USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana > Part 4
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
peaceful. and this allayed the excitement. They settled at Goshen. however, to build a fort, got the foundation laid and disagreed as to its name, and so the work was abandoned. Now all those who were then young men in the prime of manhood, full of energy and activity, are either gathered to their fathers or are in the decline of life. The mothers of the daughters who now live in ease, and many of whom pride themselves on white hands and pretty feet, rather than clear heads and brave hearts, are now gone or broken in health. We shall all pass away soon to some other land, but it is a happy thought that we have set a good example for our children. We have laid the foun- (lation of future prosperity strong and deep, and those now in the prime of life need only to build upon it."
Before the close of the thirties was witnessed the last exodus of the red men from the forests and prairies of northern Indiana which had so long been their home. In 1837 Colonel Pepper convened the Pottawottomie nation at Lake Ke-waw-nay for the purpose of remov- ing them west of the Mississippi. In that fall a small party of about a hundred were conducted to their future home, and the regular emi- gration of the tribe, to the number of about a thousand, took place in the summer of 1838. under the command of General Tipton and Colonel Pepper.
As a former historian has said, it was a sad and mournful spectacle to witness these children of the forest slowly retiring from the home of their childhood, that contained not only the graves of their revered ancestors, but also many endearing scenes to which their memories would ever recur as sunny spots along their pathway through the wilderness. They felt that they were bidding farewell to the hills, val- leys and streams of their infancy; to the more exciting hunting grounds of their advanced youth, as well as the stern and bloody battlefields where they had contended in their riper manhood. All these they were leaving behind them to be desecrated by the plowshare of the white man. As they cast mournful glances back toward these loved scenes that were fading in the distance, tears fell upon the cheek of the downeast warrior, old men trembled, matrons wept, and sighs and half-suppressed sobs escaped from the motley groups as they passed along, some on horseback and others in wagons. Ever and again one of the party would break out of the train and flee back to their old encampments on Eel river and on the Tippecanoe, declaring death to be preferable to banishment from their old homes.
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
An enforced removal of a people from their ancestral abodes is always a pitiable spectacle, and the pages of history contain no sadder chapters than the descriptions of such a scene, as witness the expulsion of the happy Acadians and the events described in the mournful pages of " Evangeline." But generally the wise statesmanship of the times has justified such removals, and perhaps it is a part of human destiny that the weaker nation must give way to the stronger in order that " the fittest may survive." But nevertheless it cannot be too strongly insisted upon that there should be a rigorous self-searching as to motives in such matters, whether on the part of the government or the individual.
Several years after the removal of the Pottawottomies, the Miamis, having ceded their lands to the United States, were also removed to their western homes under escort of United States troops. Thus de- parted the last of the red men, the land they had once roamed over at will was free for the use and occupation of the white settlers, and though the dispossession of the Indian from his ancient home seems regrettable, yet it is justified by the wonderful civilization which now flourishes where once the savage and the wild animal held complete sway.
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
CHAPTER INI.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
These were honored in their generations, and were the glory of the times. -Ecclesiasticus.
It would be indeed interesting to know the time and the exact cir- cumstances of the coming of the first civilized man to the country about the confluence of the Elkhart and St. Joseph rivers. With such a record we could place a definite starting point for the history of Elkhart county. From what has preceded we know that for many centuries the American aborigines roamed at will over these prairies and through the wood- lands, but they left hardly a trace, much less an institution or enduring monument, of their lives and customs. Only with the advent of the enterprising European has any social or constitutional fabric worthy of the name been pieced together in the new world.
It is a matter largely of historical conjecture that LaSalle or some of his followers, in their canoe voyages down the St. Joseph river, during the latter years of the seventeenth century, may have penetrated as far as the present county of Elkhart. During the years that followed, with the increase of intercourse between the French posts on the Missis- sippi and Canada, and with the missionary zeal of the Jesuit priests extending their proselytizing endeavors further and further among the Indian tribes east of the Mississippi, there doubtless passed over this county many explorers, adventurers, soldiers, hunters, trappers, traders and missionaries, although it does not appear that this county lay in the direct route of travel during those days. But here again a mere more or less conjectural statement of the fact is all that the historian is permitted to make, for Elkhart county at the beginning of its actual settlement felt no influence from these people of the past and her subse- quent career was in nowise affected by their chance coming and going.
