USA > Indiana > Putnam County > Biographical and historical record of Putnam County, Indiana > Part 8
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TOWNSHIP SKETCHES.
Gammon, David Skelton. Jeremiah Skelton,
Thirty-five years ago Putnamville was one Uriah MeEv, Luke Davis. John Swarts, of the prettiest towns in this part of the Samuel Martin. William Robinson, James country, but since that time it has been on Robinson, Robert Robinson, William Vestal, the decline, and it now has but about 200 in- habitants. Samuel Steele, Edward Heath, and Elder Thomas Oatman. Christian minister.
Putnamville is the only postoffice town in
The Methodist Episcopal church of Fat- nainville was organized in 1529, at the house the township. Westland, which was laid out of John S. Perry, Rov. Thomas J. Brown soon after Putnatoville, had one store for a short time, but now has no business house of any kind. A few houses in close prox- imity on either side of the National Road are the only indications left to remind the passer-by of its former existence.
officiating. John M. Jenkins, John S. Perry, Luke Davis and wife, John Swarts and wife were among the first members. Soon after the organization they erected a neat frame building as a house of worship, which they continued to use until about the year 1860, when they purchased the brick house built by the Presbyterians, in which they now worship.
Putnamville is situated on the National Road, and was laid ont by James Townsend. in 1930, on land purchased from Edward Heath, James Townsend also kept the first store in ! The Presbyterian church was organized Putnamville. He was soon followed by a Mr. at this place November 7. 1:30, at the MeKane. The first school was taught in the house of James Townsend, by the Rev. Isane town the same year in which it was founded Reed. The following named members con- ' by Mr. Wakefield. Archibald Cooper built the first blacksmith-shop, and carried on the kept a shop about the same time. Hugh Thompson carried on the first wagon-shop. and John Morgan put up the first carding machine. The first grist-mill was erected on
stituted the first organization: John Robin- son, Samuel Moore, Mary Moore, Alexander business for several years. John Akin also . Conley, Jane Conley, James Townsend, Cath- erine Townsend, Sarah Shell, Martha Ash- baugh and Julia Ann Merrill. not one of whom remains among the living. James Townsend was the first ruling ekler. The Deer Creek, one-half mile southeast of Pat- . first ministers were Rev. Jeremiah Mill namville, October 16, 1826, by Alexander (deceased). Rev. Samuel G. Lowery. Rev. Conley. Another was built on the same 'James H. Shields, Rev. William W. Woods.
creek, one-half mile southwest of the town. in 1834, by Samuel Steele and Dr. D. W. Layman.
During the building of the National Road the town improved rapidly and business was! quite brisk. In an early day Putnamville also rivaled Greencastle for the location of
About the year 1531 they erected & neat and commodious briek church, which they occupied until 1519, when the Old and the New School members separated. and the Newy School built a good frame church, which was dedicated in February, 1850. A few years afterward the Old School sold the brick
the county seat, and a little later made a , church to the Methodists. Some of the mem- very creditable effort to secure the location bers joined the New School and some went of Asbury University at that place. To se- to other churches. cure this end. her citizens agreed to give the The Rev. Ransom Hawley came to Put. . maunville in the year 1841, and acted as university a donation of $25,000.
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HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
pastor of the Presbyterian church till 1865, a period of twenty-four years. The length of his pastorate is ample evidence of the ac- ceptableness of his ministry and the upright- ness of his life.
The Bethel Methodist Episcopal church, two miles east of Putnamville, on the Na- tional Road, was organized about the year 1835.
The Christian church was organized by Elder O. P. Badger in 1871. This congrega- tion has a good frame house, erected soon after their organization.
