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 1879 > Part 32
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ELKHART COUNTY - DESCRIPTIVE.
to these, Elkhart is an important railroad point and a com- mercial and manufacturing centre.
Goshen is the county seat of Elkhart county. It is situated on the east bank of the Elkhart river, and near Elkhart prairie. This prairie is about five miles long and about three miles in width, and is noted for the depth and richness of its soil. The site of the city was formerly oak openings. The land upon which the city stands was entered by the county, and the first lots were sold in the fall of 1831. William Bissell was the first permanent white settler. The first mill was built on Rock Run, about half a mile from the centre of the town, by John Carpenter, in 1831. Goshen, as a town, began in true pioneer style; but, step by step, she has grown, until to-day, with a population of nearly six thousand, and rapidly increas- ing commercial and manufacturing industries, she stands among the important centres of wealth and population in the State. It will not be necessary to enumerate all the special features of Elkhart and Goshen; what can be said of one may be said of the other. They are both flourishing and prosperous cities, with a bright prospect for the near future. Goshen has excellent schools, and the higher educational advantages of the city are the pride of its citizens.
Elkhart county affords to-day a happy contrast with its con- dition twenty years ago. Then the farmers were struggling for a living; now they are mostly independent, live in neat and commodious residences, and take a vast deal of solid com- fort. The youth have all the advantages of our great common school system, and the moral and intellectual condition of the people is not only improving, but already at a high standard. There are numerous thrifty villages in the county, all of which are graced with incorporated schools, fine churches, and other public improvements.
A portion of this sketch is compiled from Mr. Turner's work.
CHAPTER LVII.
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY -IHISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
TIIE surface of St. Joseph county is greatly diversified, and is thoroughly adapted to agriculture in all its branches. The soil is divided into four classes: 1st, The light, sandy soil of the original oak springs, or barrens; 2d, The black, sandy loam of the thick woods; 3d, The deep vegetable mould of the prairies ; 4th, The natural meadows and marshes. There are some extensive prairies in the county, all of which are similar to the general prairies of the great west. "The marshes," says Mr. Turner, in his work on the St. Joseph valley, " are quite numerous, but none of them of much mag- nitnde, except the celebrated Kankakee, which commences two miles from the St. Joseph river, near South Bend. It is but a few years since these lands began to be prized at something near their real value. At present, however, under a proper system of drainage, they have become very desirable. In many localities, the coarse marsh grass and useless weeds have given way to fields cultivated in wheat, corn, or other crops, or to pasture, or meadow lands, thickly set in timothy or blue grass. The Kankakee marsh, or perhaps more properly, the valley of the Kankakee, in particular, presents a remarkable illustration of the benefits of judicious drainage. Here, on four square miles of land, or about two thousand five hundred acres, there have been constructed over twenty miles of ditch, averaging eight feet in width by four feet in depth. These ditches have an average fall of about four fect to the mile. Three-quarters of this drainage is through the outlet of the Kankakee lake into the St. Joseph river, some two miles dis- tant, and more than forty feet below the lake and the sur-
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ST. JOSEPHI COUNTY - HISTORICAL.
rounding country. Along here is the dividing line between the waters flowing into the St. Lawrence on the one hand, and into the Gulf of Mexico on the other. Indeed, so equal is the poise here, that it is frequently impossible to tell in which direction the water is inclined to run when unobstructed and unassisted by art."
St. Joseph county is well watered by fine springs, clear run- ning streams, and several ponds and lakes, and at almost every point the best of water is found by sinking wells from fifteen to twenty-five feet.
St. Joseph county was organized on the twenty-seventh of
WO
RKS STUDEBAKER
FFERSON ST.
STUDEBAKER BROS. CARRIAGE WORKS, SOUTH BEND
August, 1830. "On that day," says the author last quoted, "in pursuance of the act of the general assembly, Adam Smith, Lambert McComb, and Levi F. Arnold, met at the house of Alexis Coquillard, and having each presented his commission as a justice of the peace, from James B. Ray, gov- ernor of the State, took the oath of office before L. M. Taylor, clerk of the county. They then proceeded to elect Lambert McComb president of the board, and St. Joseph had a legal existence." The first act of the newly-created board was to appoint John D. Lasy treasurer of the county. Panels of grand and petit jurors were drawn to serve at the term of the
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
circuit court, to be held in the following November. It is said, however, that this court was never held. The first court of record, of which there has been any record preserved, was held at South Bend on the twenty-ninth day of October, 1832, by IIon. John R. Porter, president judge of the first judicial circuit to which the county was then attached for judicial pur- poses. The session of this court lasted but one day, and was held in the bar-room of Calvin Lilley's hotel.
