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 17

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 17
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 17

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In October, 1830, Hamilton Gibsou, a boy fifteen years old and sınall for his age, started from his father's house in Ohio on horseback to select a piece of land for their future home. Entering the dark wilderness of the Limber- lost, he built a half-face camp, in which he lived for two weeks. Wolves came howling around every night. Sometimes he would get up and stir the fire in order to see them, but could not.

Thomas J. Shaylor, first in Penn Township and then in Pike or Wayne, on the Little Salamonia, was probably the next permanent settler. He was a blacksmith by occupation, but was a noted Indian fighter. In later years he went West, and was with Fremont and Kit Carson among the mountains and on the plains, but finally returned to this county

and died near Camden, where he is buried.

Elias and George Porter came in the fall of 1830; but some say they did not arrive until 1834. It is impossible for the historian to be certain abont some of the dates at this period, as the testimony is very conflicting.

John J. Hawkins and George Tucker set- tled on a beautiful bank at the forks of the Little Salamonia, March 8, 1829, first occu- pying a " half-face camp." This was a tem- porary structure, with the higher side all open, occupied until a house could be erected. It was common among the pioneers. The open side served as door, window and fire- place, and was very convenient and comfort- able. Mrs. Tucker became dissatisfied and prevailed upon her husband to return to their old home in Preble County, Ohio, thus leav- ing the Hawkins family withont near neigh- bors. Mr. Hawkins was a descendant of Sir John Hawkins, the first Englishman who brought slaves from Africa to America, in 1562. On settling in this county Mr. Haw- kins had six children-Samuel, then aged eighteen, Nathan B., Benjamin W., Avaline, who married James Simmons, of Randolph County, Joseph C. and Caroline, who after- ward became the wife of B. W. Clark. Mr. Hawkins died March 15, 1832, as the result of an injury from the carcass of a deer fall- ing upon his breast. His death was the first in Jay County, and he was buried near the bank, not far from the cabin, where other members of the family have since been buried. Mrs. Hawkins survived until 1868. (See life of B. W. Hawkins, in this work.)

Mr. Montgomery, in his history, relates two or three interesting incidents in the life of the above family, connected with what was afterward known as the " Underground Rail- road." While they were neither station agents nor conductors on that road, they never derailed a train. When they saw ne-

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SETTLEMENT.

groes flying for their freedom, they never betrayed them to their pursuers, even though a thousand dollars was once offered them for the purpose; and a thousand dollars then (1833) was equal to several thousand dollars now in its purchasing power and the advant- age it would give over one's neighbors.

He also relates a terrible experience of William Simmons, from Henry County, this State, who in January, 1832, came to this county on a hunting expedition, got lost, and was frozen nearly to deatlı when found on the knoll sinee oceupied by Liber College. One leg, and the toes and heel of the otlier foot, had to be amputated! He was found by B. W. Hawkins and Edward Simmons, who had been encouraged to go ont on the search by John J. Hawkins, the father of the former, Jolın J. being then an invalid. The poor man, about sundown, started to go up the Little Salamonia to Thomas J. Shaylor's, his brother-in-law, three miles above Portland. Coming to the month of the ereek, he found it so small that he concluded that it could not be the Little Salamonia, and he passed on up the main stream. He traveled until he was exhausted, and then tried to strike a fire from lıis flint, but failed. He kept moving about all night, exhausted as he was, to keep from freezing. Early the next morning he again tried his flint, and the first stroke made fire. In thawing his shoes he burned his frozen feet terribly, and could not again put his shoes on. He then made a pair of moeeasins from the skin of a wolf he had killed the day before. He left his gun, and, with the help of a staff, dragged himself along, and was going up the Little Salamonia when found.

Obadiah Winters, who settled in Wayne Township October 3, 1833, had a son named John. When the latter was about two and a half years old, he was one day at his grand- father's, Philip Ensminger. In the morning

the old man went hunting, and without his knowledge the little fellow followed and got lost. The waters were already very high, and it rained hard during that night. Great excitement prevailed throughout the eom- munity, and a large number of persons went to hunt him, which they did the whole night, in vain. A cat which was wont to play with the child followed them, and repeatedly dur- ing the night came to thiem, mewed, and then went away again. They paid no attention to this until morning, when J. C. Hawkins and Thomas Mays followed the eat, and he led them directly to the lost boy! He was in- sensible, very cold and nearly dead. When he revived so as to be able to talk, he saw the cat, and remarked, "Tom, you and me has been lost." He also said that tlie cat came to him several times through the night, and that he saw a big dog,-which is thoughit to have been a wolf.

