USA > Indiana > An illustrated history of the state of Indiana: being a full and authentic civil and political history of the state from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 35
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69 Aug. 14,1826.
Sam. D. Gresham Va.
49
Apr. 30,1830.
These are by no means all the early settlers, or even a com- plete list of those who settled previous to 1829. But it embraces nearly all who located in the county in 1828, and previous to that date.
The first circuit court of Carroll county was held at the house of Daniel Baum, on the eighth of May, 1828, Judge B. F. Morris, presiding. This was a pioneer court scene, but Carroll county has beautifully outgrown those early days. Delphi has, to-day, an elegant court house, and the Carroll Circuit Court is one of its boasted evidences of a high intel- ligence.
The surface of Carroll county is undulating along the Wabash, Tippecanoe and Wild Cat, which are the principal streams; in other places it is level. About one-fifth of the county was originally dry prairie, the balance forest, consist- ing mostly of oak, walnut, poplar, beech and sugar tree. The soil is mostly a rich loam, well adapted to corn, wheat, etc., and these, with cattle, hogs, etc., are the principal surplus articles produced for exportation. The rural districts of the county present one general scene of prosperity. The farmers are nearly all wealthy. They have good residences, thrifty farms, excellent schools, commodious and substantial churches. Education is encouraged, and the youths promise much for the future welfare of a prosperity already flourishing. The towns and villages of the county are all enjoying superior
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
graded schools. Delphi has a population of over two thous- and, and is the largest town in the county. Its school facili- ties are excelled nowhere in the State.
CHAPTER LXIV.
SWITZERLAND COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
T THE first settlement within the limits of Switzerland, of which any definite account can be obtained, was made by Heathcoat Picket, who settled above Plum creek, about three miles above Vevay, in 1795, where he built a cabin and re- mained for several years. There being an abundance of game, his family were always supplied with meat. The bread was made from corn ground in a hand mill. The family consisted of the father, mother, two sons, and one daughter. They all endured severe privations, and often narrowly escaped the dreaded tomahawk of the treacherous savages. In 1798 the Cotton and Deckason families settled on Indian creek, about three miles from the Ohio river, some distance from Vevay. In 1799 Robert Gullion settled in the Ohio river bottom, above the mouth of Loglick creek.
In 1796 John James Dufour, a native of Switzerland, Europe, explored the country along the Ohio river between Cincinnati and Louisville, seeking a suitable location for the future homes of himself, his son, four brothers, three sisters, and a few of their associates who were desirous of coming to America to introduce the cultivation of the vine. He finally located between Indian and Plum creeks, and entered, under a special act of congress, about three thousand acres of land, at two dollars per acre, with interest, on a credit of twelve years - the extended credit being given for the purpose of encour- aging the cultivation of the vine and making domestic wine.
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SWITZERLAND COUNTY - EARLY HISTORY.
" The colonists, numbering seventeen souls, embarked for the United States in January, 1801, and landed at Norfolk, Vir- ginia, in May of the same year. They began arriving at their destination, New Switzerland - the name given to their new settlement -in 1803, and by 1809 they had built comfortable log houses, cleared considerable land, planted orchards and vineyards, and commenced making considerable quantities of wine, which in the market was always known as 'Vevay wine'."
In November, 1813, John Francis Dufour and Daniel Dufour laid out the town of Vevay -the lots being sold at public sale. This sale was quite successful, many persons from neighboring settlements being present and purchasing liberally. In the spring of 1814 persons from Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York commenced settling in the new town. The site of the town, for the most part, was lying in a very heavy timbered tract of land, and it required much hard work to clear off the timber and build houses. The county was organized in 1814, and the county seat was located at Vevay.
The hardships of the early settlers of Switzerland county may be imagined, from the fact that from 1803 to 1813 the settlers within the limits of the county were in continual dread of being attacked and massacred by bands of hostile Indians. As a means for better protection against surprise by the Indians, several families would meet at night at the house of one of the number, and while the women and children and part of the men retired to rest, part of the men kept watch with loaded guns. Through these precautions, but few, if any, persons ever met their death at the hands of hostile Indians in that county.
