Biographical and historical record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana : containing portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Jay and Blackford Counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families and a concise history of Jay and Blackford Counties and their cities and villages., Part 16

Author:
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 922

USA > Indiana > Jay County > Biographical and historical record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana : containing portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Jay and Blackford Counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families and a concise history of Jay and Blackford Counties and their cities and villages. > Part 16
USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Biographical and historical record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana : containing portraits and biographies of some of the prominent men of the state : engravings of prominent citizens in Jay and Blackford Counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families and a concise history of Jay and Blackford Counties and their cities and villages. > Part 16

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upon thic ground in places, undergrowth has been encouraged.

Such being the native condition of the forest, the indigenous herbaceous plants were not so numerons or interesting as in some parts of the country; but west-bound civiliza- tion has brought along with it the usual grasses and weeds, two or three of which are of far greater utility to man than all the native herbs together; we refer to blue-grass and white clover. But most of the intro- duced weeds are pests, as smart-weed, jimson- weed, dog-fennel (or may-weed), cockle-bur, rag-weed, horse-wecd, wild teasel, ctc. Sweet elover will probably reach here some day, from the northi, and will be a welcome occu- pant of the roadsides and fence corners, as it is not a persistent nuisance and yields con- sidcrable honey. White-weed, or ox-eye daisy, will work its way in slowly from the east, along the railroads and wherever it can find a gravelly soil, but it can never become a pest. The dandelion is, of course, univer- sal, mixed with the blue-grass and white clover, but is not a pest. The most noted wild herb of pioneer times was ginseng, which was dng and sold in the market every year until it was utterly eradicated.

This part of the State of Indiana abonnded in wild fruits, as plums, grapes, pawpaws, blackberries and gooseberries, but the en- croachments of the clearings have limited their area, and live-stock running at large have stunted their growth. Curculio takes the plum. Along the Loblolly, huckleberries and cranberries nsed to thrive.

ZOOLOGY.

Although no large body of water exists within or near the borders of Jay and Black- ford counties it formerly had a respectable number of both species and individuals of the animal kingdom. It afforded the Indian

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INTRODUCTORY.

and the pioneer an abundance of wholesome wild cats, and in great variety, as well as a plentiful supply of useless or mischievous animals. According to the rule the world over, the larger animals disappeared first before the advancing tread of human occupa- tion, and then the next in size, and so on, down to the raccoon, opossum, etc., which still exist, though in diminishing numbers. The buffalo and elk were the largest, and they disappeared on thie very first approach of the white man, with his deadly rifle and indefatigable hound.

The common deer, which was abundant in pioneer times, is now very scarce in Indiana, being occasionally seen in some of the wildcst portions of the State. The last one known to be in Jay County was killed in 1860.

The panther and two species of wild cat used to infest the woods, and render travel- ing somewhat dangerous to the early settler, but the last seen in the county were about a third of a century ago.

The black bear, porcupine and beaver have not been seen liere since 1840-'43.

Minks, weasels and skunks, once common, are diminishing. Twenty to thirty years ago there was a brisk trade liere in their furs and other peltry which perceptibly thinned out the fur-bearing animals.

Fox and gray squirrels keep up their pro- portion with the diminishing forest. The gray species is the most numerous, amoug which a black specimen is occasionally met with. In 1835 a grand squirrel raid, east- ward bound, was made through this region, destroying all the corn. They were so crowded in places that one could kill numbers of them with a club. Flying squirrels arc still here, but as they are entirely nocturnal in their liabits they are seldom seen. There are also grouud squirrels in abundance.

Moles, rabbits and bats are of course still common.

No otters have been seen for many years, though they were frequent in carly days. There are still a good many muskrats.

Occasionally there is a gray fox met with, but few red foxcs have been seen for a long time.

Wolves, of the large gray " timber " species, were plentiful in early times, and more annoying and mischievous than all other animals put together; but they are now, of course, extinct.

Ground hogs, or " woodchucks," were never plentiful, and are so scarce now that seldom can one be found.

" Wild hogs," or domestic hogs escaped and running wild, werc abundant in pioneer times. In a few generations thicsc animals became as furious and dangerous as wolves.

CLIMATE.