Mr. Winters was a prominent man of Jay County, residing where he first settled until his death, whieli took place May 12, 1877, at the age of seventy-four years. His wife had died in 1862.

One of the pioneers of Wabash Township was John Chapman, an oddity known as "Johnny Appleseed," from the circum- stance that he brought with him from Cen- tral Ohio, on the baek of an ox, two bushels of apple seeds, which he planted at various places, among them a clearing one mile east of New Corydon. In the early settlement of the county he was in the habit of wander- ing about from one nursery to another selling trees, and camping out wherever night over- took him. He never carried a gun or wore a sound article of clothing, thoughi lie pos- sessed considerable property; never slept in a bed, or ate at a table; liad no place lie called home; was a zealous Swedenborgian in his religion, and died near Fort Wayne in

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HISTORY OF JAY COUNTY.

1845. He liad once been a fine business man, but an accident had cansed a partial derangement of his mind.

Two miles below Portland is a place the hunters used to call the " big eddy," in the Salamonia. It is a kind of pond, a mile long, and is therefore a good place for " fire- lmunting," which is a process formerly much in vogue, of charming deer on the banks by carrying a brilliant light on the bow of the canoe while the hunter sat concealed by a board raised in front of him. For the reason that this pond was a good place for that species of gaming, the Indians liad a " two- mile reservation " made for them, which em- braced this place. The year 1833 witnessed the last visit of the Indians to this ground to cujoy their favorite hunt.

One time, while the Indians were passing through the county by way of the Hawkins settlement, a redskin youth stole an ax. About three months afterward they returned, when the boy's father brought the ax back, saying, " My boy stole him; no good boy."

At another time an Indian called on Peter Studabaker, at Fort Recovery, and told him that a " very rich man " had moved into the county, meaning Jolin J. Hawkins. Studa- baker inquired whether he had many horses and cattle. " No," said the Indian, " he got heap of children and thirteen dog !"

On still another occasion Dr. Duck, an In- dian physician, who was very pious, attended religions services near Deerfield, after which there was a church trial of an offending member. The old Indian listened attentively until there was some conflicting testimony, when he went to the door, turned ronnd and said to the meeting, " Me go. No muclı good here; too much lie."

Philip Brown, who built the first house in Wayne Township in 1832, adjoining on the north side of the site of Liber, did not enter

the land he occupied until he had some trouble with a land shark named Wier. As the latter was passing through the county looking for land, he took it into his head to oust Brown and get possession of the land, improvements and all, for nothing, telling him that he (Wier) had already entered the land. This so enraged Brown that he made some threats, and Wier then went into Ran- dolph County and "swore out his life against " Brown. A constable named Rob- ert Parsons, in obeying the orders from conrt came into the settlement and summoned B. W. Hawkins and Joseph Williamson to as- sist him in the arrest of Brown, who, mean- time, had started to Fort Recovery. The settlers in the neighborhood sympathized with Brown. The constable, with the above posse (?), started for Fort Recovery. The latter took care that their progress should be very slow. They found John R. Mays and his boys grubbing near their honse. Haw- kins, one of the deputics, asked some rather indirect question about Brown, at the same time giving Mays the wink, who, knowing the circumstances, gave the constable the impression that if Brown was not already in Ohio lie soon would be. The same inoment he whispered to Hawkins that Brown was at that very moment in his (Mays') house eat- ing dinner! Hawkins then put in a plea that, it being Saturday afternoon, they might not catch Brown before the Sabbath. The constable replied that it was " State's busi- ness " and he should pay no attention to the Sabbath. After other arguments, which did not change the purpose of the constable, the deputies declared they would go no fur- ther unless their expenses were borne. This . led the constable to abandon the chase and return home, while the deputies, Hawkins and Williamson, went to the house to con- gratulate Brown.

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SETTLEMENT.

This was the first attempt ever made in Jay Connty to enforce the law. Soon after this Wier compromised by agreeing to pay Brown for the improvements he had made. Wier then proceeded to build a cabin on the place, being the northeast portion of what as since been known as College Corner. B. W. Hawkins was carrying the mail between Richmond and Fort Wayne, and on the very next trip he examined the records and found that Wier's story was false; he had not en- tered the land. Mr. Hawkins informed Brown of this, but the latter did not have money enongli to enter it ($50). Ilis neigli- bors helped him, and he lost no time in making Fort Wayne and entering the land. Returning, he ordered Wier off the premises, which order Wier had to obey in disgrace.

