USA > Indiana > Putnam County > Biographical and historical record of Putnam County, Indiana > Part 4
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The command of the United States troops was next given to General Anthony Wayne. Having perfected his organization, August, 1794, found him cautiously approaching the Miami village. The Indians tried, as ou former occasions, to surprise him; but the thoughtful Wayne was not to be surprised. The Indians attacking him early ou the morning of August 28, 1794, a severe battle ensued, which resulted in a complete victory for Wayne. The haughty spirit of the Miami was broken. He was now ready to listen to terms of peace. Accordingly, in June, 1795,
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INDIANS.
deputations from the Miamis and from the different tribes of the Northwest began to assemble in accordance with a request from General Wayne, to make a treaty of peace. They were in council several days, when, finally, August 3, 1795, the famous treaty of Greenville, Ohio, was completed. By this treaty the Miamis made their first cession of land to the United States, being various small tracts in Southern and Central Indiana. This was ceded to the Government partly to satisfy it for the heavy expense it had sustained in prosecuting the war against the Indians. However, the Miamis received as a remuner- ation 83,000, with $1,000 to be paid ammnally forever.
On the 21st of Angust, 1805, on the 30th of September, 1809, and on the 26th of Octo- ber, 1509, cessions of land were made by the Miamis, for which they were liberally and satisfactorily rewarded by the Government in goods and money.
In 1810 arose the famous Shawnee Prophet, Ells-kwata-wa, brother of the cele- brated warrior, Teenmseh. These men, through a singular and somewhat powerful influence, began to exert a wide control over the tribes of the North, and being encouraged by the English Government, the country was soon deluged in the war of 1812. The Miamis were earnestly and eloquently sought to render assistance. Although many of the tribe were in favor of war, their brave but honest Chief, Little Turtle, remained true to his obligations made at the treaty of Green- ville. However, on the 14th of July, 1812, Little Turtle died. He was succeeded by Pe-oon, who listened more favorably to the words of Tecumseh.
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detachment consisted of about 600 mounted men, Kentucky volunteers, who were armed with rifles and under the command of Lieu- tenant-Colonel John B. Campbell. They left Franklintown on the 25th of November, 1812, by way of Dayton and Greenville, and reached the north bank of the Mississinewa, near the mouth of the Metocin-yah Creek, December 17, 1812. In a rapid charge upon the first Indian village eight warriors were killed and forty-two taken prisoners, consisting of men, women and children. The troops then destroyed three other villages farth- er west on the river, and returning, encamped for the night in a level strip of woods just across the river from Jalapa, Grant County. About half an hour before day on the following morning, December 18, they were suddenly attacked by the Indians, under the command of John Godfroy and Joseph Richardville, the latter a son of John Richardville, who so long and wisely ruled the Miamis. The battle was short but sharp. The Indians, being unable to resist the well-directed fire of Campbell's men, soon fled in dismay, leaving some fifteen of their men dead and forty-eight wounded. The whites lost eight killed and thirty wounded. To the severity of this contest, though of short duration, many of the carly settlers of Grant can testify, as the trees bore the impress of the bullets for many years.
This battle eloses the war record of the Miamis. They ever afterward remained friendly toward the United States. It is true, an occasional brief struggle took place between the Miamis and some of the neighboring tribes. These, however, were generally of minor importance, as the following will illus- trate: About 1830 the Pottawatomies, having crossed the Wabash River, the boundary line, were proceeding through the confines of the
Soon warlike preparations were observed in the Miami villages along the Mississinewa of Grant County. General Harrison at once planned an expedition against them. The | Miamis. The latter, deeming this an en-
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HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
croachment upon their hunting grounds, met the l'ottawatomies near Jefferson, ou the farm owned by Mr. Hill, and forbade them pro- ceeding farther. Disputes arising, a battle ensued, fought with knives and clubs, in which a number were severely ent and bruised, but no one seriously injured. The Pottawat- omies retired to their own territory.
October 6. 1818, was made the famons treaty of St. Mary, in which the Miamis ceded to the United States large quantities of land. Ilowever, 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 Reservation." On the 23d of October, 1826. the Chiefs of the Miamis assembled at a place called " Paradise Springs," where, in council with General John Tipton. Indian Agent, assisted by Genera! 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 831,040.53 in goods, and $31.040.53 in money. The following year, 1827. they received 861,250.47, after which an indemnity of 825,000 was paid to them as long as they existed as a tribe.
In 1834 the Miamis sold to the Govern- ment 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 mouth of the Tippecanoe River. Again, ou the 6th 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-yalı, father of the Chief Me-shin-go- me-sia.