Within the space allowed us in this work it is impossible to give a complete analysis of the climate of this locality, and the various causes which modify it from year to year. In this region we are free alike from the Arc- tic blasts of a New England winter and the enervating lieat of the Gulf States; but as oftcu as once in eight or ten years we are visited by a Polar wave, which continues for a greater or less length of time, sometimes giving us for several weeks a fair exhibition of a Labrador winter, and about as often the current sets in the other direction, and we have for a season the isothermal of the tropics transferred to this region.

This oscillation of temperature in different seasons and in the same season is owing to the vast extent of a comparatively level land, unobstructed by mountain or large body of water, from Hudson's Bay to the Gulf of

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HISTORY OF JAY COUNTY.

Mexico. The average temperature for twenty- five years past, during the winter months, at Indianapolis was 35º Fahrenheit, or thirce degrees above freezing point. In this part of Indiana, owing to its greater elevation, the average must be somewhat less, abont 32°. The mean annual temperature at Indianapolis, as obtained from fifteen years' observation, is 55°.

The average number of days in the year in which it rains or snows in Indianapolis is 128. The average depth of annual rain-fall Ir ay be set at from forty-three to forty-five inches. The greatest number of rainy days occur in the month of March. The great rainfall of the year is closely contested by March and June.

The prevailing winds of this region are from southwest to northwest; the coldest are from a point between west and northwest, and the warmest from a little west to south- west.

This is very nearly a climate of latitude; its elevation of 1,000 feet makes it a little colder, and there is a greater rainfall and more frequent atmospheric clianges than gen- erally occur in this latitude in places so far from the sea. This is caused by tlc position of the county, on the line of interchange of winds between the gulf and the great lakes. The water of the great lakes maintains in summer time a much lower degree of tem- perature than the land, and the winds from the Gulf of Mexico, freighted with inoisture and unobstructed by mountain ranges, meet with no cooling surface to condense their vapors, until they come in contact with the cool at- mosphere in the lake region, when condensa- tion begins, and soon a storm is the result, which backs southward until this region is favored with a thunder storm from the northwest. For this reason long continned droughts rarely occur in this region, and

when they do occur they are generally ended by a storm from the northwest, produced by the above causes.

Thus it is seen that the position of East- ern Indiana is a fortunate one.

Such are the results of these fortuitous cli- matic conditions. When droughts occur, it is . when the wind comes from a point a little north of southwest and has been deprived of its inoisture in its passage over the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico. The steady and long-continued rains in this region are from the east and southeast.

Since the early settlement of the country changes have been taking place whichi have, to a considerable extent, modificd the cli- inate, and these changes will continue nntil a further modification takes place.

Now the forests have disappeared to make room for cultivated fields and the earthi re- ceives the direct rays of the sun, and the air circulates freely, obstructions have been re- moved from the streams, and artificial drain- age has in many places been added. The cultivated lands in many districts have been underdrained with tile, so that the melting snows and spring floods are carried away di- rectly, and but little moisture remains to temper the summer heat by evaporation.

The earth, relieved by drainage of its re- dundant moisture, and stripped of its pro- tecting forests, is exposed to the direct rays of the summer sun. Before the fall months come it is heated to a great depth, and this heat, given off to the air, carries the sununer temperature far into autumn and postpones the advent of winter several weeks. But when the store of summer heat is exhausted and winter comes, the winds from the plains of the West comes unobstructed, and the earth, now deprived of its former protection, freezes to a great deptlı.

These conditions operate to render thie

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INTRODUCTORY.

springs later, the summer warmer, the au- tunns later and the winters more severe.

On the 12th of November, 1842, the ground was covered by a fall of snow, which did not entirely leave until the following April. After the 8th of January the whole country was one vast field of ice, caused by the freez- ing of a heavy rain. On this a snow nearly a foot deep fell, on this a rain, and then freezing and snow again. This impenetrable covering of the earth prevented the logs from obtaining roots and nuts, and the wild turkeys from getting their accustomed food under the leaves; and long before spring the scanty provision made by the settlers for horses and cattle was gone, and great num- bers of cattle perished. Some farmers were able to keep most of their stock by cutting down elm, lin and other soft wood trees, to provide buds and twigs for them as food. Even salt fat pork was occasionally fed to cows. A few farmers saved some of their hogs by killing the weaker ones and feeding them to the stronger! ("Survival of the strongest.") Wild hogs generally died. Deer became so poor they were easily taken, and inen and wolves slew them in great numbers.