Immediately after the organization of the county it began to increase in population, and from 1816 to 1822 towns were laid out in different parts of the county, and the general scene was that of activity, industry and thrift. In 1815 James McIntire laid out the town of Erin, opposite Carrollton, Ky., but was unsuccessful in his attempts to attract population at that point. In 1816 Peter Demaree laid out the town of Allensville, which for some time promised to become an im- portant point. It is now a pleasant village. Thus we might
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
name several towns that were laid out in that county in 1816- 17-18, etc. In short, its progress was fully up to the best counties in the State.
The farmers of the county are a very industrious, moral, hard-working people; most of them have gained an independ- ence, and are now enjoying the fruits of their labors, having excellent residences, while their children enjoy the best of schools. Hay is the great staple of the county, and has been exported with great profit. The county is well timbered with the very best quality of wood, and the farmer has all the opportunities and advantages for success. Switzerland county has not increased in population as rapidly as in wealth. Its villages are all established on a firm footing, and its commerce and agriculture are exceedingly prosperous.
CHAPTER LXV.
OHIO COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
0 HIO county contains eighty-seven square miles, or 55,680 acres of territory. Of this, 54,750 acres are tillable. The general character of the land is rolling, and in some parts broken by ranges of hills; these, however, are not so high or so steep as to prevent cultivation. Many of these hill farms rival the bottom lands in fertility; "while the bottom farms, lying along the courses of the Ohio river, Laughery or Arnold's creeks, are fully equal to the far-famed Miami bottoms in rich- ness." Some time previous to its settlement by Americans, the soil of Ohio county was the scene of a terrible massacre - that of Colonol Laughery and his party, which occurred in 1781. Colonel Laughery, with a party of about one hundred men, was descending the Ohio, endeavoring to overtake and and re-enforce the celebrated General G. R. Clark, who was
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OHIO COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
then on an expedition against the western Indians. He was waylaid and surprised near Laughery creek, where he, with most of his men, were overpowered and massacred.
In the spring of 1798, Benjamin Chambers, a government officer, first planted his compass and carried his chain over the land on which now stands Rising Sun-the county seat of Ohio county. "This, together with several tracts which he sur- veyed, was granted to him and Lewis Davis by government, the patent bearing date of October twenty-first, 1807, and the signatures of Thomas Jefferson, president, and James Madison, secretary of state of the United States. In 1803 he had built a double log house, and moved his family out here the same year. In the same year, John Fulton and his son, with their families, emigrated here from Lancaster county, Pa. They bought land the following year from Benj. Chambers, and Samuel Fulton built a cabin on the river bank, near where the woolen factory now stands, in Rising Sun. The beautiful scenery of green and lofty hills, opening fields, giant forests, and winding river, presented an enchanted picture to his fam- ily. He was a pioneer of many excellent qualities, and noted for his daring skill as a hunter, simplicity of manners and integrity of character. He opened his house for the use of the Rev. James Kemper and Rev. David Riske to preach the gos- pel, from 1804 to 1808."* In 1799, Benj. Avery located on a tract of land bordering on the river, a half a mile above Rising Sun. In 1802, Thomas Fulton settled on the bank of Arnold's creek, on what is now known as the Nelson farm. The Indians encamped there often and held their councils, but they were seldom troublesome. In 1803, the Brown family began to settle in the county. First came Ethan Allen Brown. He and David Brown established the " old Brown homestead." Roger Brown, Jr., came in 1810, and the rest of the family in 1814. Ethan Allen Brown rose to honorable distinction in the civil service of his country. He became judge of the supreme court, governor of the State of Ohio, commissioner of the land office, senator of the United States, and minister to Brazil.
* From a sketch in State Atlas.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
He died at Indianapolis, February twenty-fourth, 1852, aged seventy-six years.
The early settlement of Ohio county is-as also that of all other counties in the State-full of romance. In the winter of 1805, Samuel Fulton made a large party for his neighbors; Benj. Chambers, an invited guest, put his oxen to a large pirogue (a water craft, or dug-out), and, with all of his family and a few of his neighbors in it, gave them a merry sleigh-ride to the party. This was a common conveyance during the sea- son of sleighing, in those early days of our history.
In 1817, an attempt was made to organize Ohio county, but the measure was not carried into effect until 1843. In Decem- ber, 1844, the first court was held in Rising Sun -the latter place having been selected as the seat of justice for the county.
