USA > Indiana > Adams County > Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : Containing portraits of all the Presidents of the United States from Washington to Cleveland, with accompanying biographies of each : a condensed history of the state of Indiana : portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Adams and Wells counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families, and a concise history of the counties and their cities and villages, pt. 1 > Part 16
USA > Indiana > Wells County > Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : Containing portraits of all the Presidents of the United States from Washington to Cleveland, with accompanying biographies of each : a condensed history of the state of Indiana : portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Adams and Wells counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families, and a concise history of the counties and their cities and villages, pt. 1 > Part 16
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While our venerable ancestors may have said and believed
" No pent-up Utica contracts our powers, For the whole boundless continent is ours,"
they were, nevertheless, for a long time eon- tent to occupy and possess a very small corner of it; and the great West was not opened to industry and civilization until a variety of causes had combined to form, as it were, a great heart, whose animating principle was improvement, whose impulses annually sent forward armies of noble men and women, and whose pulse is now felt throughout the length and breadth of the best country the sun ever shone upon -- from the pineries of Maine to the vineyards of California, and from the sugar-canes of Loni- siana to the wheat fields of Minnesota. Long
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may this heart beat and push forward its arteries and veins of commerce.
Not more from choice than from enforeed neeessity did the old pioneers bid farewell to the play-ground of their childhood and the graves of their fathers. One generation after another had worn themselves out in the ser- vice of their avarieious landlords. From the first flashes of daylight in the morning, until the last glimmer of the setting sun, they had toiled uneeasingly on, from father to son, carrying home each day upon their aching shoulders the precious proceeds of their daily labor. Money and pride and power were handed down in the line of sneeession from the rich father to his son, while uneeasing work and continnous poverty and everlasting obseurity were the heritage of the working man and his children.
Their society was graded and degraded. It was not manners, nor industry, nor educa- tion, nor qualities of the head and heart that established the grade. It was money and jewels, and silk and satin, and broadcloth and imperious pride that triumphed over honest poverty and trampled the poor man and his children under the iron heel. The children of the rich and poor were not permitted to mingle with and to love each other. Court- ship was more the work of the parents than of the sons and daughters. The golden ealf was the key to matrimony. To perpetuate a self-constituted aristoeraey, without power of brain, or the rich blood of royalty, purse was united to purse, and cousin with cousin, in bonds of matrimony, until the virus boiling in their blood was transmitted by the law of inheritance from one generation to another, and until nerves powerless and manhood dwarfed were on exhibition everywhere, and everywhere abhorred. For the sons and daughters of the poor man to remain there, was to forever follow as our fathers had fol-
lowed, and never to lead; to submit, but never to rule; to obey, but never to com- mand.
Without money or prestige, or influential friends, the pioneers drifted along one by one, from State to State, until in Indiana- the garden of the Union-they have found inviting homes for each, and room for all. To seenre and adorn these homes more than ordinary ambition was required, greater than ordinary endurance demanded, and unflinch- ing determination was, by the force of neces- sity, written over every brow. It was not pomp, or parade, or glittering show that the pioneers were after. They sought for homes which they could eall their own, homes for themselves and homes for their children. low well they have succeeded after a struggle of many years against the adverse tides, let the records and tax-gatherers testify; let the broad eultivated fields and fruit-bearing orchards, the flocks and the herds, the pala- tial residences, the places of business, the spacious halls, the clattering car-wheels and ponderous engines all testify.
There was a time when pioneers waded through deep snows, across bridgeless rivers, and through bottomless sloughs, a score of miles to mill or market, and when more time was required to reach and return from market than is now required to cross the continent, or traverse the Atlantie. These were the times when our palaces were constructed of logs and covered with " shakes" riven from the forest trees. These were the times when our children were stowed away for the night in the low, dark atties, among the horns of the elk and the deer, and where through the chinks in the "shakes" they could count the twinkling stars. These were the times when our chairs and our bedsteads were hewn from the forest trees, and tables and bureans constructed from the boxes in which
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their goods were brought. These were the times when the working man labored six and sometimes seven days in the week, and all the hours there were in a day from sunrise to sunset.
