A twentieth century history of Marshall County, Indiana, Volume I, Part 36

Author: McDonald, Daniel, 1833-1916
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 380


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Some of the finest penmanship we have ever seen can be found on some of the early records of Marshall county made with quill pens. In the auditor's office some of the records made by the then auditor are equal to any ever made since with gold or steel pens. In the clerk's office William G. Pomeroy left some fine quill pen records. Samuel C. Sample was one of the three commissioners who organized the county June 20, 1836. He after- wards served as judge of the circuit court until October 19, 1843. He was an excellent peninan, and his signature to the last court record on Order Book A, page 673, written with a quill pen, is equal to the famous signature of John Hancock to the Declaration of Independence.


Most of the ink used in those days was of domestic manufacture. A solution of pokeberry juice boiled down was sometimes used. Black walnut bark boiled in water until it became as thick as syrup was the basis for


264


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.


much of the ink used in the country schools. A solution of copperas was added, after which it was reduced to the proper thickness by pouring into the whole a quantity of hot water.


After a consultation had been held and an agreement reached as to who should be the schoolmaster, and how much salary he ought to have for the quarter's terni, a subscription paper was circulated through the neighborhood to ascertain how many children would be "subscribed" to attend during the winter. The amount it was decided each one should pay was determined by dividing the total amount the master was to receive by the number of "scholars" subscribed. The amount generally agreed upon was from $15 to $20 per month, and the master was to "board around" among his scholars, dividing the time as nearly equal as convenient.


The first day of school was a day long to be remembered. The nearest resident to the schoolhouse was on hand early and had the building well warmed with a great big crackin' fire long before the appointed hour for school to "take up." By nine o'clock the scholars were all on hand ready for the opening of the crusade against the citadel of ignorance. No record of attendance was kept, and so, of course, there were no tardy marks recorded against any of those composing the school. There were very few school books to be had, and those in use had been transmitted through several generations. Webster's Elementary spelling book, Pike's or Smith's arithmetic, the Columbian Orator, Weem's Life of Washington, and the Life of Francis Marion, Lindly Murray's or Kirkham's grammar, com- prised the books used in the curriculum of those days, and at no time were there enough to go around.


Each pupil in attendance was permitted to study such branches as he saw fit, or all of them if he thought he could master them. The larger number, as a rule, were in what was called the A B C class, and special efforts were put forth that the members of this class mastered this part of the course of study, and advanced and gained some insight into spelling in words of one syllable before the last day of school.


The reading class was arranged so that all those who were able to read could be accommodated whether they were provided with books or not. The class was seated on a long bench, and the lesson was so arranged that half a dozen of the scholars could use the same book. The head of the class would rise to his or her feet. read the first paragraph and hand the book to the next in line. Thus progress was made without unduly disturb- ing his neighbor, and was continued until all had "read around" and until the lesson for the day had been fully mastered.


Then came the class in arithmetic, the members of which had been laboring to commit to memory the rules laid down by Pike, Smith, or Talbott, each in his day renowned for the great labor through which he had attained fame by puzzling his brains in making what to the scholars seemed to be impossible rules by which to work more impossible problems.


Then the class in writing took their places at the long writing desk in front of the windows. They attempted to follow the copy "set" by the master, and with the new-beginner the master would find it necessary to stand at his back and hold his hand while he directed its motion so as to shape the letters attempted to be made. During the lesson the master had


265


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.


to answer many questions aside from making and mending numerous goose quill pens, that were continually in need of repairs.


