society, 381; voted dry in October, 1915, 393; Circuit Court, first judgment of, 405; county in 1847-48, 412; first marriage in, 414; first ditch case tried in, 416; County's Early Offi- ciary, a lady's recollections of, 420; appraisement of for 1915, 425 White County Asylum (view), 79
White County Banner, The, 170
White County Board of Education, rules and regulations, 134 White County Citizen, 169
White County Democrat, 163 White County Historical Society, 317; charter members, 153
White County Jacksonian, 162
White County Loan, Trust and Savings Company, 328
White County Medical Society, 154
White County Register, 160 White County Republican, 168 White County Temperance Society, 382 White, Frank J., 582 White, F. J., 328
xlii
INDEX
White, George F., 19
White, George W. L., 22
White, Isaac, 18, 19, 62
White, John, 285 White, Jonathan, 255
White, Nathaniel, 247, 250, 293
White, William, 250
Whitman, S. T., 339
Wickersham, Eliza, 508
Wickersham, Job, 309, 340
Wickersham, R. B., 340
Wickersham, Thomas, 340
Więkham, Thomas, 399 Wicklow, Peter, 201 Wiese, Emil G., 767
Wigmore, James S., 509
Wiley, Amos, 201, 263
Wiley, Ezekiel S., 226
Wiley, John, 274
Wiley, Mary, 274
Woltz, Thomas J., 340
Wolverton, George, 978
Wolverton, Phillip, 295
Women's Clubs, 341
Wood, Aaron, 250
Wood, Anson, 254
Wood, Drury, 283
Wood, Enoch, 334 .
Wood, G. G., 336
Wood, James R., 512
Wood, John A., 154
Wood, J. A., 307
Wood, Lula, 336
Wood, William, 61, 64, 69, 91, 217
Wood, W. H., 374
Wooden, Russell, 133
Woods, James K., 219, 399
Woods, William, 218, 997
Worden, Nathan S., 334
Work, A. G., 362.
Worthington, John, 512
Worthington, John E., 512
Worthington, Mary, 333
Worthington, Richard, 193, 195, 201, 233
Wright, Charles, 61, 214, 217, 266
Wright, David, 255
Wright, Edney, 60
Wright, John B., 633
Wright, John W., 92, 98
Wright, Joseph A., 96
Wright, Reuben M., 340
Wright, R. B., 348
Wright, Williamson, 92
Wynekoop, Lewis H., 831
Wirt, Will D., 511
Witenburg, Frederick, 377
Witherow, James, 247
Witz, Alvin, 324
Witz, Martin, 511
Wolcott, founder of, 261; waterworks, 349; founding of the town, 349; town platted, 350; coming of Anson Wol- cott, 350; first addition, 351; death of the founder, 351; interests, 351; various additions, 352; town commis- sioned high school, 352; Churches and Societies, 353; Masons, 354; I. O. O. F. Bodies, 355; Daughters of Re- bekah, 355; Other Lodges, 355; Modern Woodmen of America, 355; Knights of Pythias, 355; appraise- ment of for 1915, 425
Wolcott, Anson, 261, 350
Wolcott, Anson (portrait), 260
Wolcott Bank, 352
Wolcott Baptist Church, 354
Wolcott Chapter, No. 171, O. E. S., 355
Wolcott Christian Church, 353
Wolcott, E. G., 261
Wolcott, Eben H., 351, 936
Wolcott Enterprise, The, 174
Wolcott Lodge, No. 180, F. & A. M., 354
Wolcott Methodist Church, 353
Wolcott Town Commissioned High School (view), 353
Wolever, John E., 362
Wolf, Daniel, 60
Wolfe, Samuel, 511
Wolgamuth, L. W., 286
Woltz, George B., 199
Wiley, Thomas, 230, 266, 274, 371
Wiley, William, 225
Wilkens, I. M., 378
Wilkinson, B. O., 186
Williams, A. C., 749
Williams, B., 374
Williams, George, 250
Williams, James, 225
Williams, John W., 272
Williams, Thornton, 250, 509
Williamson, Alexander, 290, 331, 346 Wilmer, William, 332
Wilson, Isaac, 221
Wilson, James K., 61, 74, 208, 343, 510, 1019
Wilson, John, 61, 69, 195, 246, 331, 339, 382
Wilson, Joseph, 61, 205
Wilson, Joseph C., 308
Wilson, Maria, 331 Wilson, Mary E., 1020
Wilson, Reuben, 374
Wilson, Samuel, 892
Wilson, Samuel C., 92
Wilson, Thomas, 61, 64, 69, 91, 98, 195, 204, 205
Wilson, William, 61, 200, 205, 263, 347 Wilson, William D., 510