Rising Sun is situated upon the Ohio river, thirty-five miles from Cincinnati, Ohio, upon a high rolling table land; so high there is no possibility of an overflow from any rise in the river. A complete natural drainage is afforded. The city was first laid out in the spring of 1814, in a dense forest, which then covered its present site, by John James. Rising Sun was incorporated as a city by a special charter, in January, 1848, and has long been celebrated for its beautiful location, health, wide and pleasant streets, numerous shade trees, cozy and elegant residences, and congenial and intelligent inhabitants.
The land in Ohio county is very fertile, and well watered by numerous small streams. There are throughout the county numerous mounds, near which interesting relics of the " stone age " have been found.
CHAPTER LXVI.
BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
B ARTHOLOMEW county was organized in 1821, under an act of the general assembly, approved January ninth of that year, and was taken from what was then known as Delaware county .* It was named in honor of General Joseph Bartholomew, of Clark county. He was a distinguished soldier of the Indian wars, and commanded a battalion of Indiana militia in the battle of Tippecanoe, where he was severely wounded. In 1819, when the treaty by which the lands in Bartholomew county were ceded to the United States by the natives, there were no white settlers in the county, yet such was the inviting character of the country that it was rapidly settled by an intelligent and enterprising population. At the first election after the organization of the county, there were three hundred and fifty-five votes cast, indicating nearly two thousand inhabitants.
The central and eastern portion of the county is generally level and the soil productive; the western portion is broken and less fertile, although there is but little really poor land in the county. The country known as the "Haw Patch," which is twelve miles in length and six in width, would compare favorably with any portion of the famous "Blue Grass " region of Kentucky. "Between Flatrock and Driftwood," says the author of the "Indiana Gazetteer," "there were originally forests for miles, without any undergrowth, and where the tall and thinly scattered walnut, blue ash and sugar
* Our sketch of Bartholomew county is compiled principally from MS. furnished by Dr. J. C. Beck, of Cincinnati, an old and respected resident of the county.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
trees no more interfered with travelers on horseback or in car- riages, than would open parks, where trees had been planted and trimmed for the purpose."
The principal water courses are the Driftwood or East Fork of White river, Flatrock, Big Sand creek, Little Sand creek, Clifty, Blue river, Rock creek, Haw creek, Duck creek, Tough creek, White creek, Bear creek, Denio's creek, Nineveh creek, Cook's creek and Pleasant run; Driftwood fork was, by an act of the legislature in 1824, declared a public highway; nearly all these streams afford mill facilities during a greater part of the year, and a never-failing supply of water for stock. Fish were formerly found in abundance, but of late years the · supply has notably diminished, and artificial means have been resorted to, to restore it, with a fair prospect of success.
Prominent among the early settlers were, John Lindsay, Luke Bousteel, John Prathea, David Deitz, John R. Robinson, Williamson Terrell, Francis J. Cramp, Joseph Cox, Tunis Quick, William S. Jones, David Kellar, Ransom Davis, Arch- ibald McEwan, Solomon Stout, Samuel Nelson, Jacob Cook, James Hamner, Joseph McFall, Samuel Beek, and Jessie and William Ruddick. They had mostly emigrated from Ken- tucky, and were all men of character and force, and contrib- uted largely to the subsequent prosperity of the county. Many of their descendants reside there, and are numbered among the most prominent and influential citizens.
Columbus is the county seat of Bartholomew. It has been incorporated as a city. Hartsville, Hope, Taylors- ville, Azalia, Elizabethtown, Jonesville, Walesboro, Waynes- ville, Newburn, Mount Healthy, Waymansville, Clifford, Bethany, Kansas, Burnsville, and St. Louis Crossing are incorporated towns, all of them prosperous and thriving. The county seat was selected by William P. Thomasson, of Harrison county, Ebenezer E. Morgan, of Crawford county, John E. Clark, of Washington county, and James Hamilton, of Jackson county, commissioners appointed by the general assembly for that purpose. They met at the house of John Parker, on Haw creek, February twelfth, 1821, and after care- ful consideration, agreed upon the site. They decided to call
CROSSCUP & WEST-SC.PHILA.
PETER E. STUDEBAKER, ESQ.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
it Tiptona, in honor of General Tipton, who owned lands in the vicinity, but the county commissioners, at their second meeting, in March, 1821, changed the name to Columbus.