When the sun's rays cast a shadow straight into the schoolroom through the south door, indicating that it was noon, then came from the master the welcome announcement, "You are dismissed." Such scrambling as there was, and such tumbling over benches to get out into the open air, and to the play grounds, was a performance not permitted nowadays. The noon hour was spent by the master in eating his dinner, which, like the children, he had brought with him, and in setting copies and blocking out a line of procedure for the following day. The dinner baskets were quickly emptied, and then came the play, that best of all things to teach the complicated study of human nature. Among the boys was soon heard the call "bull pen," "town ball," or "base ball,' and other games, while the girls chose other amusements. Of these the more athletic games and sports were gen- erally preferred by the vigorous young fellows of the woods, and a royster- ous, boisterous hour it was, from which memory recalls many a happy inci- dent. Why can't our schools of the present day get out of their confined limits where space compels that the lives of the helpless, innocent, prattling children whom we love be risked in tucked-up rooms and their noon hour be lost to the first lessons of the study of nature, human and physical, in healthful outdoor play ?


The afternoon was a repetition, generally, of the forenoon exercises, except that "spelling down" ended the day's doings. The school was divided into two classes, those that could spell in words of two syllables, and those who could stand up under such words as "Con-stan-ti-no-ple" and "val-e-tu-di-na-ri-an." When the spelling class was called to its place the members stood up in a straight line the long way of the room, while the master gave ont the words, beginning at the head of the class or number one, who had one trial at spelling and pronouncing the word, which if missed, was quickly taken by the next, who if successful, went up to the head of the class. It sometimes happened that the word was not properly spelled till at or near the foot of the class, when the one who spelled it right went clear up to the head of the class. This was the custom every day until Friday afternoon, when the week's exercises were closed with a "spelling bee." The master selected two of the best spellers as captains of the forces, one of whom threw up a stick which was caught by the other, and so on until the one who held the top of the stick was awarded first choice, and then they would choose alternately until all were on one side or the other. The master gave out the words, and when a scholar missed, under the rule, he was required to take his seat, and so it went on until all were spelled down but one, and he and the side he was on were declared the victor.


There is a very wide difference between the education of the children of the early pioneers and those of the present day. The one had only the rudiments embraced in the three R's instilled into his mind, while the student of the present day, even in the common schools, is thoroughly drilled in orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, grammar, United States history, physiology, literature, etc., and a system of graduation has been devised under which it is possible for all who complete the course of study pursued to secure a certificate that they have mastered the various branches named.


266


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.


Nowadays to enable one to attain any considerable degree of success in life it is deemed essential that he should be at least fairly well educated in the common branches. In the pioneer days the small amount of business transacted was of such a nature that beyond reading, writing and arithmetic, education was not required. If all had been graduates of Harvard, Cornell or any of the great universities of the country, they could not have made any use of their surplus knowledge, and that being the case it was not deemed necessary to waste time in acquiring it. The men of Marshall county who have left their impress for good on her institutions and who were identified with its organization, and the building up of society gen- erally, were blessed with but limited education. Some of them could barely write their names, and a few that we, have in mind who attained to dis- tinction and wealth could neither read nor write. On the other hand, many of those who have come on the stage of existence long since those pioneer days who have had the benefits of high schools, seminaries and colleges, and hold certificates of graduation, have dropped into kinds of business requiring little education, and with all their acquired knowledge have been impotent to make their mark in the world to any considerable extent. It is a serious question whether, in this progressive age, we are not cramming the heads of many children who go to school too full of the knowledge of branches that they can't understand, and which will do them no good in fighting the battle of life before them. The theory seems to be that children's heads are hollow, and so they


Ram it in, eram it in, Children's heads are hollow ; Slam it in, jam it in, Still there's more to follow.


Hygiene and history, Astronomic mystery,


Algebra, histology,


Latin, etymology,


Botany, geometry, Greek and trigonometry-


Ram it in, eram it in, Children's heads are hollow.


Rap it in, tap it in- What are teachers paid for?


Bang in it, slap it in -- What were children made for? Ancient archaeology,


Aryan philology, Prosody, zoology,


Physics, clinictology, Calculus and mathematics, Rhetories and hydrostatics- Hoax it in, coax it in, Children's heads are hollow!


There was another kind of education in the early days that was deemed as essential to the well-being of the community as the branches usually taught in the schools. That was a knowledge of the science of vocal music.


