USA > Indiana > Marshall County > A twentieth century history of Marshall County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 8
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Wiseman, Charles M., private, Plymouth.
Wolf, Charles, private, Donaldson.
Wolf, George, private, Donaldson.
LXXIII. INTERESTING HISTORICAL INFORMATION.
Marshall county was named after Chief Justice Marshall, of the supreme court of the United States. It occupies a territory of twenty-one miles square, or 441 square miles.
It was organized by Samuel C. Sample, Peter Johnson and Griffin Treadway, commissioners named in the act of the legislature for that pur- pose, on the twentieth of July, 1836. The seat of justice was established at Plymouth the same day.
The original proprietors of Plymouth were William Polk, John Sering and James Blair. William Polk was a resident of Fulton county, and erected, a short distance north of the Tippecanoe river, on the east side of the Michigan road, the first frame house in northern Indiana. He was employed to look after the interest of the government in regard to Indian treaties, and was also interested in opening the Michigan road, being one of the contractors. John Sering was a resident of Jefferson county at Madison, and James Blair of Vermillion county. Blair and Sering were also interested in opening the Michigan road, and in that way probably secured the land on which Plymouth is located. When Gen. John Tipton removed the Pottawattomie Indians from Twin Lakes in 1838 he delivered them to William Polk at Danville, who had been appointed by the United States government to receive them at that place, and from there he took charge of them and delivered them on the reservation provided for them on the Osage river west of the Missouri river.
The county was organized into townships from time to time, on the dates following :
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
Center, July 20, 1836. Green, July 20, 1836. North, July 20, 1836. German, May 11, 1838. Bourbon, January 6, 1840.
Union, March 1, 1840.
Tippecanoe, March 9, 1842.
Polk, March 4, 1845. West, March 8, 1854. Walnut, June 9, 1859.
The following towns were laid out and organized on the dates given :
Plymouth, July 20, 1836.
Bourbon, April 23, 1853.
Bremen, October 21, 1851.
Argos, January 8, 1851.
Inwood, December 20, 1854.
Tyner, June 18, 1855. Uniontown, June 8, 1844, changed to Marmont, 1851.
Marmont, 1851.
Culver, 1896.
Maxinkuckee, no date of organization.
Tippecanoe Town, December 12, 1850.
Teegarden, October 30, 1873.
La Paz, August 5, 1873.
Panama, September 6, 1854.
Walnut, April 16, 1866.
Linkville, June 9, 1866.
Donelson, October 25, 1871.
Ilion, 1882. Rutland, 1882.
Hibbard, 1882. Burr Oak, 1882.
The population of the county according to the official census each decade has been as follows: 1836, 600; 1840, 1,650; 1850, 5,600; 1860, 12,500; 1870, 20,211 ; 1880, 23,403; 1890, 23,818; 1900, 25,119.
The first courthouse was a frame building erected by the proprietors of the town in consideration of the location of the county seat in Plymouth. Its cost was about $300, and was located on the northwest corner of Michi- gan and Adams streets. There were no rooms in it, and the county officers kept their offices at their residences, or at some of the business houses downtown. When not in use for court purposes, and there was not much court business in those days, it was used for school purposes and for town meetings.
The second courthouse was built in 1850, on the present courthouse grounds, at a cost of $5,000.
The third, the present courthouse, was completed and occupied June II, 1872. Its original cost was $105,000.
The first county jail was built on the south side of the courthouse
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
square, and was completed August 7, 1838. The material of which it was erected was white burr oak hewn logs. The cost was $399.
The second county jail was of brick and was built by Albert Bass at a cost of $2,380. It was completed June 1, 1851.
The third, the present jail, was erected by Wm. H. Myers, of Fort Wayne, in 1879, at a probable cost, including everything connected with it, of $25,000.
The first county asylum was purchased in 1849 at a cost of $1,671. It was a farm and dwelling situated three miles west of Plymouth on the La Porte road. It was sold June 19, 1853, for $1,350, and a farm purchased near Tyner, which was used for the care of the indigent poor until the completion of the present asylum, three miles east of Plymouth, September 12, 1893. The entire expense of the present asylum was as follows: For land, $19,547.50; for building asylum, etc., $33,364.83; for barn, $2,763.88; total, $55,677.21.
