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 77
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 77
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October 6, 1818, was made the famous treaty of St. Mary, in which the Miamis ceded to the United States large quantities of land. However, at this time some valuable tracts of land were reserved by the Indians, among which was that known then and at the present as the " Big or Miami Reserva- tion."
On the 23d of October, 1826, the Chiefs of the Miamis assembled at a place called " Par- adise Springs," where, in council with Gen- eral Jolın Tipton, Indian Agent, assisted by General Cass and John B. Ray, the greater part of the land belonging to the Indians was ceded to the United States. In payment for this they received $31,040.53 in goods, and $31,040.53 in money. The following year, 1827, they received $61,259.47, after which an indemnity of $25,000 was paid to them as long as they existed as a tribe.
In 1834 the Miamis sold to the Govern-
inent 177,000 acres of land for $335,680. This included a strip seven miles wide along the west side of the "Reserve," in what is now Clinton, Howard and Cass counties. This was transferred by the United States to the State of Indiana, to be used for the com- pletion of the Wabash & Erie Canal from the Tippecanoe River down. A strip five miles along the Wabash had been used in the same way, to construct said canal to the month of the Tippecanoe River. Again, on the 6thi of November, 1838, the Miamis ceded to the United States portions of land which had been reserved by them in former treaties. One important reservation of ten sections was made at this time for the band of Meto- cin-yah, father of the Chief Me-shin-go- me-sia.
On the 28th of November, 1840, the Mi- amis relinquished, for the sum of $550,000, all their remaining land in Indiana, except that reserved for Meto-cin-yah, which the Government conveyed by patent to Me-shin- go-ine-sia and his band. The Indians also agreed to leave in five years at the expense of the United States. Their departure was delayed, however, until 1847, when they were removed to the Marais des Cygnes, in the Fort Leavenworth Agency.
The Kansas Miamis, at the time of their removal, numbered 250 souls, each individual receiving an annuity of about $125. They were removed to the Quawpaw Reservation in 1873, and now number about 150.
The Miami Indians at present are scattered over the country from Grant County on the sonth to Grand Rapids on the northi, and from Napoleon River to the Indian Territory on the west. A large part of these are known as the "Miamis of Indiana," numbering about 335. They received each $32.73 as their individual share on the interest of their money held by the United States. The total
715
INDIANS.
M
suni disbursed yearly to the Indians at Peru is $1,200.
The ten sections of the Me-shin-go-mne-sia Reservation was held in common until 1873. In May of that year a partition was made by the Government, in which all the band par- ticipated, each receiving, both young and old, eiglity acres of land. Men who had large families now control large farms of from four to six hundred acres. The land on an aver- age is as good as can be found in this section of the country.
As man has ever assimilated to a greater or less extent in all ages, the Indians have gen- erally adopted the dress, language and habits of the whites. Although never becoming truly Anglo-Saxon in so far as the inventive and higher sense of civilization is manifest- although never losing their tawny skins, save in the sense of amalgamation, nor ceased en- tirely to entertain an affection for the forest and its wildest hannts, the stream and the bark canoe, the spear, the bow and arrow or the trusty riffe-yet some of the Indians in Miami and Grant counties are a living evidence of the power and influence of civili- zation. A rude, uncultivated child of the forests of nature and the primitive wilds, being readily and naturally imitative, he has received from the white man a knowledge of agriculture that enables him to till the soil in a very creditable manner.
From the first trouble with the settlements at Plymonth and Jamestown, to those of a later period springing up at other points, both east and west, the tribes seemed ever imbued with the belief that the white man would, eventually, overrun their hunting grounds and drive the red man far westward. How truly thought and said the Indian is now most clearly seen. Such is the force of civilization; such the destiny of the unad- vancing, unprogressive, uncivilized of the
eartlı, even to the lowest kingdoms of animal life.
Their births are less frequent than their deaths, and so, as a race, they are withering from the land. Soon they will live only in the songs of their exterminators. Let us be faithful to their rude virtues as men, and pay due tribute to their unhappy fate as a people.
The tribes who were in the habit of visit- ing Jay and Blackford Counties, were Miamis, Wyandotts, Pottawatomies, Sene- cas and Shawnees.