The first steamboat arrived at South Bend in the spring of 1834. "She was propelled by a stern wheel, and was called the Matilda Barrey. She was hailed with great rejoicings, and her advent celebrated with numerous and full-sized liba- tions of red-eye and tangle-leg decoctions."
It should be observed, in this connection, (as it should more properly have been in the first part of this volume,) that in 1831, by an act of the general assembly of the State, the boards of justices of the peace, in whom the government of counties had previously been vested, were abolished, and the election of county commissioners provided for. The first election under this law was held in St. Joseph county, in the summer of 1831, and resulted in the election of Aaron Staun- ton, David Miller, and Joseph Rarer.
In May, 1830, the commissioners appointed by the general assembly, met and located the county seat on the " McCartney farm," then owned by William Brookfield, about two miles below the center of the present city of South Bend. "Each of the commissioners," says Mr. Turner, in his appropriate work, " was honored by having his name given to a street - an honor which, however brilliant in anticipation, has only been realized in successive crops of corn." In May, 1831, the county seat was located at South Bend. The first court house was completed in 1837, and this was taken down in 1S54, to give place to the present one.
The city of South Bend is located on both banks of the St. Joseph, " near a point where the river suddenly turns from a nearly west course and stretches away with a rapid current northward, into the State of Michigan. The site of the city is extremely picturesque and beautiful. * * The location is
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ST. JOSEPH COUNTY - DESCRIPTIVE.
elevated and commanding, and the character of the soil, and the excellent facilities for perfect drainage, are a perpetual guarantee of healthy and attractive places of residence, and dry, hard thoroughfares for l. comotion." We quote still fur- ther from Mr. Turner, concerning the beautiful city of South Bend: "The rich sandy loam, of which the soil is composed, forms abundant nutriment for the healthy and rapid growth of innumerable shade and ornamental trees, indigenous to the locality, among which may be mentioned the sugar and silver maple, the elin, the sycamore, the walnut, and the oak; while gardens are filled with thrifty apple, pear, peach, plum, cherry, and quince trees, and an abundance of the smaller fruits. The streets are wide and regular, crossing each other at right angles, and at convenient intervals. The grades are uniform, with a sufficient fall toward the river to secure perfect drain- age, and afford a never-failing auxiliary to the natural health- fulness of the place. The business houses are capacious and convenient, while many of them, by their imposing appear- ance, impart a metropolitan air to the city. The private res- idences, many of which are of brick, are generally neat and tasteful, and frequently illustrate some of the most modern and artistic achievements in architecture.
The first white settlement at South Bend was made by Alexis Coquillard, in the Spring of 1824. This was also the first in the county. This gentleman was an Indian-trader, and agent for the North American Fur Company, then under the control of John Jacob Astor. IIe was a Frenchman, originally from Montreal, and, having lived a great portion of his life with the Indians, became a thorough pioneer of the old school. As a business man he was enterprising, prudent and successful. Other settlers soon followed, and step by step the little town grew into a city, and from an infant city to an important manufacturing and commercial centre.
We have no space in this volume to speak of the educa- tional advantages of South Bend in the manner in which their importance deserves. Notre Dame! Who is not familiar with the name, and with its great merits? "Notre Dame Univer- sity " is one of the few institutions of learning in the State
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
which have taken a high stand in the estimation of the world. It is a Catholic institution, and is justly the boast of that people. From all parts of the world it attracts its pupils; foreign countries as well as all parts of our own fair land, con- tributing their quota to swell the number who haunt the lovely shades of Notre Dame and imbibe instruction and knowledge in its princely halls. The professors, who deal out learning in the ablest manner, are selected with wondrous care, and by their attainments and power of imparting the gleanings of studious years of research, have made an education gained at this university a high honor to any young man. Not only in the more substantial elements of learning does this famed institution excel. The æstlictic is given a prominent place in the curriculum of study, and combines with the more solid and practical branches to form a result but little short of perfec- tion. The extent and magnitude of the grounds and build- ings are ever the wonder of the admiring stranger. He had dreamed of something on an enormous scale, but falling short of this. To the guest of South Bend, Notre Dame is a prom- inent place of interest, and the affability of its polite brothers tends not a little to make it so. The presiding genius of the institution is well and widely known as Father Lemonnier, revered, and loved of all. It is the headquarters of Father Sorin, general of the order.