The first election held in the county was August 5, 1836, at which only 135 votes were cast.
The first telegraph line built to this place was from La Porte by way of the Kankakee bridge in 1852. The citizens subscribed money to buy a telegraph instrument and an office was opened in that year with Henry Cougle the first operator. He served until the early part of 1853, when he was succeeded by Daniel McDonald.
The second line was built in the early part of 1858, on the line of the Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad, and was especially intended for the use of the road. Daniel McDonald was the first operator on that line.
The third line was built along the line of the old Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago railroad in 1862. The name of the first operator is not known. Since then lines have been constructed along the tracks of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis railroad, the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, and the Vandalia railroad. On all these roads there are numerous lines stretched, and, without stopping to count them, at a guess there must be as many as 100 lines leading in every direction through and out of the county.
A telephone exchange was established in Plymouth in 1881, with C. A. Reeve manager. Since then the business has grown until nearly all the business houses and many residences have been supplied with telephones, and lines have been constructed to all the towns in the county, and many farmers throughout the county have had telephone instruments put in their dwellings.
The La Porte & Plymouth was the first railroad that reached Plymouth. It was completed July 18, 1856. Its name has been changed many times, and it is now known as the Lake Erie & Western railroad.
The Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad was completed from Fort Wayne to Plymouth November 10, 1856.
The Baltimore & Ohio was completed through the northern part of the county, running through Bremen, La Paz and Teegarden in December, 1874.
The New York, Chicago & St. Louis railroad was completed through the southern part of the county, running through Ilion, Argos, Rutland, Hibbard and Burr Oak in 1884. This road is better known as "The Nickel Plate."
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
The Terre Haute & Logansport, better known as the Vandalia, was completed from Logansport by way of Maxinkuckee lake, Plymouth and La Paz to South Bend, in the fall of 1883 and spring of 1884.
First Events.
The following are among the first things :
The first marriage license was issued June 21, 1836, to John W. Cruzan and Matilda Henderson. The marriage ceremony was performed by Wm. G. Pomeroy, justice of the peace.
The first representative in the state legislature was Joel Long, of Kosciusko county, Kosciusko and Marshall counties being then a legislative district.
John Dixon was granted license to vend merchandise in 1836, and was the first merchant. John Compton in 1836 was the first licensed hotel keeper.
The first estate administered on was that of Mary Pattengale, Adam Vinnedge, administrator, November 13, 1837.
The first letter of guardianship was issued November 14, 1836, to Thomas Robb, on the person and estate of his daughter, Nancy Robb.
The first judgment taken in the court was for $331, in favor of Sidney Williams, of Green township.
The first saw mill was built in Plymouth by Milburn Coe, in 1837, on the west bank of Yellow river, about half-way to the north between what is now known as the Zehner's flouring mill and the mill dam above.
The first grist mill was erected by Timothy Barber in West township at the place known as the "Old Forge," at the west end of Twin Lakes.
The first lawyers were Gustavus A. Everts and R. L. Farnsworth, not long after the organization of the county. There was little law business here then and they soon left for La Porte or South Bend.
The first physician was Dr. Jeroloman, of Logansport, who had been sent here by the government to administer such medical aid as the Potta- wattomie Indians might need. After the Indians were removed he returned to Logansport.
The first indictment by the grand jury was against Robert Beattie for selling liquor unlawfully.
The first white child born in the county was Cyrus Taber, in 1834, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel D. Taber, who lived two miles south of Plymouth on the Michigan road, and who kept a tavern which he called Pashpo, in honor of an Indian chief by that name who lived in the vicinity. Cyrus Taber died several years ago.
For many years the distinction of being the oldest inhabitant of the county belonged to Robert Schroeder, of North township. Since his death a number of years ago, the honor seems to have fallen to Charles W. Morgan, also of North township, who came to the county and has resided here since 1834.
The first newspaper published in the county was the Plymouth Pilot, the first number of which was issued April 16, 1851, by John Q. Howell, editor and proprietor. Another paper prior to the Pilot-The Journal-was said to have been issued here, but diligent investigation has failed to obtain
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
any reliable information in regard to it, so the Pilot is accorded the dis- tinction of being the first newspaper published in the county.