The first settlement in the territory, out of which the county is composed, and before the white man made his appearance, was by the Miami and Delaware tribes of Indians, on what is known as the Godfrey Reservation, situated in the northeast part of the county. The Indians on this reservation were some- what civilized, and divided their time between hunting and agricultural pursuits. In 1833 the white man made his appearance, and the Indians becoming dissatisfied, in the course of a few years disposed of their reservation, and sought more congenial homes on the western frontier. A few of them, however, continued to visit the Salamonia during the inost favorable hunting seasons of the year, until the fall of 1842, since which time 110 Indian has stopped here.
While Shaylor, among the whites, was dreaded by the Indians, the latter had also one warrior, named White Wolf, who was the terror of the whites. Ile was one of the mnost bloodthirsty Indians known. He finally went West with others of his tribe. The Godfrey tribe moved to the West about 1839. In 1832 the United States Government built for Godfrey a brick house on his reservation, about what would be the middle of the south line of section 13, Harrison Township, where the survey continued.
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716
HISTORY OF BLACKFORD COUNTY.
Godfrey sold his farm to the Suydam Com- pany, of New York, but the title was not perfected until 1886, by General J. P. C. Shanks, of Portland.
One of the Godfreys is said to be still living in this State, on the banks of the St. Mary's, about five miles southerly from Fort Wayne.
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SETTLEMENT.
SETTLEMENT
T is a remarkable fact that while most of the immigrants, settling in Blackford previons to 1840 are dead, the very first settler is still liv- ing, namely, the lively Jacob Rea- soner, who yet resides upon sec- tion 6, Licking Township, where he first located in the spring of 1832. What a history of change this venerable patriarch must have witnessed! Can any one grasp in a moment the wonderful contrast? To behold the entire revolution at one view is not to realize it in imagination, and to call up in the mind all the details is an endless task. Is it possible for any one born in modern times to conceive the unbroken wikhness that sur- rounded Mr. Reasoner's first residence here? Woods and wolves, bears and deer, panthers
and Indians, alone constituted the unlimited scene that monotonously presented itself to his vision for many long years.
Benjamin Reasoner, father of Jacob, was the first to enter land in Blackford County.
As it is impossible, at this late day, to fix precisely the date of the arrival of all the pioneers, we shall, in the main, introduce conveniently the names of those who settled in the county previous to 1840.
LICKING TOWNSHIP.
Jacob Reasoner, in 1832, just mentioned.
Andrew Boggs, in 1833, settled on land a part of which is now owned by David M. Mercer, southeast of Hartford City. He was a thin-visaged, hawk-eyed man, yet shrewed. His cabin was the place of meeting for the first commissioners, courts, etc. Ile after- ward sold out and moved to a point north of Roanoke, Himtington County, where he died, at about ninety years of age.
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IIISTORY OF BLACKFORD COUNTY.
Nicholas Friend, a man of changeable mind, came with Mr. Boggs, was the first county agent, and subsequently moved to the same neighborhood in Huntington County, and after several years to the more distant West. His wife became the wife of Mr. Boggs. While in this county Mr. Friend had a colored man in his employ.
John Grimes settled on the Big Lick Creek some time prior to 1834, and built the first water-power grist-mill in the county.
John Lewis also built a grist-mill on the same stream, three miles southwest of IIart- ford about that time, sold it to George Atkinson, ran it awhile longer, and moved to Rock River, Illinois, where he passed the remainder of his days.
George Atkinson settled on section 32 or 33, ran the grist-mill just referred to for a time, was well known to be a strict Presby- terian, and finally died in 1849.
Joseph Atkinson, his brother, settled near hin, on the opposite side of the creek, a poor man, a carpenter for several years and then farmer, reared a large family, yet became wealthy, and died at that place.
Jacob Slater located on section 34, where he died in 1839, and his wife a year afterward. His son James married in 1839, settling three miles south of Hartford City, where lie remained until his death, was justice of the peace many years.
Robert Stewart remained a resident of Licking Township until his death, at the age of ninety years. John, his son, is also deceased. Dr. Henry Stewart, another son, was a botanic physician, associate judge, settled near his brother, and lived until 1884.
In 1852 during the early days of the Cali- fornia gold excitement, it is related that Robert Stewart, Jr., still another member of the above family, started across the plains, in company with others, and died with Asiatic
cholera on the way. . Another member of the company, also named Stewart, declared that he would kill the first Indian he saw. He fulfilled his threat, but the victim chaneed to be a squaw, with a pappoose. The savages, learning the fact, surrounded the white com- pany and endeavored to compel them to reveal the murderer's name. This they refused to do for some time; but the Indians, becoming furious, declared they would kill the whole company if they would not tell who killed their squaw. The emigrants, secing that they were at the mercy of the red savages, finally revealed the perpetrator's name, whereupon the Indians took him aside and skinned liim alive! The miserable wretch dragged himself along after the company for about two miles before he gave up, exhausted!