Education in this branch of learning was taught in what was called


267


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.


singing schools, usually held in the school houses in the evening. They were patronized mostly by the young people as a sort of meeting place to visit and have a good time, but there were also a considerable number of married people who had mastered the mysteries of the old "buckwheat" notes, who attended and assisted in helping to "carry the parts."


The singing master, as a rule, didn't know much about the science of music beyond what was contained in the "rudiments" printed in the intro- duction to the old "Missouri Harmony," the only vocal music book then known in this part of the country. If he had been asked what was a musical sound, or what was meant by "concert pitch," and how it happened that the letter A on the second space from the first line below had been settled upon as the sound, or pitch, to which all human voices, and all musical instruments all over the world must be adjusted, he would have fallen flat on the floor in a spasm of surprise. He could no more have told how many vibrations per second were necessary to produce a sound fixed by all the musical congresses of the world known as "concert pitch," or the sound from which every other musical sound in every musical composition that has ever been written must be in harmony, than he could have told by a mathematical process how many drops of water there were in the ocean.


He arranged the singers so that all with voices fitted to one part would be together such as bass, counter, tenor and treble, as the parts were then called, and then he commenced teaching them the notes and how to run the "gamut." The pupils soon learned the names of the notes by their "buckwheat" shape and their position on the staff, and as the master knew all the pieces in the book "by heart," it didn't take very long drilling for the whole school to become familiar with the favorite tunes selected for practice, although they knew nothing absolutely about the science of music or the culture of the voice. At the close of the term a concert was usually given for the benefit of the people in the locality where the school was taught. No admission fee was charged, and of course the room was jammed full, while many remained outside in hearing distance. Those who may have lived in those days, and who may have attended any of those exhibitions of musical culture, will call to mind with what feeling and pathos those old singers executed "Lenox," "Old Hundred," "Schenectady," "Solitude New," "Portuguese Hymn," "Pastoral Elegy" and other familiar pieces which they will readily call to mind. "Heavenly Vision" was reserved for the grand closing anthem. When the master had "bit" his tuning fork and placed it to his ear, and had given the key note to the several parts, then the trouble began. The "counter," always composed of a goodly number of strong voices, broke forth with : "I beheld and lo! A great multitude, which no man could number." And then the "bass" took it up: "Thousands and thousands, and ten times thousands, stood before the Lamb," and then the tenors came to the rescue with: "And they ceased not day nor night crying." And here the trebles joined in the fray and the four parts raised the roof when they sang "Holy, Holy, Lord, God Almighty, which was and is, and is to come!" and so on over a dozen pages occupying more than half an hours' time in its rendition. That was a grand anthem, indeed, that "Heavenly Vision." Since then we have heard the finest instrumental bands in this country, have heard the best opera companies in existence, have heard famous


268


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.


Brignoli, Patti, Nilsson and all the famous singers since Jennie Lind's day, and at the opening of the World's Fair, listened to the grand chorus of five thousand voices under the direction of Theodore Thomas, but the music of all these, to us, was "flat, stale and unprofitable," as compared with the charms of "Heavenly Vision" as sung by our old time pioneer friends, nearly all of whom have long since gone, it is hoped, to participate in a realization of that dream of bliss prophesied in that grand old anthem of long ago.


It must have been about 1847-48 that the "round notes" by the names of "do, ra, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do," began to take the place of the old style flat notes, or buckwheat notes, as they were called, known as "faw, sol, law, faw, sol, law, mi, faw." All the singer had to do was to learn the shape of the note and then he was prepared to master anything in the book. "Faw" was half a square cut diagonally. "Sol" was round, "law" was square, "mi" in shape was a hexagon. In the different keys sol, law and faw doubled up so as to fill up the "gamut." Lewis A. Joseph was the pioneer who introduced the round note innovation at the Pisgah meeting house a mile northeast of Wolf creek mills. It was something new, and those who had mastered the buckwheat notes took hold of the new system with con- siderable zeal, and it was not long until the round notes were all the go.