On the 28th of November, 1840, the Mi- amis relinquished, for the sum of 8550,000, all their remaining land in Indiana, except that reserved for Meto-cin-yah, which the Government conveyed by patent to Me-shin- go-me-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 1547, 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 south to Grand Rapids on the north, 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 832.73 as their individual share on the interest of their money held by the United States. The total sum disbursed yearly to the Indians at Peru is 81,200.
The ten sections of the Me-shin-go-me-sia Reservation was held in common until 1873. In May of that year a partition was made by the Goverment, in which all the bands par- ticipated, each receiving, both young and old, eighty 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 country.
As man has ever assimilated to a greater or less extent in 'all ages, the Indians have generally adopted the dress, language and
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habits of the whites. Although never be- coming 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 entirely to entertain an affection for the forest and its wildest haunts, the stream and the bark canoe, the spear, the bow and arrow or the trusty rifle-yet some of the In- dians in Miami and Grant counties are a liv- ing evidence of the power and influence of civilization. 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 Plymouth 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. Ilow 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 earth, 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.
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HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
Early and Civil History.
,E have now seen the title of the lands of Indi- ana transferred from the Indians to the United States Govern- ment. The line of the Fort Wayne treaty of 1809 ents the west line of Putnam County five and five-eighths miles north of the southwest corner, and the south line seven and seven-eighthis miles cast of the same point. The geogra- phies published soon after the date of the Fort Wayne treaty described the country to the northward of this line as " unexplored regions." The treaty of 1818 extinguished the last vestige of Indian title to the soil of Putnam County, and the reigu of savagery took its flight forever from the forest shades of Central Indiana. In 1819 the land acquired by the latter treaty was surveyed by authority of the general Government, and was put on sale at the land office in Terre Haute.
Close upon the surveyors followed the pur- chasers and settlers, and on the 18th day of December, 1818, John Colinan entered the first piece of land owned by a white man in
Putnam County. This traet embraced the west half of the northwest quarter of section 10, and the east half of the northeast quarter of section 9, township 12 north, range 5 west. It lies in the Eel River bottom, just below the fork. The first piece entered in the portion of the county belonging to the purchase of 1818 was the west half of the northwest quarter of section 18. township 16 north, range 5 west, by Felix Clodfelter, on October 11, 1820. The first deed conveying land in the county was made on the 23d day of September, 1522. By this indenture Christopher Miller conveyed to Daniel Swank, for the sum of $800, section 12, township 16 north, range 5 west. Other entries and trans- fers were made in such rapid succession that it is unessential that they should be men- tioned in the order of their occurrence. It might be of interest to observe how, in this instance as in others, the tide of civilization follows the larger water courses and their tributaries, but it is sufficient here to say that immigration came pouring in to take posses- sion of the magnificent forest and the generous soil awaiting the sturdy stroke of the pioneer.
The portion of the county south of the In- dian boundary of 1809 was the scene of
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EARLY AND CIVIL HISTORY. 1397061
earliest settlement. The first white inhal- itants were James Athey and Benjamin Croy. James Athey raised a crop of corn one-half mile below Croy's mill in 1818. Soon after this date Webster's mill was built, being the first structure of the kind to wake the echoes of the surrounding solitude with its monoto- nons humm. Croy's mill was also of very early date. Mr. Croy was from Ohio. Ot- well Thomas. Reuben Ragan and three other spent the winter of 1815 -: 19 in the same neighborhood. with a Mr. Thomas, resident there. During the same winter they erected a residence for James Athey.
In the year 1 19 Jefferson Thomas and John Miller selected the tracts of land after- ward entered by them. lying just west of Greeneastle. At the same time Renben Ra- gan explored the hills and ravines on which Greencastle is built. It was about this period also that Rev. Daniel Anderson, a Methodist minister. preached the first sermon within ; M. Hazelett. in that township.
the limits of the county. During this year also four families made temporary settlement in the south edge of the county.
John Sigter and his family wore the first, . built was Ephraim Dukes, who in 1522 re- permanent residents of the portion of the moved to a place near where James T. Gif- county then called the new purebase, having ford's blacksmith shop was afterward built. arrived in the county March 21, 1821. With The next who came was Silas G. Weeks with Mr. Sigler came also Thomas Jolison. The ; his family. He lived where now is a preteu- next man who came was John Johnson, with . tious brick block. Then came Jubal Dewees his family, who reached the county May 11 and John F. Seller. Mr. Seller built a house of the same year, and settled about seven on the south side of the public square, near miles southeast of Greencastle. Probably . the east end. Such were the feeble but am- the next was John Miller. During the same bitious beginnings of civilization in Putnam County.