But with the passing of French and then of English control and the establishment of American sovereignty over all this region north of the Ohio to the Canadian border, it was inevitable but that the westward tide of civilization should some day touch and overflow the beautiful country along the Elkhart and St. Joseph rivers. Before the dawn of
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
the nineteenth century that restless throng of pioneers had penetrated and founded social communities in Ohio and Indiana, pushing before it the native sons of the forest and by force of treaty and purchase dispossessing them of their lands. But a number of years passed after the formation of Indiana Territory, and more years even after Indiana became a sovereign state, before a record of permanent settlement in Elkhart county can be set down with definite certainty.
Not alone the Indians and wild animals left their beloved haunts and fled before the approach of the white settlers. There come down to its in the history of Elkhart county, as also in the annals of nearly every similar community, several cases of "relapses" from civilization ; in other words, instances of men, once integral parts of the social fabric, who, because of natural aversion to their fellow men, by reason of some great sorrow or the commission of crime, severed their connection with society and thenceforth chose to live apart from the world and to bury their existences and deeds in the depths of the wilderness. Of these restless wanderers, haunting the mid-shores between barbarism and civili- zation, there are several instances in Elkhart county.
There was the old French trader Rosseau, who turned his spright- liness of character to rare account and made himself thoroughly at home in the wigwams of the red men, even as he did subsequently in the homes of the hospitable pioneers, and withal led a very romantic career. He is supposed to have settled on Elkhart prairie, to the southeast of Goshen, in the year 1815, and for many years both before and subse- quent to this date he traded with the Indians of the vicinity. His residence thus fixes one of the earliest dates in the history of the county. He is the best known of the various French traders who had their abodes in this part of the country during the early years of the past century.
Another early character was Joseph Noffsinger, the hermit squat- ter, who is said to have made his home at the junction of the Christiana and St. Joseph streams-now in the city of Elkhart-as early as 1821, but as soon as permanent settlement began to be made in this vicinity, about 1828, he withdrew. Very little is known of him, as he seems to have avoided all social commingling either with the red men or the settlers.
The Carey Mission, on the banks of the St. Joseph, near the present Niles, Michigan, was a social and religious center during the twenties whence emanated various colonizing streams into the various sections of the surrounding country. Isaac McCoy, a minister of the Baptist
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
church, and one of the founders and principal workers at this mission, came from the east on his way to this mission, and in the spring of 1824 crossed the St. Joseph at its junction with the Elkhart. To the stream flowing down from the north into the larger river he gave the name of his wife, Christiana, which as the present name of the little creek remains as a memorial of that devoted pioneer missionary and his fol- lowers.
When we reach the period of permanent settlement, we may only for the first year or so deal with individuals, after which the settling up of the county can be dealt with only by general statement as to com- munities and larger centers. For it seems that the tide of emigration which flowed into northern Indiana was not intermittent, nor did any appreciable time intervene between the first ripple of settlement upon the Elkhartian shores until the full current was running fresh and strong, with no lull or resurgent flow up to the present day. The counties of northern Indiana did not feel the impulse of migration and occupation until the late twenties, but in less than a decade thereafter social order and industrial enterprise were thoroughly established and the pioneer epoch was really over.
From the available data concerning the early settlement.of Elkhart county it seems impossible to fix upon the first permanent settler with any degree of certainty. The year 1827 is the date most commonly assigned for the first settlers. Matthew Boyd was one of the first, if not the first settler on Elkhart prairie, and in 1828 he completed the erection of a log house at Elkhart Crossing. In the early days Boyd ran a ferry across the Elkhart river at Benton. He was a red headed Irishman and very droll, and his characteristics made him a well known personage in the neighborhood. In the summer when the water was low he was in the habit of going a little way down the stream and felling a number of trees across the river, thereby causing a dam and the conse- quent raising of the water so that toll could be demanded from the unsuspecting traveler for the use of Boyd's ferry. Another comer in 1827 was William Simpson, who took up his abode near Boyd, and Elias Riggs made his home on the edge of the prairie somewhere near these two and in the same year. In the southwest corner of Pleasant Plain, near the present city of Elkhart, there settled in the fall of 1827 Jesse Rush. On May 16. 1828, Mrs. Rush bore twin children, a son and a daughter, and it is claimed that these were the first white children horn in Elkhart county. Isaiah Rush, the son, has for many years been
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
a familiar figure on the streets of Elkhart. There is at least one other claimant for the honor of being the first born in this county, and that is Mr. John H. Violette, who was born near Goshen, but not till Novem- ber, 1829. If the dates are correet as given, there can be no question as to the proper priority.