Many have been the attempts by "land sharks" to oust settlers and squatters through- out the West and swallow up all their im- provements, and some of these have been successful, even after the occupant had been on the premises twenty years or more and had fine, large orchards and extensive, well cultivated fields. Unfeeling men took ad- vantage of a weakness in the law.

It is an old saying that " a home is a home, even if there is but one acre of it", and at this point the living pioneers love to linger in their memories around the many pleasures of early cabin life. Concerning the the great fire-place, Mrs. Stowe once said: " Best of all, there was in our dwelling that house altar, the blazing wood fire, whose wholesome, hearty crackle is the truest house- hold inspiration. An open fire-place is an altar of patriotism, the charm of sweet home. Would our Revolutionary fathers have gone bare-footed and bleeding over snows to defend air-tight stoves and cooking ranges? I trow not. It was the memory of the great open kitchen fire, with its back-log and fore-sticks,

its roaring, hilarions voice of invitation, its dancing tongue of flame, that called to them through the snows of that dreadful winter to keep up their courage, and that warmed their hearts with a thousand reflected memories."

EARLY METHODISM.

As to early Methodism in this county, we are indebted to the kindness of Augustus Bosworthi, of Liber, for the following inter- esting items.

The first camp-meeting in this region of country was held September 7, 1839, at Rev. George C. Whiteman's in Greene Township, and on the same occasion was held the fourthi quarterly conference of Rev. George W. Bowers' Missionary year. Ministers present -- Rev. George W. Bowers, Thomas Wheat, James Marquis, Benjamin P. Wheat and George S. Whiteman; exhorters-Jolin Con- ner, William Vail, Poindexter Manor and Isaiah Sutton; stewards-John Kidder and George Howser.

The second camp-ineeting was held on the same ground, August 5, 1840, when Robert Burns, presiding elder, B. H. Bradbury, preacher in charge, Elisha E. Barrett, George C. Whiteman, Isaiah Sntton, Ephraim Collins, Leonard Clonse and Bennett King were the ministers present.

David Baldwin, a resident near West Lib- erty, this county, was a local preacher, a farmer, a hunter, a gnnsmith and a black- sınitlı. He died in the spring of 1887, in Kansas, at the advanced age of ninety-five years. For a time he lived in Portland, run- ning a blacksmith shop, where Alexander White, afterward county treasurer, became converted, under the prayers of Mr. Baldwin. Mr. White once owned the farm on Butternut Creek that is now owned by Judge J. M. Haynes, where was held the last camp- meeting ever conducted in this section of the country.

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HISTORY OF JAY COUNTY.

Rev. Bowers above referred to in 1839 traveled on horseback 5,000 miles and filled every appointment, preaching on an average two sermons a day. For his first years' work, 1838, he received but $88.08. He was a man of liberal education and great bodily power.

Rev. Martin HI. Bradbury was the next missionary, in 1840, receiving $192.71}. Joseph Ockerman, the next year, received $124.81}. Jolm W. Bradshaw, 1843, was the fourth preacher in charge.

FIRST EVENTS.

First temporary settler, Peter Studabaker, on the Wabash, 1821.

First permanent settler, Jolin Brooks, on Brooks Creek, 1823.

First birth, Abram Studabaker, son of Peter, September 29, 1822.

First marriage, Joseph Williamson and Mary Ellen Hartup, May 21, 1834, at Henry H. Cuppy's, in Wayne Township.

First marriage license issued was for the marriage of Casper Geyer and Rachel Clark, dated April 11, 1837, and the parties were married just one week afterward by Wade Posey.

First death, John J. Hawkins, March 15, 1832.

First land entry, James Stone, November 9, 1832, in Noble Township. Thomas Scott entered a tract the very next day.

First road surveyed, the Richmond & Fort Wayne, running through Portland. It was laid out by order of John James, one of the commissioners of Randolph County, and sur- veyed by Jeremiah Smith, in 1832.

First inail route through the county, 1829 on which Ellis Kizer was the first mail car- rier, by way of the Godfrey Trace; and the first postoffice was Salamonia, established June 11, 1835, one and a half miles south of

Portland, Daniel Farber being the first post- master.