The first house in the township, that of James Athey, erected in the winter of 1818- Dr. D. W. Layman settled in Putnamville in 1831. being the first practitioner in the town or the township, and so successful has been his practice that no other physician has ever remained in Putnamville for any great length of time. '19, stood very near the site of Robert Huff- man's residence. The first mill in the town- ship was that of Enther Webster. It stood on Deer Creek, aboat one-fourth of a mile south of Manhattan. Lloyd B. Harris kept the first hotel in the township, at Manhattan. Thomas II. Clark was the first postmaster. WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP. The first shoemaker was Thomas Lewis. The Washington. the oldest of the townships, lies in the southwest corner of Putnam Conn- ty, and is composed of township 13 and the north half of township 12. range 5. It is tices of the peace in the township. It is bounded on the north by Madison Town. : honor of carrying on the first blacksmith- shop belongs to John Wooton. Esquires Busick and Athey were among the first jus- worthy of note that Thomas McCullongh ship. on the cast by Warren and Cloverdale : was the tallest man that ever lived in the township. lle was almost seven feet high,
townships, on the south by Clay and Owen 1 connties, and on the west by Clay County. symmetrically proportioned, and of a great The surface of the country in this township physical power. is rough and broken. There is a great deal of excellent bottom land along the streams, finely adapted to the cultivation of corn and other cereals. It was originally covered with the same character of timber as was found throughout the county, consisting principally of white oak, walnut, poplar, beech, hard maple, ash, hickory and sycamore.
Among the early settlers now deceased were James Athey. the first settler of the county, John Reel, John Horton, William Roberts, John M. Coleman, Thomas II. Clark, William K. Matkins, Dr. Lenox N. Knight,
Abram Lewis, William Brown, George Mc- Intosh, Randall Hutchinson, John M. Pur- cell, Samuel Boone, Moses Boone, William Seiner, Samuel Webster, Henry Walden, Adam Neff. Andy Reel, William Reel. Landon Davis, Thomas Frazier, Allen Jones, George Rightsell, William McCullough. Philip Shrake, Justice Goodrich, Warren Fellows, Reuben Wright, Luther Webster, James Barnett, Silas Mullinix. Solomon Simpson, Thomas McCul- longh and Mr. Deweese.
The first church organized in the township was the Predestinarian Baptist, commonly called "Hard-Shell Baptist." It was organ- ized at Manhattan, in the year 1828, by Rev. Isaac Denman, who continued to preach for the congregation for a period of two decades. A house of worship was built at an early day, which continued to be occupied by the original owners until the year 1862, when it was sold to the Missionary Baptists. They in turn sold it, in the year 1875, to the Methodists, who formed a congregation there about that time. The Methodists erected a new house
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TOWNSHIP SKETCHES.
on the same lot, but the old one stood until pulled down in the summer of 1878.
The Christian church was established in Manhattan, in the year 1838, by Elder John Harris, and it has ever since had a congrega- tion at that place.
Manhattan is the oldest village in the township, having been laid out in the year 1829, on the National Road, by John M. Coleman and Thomas H. Clark. The first merchant there was Wilson Devore. Dr. Lenox N. Knight was the first practicing phy- sician. Mrs. Judge Clark taught the first school. The first justice of the peace at that plare was Lloyd Harris.
Pleasant Garden was laid ont on sec- tion 21. in the year 1830, by John Matkins, as a rival of Manhattan.
Reelsville was laid out by John Reel, on the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, in the year 1852. It is now quite a flourishing village.
The following peculiar incidents are related by some of the old settlers as having attracted considerable comment:
Old 'Squire Boone, brother to Daniel Boone, now living in the township, once lived in a house which stood on the ground now occu- pied by that in which Simeon Stoner lives. On the 3d day of July, 1837, bis honse was struck by lightning, by which two of his children were killed. Three years later his wife presented him with twin boys, whom he named Tip and Tyler. Some time after that, in the same house, two of his daughters were married on the same day.
938
HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
PIONEER LIFE.
IIE early settlers of neighbors who were available would assemble Putnam County mostly
and have a "house-raising." Each end of came from older States, every log was saddled and notched so that as Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina. where their prospects for even a competency were very poor. They found those States good -- to emigrate from. Their entire stock of furniture. implements and family neces- sities were easily stored in one wagon, and sometimes a cart was their only vehicle.
THE LOG CABIN.
