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 40
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
from Centerville to Richmond. In all probability it will remain there permanently."
We will now turn to the present condition of Wayne county and observe what a growth of sixty years has wrought. It would be well first to glance at its natural resources. The surface of the territory is mostly rolling, with some slight hills in the southeastern portion. The two forks of White- water, fed by numerous branches, pass through the whole county, from north to south, and supply abundant water power to every part of it. Between these streams - usually from one to four miles apart - the land swells gradually, so that from the summits, in each direction, the most delightful pros- pects are everywhere presented. The forests have disappeared, except such as have been reserved for timber, and more than three-fifths of the county is under profitable cultivation. The soil is principally a rich loam, bedded on clay, with a light mixture of sand and limestone. The soil is well adapted to wheat and corn and grass. In short, in agricultural produc- tions, in agricultural importance, it is the " banner county of Indiana." These natural advantages have been so highly im- proved and developed by skill, capital and industry, that to-day it is one of the most wealthy portions of the State. Nearly all the farmers are wealthy. Their schools are the best. Cities and towns flourish in many parts of the county, while Rich- mond, its largest city, is among the leading commercial centres of the State. Richmond is one of Indiana's finest . cities. It is substantially built, is surrounded by one of the richest agricultural sections in the Northwest, has ample rail- road facilities, and is enjoying a large and healthy commerce. Since the county seat has been removed there it lias taken a new start. Its educational advantages are its pride and boast. Within one mile of the city, on the National road, stands Earlham college. This institution, owned by the Friends, has one hundred and sixty acres of land in connection with its attractive buildings; this under the management of a board of trustees appointed by Indiana yearly meeting. Its first president was Barnabus C. Hobbs, who was also superintendent of public instruction for the State of Indiana at a later day.
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WAYNE COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
There are both preparatory and collegiate departments, with two courses of study for each-a classical and a scientific. There are six professorships. The college has a well-furnished reading-room and a library of over three thousand volumes. Botlı sexes are admitted, and have equal privileges and oppor- tunities.
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CHAPTER LXXIII.
JAY COUNTY - PIONEER HISTORY.
P ERHAPS the ladies of Indiana of the present day will find a valuable lesson of duty in the history of the carly settlement of Jay county. It is not likely they will ever be called upon to endure similar hardships, but by reading and remembering the dangers to which the pioneer women of this State were exposed, they will be able to find peace and com- fort in some of their present imaginary ills. It was only about fifty years ago that the first settlers came to Jay county, then a wilderness inhabited only by Indians. Wolves, bears and other wild animals were prowling through the woods and over the prairies, and the lonely settlers had much of danger on every hand to contend with. But even in the face of these obstacles its first settlers were a bride and bridegroom. She was a true heroine, who, nothing daunted by the thrilling tales of border life then rife in the Eastern settlements, volunteered to unite her fortune with that hardy pioneer in his resolve to find a home on the distant Wabash. Nor was her praise- worthy heroism the only example of true womanhood in those carly days of Indiana. Hundreds of noble, true hearted women, fired by the indomitable energy and perseverance of their husbands, voluntarily shared the hardships and exposures of pioneer life. They came not after the log cabins had been erected, not after homes had been established, but when the only shelter was the forest and the only bed the broad bosom of the prairie. Such were some of the pioneer women of Jay county.
On the fifteenth of June, 1821, Peter Studabaker and Miss Mary Simison were joined in the bonds of wedlock at the
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JAY COUNTY - PIONEER HISTORY.