Among the leaders in the movement were the Lelands, Hands, Logans, Dicksons, Thompsons, McDonalds, and others who lived in that neighbor- hood at the time.


"Pisgah" was a noted place for meetings, spelling and singing schools, and other social gatherings, from the time it was built until a dozen or more years ago, when having outlived its usefulness it was abandoned. It was built by James Logan ("Carpenter Jim"), and was considered one of the finest frame buildings of the kind in the county at the time. It was given the name of "Pisgah" by Thomas McDonald, deceased, who was mainly instrumental in securing its erection.


ENUMERATION FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES, MAY 1, 1907.


Male.


Female.


Total.


Bourbon township.


231


036


467


Center township


479


410


889


German township.


329


CS4


613


Green township.


167


155


322


North township.


255


272


527


Polk township


301


283


584


Tippecanoe township.


194


190


384


Union township ..


268


240


508


Walnut township


205


207


412


West township.


212


1SS


400


Argos town.


142


169


311


Bourbon town.


148


172


320


Bremen town.


218


219


437


Culver town ..


90


88


178


Plymouth City.


336


329


665


Grand total.


3,575


3,442


7,017


269


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.


LI. RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS-MEETINGS IN THE WOODS.


Almost immediately after the settlement of the county began, the relig- ious spirit of the people began to manifest itself. There were no expensive church buildings with towering steeples, or even ordinary meetinghouses or schoolhouses then in which public services could be held, and so, when an itinerant preacher came through the neighborhood, an appointment for a meeting on Sunday would be decided upon to be held at a convenient house, and the news would be carried around to all the families far and near.


The first of these meetings that the writer remembers, which may be taken as typical of all that followed for many years, was held at the log cabin of Elder William Thompson, about two miles northeast of Lake Maxinkuckee, who was something of a preacher, or, more properly an "exhorter," as he and his class were designated in those days. Logs and puncheons were placed around in front of the house under the luxuriant shade trees that had not yet fallen under the well directed blows of the woodman's axe. It was a beautiful day in the early summer. The trees were full of blossoms, and birds and squirrels, and that little spot in the wilderness seemed like God's own temple on an enchanted island in a vast ocean. The music of the birds and the humming bees amidst the fragrance of the wild flowers, was a thousand times sweeter and more enchanting than the tones of the $10,000 organ in the gallery or loft of a $100,000 church building is, in these days of aristocracy and $5,000 preachers. It was indeed a place


Where the spirit of mortal might worship, In the freedom of unwritten creeds, Hearing many and joyous responses, In the music that came from the trees.


Early in the morning the ox wagons began to arrive. Some came on horseback, and many on foot. The audience was not very finely dressed. Nearly all wore homespun clothing. Some were without coats, merely in their shirt sleeves, and even some were bare footed. That made no differ- ence. It was not dress that made the man in those days. It was not the external, but the internal qualifications of a man that recommended him as worthy of consideration among his neighbors. Well, when the hour arrived for the services to begin, the people, who were scattered about in groups under the trees, talking and visiting among each other, took their places on the seats provided, and the preacher, who, on this occasion was Elder Thompson, opened the meeting by invoking the Divine blessing on those present. Then he lined the hymn, line at a time, and those who could sing joined. in the song of praise. There were very few hymn books in those days, and so the preacher read a line at a time so the audience could remem- ber the words. When the line had been sung, the singing ceased until the preacher had read another line when the singing would be resumed where it had been discontinued, and this program would be continued to the end, no matter how long the hymn might be. Of course there wasn't very much music in that kind of singing as we look upon church music nowadays, but it answered the purpose then, and as there were many good voices among the singers and a sufficient variety to carry all the parts, if the harmony wasn't


270


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.


as full and round and smooth as it has since been heard, it made the "welkin ring," and the echo has reverberated all the way along down the crooked path of life until the present time. Those who have never heard this way of conducting church music would be surprised at the religious enthusiasm that can be worked up. Before the close of the hymn, everybody, saint and sinner, who could open his mouth, was sure to be singing with all the lung power at his command.