Another remarkable season was the very next summer, when there was so much rain fell that no crops could be raised. Large numbers of families left their cabins and clearings and moved back to the older set-

tlements, most of whom never returned; and the rest would have gone also could they have sold their property for anything at all.

In February, 1883, there was a great flood in this region.

May 21, 1884, snow fell, melting mostly as it struck the ground or soon after, in a quantity equal to about one foot of unmelted slow.

May 14, 1886, one of the greatest cyclones that ever visited the United States struck the ground between one and two miles north- east of Portland, and stuck to the ground, without rising entirely above it, all the way to Lake Erie. Its path varied from one- fourth to three-fourths of a mile in width. The damage done was of course immense, but many remarkable stories are related con- cerning its singular freaks that are hard to believe. For example, it is said to liave car- ried a wagon-bed to a point several miles from its track; to honeycomb the bark of a tree by pelting wheat straw upon it; to strip all the feathers off of many chickens without lacerating the flesh; to break off an oak tree three feet in diameter eighteen feet above ground and set it down again perpendicularly eight feet in the ground a quarter of a mile distant, etc., etc. In Ohio it killed more than twenty people, but only one was killed in Jay County, namely, Susan Epley, of Noble Township.

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HISTORY OF JAY COUNTY.

SETTLEMENT

N the 15th day of Febru- ary, 1821, Peter Studa- baker and Mary Simison were married at Fort Re- covery, gathered their household goods and with several friends entered the wilds a few miles further west, soon striking the " Quaker Trace " leading from Richmond to Fort Wayne, which they followed until they reached the Wabash River. Here, upon a low bank near the water's edge, they camped. Cut- ting four forked poles, they drove one end of each into the ground, laid poles and brush across the top, and their camp was completed. A fire was kindled at one end, by which the young wife cooked supper for the company, her first experience in " housekeeping " by herself.

" Sleep had scarcely calmed the wearied company that night when they were aroused by the yells of an approaching gang of wolves. From another point camc an answering howl, then another and another, till the forests rang with the crashing echoes. The dog sprang out from the camp and threatened to

give battle, but soon came bounding back, panic-stricken, and jumped upon the bed. As the parties lay there, so near the bank, they could see about a dozen wolves at the water's edge on the opposite shore. Soon they heard the sharp, savage snap of wolf- teeth near their bed, and glaring eyes shone in the darkness within two yards of the camp. The men sprang from their ground bed in alarm, seized their rifles and fired them in the direction of the hideous beasts. The howling pack fled in haste, and did not return. The occupants of the camp slept soundly the rest of the night.

"Thus camped and slept the first white family that ever trod the wilderness which fifteen years afterward became the county of Jay."-Montgomery.

Mr. Studabaker erected a log cabin on the south bank of the Wabash, and lived therein about two years. This was the first white man's house ever erected within the present limits of Jay County. There was no other house within fifteen miles, and no mill or store within thirty-five miles. This point on the Wabash is now called New Corydon.

During Mr. Studabaker's sojourn there, the wolves were sometimes unusually bold. One time, in broad daylight, a wolf came up

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SETTLEMENT.

to the house to attack a calf, when Mrs. Studabaker appeared and it ran away. One night a pack attacked the hogs. Mr. Stnda- baker went out with his gun, while his wife carried a torch, and he shot at them five times; but they came still nearer, snapping their teeth almost within reach. As they seemed determined to attack in the face of the gun, Mrs. Stndabaker prevailed on her husband to run with her back to the house.

The " Quaker Trace," referred to above, was the route traveled by the Quakers of Wayne County to Fort Wayne to market.

From Mr. Montgomery's little history, which we have just quoted, we must relate an instance illustrating the loneliness and privation often experienced by the frontier settler.