home of the bride's father, at Fort Recovery, Ohio, at that time one of the Western outposts of American civilization. The marriage ceremony was not celebrated in a large and elegantly finished church, in the presence of a fashionable audience. Fort Recovery was not blessed with such marriages in those days. No, the wedding was a matter of fact occur- rence, becoming alike to the customs of pioneer life and to the circumstances which followed. The newly married couple at once set out for the West. Gathering their earthly effects together, they started in company with a few friends on the " Quaker Trace" towards Fort Wayne. Journeying along through the forest, resting and refreshing occasionally by the wayside, they at length reached the waters of the Wabash. Here they halted and the bridegroom, assisted by the parties who were with him, and in the presence of his bride, com- meneed to build a cabin. Night was drawing near and the nuptial bed was yet to be prepared. Cutting four forked poles he drove one end of each into the ground, laid poles and branches across the top, covered the whole with boughs, built a fire, and then, while "Mary " was getting the supper, he pre- pared a table. The young bride at once adapted herself to the situation and in a few moments the weary travelers sat down to a comfortable meal in the little camp, fifteen miles from any other settlers and fifty from the settlements of civilization.
Night came on, and, making beds of robes and blankets, the pioneers retired to rest. No sooner had sleep overtaken them than they were awakened by the howling of distant wolves. They approached nearer and nearer. Their crics were answered by other packs which hastened to join them. Hour after hour the dismal barking and howling was con- tinued, until, at length, the foremost were snapping their teeth at the open door of the camp. It must, indeed, have been a moment of fear for the young wife when one of the men took a rifle and discharged its contents among the barking wolves without leaving his bed. But we have no record of her want of courage. It is recorded, however, to her honor, that she braved the dangers of camp life until a log cabin was erected,
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and entered it with a resolution that never departed from her during her toils and hardships. "Thus camped and slept the first white family that ever trod the wilderness which fifteen years afterward became Jay county." This was on the farm afterwards owned by Samuel Hall, on the south bank of the Wabash, at New Corydon. Mr. Studabaker's cabin was the first built in the territory, and was rude in every respect-a hut twelve by sixteen, of small, round logs, with a clapboard roof, held on by "weight-poles." Unbroken forests sur- rounded this cabin for miles in every direction, and there was no mill or store within thirty miles, and no other dwelling within fifteen. "Their only companions were Indians, their only foes wolves." Mr. M. W. Montgomery, who has written a very good history of Jay county, relates this: "Mr. Studa- baker moved to the Wabash with the intention of making that his permanent home, but the frequent overflows of the river at that time discouraged him, and finally led him to move away. One evening, in the spring of 1822, several travelers stopped to stay all night. The Wabash was quite high, but not unusually so. Mrs. S. made a bed on the floor, in which the travelers retired to rest. In the night one of them thought he felt rather 'moist,' and on turning over found the puncheons were floating. They got up; one went up in the loft, and the other concluded to nap the rest of the night away on the logs of wood by the fire. But the family, being more fortunate, were on a bedstead, and slept there until morning, when they found all the puncheons except the two on which the bed-posts rested, floating about the room. Mr. Studabaker waded out and brought his canoe into the house, and took his family to dry land in the woods, where they camped till the water went down, which was in four or five days. In this way the Wabash overflowed the land about his cabin, and he moved back to Fort Recovery, after living in Jay county about two years." The same writer pays this tribute to Mrs. Studabaker: " After moving back to Fort Recovery, Peter Studabaker was engaged chiefly in farming for about twelve years, when he moved to Adams county, where he died in 1840. * * Mary, (Mrs. Studabaker,) now
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JAY COUNTY - HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
lives with her son, Abram, in Adams county, Indiana, in a log house, with one of those great old-fashioned cabin fire-places which so abundantly dispense warmth and cheerfulness to the inmates. It is about sixty fect from the river, upon the banks of which she has lived since her childhood days, nearly half a century. By the side of its quiet waters she was woed and won, and las devotedly braved many dangers, reared a large family, and followed her husband and several children to the tomb. She is now (1864) seventy-four years of age, and though in feeble health, her mind still retains its original vigor. Strong common sense, quick perception, and good judgment are her characteristics."
But we cannot follow all the interesting incidents of pioneer life in Jay county in detail. The experiences of some of these first families that located there would fill a volume.