In 1834, or previously, Hiram Dilley settled on what is now the William Carrell place.
Francis Kirkpatrick, still living, came this year and settled on section 34.
At this time there were but thirteen fami- lies living in the territory composing the county, and they boasted of a population of sixty-five persons. The descriptions these pioneers give of the country and its mode of living does not make one long for the hard- ships and privations of pioneer life. Fifty- two years ago the white mnan's cabin began to make its appearance. The county at that time was an unbroken wilderness, and wolves and deer were plenty, and the bear and panther were occasionally seen. This "howl- ing wilderness," from these small beginnings has gradually disappeared, and in its place cultivated fields and blooming orchards, and all the evidences and comforts of modern civilization are visible on every hand. There were no disunion or labor questions disturb- ing the unity of these early pioneers; but they, like brethren, dwelt together in unity,
719
SETTLEMENT.
and those living miles apart were always glad to see each other, and though separated by forests and swamps, surrounded by what seems to us the most adverse circumstances, yet their re-union at log-rollings and house- raisings were many and joyous.
Eli Rigdon, a cousin of the noted Mormon leader of the same surname, and one of the first county commissioners, came to Licking Township in the earliest days, but subse- quently moved to Wheeling, Delaware Coun- ty, where he died while he was keeping a store. Ile was a very intelligent man.
John Beath settled near Joseph Atkinson, about 1835, was a justice of the peace, county commissioner, etc., recently sold his land to the county for a poor farm, and moved to the county seat in 1871, where he died in 1886.
" General " Joseph P. Vancleve first set- tled east of IHartford City, but soon com- menced herding cattle, mostly north and west of town, with a gun over his shoulder, on horseback, in partnership with Asher Van- cleve. ITis son, William, built the fine large business block on the west side of the public square in Hartford City. Joseph and Asher were both single men on arrival here. They remained residents here until death, the latter dying about December, 1885.
Jonathan Hughes, a constable, died a few years ago, where he first settled, and Gabriel Hughes, who died in an early day, were set- tlers in Licking in 1835 or 1836. About the same time came Frederick and Henry Selig, Allen K. Gadbury, John Cunningham, Sam- son Dildine, II. C. Baldwin, Michael Cline and others. Dildine died in Jackson Town- ship.
Michael Cline came in 1836, first settling near the southern line of the county, then removed to Hartford City, where he started a pottery, and ran it for ten or fifteen years.
His son, William, is now living near the northern limit of the city.
Benjamin Reasoner, a brother of Jacob, moved back to Ohio. James II. Reasoner. who for a while had a small grist-mill four miles southwest of Hartford City, is not 110w. living.
Mrs. Turner lived four miles west of IIart- ford City.
Elijah Sims, who settled on section 22. was a Methodist preacher, and the only min- ister in the county having authority to per- form the marriage ceremony for a number of years. IIe died where he first settled in this county. He had married a second wife, who after his death, married a Mr. Gothup, and is again a widow.
James Parker settled on the Big Lick, and remained there until his death.
David Stout, the first supervisor, located on the same creek, above Mr. Parker.
Alexander Kirkpatrick remained here till his death.
Aaron and Archibald Mc Vicker, other early settlers, are also deceased.
Elias Craw was a resident of this township from pioneer times until his death.
Nathan Jones established the old home- stead, which some of his grandchildren now occupy.
Henry Secrist moved to Illinois.
James and Newton Romine were inmi- grants here prior to 1840. Newton removed to Hartford City in 1846, where he ran a saw- mill for a period. Both are deceased.
Alfred Fuller first settled west of Hart- ford, then removed to the city, and afterward left the county.
Uriah B. Hull moved away three times, and finally went to the State of Missouri.
Simeon and Levi Conley (or Connelly) moved away about 1842.
720
HISTORY OF BLACKFORD COUNTY.
Levi Bourne remained a citizen here until his death.
Henry Harman, Samuel Roberts and Joseph Gettys, pioncer settlers of Licking, are all deceased.
William Henley, father of Dr. Henley, settled here previous to 1840, bought after- ward a great deal of Hartford City property, and remained a resident herc until his death.