November 26, 1851, S. Lasher advertised that he had taken rooms in the courthouse for the purpose of taking "daguerrean likenesses (not cari- catures)" and added: "Parents, soon these frail tenements will be moulder- ing in the dust-secure, then, the image ere the substance fade, to leave as a memento to your children in after years when you are gone-and as children may die, would it not be well to preserve a true likeness when so easily obtained? An opportunity is now offered to secure the shadow ere the substance fade ; let nature copy that which nature made."
Mr. Lasher was the first daguerreotypist ever in Plymouth. He was followed shortly afterwards by J. E. Armstrong. His studio was in the third house north on the northwest corner of Michigan and Jefferson streets. He removed to Illinois about 1854, and for a long time Plymouth was without a photograph artist.
The following notice appeared in an issue of the Plymouth Banner, in 1853: "Education-Knowledge is Power. The subscriber takes this method of informing the citizens of Plymouth and vicinity that he will open a schoolhouse on Monday, the twenty-fifth of July, 1853. Terms: Com- mon English branches, per quarter, $2.50; Natural Philosophy, Algebra and Geometry, $3.00 ; Languages-Greek, Latin and French, $5.00.
"JASPER PACKARD."
Since then Gen. Packard lived a lifetime; had been a member of con- gress, a general in the war of the Rebellion, a newspaper editor many years, and at the time of his death a few years ago, when acting as governor of the Indiana Soldiers Home at LaFayette, had lived to see the great free school system of Indiana firmly established with a permanent school fund of $12,000,000.
R. Sands & Co.'s "Hippofereæn" circus performed in Plymouth on September 17, 1851.
On Sunday, October 1I, 1851, the following citizens started overland to the newly discovered gold mines of California: Jacob K. Hupp, William Hupp, John C. How, Edward Tibbitts, David Gibbons, Henry McFarlin, Adam Vinnedge, John Harvey and Jacob Freese. All these men are dead.
April 16, 1851, James Bannon, then one of Plymouth's leading business men, published the following notice to the public :
"William Marshall, an Indian, procured from me a note for $22, dated March 22, 1851, payable two days after date, signed by me. Said note was fraudulently obtained, and I shall refuse to pay it. James Bannon."
This Bill Marshall was a bad Indian. He was killed two or three years after this time by another Indian by the name of Nigo, who lived north of Bourbon, in a quarrel that arose between them growing out of Marshall attempting liberties about Nigo's premises which resulted in Marshall's death by Nigo taking his gun down from over the fireplace and shooting him dead on the spot. Nigo was released by the coroner's jury on a plea of self-defense.
In 1851 Marshall county, according to the report made to the governor, contained 45,280 acres of swamp land.
In a June issue of the Plymouth Pilot the following notice appeared :
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
"Washingtonian Society .- We have been requested to state that a meeting of this society will be held on Monday evening next at carly candle light, at the Presbyterian church. The meeting will be addressed by Judge Fuller."
The Presbyterian church referred to was located on the lot where now is located the city hall. For several years this church was about the only building in town where public meetings could be held and it was frequently used for temperance meetings and gatherings such as could be held with propriety in a building set apart for religious purposes.
In the Pilot of July, 1851, the following accidents were recorded :
"A melancholy accident occurred in our town Saturday morning last. John Moore, who drives the stage between this place and South Bend, was kicked by a horse, breaking his jaw and nearly depriving·him of his life."
A few still residing here will remember John Moore and his wife, who were among the early young people of Plymouth. A few years after the above occurrence they removed to the western country, and if still living their whereabouts are unknown.
The editor said :
"We are called to announce another fatal accident. A son of Judge Jacoby, living about four miles from town, was killed on the eleventh inst. while rolling logs. On hitching to a log and starting, the log turned round and struck a dead stub, which it knocked down and struck the boy on the head, breaking his skull and shoulder blade and killing him instantly."
Judge Jacoby was one of the associate judges of the circuit court about that time, and was one of the prominent pioneers of the county. He lived east of Plymouth in what was known as "the Jacoby neighborhood," and nearly half a century ago with his family settled in Missouri, where he remained until his death, thirty odd years ago.