Jay county was organized in 1836, and named in honor of Jolin Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The county seat was located by a commission appointed for the purpose, and called Portland. The first election of county officers took place in August, 1836, when the following persons were elected: Commissioners, John Pingry, Abraham Lotz, and Benjamin Goldsmith ; associate judges, James Graves, and Enoch Bowden; clerk, Christopher Hanna; sheriff, Henderson Graves. James Graves did not accept the office of judge, and Obadiah Winters was subsequently chosen. The first term of the circuit court in Jay county was hold on the seventeenth day of April, 1837, at the house of Henry II. Cuppy; Hon. Charles W. Ewing, of Fort Wayne, presiding.
With the proper government, and with all the elements of success, the energetic pioneers of Jay county were not slow in the battle of general improvements. Their progress has been steady, and as rapid as could be desired. The surface of the county has no very distinguishing features. It is, perhaps, as level as any portion of the State, though in places it is beauti- fully rolling. No portion of the county has a poor soil, yet in many places the land had to be drained before it was pro- ductive. Originally the forests of the county contained an abundance of excellent lumber, including oak, ash, walnut,
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
hickory and becch, the two latter greatly predominating. In most parts of the county the farmers are prosperous, having already accumulated an independence, consisting of a well improved farm, a good residence, commodious homes, fine stock, and general thrift. The rural districts have, for the most part, good schools. Great advancement has been made in this direction during the last five years, and still greater progress will be made in the next five.
Portland, the county scat, is a thriving town, having excel- lent school advantages, an energetic population, good public improvements, and the elements of future prosperity. It is surrounded by a rich agricultural district, and cannot fail to increase in wealth and population.
CHAPTER LXXIV.
PUTNAM COUNTY - INDIANA ASBURY UNIVERSITY.
P UTNAM county was named in honor of General Israel Putnam, of revolutionary fame. The surface in the northern and castern parts of the county, is, in some places, level, and in others gently undulating, and before being im- proved was quite wet. In the centre and southwest it is roll- ing, and in the vicinity of the streams is, in places, quite hilly, yet but few of the hills are too steep to be cultivated. The prevailing timber is beech, sugar tree, walnut, ash, oak and poplar. The soil is, in general, a black loam, but in some parts claycy. It is a good agricultural county, and has had good prosperity, both in wealth and population.
Greencastle is the county seat, and is a thriving town of about four thousand five hundred inhabitants, with good pub- lic improvements and educational facilities. The chief attrac- tion of the place is the Indiana Asbury University. The town has excellent railroad facilities.
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PUTNAM COUNTY - ASBURY UNIVERSITY.
The Indianapolis, Vandalia and St. Louis Railroad inter- sects its southern, and the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad its northern limits. The Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railroad crosses the former a mile and a half to the southwest, and passing through the western border of the city, it crosses the latter a half mile north of the public square. These three railroads, by means of their numerous connections, afford almost hourly communication with all portions of the coun- try, and render the site particularly eligible for an institution of learning. The city extends over a high plateau, bounded by the several railroads, a little more than a mile square. The founders of the university were fortunate in selecting for its situation a place so admirably fitted by nature to all the pur- poses of educational demand. The citizens, through the lapse of the years, have added to its natural advantages whatever industry and taste could effect. With salubrity of atmosphere, purity of water, and the uniformly large grounds connected with the homes of the people, the city has been reputable for its healthfulness, and rendered desirable as a place of residence. The attractions of the place have been such as to allure a class of inhabitants very superior in their intelligence, morals and rank in social life.
While the university is freely open to all persons of what- ever religious education and preference, it is yet under the more particular patronage, and in the interest of the Metli- odist Episcopal Church. By the conditions of its organic law, it is under the supervision, in very important regards, of the several annual conferences of Indiana. These conferences have representation in its joint board of trustees and visitors, of equal numbers of ministers and laymen. The trustees are twenty-one in number, and have full authority over all the interests of the institution. There are nine visitors, clerical representatives of the conferences, who are associated with the trustees with full advisory powers, but voting only on ques- tions concerning the election and dismissal of the faculty.