First mill was constructed of a couple of " gray-heads " by Peter Studabaker in 1822. Instead of cogs a tug was used, which was generally too short or too long, according to the weather. Afterward John McCoy, in Wayne Township, erected a horse-mill, but thie very first grist ruined it.

First blacksmith and gunshop, opened by David Baldwin, in Jackson Township, in 1835.

First schools, one taught by Miss Sarah Tharp (afterward the wife of Thomas Ward, of Winchester), in a cabin built by Mr. Ringer on the site of the subsequent Siber College, and the other by Edward B. Wotten, in a cabin in Madison Township, on the farm that was afterward occupied by James Rhine.

First high school, Liber College, opened by Rev. I. N. Taylor, in 1853.

First Sunday-school, by Abraham Lotz, in his own house in Madison Township, in 1833.

First church, Methodist, organized in 1836, at the residence of James Marquis, in Bear Creek Township.

First Presbyterian churchi, by Rev. I. N. Taylor, at Ira Towle's, in Wabash Township, in 1840.

First church building, on Mr. Towle's land, a log structure, erected in 1841.

First temperance meeting in the county at the residence of James Marquis, in Bear Creek Township, in 1837. Here, also, was the first temperance society organized, in 1839.

First county election was in August, 1836, when commissioners, associate judges, clerk and sheriff were elected. Names given toward the conclusion of the next chapter.

First township election, last Saturday in

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SETTLEMENT.

January, 1835, when Henry H. Cuppy was elected justice; particulars elsewhere.

The first courts were also held at the resi- dence of Mr. Cuppy.

First lawsuit, in 1835, before Esquire Cuppy. William Bunch complained before him that Philip Brown, a neighbor, kept a cross dog, and desired him " bound over to keep the peace." Cuppy docketed the case

as "John Doe versus Richard Roe," etc., bound Brown over, and instructed the sure- ties to "attend the next term of court in Winchester and deliver Brown up in open court to stand his trial for vagrancy!"

First newspaper, the Portland Journal, in 1852, by James M. Bromagem, who at that time brought the first printing press into the county for the purpose.

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HISTORY OF JAY COUNTY.

COUNTY GOVERNMENT,

Y the treaty of Greenville, Ohio, made with the In- dians August 3, 1795, a boundary line was de- scribed as running from Fort Recovery southwest- erly in a direct line to the mouth of the Kentucky River. The land south of this line was ceded to the United States at the above date. About forty square miles, in the form of a triangle, was sontlı of this line in what is now Jay County. This treaty was signed, on the part of the United States, by Major General Anthony Wayne, and on the part of the In- dians by the chiefs of the Wyandots, Shaw- mees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Miamies, Eel Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos, Pi- ankeshaws and Kaskaskias. The land north of this line was ceded to the United States by the Indians in a treaty made at St. Mary's, Ohio, October 6, 1818. This was between

Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass and Benjamin Parke, Commissioners of the United States, and the chief's of the Miami nation of In- dians, namely, Peshawa, or Richardville, Ketauga, or Charley, Osas and others. In this treaty many reservations were made by the Indians, two of which were in Jay, as follows: " One reservation of two miles square on the Salamonia River, at the mouth of Atchepongquaw-we Creek,"-now called Butternut Creek. The other provision re- serves "to Francois Godfrey six sections of land on the Salamonia River, at- a place called LaPetite Prairie." The two mile reservation on Butternut Creek, embracing the " big eddy " before referred to, was ceded to the United States by the Miami tribe of Indians in a treaty made October 23, 1834, at the forks of the Wabaslı, below Hunting- ton.

During the following winter, Salamonia Township, embracing all of Jay and Black- ford counties and a part of Adams (the south- ern tier of townships), was organized as a part of Randolph County. The board of commis- sioners of Randolph County, January 5, 1835, ordered the township set off, appoint-

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COUNTY GOVERNMENT.

ing the first election at Daniel Farber's, on the last Saturday in January, with Obadiah Winters as inspector. The officer to be elected was a justice. The candidates were H. H. Cuppy and Benjamin Goldsmith. A barrel of free whisky was obtained for the occasion, and the contest grew exciting. The only political question involved was the loca- tion of the candidates, and Cuppy triumphed. But the very first lawsuit coming up before Esquire Cuppy proved him unfit for the office and he was induced to resign. The case was "John Doe v. Richard Roe," re- ferred to on a preceding page.