Whether all succeeded in what they under- took is not a question to be asked now. The proof that as a body they did sueceed, is all around us. Many individuals were perhaps disappointed. Fortunes and misfortunes be- long to the human race. Not every man can have a school-house on the corner of his farm; not every man ean have a bridge over the stream that flows by his dwelling; not every man ean have a railroad depot on the borders of his plantation, or a city in its cen- ter; and while these things are desirable in some respects, their advantages are often- times outweighed by the almost perpetual presence of the foreign beggar, the dreaded tramp, the fear of fire and conflagration, and the insecurity from the presence of the mid- night burglar, and the bold, bad men and women who lurk in ambush and infest the villages. The good things of this earth are not all to be found in any one place; but if more is to be found in one than another, that place is in our rural retreats, our quiet homes outside of the clamor and turmoil of city life.
In viewing the blessings which surround us, then, we should reverence those who have made them possible, and ever fondly eherish in memory the sturdy old pioneer and his log cabin.
Let us turn our eyes and thoughts back to the log cabin days of a quarter of a century ago, and contrast those homes with the com- fortable dwellings of to-day. Before us stands the old log cabin. Let us enter. Instinet- ively the head is uncovered in token of rever- enee to this relie of ancestral beginnings, early struggles and final triumphs. To the
left is the deep, wide fire-plaee, in whose commodious space a group of children may sit by the fire, and up through the chimney may count the stars, while ghostly stories of witches and giants, and still more thrilling stories of Indians and wild beasts, are whis- peringly told and shudderingly heard. On the great crane hang the old tea-kettle and the great iron pot. The huge shovel and tongs stand sentinel in either corner, while the great andirons patiently wait for the huge baek-log. Over the fire-place hangs the trusty rifle. To the right of the fire-place stands the spinning-wheel, while in the fur- ther end of the room is seen the old-fashioned loom. Strings of drying apples and poles of drying pumpkins are overhead. Opposite the door in which you enter stands a huge deal table; by its side the dresser, whose pewter plates and "shining delf" catch and refleet the fire-place flames as shields of armies do the sunshine. From the corner of its shelves eoyly peep out the relics of former ehina. In a eurtained corner and hid from casual sight we find the mother's bed, and under it the trundle-bed, while near them a ladder indicates the loft where the older chil- dren sleep. To the left of the fire-place and in the corner opposite the spinning-wheel is the mother's work-stand. Upon it lies the Bible, evidently much used, its family record telling of parents and friends a long way off, and telling, too, of children
" Scattered like roses in bloom, Some at the bridal, some at the tomb."
Iler speetaeles, as if but just used, are in- serted between the leaves of her Bible, and tell of her purpose to return to its comforts when eares permit and duty is done. A stool, a bench, well-notched and whittled and earved, and a few chairs, complete the furni- ture of the room, and all stand on a coarse but well-seonred floor.
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Let us for a moment watch the city visitors to this humble cabin. The city bride, inno- cent but thoughtless, and ignorant of labor and eare, asks her city-bred husband, " Pray, what savages set this up?" Honestly con- fessing his ignoranee, he replies, "I do not know." But see the pair upon whom age sits "frosty, but kindly." First, as they enter, they give a rapid glance about the cabin home, and then a inntual glance of eye to eye. Why do tears start and fill their eyes ? Why do lips quiver ? There are many who know why, but who that has not learned in the school of experience the full meaning of all these symbols of trials and privations, of loneliness and danger, can comprehend the story that they tell to the pioneer ? With- in this chinked and mnd-danbed eabin we read the first pages of our history, and as we retire through its low door-way, and note the heavy-battened door, its wooden hinges and its welcoming latch-string, is it strange that the seenes withont should seem to be but a dream ? But the cabin and the palace, stand- ing side by side in vivid contrast, tell their own story of this people's progress. They are a history and a prophecy in one.
TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, ETC.