As carly as in 1830, a resolution was adopted by the Indiana Annual Conference to establish within its territory an institu- tion of learning of liberal character. For reasons of economy;
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
efforts were repeatedly made to arrange for the joint manage- ment of the State university on terms that would adequately meet the increasing demand of the church, which was spread- ing rapidly, under the vigorons energy of an itinerant minis- try, over every portion of the country. Failing, however, in the consummation of this plan, an appeal was made to the legislature, and a charter was granted by the session of 1836-7. The first meeting of the board of trustees was held in March, 1837, at which the organization of a preparatory department was authorized, in which instruction should be given in all the branches usnally pursued in that grade of schools. This work was effected in June, 1837, by Cyrus Nutt, D. D., LL.D., at this date president of Indiana State University. An edi- fice suitable for collegiate purposes being necessary for the prosecution of the enterprise, the foundations were com- menced about the time of organizing the preparatory classes, and the corner-stone was formally laid June twenty-first, 1837, Bishop Henry Bosean officiating. In 1839, the regular col- legiate classes were formed and placed under the direction of an able faculty of instruction. This university sent out from these classes its first graduates, three in number, in June, 1840; since which period, there have been annual additions to the lists of its alumni, who, in gradual yet constantly increased numbers, have swelled to an aggregate in 1875 of five hundred and eighty-onc.
In 1866, by a formal act of the board of trustees, ladies were admitted to the privileges of the institution. They were invited to all the departments of instruction, and with no discriminations, subject to the same requirements and dis- ciplines, and eligible to the same distinctions and lessons that - at other periods were offered only for the advantage of gentle- men. Already large numbers have availed themselves of these liberal privileges in both the preparatory and collegiate depart- ments, and nineteen have passed, by excellence in scholarly attainment, to their graduation. Two of these graduates have won distinction in their respective classes.
By the terms of the charter, the institution is invested with. full university powers, so that the board have authority to
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ASBURY UNIVERSITY.
establish the complete circle of schools comprehended in the representative university.
On November first, 1848, a medical college was organized, with a large corps of learned and experienced practitioners retained as its faculty. This department of the university was con- tinned with energy and success during three years, having its seat of operation at Indianapolis, under the conviction that facilities for medical learning could be had more advan- tageously in the midst of a large population. During this period, about fifty persons, having completed satisfactorily the prescribed course of lectures and examinations, were grad- uated into the medical profession.
A department of law was established in July, 1846, with Hon. R. W. Thompson, professor elect, at its head, and lias been continued, withi occasional interruptions and varying encouragement, until the present year (1875). An aggregate of fifty-six have completed the entire course usually required for practice in the legal profession. Many of them have proved their ability by the eminent positions an intelligent people have awarded them as a popular recognition of their merit. Because of limited funds, the university has, how- ever, been devoting its strength chiefly to intellectual culture. This, with Biblical literature, embracing under the term the Hebrew language and Old Testament criticism and exegesis - also the Greek Testament with criticism and exegesis -has received greatest attention, and hereafter to this class of instruction will the resources of the university be particularly devoted. In this field of endeavor has it achieved its enviable reputation among the institutions of the continent. Such, doubtless, will be the policy of the future, exclusively. Since the State has undertaken to supply the demand for medical and legal knowledge, and from its treasury for this purpose appropriates liberal sums annually, it is deemed to be the dic- tation of wisdom that this institution of the church should have a more exclusive consecration to that which is disciplin- ary and non-professional. It is proposed, however, in any event, that the work of Biblical instruction shall receive increased attention. This comes legitimately within the pur-
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pose and intent of the founders, and accords strictly with the requirement of the church under whose patronage it comes. To this extent and in this way may its work be deemed pro- fessional.