Elias Carpenter settled upon Elkhart prairie in 1829, and the next year moved into a log house located on the hill overlooking Rock Run, and within a hundred yards of the Noble Manufacturing Company's plant in Goshen. Dr. C. C. Sparklin, of Goshen, says: "My father, Azel Sparklin, settled on Elkhart prairie in 1829, coming from Conners- ville. He was a Methodist minister and administered to the spiritual as well as the material wants of the early settlers. The house where we lived was built of logs and the location happened to be an excellent one. as the state road was afterwards constructed within a few rods of the house. The nearest neighbors were John Violette and Israel Hess. Banking in those days was done at Fort Wayne, fifty miles away, and three days were consumed in the trip."
In the spring of 1829 there arrived, over the frozen roads, Colonel John Jackson, who purchased of Elias Riggs and William Simpson their claims on Elkhart prairie in Jackson township, and these two men then moved across the line into what is now the southeast corner of Elkhart township, and became, in all probability, the first settlers in the township where Goshen is now situated. Colonel Jackson had an interesting his- tory, and was acquainted with this county long before he became an actual settler. He played a valiant part in the war of 1812 under General Harrison. After the British and their Indian allies were driven from Fort Wayne. Colonel Jackson was a member of one of the detachments sent north in pursuit of the baffled enemy, who sought refuge in some of the Miami and Pottawottomie villages along the northern border of this state. In September, 1812, the village of Obsbenobe was destroyed by fire at the command of the American officers. This Indian town stood near the present site of Benton, a few miles to the southeast of Goshen. Colonel Jackson was attracted by the beauty and fertility of this section of the county, and when settlement was directed this way he came to cast in his lot with the new country, where he became notably identified with Goshen and the entire history of the county.
Among other early residents of Elkhart township would be found the names of Mrs. Susan Niekerson, better known as Mrs. Wogoman, who was here in June, 1828: John B. Cripe, in March, 1820: Balser Hess
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
and his brothers ; William Felkner, Solomon Hockert, the Frier brothers, and many others.
Among the first comers to Concord township one would name Isaac Compton, who with his brothers James and John settled here in 1829; Dr. Havilah Beardsley, the "Father of Elkhart," William Dobson and Jesse Morgan, also settlers of 1829 on Pleasant Plain; and in the fall of the same year came Peter Tuley, Peter Diddy, Associate Judge I. Middleton and Mr. Betteron, with the arrival of many others during the immediately following years.
Immediately following Colonel Jackson's settlement in Jackson township came Mr. Thompson Weybright and Mr. Rippey, who located on the east side of the river. The next settlements were made on the "Barrens" in the northern part of the township, between the river and Turkey creek, among the names mentioned here being Mr. Steward. John Rohrer, David Rodibaugh. Jonathan Wyland, Benjamin Bennett. Daniel Studebaker, Allen Conley and Thomas Hall.
Benton township was one of the first sections of the county toward which migration turned. Matthew Boyd, who arrived in 1828. has already been mentioned, and others that should be mentioned were Martin Vance. Solomon Hockert, Peter Darr, Z. Butler, Mr. Hire, the Ott family, John Longacre, and the Juday family.
Middlebury township, which also felt the early impulses of settle- ment, had among its pioneers Enoch Woodbridge and family, who came in 1832. Solomon L. Hixon was another early comer. It is said that James P. White came to this county in 1830 and made settlement in Middlebury township. His daughter, Mrs. Phebe Cornell, died in De- cember, 1904.