Adams County is situated between 40° 30' and 41º north latitude. The eighth meri- dian of longitude west from Washington passes through it. Its political boundaries are: Allen County, north; Van Wert and Mereer counties, Ohio, east; Jay, sonth, and Wells, west. It is twenty-four miles in length and fourteen in breadth, and eonse- quently contains 336 square miles. It has twelve townships, viz .: Union, Root, Preble, Kirkland, Washington, St. Mary's, Blue Creek, Monroe, French, Hartford, Wabash and Jefferson. The surface is nearly level or gently undulating, except near the rivers,
where it is slightly broken. The controlling topographical feature is its numerous streams, of which the St. Mary's and Wabash Rivers are the most important. They present sev- eral striking evincidences. Each, measured by its windings, traverses the county for abont twenty-five miles; is nearly 150 feet wide; intersects four townships, and Hows from southeast to northwest. The Wabash, within the county, receives the waters of six- teen and the St. Mary's of twenty-two afflu- ents that are worthy of being engraved on a map. The Wabash rises in Ohio, passes through the southern part of this county, and after intersecting the State line forms for a long distance its western boundary. Its waters are discharged into the Ohio, and ear- ried by the Mississippi, the great artery of the continent. into the Gulf of Mexico. The St. Mary's rises in Ohio, flows through the northern part of Adams County, and termi- nates at Fort Wayne, where its union with the St. Joe forms the Maumee, whose waters are finally discharged through the noble St. Lawrence into the gulf of the same name. Ilow opposite the destinations of different portions of the rainfall of Adams County ! In Jefferson and Wabash Townships branches of these two principal streams are very nar- rowly separated, and there we find the water- shed from which the waters run both into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Mexico.
The St. Mary's was formerly navigated by fat-boats, and all the considerable streams teemed with fish. This means of transpor- tation was taken away, and this supply of healthful, delicious food diminished by the building of mill-dams across onr ereeks and rivers. In the bed of the Wabash, near Buena Vista, is found an abundance of fine limestone for building purposes. The strata runs out two miles south of the Wabash.
The land groaned under the thick prime-
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val forest by which it was well nigh covered. Almost every kind of trees indigenous to such a elimate and soil was here in profusion -- beech, oak, ash, hickory, walnut and elm of royal dimensions were thiekly set among the monarchs of many other species. Close un- dergrowth, made almost impenetrable by its interlaced branches, covered no inconsider- able portion of the ground. Such a wilder- ness was the fit home of the animals which inhabited it-the squirrel, opossum, poren- pine, raccoon, deer, fox. wolf, wildcat and bear. The work of changing such a forest into pleasant fields, gardens and orchards must have appalled the stoutest heart. The soil, in fertility, was all that could have been wished, but often rather tenacious and too retentive of water. It was best adapted to eorn and grass. From the best information accessible we conclude that the climate has not been greatly changed by the work of the woodman's ax. It is true that, in some in- stances, in the days of the pioneers, cattle subsisted entirely on browse and grass, which remained green during the winter, but vege- tation through the summer was luxuriant, and the grass near the earth was sheltered by that which overtopped it, while all below was protected by the tall forest trees.
But the facts addneed ean not be relied on to infallibly convey to the mind a very defi- nite idea of the temperature of the atmos- phere. Exaet knowledge could only be had from a record of the variations of the mereu- rial column, and, as no such record seems to have been kept by any of the very early set- tlers, we are left to judge from circum- stanees of a very equivocal nature. The winds of this region are variable, but those from the southwest prevail, and bear with them much of the warmth and moisture ae- cumulated near the tropics. Ileat and moist- ure are the atmospheric conditions favorable
to vegetation, and when to these is added a fertile soil, a combination of rare kindness to vegetable life is the result. The yearly rainfall averages forty ineles, and the mean summer temperature of this section of the country is fitty degrees. In such a soil and elimate both orehard and small fruits, with proper attention, it would seem, could not but do well, and this has proven true, except, perhaps, with cherries and peaelies. For these our winters are either too severe or changeable. All the cereals of the Northern and Middle States are successfully cultivated. Especially is this true of eorn, which seldom fails, and frequently yields an immense erop. But it is for the raising of grass and rearing of stock that the farmer may receive the richest compensation. The soil and elimate are highly favorable to the growth of the various grasses, and the average amount per aere that might be grown, if aeeurately as- certained, would, no doubt, surpass belief. These remarks are confirmed by the testimony of the most successful farmers of the county.