Wimer, John W., 510
Winegarner, Joseph, 226
Winkley, John M., 173
Winona Club, 317 Winter, J. A., 378
Wirt, Alvin H., 510
Wynekoop, William, 512
Wynkoop, Grant, 283
Wynkoop, James, 283
Wynkoop, William W., 255
Wyoming, 418
Yanney, Jacob, 274 York, Jephtha, 226
York, John, 226
York, Noble J., 209
York, William, 225, 230
York, William H., 678
Young, F. E., 133
Young, Jacob, 274
Young, John, 215, 218
Young, L. A., 341 Young, Samuel, 324
Young, Samuel A., 80
INDEX
xliii
Younger, Joseph V., 902 Younkman, David, 274 Yount, Alexander, 339 Yount, Daniel, 128, 272, 273 Yount, Elam, 274
Zarse, Minnie H., 885 Zarse, William, 885 Zecker, J., 396 Zumbuelte, M., 378
History of White County
CHAPTER I
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECULATIONS
MOUND BUILDERS CLUNG TO THE WATER COURSES-CHAIN OF PREHISTORIC FORTS - WAR AND DOMESTIC IMPLEMENTS - NATURE OF HABITS INFERRED FROM RELICS-SOMEWHAT COMMERCIAL-NO HIEROGLYPH- ICS OR EFFIGIES-CONCLUSION : "WE KNOW NOTHING"-PROBABLY A RACE OF SLAVES-PERHAPS THE MOST ANCIENT OF PEOPLES-WERE THEY FATHERS OF THE TOLTECS ?- A STAGGERING CYCLE-PER- CHANCE, THE GREATEST WONDER OF THE WORLD.
The instinct of the normal mind is to be active, whether the results of its exertions are of practical value or not. Man is proud of his mental nimbleness and especially delights in speculating as to his own origin and evolution. There is no subject which has given him such unfailing pleasure and which has been the source of a greater charm to young and old than the consideration of dead types of civilization which have left their faint finger-prints in architectural ruins, vast sepul- chres, fortresses of war, domestic utensils and skeletons of man and beast.
In the impressive remains of the prehistoric peoples of the central Americas the speculator reads the fact that in the very dim past the most advanced civilization of the western hemisphere was near or in the tropical zone, which, during that period, might have carried with it the present invigorating elements of the temperate clime. Whether that ancient American civilization originated in wanderers from the orient of the Old World, or was itself the father of what has been thus desig- nated with questionable authority, is a subject which has been turned through the mill of argument and logic in all its bearings since men commenced to use their eyes and minds in the New ( ?) World.
MOUND BUILDERS CLUNG TO THE WATER COURSES
In our United States of North America, the prehistoric races were evidently of a lower order than those of Mexico, Central and Northern South America. They left no great architectural ruins pointing to a decided advance in art, mechanics, and even astronomical science, but Vol. I-1
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2
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
rather rude earthworks and burial places, as of semicivilized people, who were warring among themselves, living as nomads and hunting and fish- ing along the valleys of the great waterways. The most striking, as well as the most general fact which applies to the Mound Builders of the United States, whose most favored haunts were the valleys of the Missis- sippi and the Ohio, was that they never wandered far from the Great Lakes or the Great Rivers. Therefore, in Indiana, their earthworks are more numerous in the southern part of the state than in the central or northern. In White County itself many of the smaller mounds have been found on the banks of the Monon, in its northern sections, espe- cially near the confluence of the Little and Big Monon.