"Late in the autumn of 1822, the Indians stole a colt fron Mr. Studabaker, and also one from his brother-in-law, John Simison. Some time afterward these two men set out for Wapakoneta, Ohio, in search of the colts among the Indians there. Before leaving, Mr. Studabaker hired a boy from the settle- inent to stay with his wife, cut the wood and build the fires for her. She then had a babe only three months old. The men had been gone scarcely an hour when this boy proved treacherous, and left the woman and her babe entirely alone. This placed her in an alarming situation, as it was fifteen miles to the nearest neighbor and her husband ex- pected to be gone a week. The weather was cold, and she had no wood and but little strength. Indians and wolves were her only near neighbors. She resolved to do her best at cutting wood and keeping up the fire her- self. Quite naturally she sought the kinds of wood that would chop the easiest, and sometimes cut green buckeye, the poorest of all wood. This made it difficult to keep good fires; but she managed to get along

without suffering much, except from loneli- ness, until the fifth day, when the weather turned extremely cold. All this time had passed and she had not seen a human being. Even the sight of an Indian would have cheered her up. This day she built a fire, but it would not burn. She chopped more wood and piled the great fire-place full; but all in vain. To use her own words, ' It seemed to be, as it is said to be in Greenland sometimes, too cold to burn.' Disheartened and despairing, as her last hope, she took her babe and went to bed. Here they must lie until assistance came or freeze to death! But in about two hours in came her husband, who immediately built a hot fire. The joy of both was inexpressible. He also had brought the stolen colt home with him."

In the winter of 1821-'22 James Worth- ington, of Columbus, Ohio, son of Governor Worthington, accompanied by nine assistants, came to Mr. Studabaker's and made their home with him during the three months they occupied in surveying ont the counties of Jay, Adams and Wells. They gave Mr. Studabaker a plat of their survey, which was useful to the settlers for many years.

In this family, September 29, 1822, was born Abram Studabaker, the first white person born in Jay County.

Mr. Studabaker remained here but two or three years, moving down the Wabash into what is now Adams County, where he died in 1840.

But the first permanent white settler was Jolin Brooks, who, with his wife Mary and infant daughter Nancy, came from Ridge- ville, Randolph County, and camped near the close of November, 1823, upon the banks of the creek which has since borne his name. The next morning they moved on, by the Godfrey trace, till they reached the banks of the Salamonia, opposite the Indian village

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HISTORY OF JAY COUNTY.

where Godfrey was chief, in Penn Township. Here they settled. John Gain, an Indian trader, eame with hin, but the next year moved on to Fort Wayne.

Mr. Brooks was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his wife in Bourbon Coun- ty, Kentucky. They were married in Ohio in 1816. On settling in this county they were twenty-four miles from the nearest white neighbor, and the virtual exile was a bitter one for poor Mary, but Mr. Brooks loved the chase and the wilds so dearly that he did not suffer much from loneliness. He was a favorite with the Indians, who taught him the arts of trapping. He sold the furs in Fort Wayne at high prices. Francois Godfrey, the Indian chief, was an especial friend, and he forbade the redskins, under penalty of death, from molesting Mrs. Brooks during her husband's absence. The chief's mother was company for her, until one day she drauk too much whisky, which resulted in her death the following night.

A 110RRIRLE EXPERIENCE.

The following heart-rending account is from M. W. Montgomery's History:

In June, 1824, Mr. Brooks started to Still- water, Ohio, for provisions, expecting to be gone several days. His wife and child were to be left alone, as was usual in such cases. She saw no one for several day's except a traveler on his way to Fort Wayne, who called for a meal. A heavy rain caused an unprecedented rise in the streams, rendering it impossible for Mr. Brooks to reach his family, or get nearer to them than Ridgeville. Mrs. Brooks now began to fear for her hus- band. She knew that he would make every effort in his power to reach home, and greatly feared that he would risk too much, and get drowned.

Bnt apprehensions for her own safety soon added to her perplexities. Her provisions were nearly gone, and the Salamonia remained so high that she could not cross to the Indian village to get relief. Her anxieties and fore- bodings increased till, on the thirteenth day of her husband's absence, she gave the last monthiful of food about the house to her child. She then had nothing left but a little sugar and some milk. Still the Salamonia overflowed its banks, and relief came not. Her child cried almost continually, while her own sadness and hunger were overwhelmning. The belief that Mr. Brooks was drowned, added to her own hunger, made her desperate.

In this suffering and despairing condition did the poor woman and lier child live for three days. By this time she gave up all hope of ever seeing her husband again, and concluded she must starve to death with her babe! but preferring a watery grave to the slow torments of starvation, she resolved to go to the Salamonia and drown herself and little one! Taking the child, she went to the river, bnt her weakness compelled her to rest several times on the way. Probably the sight of the swollen, angry current startled her, for she sat down on a log when she reached the water's edge. To use her own language, " It was the thought that my hns- band was dead that so discouraged me, and I concluded to go half way across the foot log and throw myself into the stream."