In Cleveland township there are mentioned, as having come in about 1830, Francis Rork, John and Frank Bashford and Mr. Bogart, who located on the western side of the township, and Mr. Rork's house, which was kept for the accommodation of the public for some time, was the first erected in the township. In 1834 came Mr. Dibble, Mr. Smith. D. J. and R. B. Clark, Silas T. Mattox, and thereafter the country rapidly settled up.
In a graceful bend of the Elkhart, where the town of Bristol now stands, and near the mouth of the Little Elkhart river. in Washington township. in the year 1829. the Nickolson family, who we are told were the first to locate here, stopped to make their home. James Nickolson was the father of this family, and his sons were Samuel V., David T.
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
and George. About the same time came Peter Marmen and Aaron Brown, all of whom made pre-emptions and thus began the actual work of settlement ; while, also in 1829, came Reuben Bronson and his brother- in-law, James Cathcart.
The dates of the arrival of the first settlers, and of the organiza- tion of the township of Baugo, and other items of its history are almost buried in obscurity. The old pioneers that effected the first settlement in the midst of hundreds of wild savages of this township have long since passed off the stage of action and been laid beneath the sod. Ac- cording to the most authentic evidence, William Mote was the first set- tler. the date of his coming being 1830. The next was John McNey, and then followed James Davis, John Barnes, Mr. Kellog, Jacob Rupel and William Richason.
To Thomas Carick and father, and a person named Stutsman be- longs the honor of being the first settlers in Jefferson township. The former pre-empted the southwest quarter of section 21, but paid very little attention to farming, most of his time being spent in hunting and trapping. James Wilson also settled about the same period, to be soon followed by James DeFreese, who was the first justice of the peace elected in the township. Other names that appear on the record of early comers, though perhaps not in consecutive order, are Joseph Gardner, William and Joseph Newell, William Martin, Elijah ' Adams, James Kane, John Neff. John Wilson, Ozias Stotts, R. C. Lake, Abner Blue, Joseph D. Knox, Israel Wolf and P. W. Boler.
In that fertile agricultural township now known as Clinton there are named, as voters at the first election, in August, 1836, the following : Solomon Benner. William Pearman, William Carmien, Wilson McCon- nell. Enoch Bomber, Samuel Thomas, Jacob Baker, Isaac Biby, James Acton, Peter Mont, Martin Biles, George Biles, William Denney, John Denney, George Zullinger and Colonel Denney. From this number there was no doubt one who might claim priority of settlement, but the record is not at hand. Elias Simpson, son of William Simpson, was the first white child born in the township.
In Harrison township the early date connected with its settlement is 1831, in which year Daniel B. Stutsman, one of the sturdiest samples of Elkhart county's pioneers, erected his log cabin, moved into it and commenced the work of clearing the virgin forest. His was the first white man's axe that was heard in the township, and for some time his was the only effort at permanent settlement in the township. In 1833-34
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
there came David Y. Miller, Conrad Brumbaugh. James and William Stewart and Samuel Buchanan, followed in 1835 by James McDowell and Christian S. Farber.
Osolo township received its first settlers in 1834. when Samuel Simonton located on section o. Abraham Heaton located on section 25. and Philip Mechling on section 26; and in 1835 James and Ezekiel Compton, Mrs. Long, a widow. John Gardner and Mr. Nutting formed a settlement on Christiana creek.
Although what are now Concord and Elkhart townships seem to have received the bulk of early settlers, yet the county as a whole was quite equably settled and no one part seems to have escaped the home- finder for very long. Union township, on the southern line of the county, began to be settled in 1834. in April of which Daniel Bainter built the first cabin in the township. Mr. Bainter also deserves mention as one of the first men to become acquainted with this county, for he passed through it with his father, on the way to South Bend, in the year 1827. Some time after Mr. Bainter. John Walburn moved into the township. He drove a wagon from Ohio, and in order to get to his land had to cut a road for some distance. Thereafter the settlers came rapidly, and some of the first names to be encountered are Daniel Lan- ders, John Pippinger, Christ Louder, Mr. Sheline, Cotner Strycker.