After arriving and selecting a suitable location, the next thing to do was to build a log cabin, a description of which may be in- teresting to many of our younger readers, as in some sections these old-time structures are no more to be seen. Trees of uniform size were chosen and cut into logs of the desired length, generally twelve to fifteen feet, and hanled to the spot selected for the future dwelling. On an appointed day the few
they would lie as close down as possible; the next day the proprietor would proceed to " chink and danb " the cabin to keep out the rain, wind and cold. The house had to be re-daubed every fall, as the rains of the inter- vening time would wash out a great part of the mortar. The usual height of the house was seven or eight feet. The gables were formed by shortening the logs gradually at each end of the building near the top. The roof was made by laying very straight small logs or stout poles, suitable distances apart. generally about two and a half feet from gable to gable, and on these poles were laid the " clapboards " after the manner of shingling, showing about two and a half feet to the weather. These clapboards were fastened to their place by " weight poles," corresponding in place with the joists just described, and these again were held in their place by " runs" or "knees," which were chunks of wood about eighteen or twenty inches long fitted between them near the ends. Clapboards were made from the
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PIONEER LIFE.
nicest oaks in the vicinity, by chopping or lamp, some cooking and table-ware. possibly an old clock, and other articles; in the fire- place would be the crane, sometimes of iron, sawing them into four-foot blocks and riving these with a frow, which was a simple blade fixed at right angles to its handle. This was ; sometimes of wood; on it the pots were hung driven into the blocks of wood by a mallet. As the frow was wrenched down through the wood, the latter was turned alternately over from side to side, one end being held by a forked piece of timber ..
The chimney to the Western pioneer's cabin was made by leaving in the original building a large open space in one wall, or by cutting one after the structure was up, and by building on the outside from the ground up; a stone colummin, or'a column of sticks and innd, the sticks being laid up cob-house fashion." The fire-place thius made . was ofteni large enough to receive firewood six to eight feet long. "Sometimes this wood. especially the " back-log;" would benearly as large as a saw-log. The more rapidly the pioneer could burn up the wood in his vicinity the sooner he had his little farm cleared and ready for cultivation. For a window, a piece about two feet long was eut out of one of the wall logs, and the hole closed sometimes by glass, but generally with greased' paper. Even greased deer-hide was sometimes used. A doorway was cut through one of the walls if a saw was to be had; otherwise the door would be left by shortened logs in the orig- inal building. The door was made' by pinning clapboards to two or three wood bars, and was hung on wooden hinges. A wooden latch, with catch, then finished the door, and the latch was raised by any one on the outside by pulling a leather string. For security at night this latch-string was drawn in; but for friends and neighbors, and even strangers, the " latch-string was always hang- ing out " as a welcome. In the interior, over the fire-place, would be a shelf, called " the mantel," ou which stood the candlestick or
for cooking; over the door, in forked cleats, hung the ever trustful rifle and powder-horn; in one corner stood the larger . bed for the "old folks," and under it the trundle-bed for the children: in another stood the old-fash- ioned spinning wheel, with a smaller one by itsside; in another the heavy table, the only talde, of course, there was in the house; in the remaining corner was a rude cupboard holding the table-ware, which consisted of a few cups and sancers and blue-edged plates. Estanding: singly on their edges against the back, to make the display of table furniture more conspicuous, while around the room were scattered a few splint-bottomed or Windsor chairs and two or three stools.
These simple cabins were inhabited by a kind and true-hearted people. They were strangers to mock modesty, and the traveler, seeking lodgings for the night, or desirous of spending a few days in the community, if willing to accept the rude offering, was always welcome, although how they were dis- posed of at night the reader might not easily imagine; for. as described, a single room was made to answer for kitchen, dining-room, sit- 'ting-room, bed-room and parlor, and many families consisted of six or eight members.
SLEEPING ACCOMMODATIONS. :
The bed was very often' made by fixing a post in the floor about six feet from one wall and four feet from the adjoining wall, and fastening a stick to this post about two feet above the floor, on each of two sides, so that the other end of each of the two sticks could be fastened in the opposite wall; clapboards were laid across these, and thus the bed was made complete. Guests were given this bed,
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HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
while the family disposed of themselves in another corner of the room, or in the " loft." When several guests were on hand at once, they were sometimes kept over night in the following manner: When bed-time came the men were requested to step out of doors while the women spread out a broad. bed upon the middle floor, and put themselves to bed in the center; the signal was given and the men came in, and each. husband took his place in bed next his own wife, and the single men outside them again. They were generally so crowded that they had to lie " spoon " fashion, and when any one wished to turn over he would say " Spoon," and the whole company of sleepers would turn over at once. This was the only way they could all keep in bed.
COOKING.