year cane Jefferson Thomas, Abraham Coff- man. Sr., Samnel Rogers, Sr .. Jubal Dewees, Isaac Matkin. Abraham Lewis and Rev. Reu-
For the first year John Sigler settled on section 16, then lived three years on the sonthenst quarter of 15, and finally removed to the northwest quarter of section 22. Jef- ferson Thomas entered and settled on the northeast quarter of section 10. Miller chose lands immediately below, and others made selections at various places north and west of Greencastle. Into the eastern part first came Joseph Warford in the year 1821. and settled on section 33 in Floyd Township. In the ! spring of the next year he was joined by his son, Wil-on L. Warford, and during the year by Reuben Smith, Isaac Monnett and his son, Lawson Monnett. all of whom settled in Floyd. During the same year Renben Ha- gan located on the land where he died in : 1868. in the extreme north of Marion Town- ship. In 1524 Samuel Hazelett settled fur- ther south in Marion, having entered a part of the land since owned by his son, Richard
The year 1822 witnessed a large increase in the population abont Greencastle. The first man who lived where the conaty seat is
ORGANIC.
Putnam County was created by an act of ben Clearwaters, and settled near the center . the General Assembly, approved December of the county. James Gordon. Sr .. also came : 31. 1521, entitled "An aet for the formation in !\21. locating his land in the northern of a new county ont of Owen and Vigo portion. being the first resident of that neigh- borhood. .countles, and north of Owen." The full text -is as follows:
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HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
"SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That from and after the first Monday of April next, all that part of the counties of Vigo and Owen, and of the county north of Owen, con- tained in the following bounds, shall form and constitute a separate county, to wit: Be- ginning in the center of range 7 west, on the line dividing townships 10 and 11 north, thence east fifteen miles to the line dividing ranges 4 and 5 west, thence north twelve miles to the line dividing townships 12 and 13 north, thence east three miles, thence north twelve miles to the line dividing town- ships 14 and 15, thence west fifteen miles to the line dividing ranges 6 and 7 west, thence south six miles, thence west three miles, thence south eighteen miles to the be- ginning.
"SECTION 2. The said new county shall be known and designated by the name of Put- namn, and shall enjoy all the rights, privileges and jurisdictions which to separate and in- dependent counties do or may properly ap- pertain or belong.
"SECTION 3. John Bartholomew, of Owen County, Aaron Redus, of Washington County, Jonathan Wells, of Sullivan County, John Allen, of Daviess County, and Peter Allen, of Vigo County, are hereby appointed com- missioners agreeably to the act entitled 'An act for the fixing of the seats of justice in all new counties hereafter to be laid off.' The commissioners above named shall convene at the house of James Athey, in the said county of Putnam, on the first Monday in May next, and shall immediately proceed to dis- charge the duties assigned to them by law. It is hereby made the duty of the sheriff of Owen County to notify the said commission- ers, either in person or by written notifica- tion, of their appointment on or before the fifteenth day of April next, and the said
sheriff of Owen County shall receive from the said county of Putnam so much as the county commissioners shall deem just and reason- able, who are hereby authorized to allow the same ont of any monies in the county treasury, in the same manner other allow- ances are paid.
"SECTION 4. The circuit court of the county of Putnam shall meet and be holden at the house of James Athey, in the said county of Putnam, until suitable accommoda- tions can be had at the seat of justice, and so soon as the courts of said county are satisfied that suitable accommodations can be had at the county seat, they shall adjourn their courts thereto, after which time the courts of the county of Putnam shall be holden at the county seat of Putnam County, established as the law directs. Provided, however, that the circuit court shall have anthority to re- move the court from the house of James Athey to any other place previous to the completion of the public building, should the said court deem it expedient.
"SECTION 5. That the agent who shall be appointed to superintend the sale of lots at the county seat of the county of Putnam, shall reserve ten per centum out of the pro- ceeds thereof, and also ten per centum out of the proceeds of all donations made to the county, and pay the same over to such person or persons as may be appointed by law to receive the same, for the use of a county library for the said county of Putnam, which he shall pay over at such time or times and place as may be directed by law.
"SECTION 6. The Board of County Com- missioners of the said county of Putnam shall within twelve months after the perma- nent seat of justice shall have been selected, proceed to erect the necessary public build- ings thereon.
"SECTION 7. And be it further enacted,
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EARLY AND CIVIL HISTORY.
That such parts of the county of Putnam as previous to the passage of this act belonged to the counties of Vigo and Owen shall be considered attached respectively to the coun- ties from which they were taken, for, the purpose of electing a Representative and Senator to the General Assembly of this State.