The report of the proceedings of the legislature in the paper for July 18, 1851, contained the following :
"The bill relative to the South Bend and Plymouth Plank Road Com- pany was read a third time and passed." .
"The senate bill to authorize the assessment and collection of a specific tax for road purposes in Marshall county was read a third time and passed."
"The bill incorporating the La Porte and Plymouth Bridge Company was read a third time and passed."
At that time Plymouth had an extensive manufacturing establishment, the advertisement of which reads very strange in these days. It was as follows :
"John Cougle, manufacturer of Salaratus, and dealer in Potash, Black Salts, Ashes, etc., for which the highest price will be paid at his establish- ment, which is now in full operation, and making more and better Salaratus than any other establishment of the kind in the state."
Benjamin Reed advertised the same kind of business at his "old stand about eight miles east of Plymouth."
The Oldest Settler.
Charles W. Morgan, now residing in North township, claims to be and is, undoubtedly, the oldest settler in Marshall county. He was born October 13, 1823, and came with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Silas Morgan, to Marshall
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HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.
county, arriving here on the first day of June, 1833. His father, Silas Morgan, was a contractor in opening the Michigan road, and, being a car- penter, was employed and built the first bridge across Yellow river, where the present bridge is now located on Michigan street. It was a rough structure, the sills being logs cut of sufficient length and laid the proper height on cross logs. The flooring was what was called hewed puncheons, fastened to the sills by wooden pins driven into auger holes. It was only wide enough for a single team and wagon to pass over. Yellow river was very uncertain at that time. It was fed from the marshes and swamps and branches and creeks, and especially from the outlet from Lake of the Woods, about half-way between Plymouth and Bremen, and when a heavy rain came the river immediately filled its banks to overflowing. The conse- quence was that the bridge, not being on a very solid foundation, soon gave way under the pressure of the water and washed out. During the first few years the bridge had to be rebuilt several times. The bottom of the river was muck and mud and it was almost impossible to put in a foundation that would stand the pressure of the high water. A number of bridges were built prior to the present structure, each one being a little improvement on the one previous. Silas Morgan was also the contractor and builder of the first Seminary building, somewhere in the '50s. He was also the first recorder of Marshall county, and served from April 23, 1836, to May 7, 1837. He died December 19, 1863. Charles W. Morgan, the subject of this sketch, has been a farmer most of his life, and, although in his eighty- fifth year, is hale and hearty and bids fair to live many years yet.
The Cold New Year .- January 1, 1864, has come down in the history of the weather in Marshall county as "The Cold New Year." Few people living here now can remember the date-whether it was January 1, 1863, or 1864. For the purpose of settling the question for all time to come, it is here stated that the date was January 1, 1864. The very imperfect ther- mometers here at that time registered all the way from twenty-two to twenty- six degrees below zero-owing to the place the thermometer was hung up.
Both of the papers published in Plymouth at that time-the Democrat and Republican-agreed on the intensity of the cold being twenty-two degrees below zero. They also both stated that there was no mail from Chicago from Thursday evening, December 31, to Sunday evening, January 3, 1864, 10 trains over the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad being able to get out of the city during that time. For nearly a week business was almost entirely suspended, but beyond this nothing serious occurred on account of the "Cold New Year."
CLOSING WORDS.
The historian comes now to the end of his part in the production of this volume, and he does not feel like closing the task now at an end without a final word to his readers. Those who are without experience in history writing can have no conception of the labor and difficulties that confront the historian even in so insignificant a work as that which precedes these closing words. The historian is aware that a peroration ought not to be necessary to the elucidation of the matter contained in the work, for it should be sufficiently self-explanatory without it. It looks like an attempt to paint the lily, or add another tinge to the rainbow ; but it is not. It is for the purpose of begging the reader's pardon for whatever he may see in the work that does not please him, and to say to him that the historian regrets a thousand times more than he does that the matter about which he may be displeased was one of the psychological happenings that could not be avoided. As this is the last work of this kind, or of any other for that matter, he will ever attempt, the disappointed reader may congratulate himself that his affliction will cease with the perusal of the foregoing pages.