In any country of abundant rainfall, rather high temperature, numerous turbid and slowly running streams, rank and decaying vegetation, the atmosphere must be loaded with miasma. Such was the ease here, and many of the early settlers fell victims of the diseases thereby engendered. Agne, an epi- demie whose unwelcome visitations were the prolifie cause of suffering, is not yet entirely unknown. As the ax did its work the rays of the sun fell on the ground and it became dry. As tree after tree fell, and the thiek green canopy covering large areas was re- moved, the winds did their work, and the primal cause of fever and ague was removed. Milksiekness, one of the most peculiar and malignant diseases with which the medical faculty have to deal, formerly occurred in certain parts of the county.
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
LILWEIL
*Early and Civil History.X
1 ONGRESS, in 1787, created the historic "Northwest Territory," including the present State of Indiana. Gen- eral Arthur St. Clair was elected by Congress Governor of the Territory. The Indians at this time deserved severe chastisement, but both Generals Harmar and St. Clair, in their attempts to administer it, suffered disastrous defeat, and General Wayne, the " Mad An- thony " of the Revolution, was appointed to perform that work. The task was an arduous one, and the time from 1792 until late in 1794 was spent in preparing the army for effective action.
In August, 1794, Wayne's army passed through what is now Adams County, but was then a dense wilderness. Every old settler is acquainted with the " Wayne trail." It is the ancient landmark of the county, and its permanence was caused by the slow and laborions advance of the army, which was necessitated by the vigilance of the Indians. The army generally halted and pitched . their tents about the middle of the afternoon, and,
the ground of the encampment being previons- ly marked out by the surveyor, each company fortified in front of its position, by cutting down trees and erecting a breastwork, so that by dark a complete fortification inclosed the camp. The army entered the county at a point very little north of where the St. Mary's River passes from Ohio into Indiana, fol- lowed a northwesterly course through the southwest part of Union Township, and emerged from the county somewhere nearly equi-distant from the northwest corner of Union Township and the point where the Cincinnati, Richmond & Fort Wayne (Grand Rapids & Indiana) Railroad passes into Allen County.
In 1800 Indiana was made a Territory, and a Territorial government organized, and in 1816 it was admitted into the Union as a State. Wayne, Franklin, Dearborn, Switzer- land, Jefferson, Clark, Washington, Harrison, Knox, Gibson, Posey, Warrick and Perry were the counties of Indiana at the time of its admission into the Union. Out of the territory which then formed Knox thirty counties have since been formed, of which Adams is one.
Randolph County, when organized, includ- ed Allen within its limits, and when Allen
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was organized, in 1823, Adams County formed a part of it.
The second road, or rather trail, in the county was made some time after Wayne's march, and prior to 1818. It connected Fort Wayne and Fort Recovery, and angled through the county from northwest to south- east, passing over the present site of Decatur. Military supplies were transported over the trail, and some time before 1818 a camp was established and about an acre cleared at the springs in Root Township, on what is now known as the " old Reynolds farm." Wayne County was settled in 1805, and in 1819 the settlers at Richmond, who belonged to the society known as Friends, cut out a road from Winchester, Randolph County, to the military road just described. This road was known as the " Qnaker Trail," and it struck the military road in this county near the mouth of Yellow Creek.
In the year 1819 smoke curled above the first cabin ever erected in Adams County. It was situated at the head of Thompson's Prairie, in what is now Blue Creek Township. The honor of building it, of doing the first clearing, and of being the first actual settler in the county, belongs to Ilenry Lowe. In the year 1820 Robert Douglas, finding about one acre of cleared land at the springs on the Reynolds farm, where was sitnated the mili- tary camp, cleared a few acres of land and built the second cabin in the county. Ile raised a crop of corn during the summer of 1820, after which he left the place and went to Fort Wayne, which was then a small vil- lage. From Fort Wayne he moved to Peru, where he died many years ago. It was in 1820, too, that Henry Lowe's place at the head of the prairie was taken by William Robinson, who in that year became an in- habitant of the county. IIe lived on the place for about two years, when he moved to
Fort Wayne. Lowe returned to Ohio, where he lived to an advanced age. Robinson's place was taken by a Mr. Thompson, for whom the prairie was named.