"St. Mary's is none the less perfect in its own peculiar attri- butes. Erected on a garden spot of carth, and in the midst of grounds which nature and art have both tried their most skillful hands upon, it affords within its hallowed shades a perfect home and school together. The common branches and the rugged paths of learning are by no means ignored nor slighted; but St. Mary's particularly excels in the perfect- ing of those accomplishments which adorn the mind of lovely woman and which send the elegancies of art into an otherwise sordid and too common-place existence. Music, painting and needlework here receive that critical attention so often disre- garded in other academies of this kind. From 'carly morn till dewy eve' music, dropping from rose-bud months, like pearls, or brought from ivory keys in some mysterious man-
A
CROSSCUPAWEST.PHILA.
T. RYAN, ESQ.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
ner, sounds through these stately buildings. Prominent among the delightful features here seen is the care bestowed upon the amenities of life. The polished manners of the Sisters of the Holy Cross are insensibly communicated to the students, giv- ing a well-bred and courteous air which a pupil of St. Mary's never loses. At commencement there are gala days here; crowds of friends, from afar, come to see and hear the 'sweet girl graduates with their golden hair,' and to praise the skill and excellence evinced in their instruction.
"St. Joseph's Academy is under the same supervision, but situated on a commanding spot in our city, instead of some distance down the banks of the beautiful river, as is St. Mary's. It possesses the same excellencies, however, although on a less colossal scale. At both of these institutions special attention is given to health, and the watchful care and tender nursing of these gentle sisters is a great object to parents who would not otherwise dare to send their little ones away from home."*
The public schools of South Bend are in a good, efficient condition. The high school has all the attractions of the metropolitan high school, and is under a very able manage- ment. The schools throughout the whole county are above the average county schools of the State.
The manufacturing interests of South Bend are very exten- sive, and are yearly increasing. The city has excellent bank- ing facilities; and the commercial industries are full of promise. There is no city in Indiana growing faster. The population is about twelve thousand.t
* Compiled from Turner's Annual.
t There are many of the special features of the county which we are compelled to pass over for want of space.
CHAPTER LVIII.
MADISON COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
M ADISON county was first settled in 1820, or during the year preceding. In 1820, the county contained, probably, one hundred settlers, who were located, for the most part, near the falls of Fall creek. Among this number may be mentioned the names of Elias Hollingsworth, Samuel Holliday, Thomas and William McCartney, Thomas Scott, Israel Cocks, and Saul Shaul. Adam Dobson, Parmer Patrick, and William and Thomas Silver followed soon after. "From this infant settle- ment," says Mr. Harding, "we have grown to a population of 25,000."
The county, as a rule, might be called level; "there are, however, on White river and Fall creek, hills of considerable size. There is comparatively little waste land in the county. The prairie, between Pendelton and Anderson, for many years considered as waste land, is gradually being subdued, and will soon become the garden spot of the county, instead of being the home of miasma and noxious weeds."* Improvements in this land, by a system of ditching, are rapidly going forward. The county is well watered by numerous creeks, which have served a valuable day for mill owners, and which drain the soil admirably.
Madison county was organized in 1823. At that time the county seat was located at Pendleton, where it remained until 1836, when is was permanently located at Anderson. The population of the county in 1830, was 2,238; in 1840, it was 8,874; in 1850, it was 12,375; in 1860, it was 16,518; in 1870, it was 22,770; and, in 1875, is estimated in round numbers at
* Mr. Harding's work.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
25,000, with a voting population of 5,272. The number of acres of improved land in 1870, was 133,190. The number of acres of woodland was 87,521. A survey of the county at this time would show an extension of the former, not a little flattering to the husbandman. The cash value of farms in 1870, was $9,399,441; the value of farm implements and machinery, $242,571; value of orchard products, $70,262. The compilers of this work have ascertained that the increase in these items during the last five years has been over sixty per cent. per annum.