CHAIN OF PREHISTORIC FORTS
As stated by Smith, in his History of Indiana, the mounds in the Hoosier State have been divided into three classes, designated as burial, temple and habitation mounds. It is evident that all the mounds were built by the same race, although in some of them the remains of a later race have been found buried. The mounds designated as forts have been traced from the southern part of New York diagonally across the country to the Wabash River, and another chain from the Ohio River, in Clark County, northward into Madison County; thence eastward to Central Ohio, and thence southward through Kentucky to Tennessee. It will thus be seen that the valley of the Wabash was a most important link in the chain of fortifications, which, as a whole, appear to have been erected in an effort to hold the great river valleys against some powerful enemy; in historic times, the French fortified the same routes against the English. Who were the warring nations in the times of the Mound Builders is beyond conjecture, but their undeveloped civ- ilization had disappeared long before the traditions of the red man commenced to filter into the racial literature of the western world.
WAR AND DOMESTIC IMPLEMENTS
In some of the Indiana mounds ashes and charred remains of animals and human bones have been found; in others, the graves contained human skeletons encased in stone sarcophagi, with various utensils and imple- ments of war and domestic use. The mortars were usually made of bowlders cut into bowl shape for grinding corn and seeds. There were stone axes of various shapes, and scrapers, peelers or fleshers. Arrows and spear heads, drills made of hard stone, knives of flint, flint saws, pipes artistically carved, crude hoes and spades and ornaments of colored stone abounded. The material used in the manufacture of pottery was a clay mixed with powdered shells, which thus formed a kind of cement of great tenacity and fire-resisting qualities. The specimens of pottery found in the mounds throughout Indiana are rude when compared with the work of civilized people in a similar line, and when you have named
3
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
cooking utensils, water vessels, cups and vases you have about completed the scope of their efforts.
NATURE OF HABITS INFERRED FROM RELICS
A study of such relics as these, in connection with the earthworks whose indistinct outlines could be traced until advancing industries and modern activities of all kinds leveled them, has led to various conclusions which are of ingenious and of speculative interest. Their methods of tilling the soil must necessarily have been of the most primitive char- acter, for their implements were very rude, usually chipped out of quartz. No bones of domestic animals have been found, and all the tillage of the soil must have been done by hand. But the mounds have yielded many implements of the chase and others evidently designed for the treatment of furs and skins, while the immense shell heaps that have been unearthed in some places point to the abundance of fish food in the lakes and rivers. As they were compelled to rely upon the chase, fishing and the limited cultivation of the soil for subsistence, they did not gather in large bodies or centers of population. One of the strongest evidences of their migratory character is that they had no general burial places.
Nearly all the burial mounds discovered show that they were the resting places of a very limited number of individuals. The few excep- tions only prove that occasionally a considerable number found such permanent abiding places that they could enjoy the historic satisfaction of burying their dead in companies.
It is evident from the discovered specimens of cloth that the Mound Builders of Indiana and the Ohio Valley were clad in what resembled hemp garments, spun with a uniform thread and woven with a warp. and woof. A shuttle has even been found. While this cloth was of coarse texture, it was often highly ornamented.
SOMEWIIAT COMMERCIAL
Archaeologists have concluded that the comparatively large number of copper implements present in the mounds of the Ohio Valley can be accounted for only upon the supposition that the Builders were in direct touch with the Lake Superior region. They were to some extent a commercial people, not only trading for Lake Superior copper, but for Georgia mica.
No HIEROGLYPHICS OR EFFIGIES
As noted, they were somewhat advanced in the manufacture and adornment of vessels for domestic use, but on none of them has been found a letter or symbol that would give a clew as to the language or origin of the Mound Builders. It has been the theme of much com- ment on the part of those who dispute the theory that the earthworks ..
4
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
known as Effigy mounds, were constructed in the form of animals; that such forms (corresponding to the Indian totems) were never repre- sented either as ornaments or structural designs in the various bowls, vases, water jugs, pitchers, drinking cups and sepulchral urns which have been unearthed in such numbers.