To witness the various processes of cook- ing in those days would alike surprise and amuse those who have grown up since cook- ing stoves and ranges came into use. Kettles were hung over the large fire, suspended with pot-hooks, iron or wooden, on the crane, or on poles, one end of which would rest upon a chair. The long-handled frying-pan was used for cooking meat. It was either held over the blaze by hand or set down upon coals drawn out upon the hearth. This pan was also used for baking pancakes, also called " flap-jacks," " batter-cakes," etc. A better article for this, however, was the cast-iron spider or Dutch skillet. The best thing for baking bread in those days, and possibly even yet in these later days, was the flat-bottomed bake-kettle, of greater depth, with closely fitting cast-iron cover, and commonly known as the " Dutch oven." With coals over and under it, bread and biscuit would quickly and nicely bake. Turkey and spare-ribs were sometimes roasted before the fire, suspended
by a string, a dish being placed underneath to catch the drippings.
Hominy and samp were very much used. The hominy, however, was generally hulled corn -- boiled corn from which the hill, or bran, had been taken by hot lye; hence some- times called "lye hominy." True hominy and samp were made of pounded corn. A popular method of making this, as well as real meal for bread, was to cut out or burn a large hole in the top of a huge stump, in the shape of a mortar, and pounding the corn in this by. a manl or beetle suspended on the end of a swing pole, like a well-sweep. This and the well-sweep consisted of a pole twenty to thirty feet long fixed in an upright fork so that it could be worked " teeter " fashion. It was a rapid and simple way of drawing water. When the samp was sufficiently pounded it was taken out, the bran floated off, and the delicious grain boiled like rice.
The chief articles of diet in early days were corn bread, hominy, or samp, venison, pork, honey, beans, pumpkin (dried pumpkin for more than half the year), turkey, prairie chicken, squirrel and some other game, with a few additional vegetables a portion of the year. Wheat bread, tea, coffee and fruit were luxuries not to be indulged in except on special occasions, as when visitors were present.
WOMEN'S WORK.
Besides cooking in the manner described, the women had many other arduous duties to perform, one of the chief of which was spinning. The " big wheel " was used for spinning yarn and the " little wheel " for spinning flax. These stringed instruments furnished the principal music of the family, and were operated by our mothers and grand- mothers with great skill, attained without pecuniary expense and with far less practice than is necessary for the girls of our period
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PIONEER LIFE.
to acquire a skillful use of their costly and elegant instruments. But those wheels, in- dispensable a few years ago, are all now superseded by the mighty factories which overspread the country, furnishing cloth of all kinds at an expense ten times less than would be incurred now by the old system.
The loom was not less necessary than the wheel, though they were not needed in so great numbers. Not every house had a loom; one loom had a capacity for the needs of ser- eral families. Settlers, having succeeded in spite of the wolves in raising sheep, com- menced the manufacture of woolen cloth; wool was carded and made into rolls by hand cards, and the rolls were spun on the " big. wheel." We still occasionally find in the houses of old settlers a wheel of this kind, sometimes used for spinning and twisting stocking yarn. They are turned with the hand. and with such velocity that it will run itself while the nimble worker, by her back- ward step, draws out and twists her thread nearly the whole length of the cabin. A common article woven on the loom was lin- sey, or linsey-woolsey, the chain being linen and the filling woolen. This cloth was used for dresses for the women and girls. Nearly all the elche worn by the men were also home-made ; carely was a farmer or his son seen in a coat made of any other. If, oeca- sionally, a young man appeared in a snit of " boughten " clothes, he was suspected of having gotten it for a particular occasion, which occurs in the life of nearly every young man.
DRESS AND MANNERS.
The dress, habits, etc., of a people throw so much light npon their conditions and limitations that in order better to show the circumstances surrounding the people of the State, we will give a short exposition of the manner of life of our Indiana people at dif-
ferent epochs. The Indians themselves are credited by Charlevoix with being " very la- borious "-raising poultry, spinning the wool of the buffalo, and manufacturing garments therefrom. These must have been, however, more than usually favorable representatives of their race.
"The working and voyaging dress of the French masses," says Reynolds, " was simple and primitive. The French were like the lilies of the valley [ the Old Ranger was not always exact in his quotations] -- they neither spun nor wove any of their clothing, but purchased it from the merchants. The white blanket coat, known as the cupot, was the I universal and eternal coat for the winter with the masses. A cape was made of it that could be raised over the head in cold weather.