Two departments of instruction are provided for, the pre- paratory and collegiate. The former extends through a period of two years. The course of study consists of the elements of the classic languages, and the mathematics, including algebra, complete. This part of the course is fully equal to the requi- sites for admission into first-class New England colleges. To these are added Latin, prose composition, rhetorical lessons, American history, and American an quities. The condition of public education is such, that to discontinue the department of preparatory study, would be disastrous to the interests of higher education. It is a singular fact that the high schools of the country furnish very few students to collegiate classes; once graduated from the comparatively limited courses there pursued. they at once enter their respective avocations of life. The Indiana high schools usually make no provision for instruction in the Greek language, for the reason, probably, that the masses of the people have not and do not require it. Every aspirant for a thorough higher education, however, wishing to have an acquaintance with that branch of learning, the university has not sympathized in the least with the sug- gestions of some of the leaders of public school education of the State, to dispense with this language from the requirements of collegiate preparation. It has been believed, rather, that to act under this suggestion would be to reduce disastrously the standard of mental culture, and discriminate far too greatly against the dignity and real worth of classic learning. It is
believed also that to abate such preparatory classic require- ments, would be to deter effectually many from an extended course of study, especially in the classics, who otherwise would be influenced to pursue it. Certain it is, that the proposed plan does discriminate, in the popular interpretation, to a very great extent, against a liberal classical education. The decision and sufficient proof is, as it seems to the greater number of collegiate educators, the facts connected with those seats of
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collegiate learning where the suggestions alluded to have been adopted, and have been carried into practical effect. It has been thought advisable, therefore, as a wise economy of resources, that the faculty retain under their own exclusive management a preparatory school, adapting its course precisely to that required for the advanced classes.
The collegiate department embraces a full four years curri- culum, and consists of nine professorships: the mental and moral, natural science, Greek language and literature, Latin language and literature, belles-lettres and history, modern lan- guage and Hebrew, mathematics, civil law, and Biblical litera- ture. Provision is made for instruction in the Anglo Saxon, in connection with the chair of belles-lettres and history. In connection with the chairs of Greek, Latin, and modern lan- guages, instruction is afforded in the Sanskrit, Spanish and Italian languages. Physics is taught in connection with the natural sciences. It is understood that a donation of $25,000, by Robert Stockwell, Esq., in the latter part of 1874, is expressly for the support of a professor of systematic and prac- tical divinity. This fact, together with the large demand exist- ing for instruction in these branches of study, will, no doubt, result in the creation of the proposed chair at the earliest meet- ing of the board of trustees, which will occur in June, 1875.
The course of study in all the professorships, respectively, is remarkable for the fact that nearly everything has been excluded that is not of a strictly educating character. It is the aim to supply facilities whose use shall result in substan- tial discipline. The faculty and board of trustees agree fully in the policy which should be pursued in executing the educa- tional trust committed to them. They are of the conviction that he who is disciplined into ability to control the attention, and to think closely, can himself gain knowledge to any extent the exigencies of life may require. They have, therefore, con- structed the work of the departments with the view of pro- moting sound discipline, leaving the accumulation of knowl- edge to the discretion and industry of the student, after he shall have taken his graduation. The result is that the meta- physical philosophy, the classic languages, and mathematics,
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
constitute a very large part of the undergraduate requisites The prescribed sciences are, for this reason, taught with the use of such authors, or texts, as treat their respective subjects under profound and exhaustive methods. They are encour- aged to continue this plan of instruction by the success which has uniformly attended its practical operation in every period of the institution's history.
Many scores of eminent men are numbered among the alumni, who have gone from its halls at the several commence- ments. These are represented in the public trusts, both civil and political, and equally in the responsible and successful industries of the country. The university has become distin- guished as the educator of many of the most eloquent of ora- tors; also many of the most efficient and reliable workers in both the church and state. In all these regards the institution has cause of congratulation, and can confidently point to the men educated under its direction -their learning -their character-their power -their work, as the unquestioned proof of the excellence of its educational processes. No insti- tution of learning in the entire country has made for itself a more brilliant record. In the respect of its educated men, strong and efficient in their respective spheres, Asbury Uni- versity holds a high position among the colleges of the con- tinent - the peer of the best - superior to most. Such is the meed of distinction the impartial discriminator yields, as justly due to the wise adjustments and thorough application of a well selected means of scholastic discipline.
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