Under the provisions of an act of the Leg- islature approved February 7, 1835, the county of Jay and thirteen other counties to the north of it were all laid out from the territory to which the Indian title had been extinguished. Jay County, which then in- cluded Blackford, was thus described by the third section of the act: "That all the terri- tory included within the following boundary lines shall constitute and form a county to be known by the name of Jay: Beginning at the southeast corner of Adams County, thence west to the eastern boundary of Grant County, thence south to the northern bound- ary of Delaware, thence east with the north- ern boundary of said county to the northeast corner of the same, thence south to the northwest corner of Randolph County, thence east with the northern boundary of said county to the State line, thence north to the place.of beginning."

Some member of the above Legislature, it is not known who, in an amendment to the bill, gave the name of Jay to this county, in honor of John Jay, the first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, a minister to England in 1794, and afterward Governor of New York.

January 30, 1836, an act was approved

organizing the connty. Section 1 declared the territory described as an independent county, enjoying, from and after the first day of March following, all the rights that other counties enjoy. Section 2 appointed Judges Jeremiah Smith and Zachariah Pucket, of Randolph County, Jacob Thornburg, of Henry County, Nathan Coleman, of Madison County, and Philip Moore, of Delaware County, commissioners to locate the county seat. Section 3 made it the duty of the sheriff of Randolph County to notify them, and provided that they should be paid from the treasury of Jay County. Section 4 ordered that the first circuit and other courts be held at the house of Henry H. Cuppy. Section 5 made it the duty of the county agent to reserve ten per cent. of the money received from the sale of donated lots for the use of the county library. Section 6 set forth the duties of the commissioners, and number 8 placed the county in the Eighth Judical Circuit and Fifth Congressional District.

With the exception of Moore, the above named gentlemen met at Mr. Cuppy's the first Monday in June, 1836, as required by the law, and after consultation they said that Camden, though a pretty site, was too far from the center, for they then anticipated that Blackford would be set off, which was actually done the next winter. The geo- graphical center of the county, one and a quarter miles northwest of Portland, was too low. Then they viewed the " Sugar-tree" grove, about one and a half miles southwest of Portland, and decided that that was the most appropriate spot. But they were falsely told, by a man who desired to enter that land himself, that the owner of it lived in Union County, Indiana, and would not sell the land on any terms. They then took eighty acres on the north side of the Salamonia, offered by Daniel Reid, of Richmond, through the

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HISTORY OF JAY COUNTY.

agency of Mr. Cnppy, and ten acres adjoin- ing, offered by James Hathaway. Reid reserved half the lots around the court-house square, and one-third of all the others. The records show that the title to the above lands changed proprietorship about this time.

Governor Noble appointed Christopher Hanna, sheriff, to notify the people that there would be an election on a certain day in Au- gust, 1836, for the purpose of choosing coun- ty officers. There were three polling places -- at Benjamin Goldsmith's, Daniel Farber's and in Licking, or Lick Creek, Township, now Blackford County. The following per- sons were clected : Commissioners-Johu Pingry, Abraham Lotz and Benjamin Gold- surith; associate judges-James Graves and Enoch Bowden; clerk, Christopher Hanna; slieriff, Henderson Graves. B. W. Hawkins was a candidate for clerk against Hanna, and had the vote of Lick Creek Township been returned, would have been clected. Gravcs did not accept the office of judge, and Oba- diah Winters was subsequently chosen.

Although the first several acts of the county commissioners seemed, at the time they were decided upon, to be rather small items for history, yet distance of time has lent so great enchantment to the view that a recital of them will be interesting. We copy here all those that would be of public inter- est for the first several years of the county's existence, from the records in the arditor's office, which, by the way, are kept in a very careful and convenient manner. Indeed, the records in all the offices of the Jay County court-house are in much better shape than tlie average.

EARLY WORK OF THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE.

At a regular term of the commissioners of Jay County, begun and held at the house of Henry H. Cuppy, in said county, on Monday,

the 8thi day of November, 1836, present, Benjamin Goldsmith, Abraham Lotz and John Pingry, commissioners of Jay County, Indiana, and Christopher Hanna, clerk of the county.

Ordered, That Henry H. Cuppy be ap- pointed treasurer of the county of Jay, and that he be notified to qualify himself accord- ingly.

Ordered, That Lewis S. Farber be appoint- ed assessor of the county of Jay for the present year, and that he be notified to qnal- ify himself accordingly.

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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