There is nothing remarkable in the carly history of the county, except the Indian murders of 1824, of which we have the following account in Mr. O. II. Smith's "Early Reminis- cences of Indiana:"
At the time of the Indian murders on Fall creek, the country was new and the population scattered here and there in the woods. The game was plenty, and the Indian hunting grounds had not been forsaken by several of the tribes. The white settlers felt some alarm at the news of an Indian encampment, in the neighborhood, and although they were all friendly, a watchful eye was kept on all their movements. The county of Madison had been organized but a short time before. Pendleton, with a few houses at the falls, was the seat of the new county. Anderson, on White river, was a small village. Chesterfield and Huntsfield were not then heard of. There were only a few houses between Indianapolis and the falls, and still" fewer in other directions from the capital. Early in the spring of 1824, a hunting party of Seneca Indians, consisting of two men, three squaws, and four children, encamped on the east side of Fall creek, about eight miles . above the falls. The country around their camping ground was a dense, unbroken forest, filled with game. The principal Indian was called Lud- low, and was said to be named for Stephen Ludlow, of Lawrenceburg. The other man I call Mingo. The Indians commenced their seasons hunt- ing and trapping - the men with their guns, and the squaws setting the traps, preparing and cooking the game, and caring for the children -two boys, some ten years old, and two girls of more tender years. A week had rolled around, and the success of the Indians had been very fair, with bet- ter prospects ahead, as the spring was opening, and racoons were begin- ning to leave their holes in the trees in search of frogs that had begun to leave their muddy beds at the bottom of the creeks. The trapping season was only just commencing. Ludlow and his band, wholly unsuspicious of harm, and unconscious of any approaching enemies, were seated around their camp fire, when there approached through the woods five white men - Harper, Sawyer, Hudson, Bridge, Sen., and Bridge, Jr. Harper was the leader, and stepping up to Ludlow, took him by the hand and told him his
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MADISON COUNTY - IIISTORICAL.
party had lost their horses, and wanted Ludlow and Mingo to help find them. The Indians agreed to go in search of the horses. Ludlow took one path, and Mingo another. Harper followed Ludlow, Hudson trailed Mingo, keeping some fifty yards behind. They traveled some short dis- tance from the camp, when Harper shot Ludlow through the body. IIc fell dead on his face. Hudson, on hearing the crack of the rifie of Harper, immediately shot Mingo, the hall entering just below his shoulders, and passing clear through his body. Mingo fell dead. The party then met und proceeded to within gunshot of the camp. Sawyer shot one of the squaws through the head. She fell and died without a struggle. Bridge, Sen., shot another squaw, and Bridge, Jr., the other squaw. Both fell dead. Sawyer then fired at the oldest boy, but only wounded him. The other children were shot by some of the party. Harper then led on to the camp.
The three squaws, one boy, and the two little girls lay dead, but the oldest boy was still living. Sawyer took him by the legs, and knocked his brains out against the end of a log. The camp was then robbed of everything worth carrying away. Harper, the ring leader, left immediately for Ohio, and was never taken. Hudson, Sawyer, Bridge, Sen., and Bridge, Jr., were arrested, and when I first saw them they were confined in a square log jail, fitting tight above, below, and on the sides. I entered with the sheriff. The prisoners were all heavily ironed and sitting on the straw on the floor. Hudson was a man of about middle size, with a bad look, dark eye and bushy hair, about thirty-five years of age in appearance. Sawyer was about the same age, rather heavier than Hudson, but there was nothing in his appearance that could have marked him in a crowd, as any other than a common farmer. Bridge, Sen., was much older than Sawyer; his head was quite grey, he was above the common height, slender, and a little bent while standing. Bridge, Jr., was some eighteen years of age, a tall stripling. Bridge, Sen., was the father of Bridge, Jr., and the brother-in- law of Sawyer.