" SECTION 8. The powers, privileges and authorities that are granted to the qualified voters of the county of Dubois, and others named in the act entitled ' an aet incorporat- ing a county library in the counties therein
line dividing ranges 6 and 7 west, thence east twenty-four miles, to the line dividing ranges 2 and 3, thence north with said line, twenty-seven miles to the line dividing town- ships 16 and 17, thence west with said line twenty-four miles, to the line dividing ranges 6 and 7, then sonth twenty-seven miles to the place of beginning, shall constitute and form the boundaries of the county of Putnam; and that the first seetion of the act to which this is an amendment, be, and the same is hereby repealed.
"SECTION 2. 'That all that part of the named, approved January the twenty-eighth, present county of Putnam contained within the one thousand eight hundred and eighteen,' to , following boundary, to-wit: beginning in the organize, conduet and support a county --- library, are hereby granted to the qualified voters of the county of Putnam. and the same power and authority therein granted to, and the same duties therein required of, the ser- eral officers, and the person or persons selected by the qualified voters of Dubois County, and other counties in said act named, for carrying center of town 12 north, on the line dividing ranges 6 and 7 west, thence east twelve miles to the line dividing ranges 4 and 5, thence south nine miles to the line dividing towns 10 and 11, thence west twelve miles with said line, to the line dividing ranges 6 and 7, thence north nine miles to the place of begin- ning. shall be attached to, constitute, and into effect the provisions of the act entitled, form a part of the county of Owen, and that ' an act to incorporate a county library in the 'all that part of the county of Vigo which was county of Dubois, and the other counties
attached to the county of Putnam by the act therein named,' according to the true intent : to which this is an amendment, and which is and meaning thereof, are hereby extended to, and required of, the officers and other persons elected by the qualified voters of the county of Putnam.
" This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage."
not included within the boundaries of said Putnam County, as designated by this act, be and the same is hereby attached to, and shall hereafter constitute and form a part of the said county of Vigo.
"SECTION 3. That all suits, pleas, plaints,
By the provisions of this act Putnam ; actions and proceedings, which may have County was considerably larger than as it been commenced, instituted and pending now is, as one may see by consulting any township map of Indiana. An amendatory act was approved December 21, 1822, by Governor Hendricks, reading as follows: within the said county of Putnam, previous to the taking effect of this act, shall be pros- ecuted and carried on to a final effect in the same manner as if this act had not been passed. And the State and county tax which
" SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That the may be due, in that part of the county of following boundaries, to-wit, beginning in Putnam by this act attached to the counties the center of township 12 north, on the range of Owen and Vigo, shall be collected and paid
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HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
in the same manner, and by the same officers, as if this act had not been passed.
" SECTION 4. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage."
The commissioners named in the organic act failed for some reason to meet and locate the county seat. Accordingly the following act was passed and approved January 7. 1823: " WHEREAS, It has been represented to this General Assembly that the commissioners heretofore appointed to locate the seat of | justice in the county of Putnam, pursuant to the provisions of the act entitled ' an act for the formation of a new county out of Owen and Vigo counties, and north of Owen,' approved December 31, 1821, failed to per- form the duty assigned them by said aet, for remedy whereof:
" Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, that Jacob Bell, of the county of Parke, Abraham Buskirk and Daniel Anderson, of the county of Mon- roe, Jacob Cutler. of the county of Morgan, and James Wasson, of the county of Sullivan, be and they are hereby appointed commis- sioners, agreeable to the act entitled 'an act for the fixing of the seats of justice in all new connties hereafter to be laid off?' The commissioners above named shall convene at the house of John Butcher, in the said county of Putnam, on the second Monday in April next, and shall immediately, or as soon thereafter as may be convenient, procced to discharge the duties assigned them by law; and it is hereby made the duty of the sheriff of the said county of Putnam to notify the said commissioners of their appointment, either in person or by written notification, on or before the fifteenth day of March next. and the said sheriff shall receive from the said county of Putnam so much as the county commissioners of said county shall deem just and reasonable, who are hereby authorized to
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allow the same out of any monies in the county treasury, to be paid in the same man- ner other allowances are paid. The said commissioners, and all other proceedings had under this act, shall be regulated and gov- erned, in all respects not provided for by this act. pursnant to the provisions of the acts referred to in this act.
"This act to take effect from its passage."
Section 26 of "an act relative to county boundaries," approved February 17, 1838, reduced Putnam County by taking away the southwest township, and leaving it a per- feet rectangle in shape. In 1850 the area now known as Mill Creek Township was added from Morgan County. which brought the county to its present shape and size.
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