While there weeping she saw a person coming toward her on the opposite side of the river. Seeing that he had a hat on, she knew it was a white man. After wading a long distance, he reached the foot log and came across to her. She was so weak that her joy quite overcame her, and for a time she could not answer his question, " What is the inatter?" At length she replied, "I am starving."

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SETTLEMENT.

It was her old friend, John Gain, return- ing for some things lie had left there. On learning her condition he went with her, and carried the child back to the cabin, and then went over to the Indian village for food. He obtained eighteen pounds of flour and six of bacon, and started back; but by the time he reached the river it was night. Wading to the foot log, he found the water had risen during his absence until the sweeping current was above it. To attempt crossing would be certain deatlı, and those whom he was trying to succor would also be lost. He stood pon- dering what to do until the increasing dark- ness placed him in a new danger. There were many deep holes along the bottoms; and, knowing that the darkness would prevent him from avoiding them, he dared not re- turn. Standing in three feet of water with that burden in his arms, not daring to move, while a woman and child near by were starv- ing for the want of that food, he was in a sad dilennna. So there he stood, sides deep in water, holding that precious flour and bacon all the night long! Never was the gray dawn of morning welcomed more gladly.

He then made his way back to the town and inquired for a canoe, but there was none nearer than three miles up the stream. He gave a young Indian a dollar to bring it down, and charged liim to make all possible laste. But the Indian of course took his characteristic leisure, and it was noon before he returned, and 1 o'clock when John Gain reached the cabin with the long needed re- freshments. He remained and saw the fam- ished ones eat the first meal for nearly four days. Their gratification and thankfulness, not to say anything of the pleasure he must have experienced in saving life, amply com- pensated him for his tedious efforts to relieve them. Then he went his way, and Mary Brooks was again alone.

It had now been' seventeen days since her husband's departure, and during that time the only human being she had seen was tlie traveler before mentioned and John Gain. On the nineteenth day she was greatly re- joiced at the sight of her husband. He had left his oxen at the Indian town, and crossed the Salamonia by falling trees and wading. They then set about making a " pirogue " (dug-out canoe), which they had to roll three- quarters of a mile in order to get it into the river; and by means of this boat they brought over their provisions. The Salamonia con- tinued so high that it was three days before the team could be brought home. Thus ended one of the severest trials early settlers were ever compelled to endure.

OTHER EVENTS.

Once, when one of the children was very sick, Mr. Brooks walked all the way to Fort Wayne and back to procure medicine. All the women whom Mrs. Brooks saw while living on their first homestead, two years and a half, were those who had walked twenty-four miles to see her. Her husband was absent most of the time, hunting or teaming. Altogether seven years did Mrs. Brooks live caged up in the wilderness without seeing any other house than her own cabin.

By her providential care the first orchard in Jay County was started. The seeds of seven fine apples which her husband brought home she planted, and she took care of the young trees, superintended their transplant- ing when they moved to Cherry Grove, and they grew up to be fine, productive trees, often bearing good crops when other orchards failed.

About the year 1833 William Van Sickle, with his family, on his way from Muncie to Fort Wayne, found himself out of money and stopped in this county about three years, a

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HISTORY OF JAY COUNTY.

near neighbor to Mr. Brooks. This was the only family near enough for Mrs. Brooks to visit during the first ten years of her resi- dence in the wilderness. Shortly afterward Adamn Zeigler settled within a mile and a half, which was, as Mrs. Brooks expressed it, "only a few steps away; " and this was a source of great joy to her.

Her husband died February 4, 1844. Rev. George C. Whitman preached the funeral sermon, and Timothy Stratton was admin- istrator of the estate. Thus departed the first man who became a permanent resident of Jay County. His widow died some years ago. She became the inother of eleven chil- dren. Three of the sons were born March 4, viz., 1824, 1827, 1831. Allen, the eldest, died in 1874, in this county.

The third family of settlers in Jay County was that of Orman Perring, who came to tlie point which had been occupied by Peter Studabaker. This was probably about the year 1826. In 1837 he moved down to a place about four or five miles north of Bluffton.

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Author: Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 922

Author:
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 922