CONCLUSION : "WE KNOW NOTHING"
A fair example of the way in which American archaeologists have thrashed out the problem of the Mound Builders, with the final conclu- sion that they really know nothing more than when they commenced, is given in Smith's "History of Indiana" in the following words: "Noth- ing can be gathered of their burial customs. It is true that quite a number of skeletons have been found, but their positions or conditions give no clew to any settled or definite custom of disposing of the dead. The theory has been advanced that they were cremationists, and urns have been found which enthusiasts at once classed as burial urns. There is little or no foundation for the cremation theory. In some of the mounds flat stones covered with charcoal have been found. Beneath the stones, in a sort of vault, was a black mold which has been taken as the dust of the dead remaining after cremation. There is no stone in Indiana that would bear heat enough, applied in that way, to consume a body beneath it. The presence of the mold can be accounted for in a dozen ways that are far more reasonable.
"It has been held that in religion they were worshipers of the sun, and that they offered human sacrifices. The fact that all the mounds look to the east is about the only thing upon which the theory of sun worship is hinged, and that proves very little. Practically there are no evidences that they offered human sacrifices.
PROBABLY A RACE OF SLAVES
"Were they a warlike race? That is a question hard to determine. The remains of their fortifications, except in a few instances, are of low earthworks, not over four or five feet high. It is evident that they were a race of slaves, and such a race is seldom warlike. The burial mounds seldom contain more than two or three skeletons, and the posi- tions in which they are placed give evidence that one was the superior and the others the inferiors. The crania prove the same fact. With many of the ancient races it was the custom to bury one or more slaves with the dead ruler, or master, and this was likely the case with the Mound Builders.
PERHAPS THE MOST ANCIENT OF PEOPLES
"To what age of the world are they to be assigned? How many centuries have rolled away since they disappeared ? These are perplex- ing questions. It is a strange thought that away back in the dim past,
5
HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
perhaps as far back as the days of the Pharaohs, there existed in what we delight to call the New World, a people numbering millions, who have died and left no trace of their history. Even the Moabites have left their stones covered over with strange symbols, but the Mound Builders have left nothing of the kind. On some of the mounds trees of more than a thousand years growth are standing. The most ancient remains of man found on the earth are distinguished by the flattening of the tibia, and this peculiarity is found in an exaggerated degree in those of the Mound Builders. A distinguished writer on this subject says: 'From the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon we have bones at least two thousand five hundred years old; from the pyramids and catacombs of Egypt, both mummied and unmummied crania have been taken of still higher antiquity, in perfect preservation; nevertheless, the skele- tons deposited in our mounds from the Lakes to the Gulf are crumbling into dust through age alone. The peculiar anatomical construction of the few remaining crania not only prove the Mound Builders to have been very ancient, but that they were wholly unlike any other race known to have existed. A critical examination of the remains of this ancient race of America, and a comparison with those of all the other races of the world, tend to throw a doubt over the theory that all man- kind descended from one common father.
"Of other races we know something of their origin. We can account for the origin of all the races of Europe, Asia and Africa, but no one has yet been able to tell whence sprang the American Mound Builders, nor to present even a plausible theory on that much disputed point. We examine the relics they have left behind; we study their rude carvings ; we measure the crania of their dead, and then we put this and that together and build up a theory as to their origin and proper place in history ; but all we can do is to theorize.
WERE THEY FATHERS OF THE TOLTECS ?
"That the Mound Builders antedated by many years, perhaps cen- turies, the Toltecs of Mexico, can hardly be doubted, and the history of the Toltecs can be traced back nine centuries before the Christian era. The ancient records of the Toltecs repeatedly speak of a great empire to the northwest of them, and these same records declare that the Toltecs migrated from that empire to Mexico, and it is supposed that this migra- tion took place a thousand years before Christ. Whether the Toltecs were descendants of the Mound Builders and became civilized after their migration to Mexico is yet an unsettled question. If the great empire referred to by the Toltecs was that of the Mound Builders, it becomes evident that the origin of the Mound Builders and their first occupa- tion of American soil must have been thousands of years ago. It is beyond all question that they disappeared more than a thousand years ago. Were they driven out by the Indians? If so, what a vast amount of sympathy we have wasted on the Red Men, for the Whites have only taken from them what they themselves had taken by violence before!
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