In 1833 William Hunter is said to have located in the southern part of York township, near the Little Elkhart river. In 1834 this adventurous pioneer received considerable reinforcement in the persons of J. N. Brown. J. and William Cummins, William Hall. Friend Curtis. David Eb1, Hiram Chase, E. Bonney, John and Ruby VanFrank. Ed- ward Joyce and A. Arnold, all of whom settled on the Vistula road and became the nucleus for a rapidly expanding population.
Olive township honors the name of Jacob Sailor as its first settler. who came in the early part of 1834, and was soon followed by Cornelius Terwilliger. Frederick Morris, Samuel and Levi Martin and David Allen : and in a short time later came Daniel Mikel, who had been in the county since 1829.
The annals of the Morris family of Olive township, represented by Cornelius Morris, are filled with interesting items concerning the early history of this township. Isaac Morris, a brother of Frederick, above mentioned, came to Elkhart county in 1835, settling in Baugo township as it is now bounded, but after a year moved down into what was then stili known as Baugo township, but which is now Olive township. He
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
purchased forty acres of land and entered one hundred and sixty from the government, this land being so located that it was situated in sec- tions 13, 14 and 23. The conventional log cabin was the first Morris home. After the township of Olive was formally organized in 1839. the Morris brothers, with Messrs. Allen, Martin and Sailor, and one other, held the first election for township offices. That primitive election is worth mentioning. The ballot box into which the six voters cast their ballots was an old-fashioned blue porcelain sugar bowl, which is still treasured in the home of Cornelius Morris, and the latter's mother hield this queer ballot box while the six citizens placed in it their votes. No mention is made of an attempt to stuff the ballot box, and with such a fair custodian in charge it would not have been permitted.
Locke township, the last one in chronological order, situated in the southwest corner of the county, had as its first settler Samuel Lockwood. and from him the township was named. He came here in the fall of 1836. from Vermont, and ten days later Abner Hibray and John Pitts located in the neighborhood, and there was soon a fair-sized community of people working under pioneer conditions to make homes in the wil- derness.
Mr. P. M. Henkel affords a clear exposition of a very important cause which made the western portion of the county tardy in settlement as compared to other sections. In the early forties, states Mr. Henkel. "much of the western portion of the county was still in the state of nature. Large bodies of land were held by non-residents with the hope that by the labors of the pioneers they would become valuable. That part of the county was then but sparsely inhabited. True, the Walburns, the Sheetses. the McCoys, the Pippengers and the Ulerys had penetrated the forest, built their cabins, felled the trees and opened the roads, to be followed by others who should take up the work after them. For the time being they were willing to endure all the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life for the benefit of their successors.
"Dr. E. W. H. Ellis, then auditor of the county, conceived the idea of compelling the non-resident landowners to contribute by the way of taxation to the building of roads and schoolhouses. For this pur- pose he induced the legislature to pass a law by which he could assess one and one-fourth cent on each acre of land for road purposes. The citizens had the privilege of working out the tax, while the non-residents had to pay in money. This money when collected was returned to the township from which it came, where it was applied to the purpose for
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
which the tax was raised. The effect of this law was to induce the non-residents to dispose of their holdings and permit those lands to pass into the hands of actual settlers."
While we are pursuing the subject of early settlement we may be permitted to repeat some reminiscences bearing upon this phase of the county's history. It is said, and there is much truth in the assertion, that a trustworthy history cannot be written from tradition or the memory-reports of men concerning the events of the past. The best memory is none too trustworthy, of which fact no one would be more certain than a practical business man, who has learned that the only safe method of transacting business is to record every detail in black and white. Then, there are various points of view from which an event may be observed, and while the judgment of each individual is unpreju- diced and true from his standpoint there is likely to be a confliction as to matters of fact and detail among all who report the event. Thus, a history of any community, even though it go back but a few years in the past, may err in details, unless every point can be established by authentic and unbiased record. But where the records after all but pre- sent the skeleton of history, it is a pleasure to turn to the memories of men who have lived and experienced the scenes described, and from the tablets of reminiscence transcribe a few pages that will lighten still more the scene curtain of the past. At a meeting of the old settlers in 1879 there was a symposium of anecdotes. and memories of early days, and it will be worth our while to repeat the substance of some of those addresses.
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