" In the house, and in good weather, it hung belfind, a cape to the blanket coat. The reason that I know these coats so well is that I have worn many in my youth, and a work- ing man never wore a better garment. Dressed deer-skins and blue eloth were worn commonly in the winter for pantaloons. The blue, handkerchief and the deer-skin moccasins covered the head and feet gener- ally of the French ('reoles. In 1800 scarcely a man thought himself clothed nnless he had a belt tied round his blanket eoat, and on one side was hung the dressed skin of a polecat filled with tobacco, pipe, flint and steel. ()n the other side was fastened, under the belt, the butcher knife. A. Creole in this dress felt like Tam O'Shanter filled with usque- baugh; he could face. the devil. Checked calico shirts were then common, but in win- ter flannel was frequently worn. In the summer the laboring men and. the voyagele often took their shirts off in hard work and hot weather, and turned out the naked back to the air and sun."
" Among the Americans," he adds, "home-
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HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
made wool hats were the common wear. Fur hats were not common, and scarcely a boot was seen. The covering of the feet in win- ter was chiefly moccasins made of deer-skins and shoe-packs of tanned leather. Some wore shoes, but not common in very early times. In the summer the greater portion of the young people, male and female, and many of the old, went barefoot. The substantial and universal outside wear was the blue linsey hunting shirt. This is an excellent garment. and I have never felt so happy and healthy since I laid it off. It is made of wide sleeves, open before, with ample size so as to envelop the body almost twice around. Sometimes it had a large cape, which answers well to save the shoulders from the rain. . A belt is mostly used to keep the garment close around the person, and, nevertheless, there is noth- ing tight about it to hamper the body. It is often fringed, and at times the fringe is com- posed of red, and other gay colors. The belt, frequently, is sewed to the hunting shirt. The vest was mostly inade of striped linsey. The colors were made often with alum. copperas and madder, boiled with the bark of trees, in such a manner and propor- tion as the old ladies prescribed. The pan- taloons of the masses were generally made of deer-skin and linsey. Coarse blue cloth was. sometimes made into pantaloons.
" Linsey, neat and fine, manufactured at home, composed generally the outside gar- ments of the females as well as the males .; The ladies had linsey colored and woven to suit their fancy. A bonnet, composed of calico, or some gay goods, was.worn on the head when they were in the open air. Jew- elry on the pioneer ladies was uncommon; a gold ring was an. ornament not often seen."
In 1820 a change of dress began to take place, and before 1830, according to Ford, most of the pioneer costume had disappeared.
"The blue linsey hunting-shirt, with red or white fringe, had given place to the cloth coat. [Jeans would be more like the fact.] The raccoon cap, with the tail of the animal dangling down behind, had been thrown aside for hats of wool or fur. . Boots and shoes had supplanted the deer-skin moccasins; and the leather breeches, strapped tight around the ankle, had disappeared before unmentionables of a more modern material. The female sex had made still greater progress in dress. The old sort of cotton or woolen frocks, spun, woven and made with their own fair hands, and striped and cross-barred with blue dye and Turkey red, had given place to gowns of silk and calico. The feet, before in a state of nudity, now charmed in shoes of calf-skin or slippers of kid; and the head, formerly un- bonneted, but covered with 'a cotton handker- chief, now displayed the charms of the female face under many forms of bonnets of straw, silk and Leghorn .. The young ladies, instead. of walking a mile or two to church on Sun- day, carrying their shoes and stockings in their hands until within a hundred yards of the place of worship, as formerly, now came forth arrayed complete in all the pride of dress, mounted on fine horses and attended by their male admirers."
The last half century has doubtless wit- nessed changes quite as great as those set. forth by our Illinois historian. The chron- icler of to-day, looking back to the golden: days of 1830 to 1840, and comparing them with the present, must be struck with the tendency of an almost monotonons uniformity in dress and manners that comes from the easy inter-communication afforded by steamer, railway, telegraph and newspaper. Home manufactures have been driven from the household by the lower-priced fabrics of dis- tant mills, the Kentucky jeans, and the copperas-colored clothing of home manufac-
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