The next settler was Mr. Ayers, who, in 1821, settled on the "Wayne trace " where it crossed Twenty-four Mile Creek. The place is now known as the old Acker farm, and is situated in St. Mary's Township. Mr. Ayers was an Englishman, and is said to have been a deserter from the King's service. Trav- elers were occasionally furnished lodging and meals at Mr. Ayer's; hence he is called the first landlord of the county. Mr. Green also settled in the county in the same year that Mr. Ayers died. He located near the St. Mary's River, not far from Mr. Ayers.
These are all the settlers that are known to have located in the county before 1826. Think of it-in that year there were four log cabins in 336 square miles of territory. In 1822-'23 the lands now comprised within the limits of this county were surveyed into sec- tions. This was the original Government survey, and was made by Messrs. Worthing- ton and Riley, who, during the survey, camped in the woods and had their provisions carried to them on pack horses. In 1820 Captain .James Riley commenced his settle- ment at Willshire, Ohio, near the State line. During the years 1822, 1823 and 1824 the settlement of which Willshire was the nucleus spread over to very nearly the State line.
In 1824 the first land entry in the county was made by Benjamin Kerchaville, immedi- ately above the Rivare Reservation, and com- prised five acres and some hundredths. The next was made on the 15th day of December, 1824, by Benjamin Bentley, and comprised part of what is now known as the Reynolds farm, including the improvements made by Douglas. The next was made by John Ross,
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
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December 20, 1529, at the month of Blue Creek, and the two following entries in order were those of John Reynolds, in 1831, and Jerry Roe, early in 1832. From the last mentioned date till 1838 there was a rush of land hunters, by which time the lands were almost entirely taken np. Mr. Bentley, who entered the second piece of land, was one of the Government surveyors working for Worth- ington; and after entering the land he re- turned to Chillicothe, Ohio, his home, where he sold it to John Reynolds, who afterward located on it. Mr. Reynolds' residenee was on the old " Quaker trace," which was very mneh traveled for a number of years. His house consequently became a common stopping place for the weary traveler. Mr. Reynolds was a man of kind heart, excellent character and great enterprise. Ile became extensively known; took a prominent part in the organ- ization of the county, and died in Decatur in the year 1844.
Mr. Ross ontlived the most of the early settlers of the county, dying sinee the late war on the same land he purchased so long before. In the year 1833 Mr. Rugg and others applied to the Board of Commissioners of Allen County, of which Adams then formed a part, to have a new township or- ganized up the St. Mary's River. Their petition was granted, and the honor of nam- ing the township conferred upon Mr. Rugg. The township was called Root, and the name originated in this manner, as related by Mr. Rugg: While they were transacting some business one of the party read from a news- paper an account of the celebration of the completion of the great internal improvement in New York known as the Erie Canal. In the account Governor Root was represented as being ealled on for a toast; he arose and said: " The military of the country-may they never want," and then stammered and
well nigh broke down, when De Witt Clinton, standing near by, observing his dilemma, said, in an undertone, " and may they never be wanted." Governor Root, eatehing it up, repeated, " and may they never be wanted," which brought down rounds of applause.
The township, at the elose of the reading, was by the unanimous voiee of the gathering named " Root." Soon after the organization of the township the first election ever held in the county took place at the house of Jere- miah Roe for the selection of a justice of the peace. Esaias Dailey and Samuel L. Rngg were candidates, received a tie vote, and reached a decision in favor of Mr. Rugg, by lot. Mr. Rugg thus became the first justice of the peace in the county.
In 1833 the old Winehester road, leading from Winchester to Fort Wayne, was laid out and opened.
Mr. Thompson, of Thompson's prairie, died about 1831, and was buried at his former home, Greenville, Ohio. His widow after- ward married a man named Baze, but before that her brothers, Daniel and David Miller, came West to stay with her. A year later Daniel Miller married a Miss Blossom, of Willshire. About the same time David was married, and settled near by. These three . were the only families in the south half of the county until 1834.
John Simison moved from the East and settled at Ft. Recovery in 1818. He was one of the earliest and most energetie settlers at that military post. He died in a few years, and Robert Simison, his son, with the remain- der of the family, removed from Recovery to Greenville. In 1829 Robert returned to Ft. Recovery. IIe went from there to Wabash Township, with Peter Studabaker, in Novem- ber, 1833. There was not a settler in the township, and no roads, only as they were cut ont by settlers going to their entries
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EARLY AND CIVIL HISTORY.
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