The first settlers of Columbus were John Lindsay and Luke Bonesteel, who had purchased by entry from the general gov- ernment in 1820, the ground upon which a considerable por- tion of the town was located, and which was donated by them for the purpose of securing the location. David Deitz, the oldest settler in Columbus, now living, came there in the spring of 1821. The next in seniority, still residing there, is Francis J. Crump, president of the First National bank, who came early the following year. Williamson Terrell came to the place, from Kentucky, in 1821. There were but three houses in it, and so unpromising was its prospects that he left. He returned, however, in 1828, and remained till his death in 1873
Bartholomew county has all the elements of greatness, and it naturally invites capital and remunerates abundantly the husbandman.
In consequence of the donation of a large amount of land, by the Indians, at a treaty for the specified purpose of build- ing a road from the Ohio river to Lake Michigan, the building of this road, and especially as no point on the Ohio river had been designated in the treaty, every place from the mouth of the Miami to the Wabash intrigued for it. For several ses- sions this was the prize coveted and contended for .*
Jefferson county was ably represented in the house by Mil- ton Stapp, and in the senate by Joseph G. Marshall, who, by their energy and talents, secured Madison as the starting point from the Ohio river, and as they suspected Philip Sweetser, who represented Bartholomew county, of having senatorial aspirations, which would naturally lead him to prefer Jeffer- sonville as a starting point, they had the road laid off by the way of Greensburg and Shelbyville, instead of through Ver- non, Columbus and Franklin, as it ought, if it was to become a great thoroughfare.
* From Dr. J. C. Beck's MS.
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BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY.
This caused the defeat of Sweetser and the election of Wil- liam Herod the following year, who became our next repre- sentative.
Colonel T. G. Lee, who represented the county in 1835-6, secured charters for railroads from Madison and Jeffersonville through Columbus to Indianapolis, and the people, on learning the fact, assembled and had a time of great rejoicing, bonfires, etc., little suspecting that the very next day, the charter for the Jeffersonville branch railroad had been repealed by the efforts of Marshall and Stapp. Some years after the same charter was again granted, and made only a few years later than the Madison railroad, and is now the more important of the two roads.
The first train on the latter road reached Columbus on the fourth day of July, 1844, greeted with great joy by the people of the county. Now they are accommodated by two railroads crossing at Columbus and traversing the county in the form of an X; the Jeffersonville road having trains direct without change of cars to the eastern cities. The Madison and Jeffer- sonville roads unite here and go direct to Indianapolis. What is called the Cambridge City Branch railroad, is the direct route to the Eastern cities.
Another projected line from Cincinnati, passing through the middle of the county, from east to west, to the famous coal and iron fields in the western portion of the State, will per- haps be built in a few years.
The county is well improved by turnpikes and other works for the convenience and comfort of the people. During the year 1821, and until July, 1822, the courts occupied the house located on lot No. 119 of the original plat of Columbus, and known as the "Luke Bonesteel House. ' John Pence and Ephriam Arnold, associate judges, held the first court March twelfth, and the second court June eleventh, 1821. At the third term, held in October of the same year, Davis Floyd, judge of the second judicial district of the State, presided, with the same two associates previously named. The next court was held in a log house on lot No. 148, north-east corner of Lindsay and Walnut streets, owned by Wm. V. Snyder, and
32
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
the youthful Wm. W. Wick, presiding judge, with Pense and Arnold as " side judges." In 1824, court moved into a house provided by Philip Sweetser.
In 1825, court was held in Newton C. Jones' house, on the north-east corner of Jackson and Walnut streets. We have been thus minute in the history of the courts, to show the con- trast between then and now, as Bartholomew county now has the most elegant temple of justice in the State, outside of Indianapolis. ·
The brick court house, built by Giles Mitchel, was occupied by the courts and received by the county commissioners November, 1825. This court house was regarded by the pioneers as " extravagantly costly," but the rapid progress of the county in wealth and population, and the early decay of the building, caused, in 1838, the board of justices to order " that the old court house be sold, and a new court house built."
Columbus has now a population of over five thousand. Its schools are conducted on the most efficient plan, in commodi- ous buildings. The new court house is an ornament to the city, and a credit to the county. The city is quite prosperous in commerce, education and public improvements.
The rural districts of the county are nearly all wealthy. The farmers are enjoying the richest fruits of the husband- man's toil, and are mostly independent. in this world's goods. They had early provided excellent schools for the young, and in every quarter there are noticeable evidences of industry and thrift.