The news of these Indian murders flew upon the wings of the wind. The settlers became greatly alarmed, fonring the retaliatory vengeance of the tribes, and especially of the other bands of the Senecas. The facts reached Mr. John Johnston, at the Indian agency at Piqua, Ohio. An account of the murders was sent from the agency to the war department at Washington City. Colonel Johnston and William Conner visited all the Indian tribes, and assured them that the government would punish the offenders, and obtaining the promises of the chiefs and warriors that they would wait and see what their " Great Father " would do before they took the matter into their own hands. This quieted the fears of the set- tiers, and preparation was commenced for the trials. A new log building was erected at the north part of Pendleton, with two rooms, one for the court and the other for the grand jury. The court room was about twenty by thirty feet, with a heavy "punchcon " floor, a platform at one end, three feet high, with a strong railing in front, a bench for the judges, a plain table for the clerk, in front a long bench for the counsel, a little pen for
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
the prisoners, a side bench for the witnesses, and a long pole in front, sub- stantially supported, to separate the crowd from the court and bar. A guard by day and night was placed around the jail. The court was com- posed of Wm. W. Wick, presiding judge; Samuel Holliday and Adam Winchell, associates. Judge Wick was young on the bench, but with much experience in criminal trials. Judge Holliday was one of the best and most conscientious men I ever knew. Judge Winchell was a black- smith, and had ironed the prisoners; he was an honest, rough, frank, ill- iterate man, without any pretensions to legal knowledge. Moses Cox was the clerk; he could barely write his name, and when a candidate for justice of the peace at Connersville, he boasted of his superior qualifica- tions : " I have been sued on every section of the statute, and know all about the law, while my competitor has never been sued, and knows nothing about the statute." Samuel Cory, the sheriff, was a fine specimen of a woods' Hoosier, tall and strong boned, with hearty laugh, without fear of man or beast, with a voice that made the woods ring as he called the jurors and witnesses. The county was thus prepared for the trials. In the mean time the government was not sleeping. Colonel Jolinston, the Indian agent, was directed to attend the trials to see that the witnesses were pre- sent and to pay their fees. Gen. James Noble, then a United States sen- ator, was employed by the secretary of war to prosecute, with power to fee an assistant. Philip Sweetzer, a young son-in-law of the general, of high promise in his profession, was selected by the general as his assistant; Calvin Fletcher was the regular prosecuting attorney, then a young man of more than ordinary ability, and a good criminal lawyer. The only inn at Pendleton was a new frame house near the creek, still standing by the side of the railroad bridge.
The term of the court was about being held. The Sunday before the term commenced the lawyers began to arrive, and, as the custom was in those days, they were invited out to dine on the Sabbath by the most wealthy citizens, as a favor and compliment, not to the lawyers, but to their hosts. We had a statute in those days imposing a fine of one dollar on each person who should " profanely curse, swear, or damn," and making it the duty of all judges and magistrates to seo that the law was enforced upon offenders in their presence. Judge Holliday invited Calvin Fletcher, the circuit prosecuting attorney, and his Indianapolis friend, Daniel B. Wick - the brother of the judge -to dine with him. The invitation was accepted, of course, there being no previous engagement in the way. Din- ner was announced; Judge Holliday asked a " blessing " at the table -Mr. Fletcher declining. The judge had killed a fat goose for the extraordinary occasion, which was nicely stuffed with well seasoned bread and onions and placed in the centre of the table. Mr. Wick, who was not a church member, fixed his eye upon the goose, and said, by way of compliment, " That is a damned fine goose, judge." " Yes, it is a fine goose, and you are fined one dollar for swearing." Not a word more was spoken at the table. Dinner over, Judge Holliday said, "'Squire Wick, pay me the dollar." " I have not a cent with me, judge." " Perhaps Mr. Fletcher will lend it to
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MADISON COUNTY - HISTORICAL.
you." Mr. Fletcher: "I really have only enough with me to pay my tavern bill." Judge Holliday: " What is to be done ?" Fletcher: "Lend him the money, judge, and take his note, or bind him over to court." " I'll bind him over; you'll go his security .? " "The rules of the court forbid lawyers from going security for any one, but you can go it yourself; just draw the recognizance that 'Daniel B. Wick and Samuel Holliday ap- peared before Samuel Holliday, associate judge of the Madison circuit court, and acknowledged themselves to be indebted to the State in the penalty of twenty-five dollars each for the appearance of Daniel B. Wick at the next term of the court to answer.'" The reasonable proposition of Mr. Fletcher was at once accepted by all parties. The recognizance was taken in due form, and forfeited at the next term, by the absence of Mr. Wick. Judgment was rendered against Judge Holliday for twenty-five dol- lars. A petition to the governor was drawn up, and signed by the whole bar; a remittance soon followed.
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