At the meeting referred to the preacher "gave out"


From all that dwell below the skies-


and then some one was requested to "raise the tune." He didn't quite get the right "pitch," and after struggling through the first line without assist- ance from any of the congregation, he knew what the matter was, and when the preacher gave out the second line-


Let the Creator's praise arise --


he cleared his throat and took a fresh start. This time he was more suc- cessful, and by the time the end of the second line was reached several voices had come to his assistance, and when the preacher had read with a loftier and more devout tone of voice :


Let the Redeemer's name be sung ---


half of the congregation had joined in the song and by the time the last line had been given out-


Through every land by every tongue,


the entire congregation had become enthused, and joining in the glad refrain, the woods rang with a melody that can never be forgotten.


There was very little ceremony connected with these early religious gatherings. There was a prayer ; then singing as related; reading of a text from scripture, and then preaching from the text. The text generally had reference to "hell-fire and brimstone," "the lake of fire," "the unquench- able fire," "the eternal and everlasting punishment of the wicked." At that time "conversions" were made by holding up to the sinner the most horrid and ghastly pictures of torment that the "inspired" preacher could conjure up. That was the entire stock in trade, and many's the convert that was made solely from fear that if he did not "profess religion" he would be cast into "the lake of fire and brimstone," and would there roast and bake and boil and stew and writhe and wriggle in the most intense agony through all eternity. The preachers of all the various shades of belief were in perfect accord in regard to the question of the future punishment of the wicked, and everybody was considered "wicked," no matter how exemplary his life might be, if he was not "converted," and declared that he "believed" all that they told him to believe as necessary to salvation. He was expected to believe in the incomprehensible doctrine of the "Trinity"-that there are three Gods in one; in the "Immaculate Conception," the "Atonement," the "Immortality of the Soul," "Original Sin," "Baptism as a Saving Ordi- nance," that the Christian flew away to glory as soon as the spirit left the tenement of clay in which it was housed, that there would be a general resurrection, and somehow, the body would be raised and united with the


271


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.


spirit, and would forever after walk the golden streets of the New Jerusalem, while the wicked would go away into everlasting punishment. Of course the average convert knew nothing about the metaphysical and finespun theories except what the "inspired" preacher told him, and so he accepted them, nolens volens, as gospel truth.


The denominations that had representatives among the people were the Baptists, the New Lights, Christians, Campbellites, Methodists, Presby- terians, etc. It was many years, however, before any of these denomina- tions succeeded in forming a local organization. Along in the '40s the followers of Alexander Campbell began to make considerable of a stir, and for a time those who were converted to that belief were more numerous than those of any of the other denominations.


Alexander Campbell was an Irishman, having been born in Ireland in 1786, and was educated in Glasgow. He came to America in 1809, and took up his residence in Washington county, Pa., where, at that time, many of the early pioneers of Marshall county resided. Afterwards he removed to Bethany, West Virginia, which became his home. For a short time he was pastor of a Presbyterian church, from which denomination he soon separated, on the ground that the Bible should be the sole creed of the church. In 1810, he and his father organized a new society, and two years later he became convinced that immersion was the only mode of baptism; and in accordance with this belief, he and his entire congregation were immersed. They united with the Baptist association, but still protested against all human creeds as a bond of union in the churches. He and his followers were in time excluded from fellowship with the Baptist churches, and in 1827 began to form themselves into a separate organization which extended rapidly into Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana, and in 1864 it numbered 350,000. He published the Millennial Harbinger, which at one time had an immense circulation, and in 1840 established Bethany college, of which he was president at the time of his death. He had numer- ous debates, among the most noted of which was that with Archbishop Purcell in 1836, on The Infallibility of the Church of Rome.




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