In the preparation of this work it has been the aim of the historian to gather together the facts and to treat briefly every subject relating to the inhabitants of the county from the earliest period down to the present time, and so in his researches he has gone back in the misty mazes of the past so far that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. He has dug into the earth and brought forth several fine specimens of the bones of the mastodon which were supposed to exist at an epoch anterior to man. He lias also investigated so far as time and opportunity permitted the Mound Builders, which were supposed to have inhabited this region since the days of the mastodon and prior to the coming of the American Indian. Unmis- takable evidences of the presence of the Mound Builders in this part of the country have been found, but nothing as to their history, or from whence they came or whither they went was discovered. The buffalo were plentiful here prior to the coming of the Indians, and some few specimens were seen in this region a few years prior to the settlement of the county in the early part of the last century. The Pottawattomie Indians to the number of 1,500 or 2,000 occupied the territory now embraced in Marshall county. The historian has given a full account as to how the white settlers became pos- sessed of the territory belonging to the Indians; how their lands were taken from them and they were driven away beyond the Missouri river, which he believes will be the most interesting part of this work. They were the first owners of the land and the first inhabitants, and as such should be accorded the most prominent place in any history of the county.
It has been the aim of the historian to confine himself to matter con- nected in some way with the history of the county, and to state the facts as near as they could be ascertained, embellished with such flights of rhetoric at his command as the subject seemed to require, and in no instance has he
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ventured an opinion of his own in regard to the subject about which he has written. He has aimed to occupy the position of a witness sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, testifying before those who are to sit in judgment upon the testimony submitted.
For more than a year the author has devoted all the time at his disposal to the preparation of this work, having in view the sole object to make it as complete and perfect as a work of this kind could be made. Every source of information that promised results so far as possible has been thor- oughly investigated, and events, facts and dates so far as could be done have been verified and the whole arranged in a readable connected story of the early settlement and history of Marshall county.
The work has been a labor of love, and in making it as complete and satisfactory to the reader as possible the author leaves it to the citizens of Marshall county as a memorial of the love and esteem he bears for them and the grand old county where his entire active life has been spent, and where he has many times been honored, possibly beyond his merits, with honorable and high official positions.
To many friends who have assisted in the work the writer is under lasting obligation, and to one and all he extends his heartfelt thanks. To the publishers of this work especially, and their gentlemanly assistants who have at all times rendered valuable aid when the opportunity presented itself, sincere thanks are hereby tendered.
Hoping and trusting that that charity which covers a multitude of shortcomings will be extended in all its fullness, and invoking the indulgence of the reader in behalf of whatever may be found amiss, the historian, bidding each and all "a hearty, warm, fond adieu," turns his face from the "graves of the dead past" to the opening scenes of a brighter and better future.
DANIEL MCDONALD.
DANIEL MCDONALD, the author of this history, has lived in Marshall county since July 26, 1836, having known and been identified with the county as a child, an observant boy, and as a man of varied activity in business lines, in the management of a newspaper, and in official capaci- ties. These experiences make him the best qualified of all citizens of the county to write a history from pioneer times to the present. It seems but justice to the author that these qualifications should be stated, and in that connection the publishers insert the following brief sketch of his career :
Mr. McDonald was born in Fayette county, Indiana, near Conners- ville, May 6, 1833, and came to Marshall county with his parents, Thomas and Elizabeth (Dickson) McDonald, locating in a log cabin in the wilder- ness near Lake Maxinkuckee. His school education was confined to a few terms in the log schoolhouses of the pioneer days, besides such edu- cation as he has received by experience. Early in his career he was tele- graph operator and station agent, then was a bank cashier, and as a practical printer entered the newspaper field and for thirty years was editor and publisher of the Plymouth Democrat. For over eight years he was clerk of the Marshall circuit court, three times a member of the Plymouth school board, and a member of the Indiana legislature during the regular and special sessions of 1869 and the regular sessions of 1905 and 1907. He was Democratic candidate for Congress from the Thir- teenth district in 1880, a delegate to the Democratic national convention at St. Louis in 1876 and Chicago in 1884; and for several years member of the Democratic state committee and chairman of the district committee.
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