Jeremiah Handley, or Hanley, who is chiefly remembered as a lecturer against Free- masonry, was a pioneer, who remaincd here until his deceasc.
Jolın Marley was the first blacksmith in Hartford City. He returned to Ohio.
Abralanı Stalıl settled in Licking Town- ship in 1839, and is the best known old pioneer in Hartford City. From him many facts have been obtained for this history of Blackford County.
William Campbell came about 1840; was a justice of the peace in this township, and died about ten years ago.
Thomas Sharon returned to Ohio in 1845. Joseph Wade, a pioneer, died in 1850, of cancer.
John Brugh, first county clerk, and long an eminent citizen, had a horse-mill at Hart- ford City for some years.
Abraham Cassel, the first county surveyor, surveyed the original plat for the town of Hartford. He died a few years ago.
Jacob Clark, Sr. and Jr., are both deceased. Joseph Gettys settled a mile and a half south of Hartford City, and died long since.
James A. Gadbury was a citizen here until his decease.
Aaron Hughes came previous to 1840.
David Hart moved from the county long ago.
James Gillespie was another pioneer, of whom little is known.
Henry Harnion and Adam Cunningham remained here until their decease.
Lair Runion, a Methodist preacher, died here about twenty years ago.
JACKSON TOWNSHIP.
We have not been able to fix precisely upon the first settler of this township. The settle- ment of the county seems to have begun by working up the Lick Creck from toward Mun- cie, and hence Lick Creek (now Licking) Township was the first settled and the first to be filled with the incoming civilization.
Samuel Gochenour, in 1835, settled on sec- tion 5, and died in 1870.
Jacob Emshwiller, his son-in-law, located in this township the same year, erected a tall- ncry and ran it a short time. He was after- ward elected county treasurer, and while he was holding the office lie started home one day with a load of wood from the forest west of town with a span of horses, which took fright and ran away, upsetting the wagon with its load, and driving the standard through his skull, killing him. This was in February, 1849. Abraham Stahl succeeded him in the office of treasurer.
Joseph Creek, a noted hunter, was one of the pioneers of Jackson Township, locating in 1838, in the northwestern corner, where lie made his home until his death a few years ago. He and William Davidson, of Harrison Township, his partner in the chase, made a practice, in early times, of killing sixty to seventy-five deer annually. Three sons of his are still living in the township, the old home- stead yet remaining in the possession of some members of the family.
About 1835 Robert Duffey settled near the cranberry marsh. He moved west, and died some time within the last five years.
Abraham Emshwiller located in 1839 on
SETTLEMENT.
721
section 4, where he resided until his death, in 1865. His widow is still living. The farm is owned by the sons. Jolin, one of the sons, resides in Montpelier, where he owns and conducts a magnificent drug store. To him the compiler of this history is under special obligation for many of the items in these sketelics.
Robert HI. Lanning came about 1839, and was either county or township assessor until about 1870 or 1871.
Ezekiel Lanning, an older brother, came the same year and remained a resident here until his death.
Edward M. Crumley, one of the first grand jurors, Abraham Wilson, Jolin Hudson and Thomas Langdon were pioneers of Jackson, who are not now living.
Jacob Oswalt, an early settler, moved from the county.
William Cortright located in Jackson Township about 1840, and remained an occu- pant of his farm until his death, about 1875. A portion of Trenton is laid out upon his land.
John and Jacob Wentz located in this town- ship in 1844. Jolin is now living in Hart- ford City, and Jacob is deceased.
James Ransom and David Hart were other pioneers of Jackson.
Daniel and Laban Landon remained citi- zens of Jackson Township until their deatlı, the former in April, 1887, south of Trenton.
HARRISON TOWNSHIP.
Josephi C. Blount (or Blunt) settled within the bounds of the present Harrison Township as early as 1832, which was the same year that Jacob Reasoner came to Licking Town- ship.
Jolin Blount came the next year, being the first white man to settle on the Salamonia River in this county. In 1872 he moved to 42
Lincoln County, Kansas, where he died about three or four years ago.
Barnett Dewitt, a great hunter, came also in 1832, and at that time was the only white resident between Montpelier and Muncie. Ile had a large family, but lived in a small cabin, on forty acres of land, in the deep woods, earning the full support of himself and fam- ily by the pursuits of the chase. Some time in the forties the country here became too well filled with other white people, and away he hied himself to thic vicinity of Des Moines, Iowa.