CHAPTER LXVII.
FLOYD COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
F LOYD county was named in honor of Colonel John Floyd, of Virginia. The surface of the county contains some of the distinguishing physical features of the State. A range of hills called the "knobs," about two and a half miles in breadth, runs through the county from north to south, reach- ing the Ohio a short distance below New Albany, the county seat. They present a very rugged surface, and are composed of slate, clay, soft sandstone and iron ore. Above the clay and ore is a layer of freestone, valuable for building purposes. East of the knobs, and in a portion of the country west, the land is gently rolling, but the general character of the county is hilly and the soil poor, with the exception of some tracts of good land. The county was formerly quite well timbered. Much of the county is well adapted to the cultivation of corn and grass, and to raising cattle, hogs, horses and sheep.
Any sketch of Floyd county must be principally of New Albany. Within the limits of that city we find concentrated most of the industry, wealth, and materials for future great- ness in the county.
New Albany was laid out in 1813, by Joel, Abner and Nathaniel Scribner. The original plat of the town did not embrace more than one-third of its present area, the purchase of the Scribners amounting to but eight hundred and twenty- six and one-half acres. The land was purchased by the Scrib- ner brothers of John Paul, who entered it at the government land office at Vincennes. The lots were disposed of by public auction on the first Tuesday and Wednesday of November, 1813, and there was a stipulation in the advertisement of the
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
sale that "one-fourth part of each payment upon the lots sold shall be paid into the hands of trustees, to be chosen by the purchasers, until such payments shall amount to five thousand dollars, the interest of which to be applied to the use of schools in the town for the use of its inhabitants forever." This was the manner in which the Scribner high school of New Albany was founded, which, through the lapse of fifty- nine years, has flourished, and is now one among the most efficiently managed and prosperous high schools in Indiana. It is connected with the public schools of the city as the male high school. Provision was also made by the Scribners for lots upon which to erect churches, county buildings, and for a public park, all which generous designs of the founders of the city have been fully carried out. In 1814 a large number of families removed to New Albany, and from that time forward, notwithstanding the nearness of Louisville, and the start that town had gained in population and business, the contiguity of Jeffersonville and shipping post, and the laying off and settle- ment of Portland, on the opposite side of the Ohio, with the active competition these towns offered, New Albany had a steady and substantial, but not a rapid, growth.
There are no thrilling incidents in the early history of New Albany. It has had a quiet growth, and has " ever been more celebrated for its moral, religious and educational advan- tages, fine climate and good health, than as a 'fast town,' where vice is predominant, and the temptations to youth numerous and alluring. In its religion, benevolent and educa- tional enterprises, it has always held the rank of the first city in the State."
The location and scenery are admirable. "It is laid out," says Mr. Cotton, " upon a beautiful plateau, above high water mark in the Ohio, upon two benches or plains that sweep northward by a gentle rise from the river, with wide streets crossing each other at right angles. To the west and north- west is a range of hills from three to five hundred feet in height, known to the Indians as the 'Silver Hills,' from the peculiarly bright, smoky halo that ever hangs around and over them. These hills, now called the ' knobs,' are crowned
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FLOYD COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
with grand old forest trees, or dotted here and there with neat and often elegant farm houses. They add greatly to the beauty of the city, giving it a most charming and romantic appearance. From these hills a magnificent view of New Albany, Louisville, Jeffersonville, the Falls of the Ohio, the great Ohio river bridge at the Falls, the far-away hills that loom up in grandeur along Salt river, in Kentucky, the famous Muldraugh hill of that State, the entire range of knobs in Indiana for many miles, and a long stretch of river. A more grand and beautiful natural panorama is nowhere else unrolled in Indiana. This range of hills protects the city from storms, and such a thing as a hurricane is unknown at New Albany, while the violence of such storms not unfrequently falls with destructive force upon the neighboring cities of Louisville and Jeffersonville. These 'knobs' afford splendid building sites for suburban residences, and are especially celebrated for the superior quality and abundance of the peaches, pears, plums, apples, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, and other fruits grown upon them. For the purposes of fruit culture the lands on these 'knobs' are in great demand. Nevertheless, they sell at remarkably low prices per acre. The city, to the west, along the line of the Ohio river, overlooks miles of rich and highly cultivated garden lands, while to the east and northeast large and valuable farms meet the view."
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