William Davidson, another hunter, lived in this township about seven miles northeast of Hartford City. In company with Joseph Creek, of Jackson Township, he would take as many as sixty to seventy-five deer annually. He also moved to Iowa, possibly, like the Indians, for better hunting grounds.
So with George H. Houser, a pious Meth- odist. Hunting was his specialty also, and in an early day he too removed to Iowa, where he has since died.
Henry Harmon came to the county about 1833 or 1834, occupying the first farm south of Montpelier, and remained there until his deatlı.
Captain Josiah Twibell came in March, 1836, settling across the river from Mont- pelier, where he died in 1873, over seventy- five years of age. He was Captain of Com- pany I, Thirty-fourth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, in the late war. Of his sons, William is now living in Montpelier; Daniel is living on the old homestead in this township; John died in 1870 , in Wells County, and David is also deceased.
Isaac M. Ricketts, who came in 1837, lives southeast of Montpelier. He has been county commissioner, justice of the peace, etc., and is an excellent man.
William Hillier and Samuel Gettys did not
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722
HISTORY OF BLACKFORD COUNTY.
remain long, the former removing to Iowa, and the latter to a point north of Roanoke, in Huntington Connty.
William Ellsworth settled in Harrison Township in 1836, and is still a resident.
John Beall, who used to live four miles south of Montpelier, removed West manly years ago, and is now deceased.
Abel Baldwin was one of the pioneers. He was the founder of Montpelier, and had a mill near the place.
John J. Cook first settled in Harrison Township, married a daughter of Abel Bald- win, was the first surveyor in the county, the second clerk of the court, and finally re- moved to Missouri, where he died three or four years ago.
Franklin G. Baldwin, the earliest assessor, was a resident of Montpelier and a Baptist minister, is not now living.
John B. Gouldsberry was a millwright by trade, shifted abont a great deal and finally went West, where he died.
Jose K. Hobson, a pioneer of Harrison Township, sold liquor contrary to law, but was led to reform. He removed to Allen County, where he died.
Thomas Hulet, who came about 1837, went to Iowa and died there.
John D. Waugh, from Windsor County, Vermont, came in June, 1837, and settled on the Salamonia, where he soon died. Of his two sons, John H. and James W., the latter is still living here, and is a nurseryman, two miles west of Montpelier. He is the only survivor of the three men who in Blackford County, voted the Liberty ticket (Birney for President) in 1844.
James Havens, who had been a soldier un- der General Harrison, was a pioneer here who remained a resident until his death. Selay Havens, his son, settled on section 36,
where he lived until his death, about the year 1879.
Lewis McGeath, from Virginia, settled on section 18 in 1837, and remained there until his death in 1872.
Joshna B. Cass, a shoemaker of Montpelier, mnoved West.
Josephus Streeter, from Vermont, resided in this township until about 1860, when he returned to Vermont, and is living there now.
Samuel Brown, also from Vermont, went to Iowa and died there.
Thomas Eaton, who had been captain of a sea vessel, left this county after a term of residence.
Thomas Markins lived four miles southeast of Montpelier, where lie died.
Daniel and Jacob Liestenfeltz were boys when they began their residence in Harrison Township, and both are still living here, in the southeastern portion.
Robert and Henry Hays came previous to 1840. The former left in 1847, and the lat- ter died at his residence in the northeastern part of the township.
Thomas Tetterick died here.
James Bowman mnoved to Wells County, where he died.
Janes Wier left in 1844.
John Wells located in this township in 1839.
Elsy Saylor moved to another part of the country in early times.
Other pioneers of Harrison Township were
-Michael Tetterick, Andrew Blount, Peter Miller, John Ferren, John C. Spaulding, Joseph Penrod and James Walker.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
Among the pioneers of Washington Town- ship were ;-
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SETTLEMENT.
AAbel Baldwin, the founder of Montpelier.
Isaac Spaulding, who settled near the Sala- monia below Montpelier, and died many years ago.
William Haddon, probate judge.
John Cave, who was the inspector of the first election, associate judge, etc., and is deceased.
Roderick Craig, who died in the '50s.
Jeremiah Lockett, who was a justice of the peace many years, and remained a resident of his farm until his death.
John F. Miller, who settled on section 1.
Frederick Selig, who located north of Hart- ford a few miles, was a stone-cutter in his younger days and a reformer the rest of his life, and died in December, 1886.
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