USA > Indiana > Washington County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Harrison County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Crawford County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Clark County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Scott County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Floyd County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Jennings County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 14
USA > Indiana > Jefferson County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 14
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attention should be given to the cul- ture of clover and the grasses, by which, with a fair rotation of crops, the fertility of the soil may be indefi- nitely sustained. Blue grass and tim- othy, which succeed so well in the center of the State, fail in parts of this county by reason of the drouth and hot sunshine. Experience in southern Indiana, Kentucky and Ten- nessee, has shown that orchard grass, when closely seeded, will withstand drouth in partly shaded ground or open fields far better than any grass above mentioned; that when a drouth of four or five weeks would cause the blue grass to wilt and dry crisp, the orchard grass would be comparatively green and luxuriant. The advantages of this over other grasses are: 'It can be grazed two weeks earlier in the spring ; its fattening qualities are equal or superior; it affords more grazing or hay to the acre ; in summer it will grow more in a day than blue grass will in a week, five or six days being generally sufficient for a good bite; it makes a permanent sward for pasturage or hay, and does not run out.' A field on the Blue river, as an example, has furnished good pasture for twenty-five years, and in adjoining States, fields of orchard grass have been continuously pastured or mowed for forty years.""
The earliest settlers of Harrison county planted apple trees ; many old apple trees may be seen from two to two and a half feet in diameter. The
*Prof. Cox.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
descendants of the pioneers have kept up the practice until nearly every farm has its orchard of well selected varieties. The apples are highly colored, well ripened, and the crop usually exceeds the demand. On the elevated table lands and "flat woods" district, the apple crop is usually very large, and rarely fails. Peaches bear very well, but are not so sure a crop as apples. Of late years considerable attention has been paid to small fruits with good results, also to grape cul- ture.
Harrison's Valley .- The most fer- tile portion, perhaps, of the county is what is known as "Harrison's Valley," west of Corydon. It derives its name from Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison, the Governor of the Indiana Territory, grandfather of the present President, and former owner of it. Every locality and plat of the rich area calls up some historic reminiscence of its original owner ; one plat being known as the "Governor's field,"' another as the "General's meadow," etc. The valley is almost a grand amphitheatre walled by limestone hills, wrought by time into a gentle slope. In the mid- dle of the level central area is a basin rimmed with a natural stone wall, scarce two feet high, filled with pure clear water. The ebullition in the center of the basin shows in ordinary times a great flow of water. In flood times a furious torrent, ten to fifteen feet in diameter, rolls up three to six feet above the surface level, and flows in a wondrous river one hundred feet
wide, and ten to fifteen deep. Even in seasons of protracted drought, the flow is reported as a constant stream, thirty feet wide and eight inches deep. From the spring. to the Blue river, a few hundred yards distant, there is a fall of eight feet, and the power is used to run a saw mill. In the earliest times a distillery was located near the great fountain. Says an enthusiastic writer : "Interesting and beautiful as the valley is, and no tourist has seen America without seeing this spring, it was far more beautiful and attractive robed in nature's garb of forest, vines and sward ; a favorite resting place to the mystery-loving savages, it at once attracted the attention of the pioneer- General, from economic, as well as other reasons. Mills were a necessity, and to insure a rapid influx of friends and defenders, for every man and woman must be at once farmer and soldier, mills must be erected at such localities, where they could be built quickly and at the least expense, so the Governor secured the valley, and in 1805-6 erected a mill, and employed himself between campaigns, as a farmer and actual miller. Persons now living in the vicinity remember, when boys, being sent to mill on horseback with a sack of corn or wheat, which Gen. Harrison would receive with his own hands and carry to the hopper.
The General's old residence is gone ; it has disappeared under the decaying hand of time. Only a few shrubs and
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
trees remain to mark the spot. The orchard, planted by the hand of the American Cincinnatus, survives, and though somewhat scarred by the flight of years, is still vigorous in growth and fruitage. The trees, now verging on to a century, are thrifty, and some of them nearly three feet in diameter at the ground. We shall have more to say of Gen. Harrison in these pages.
EARLY SETTLEMENT. -- The settle- ment of Harrison county by white peo- ple dates back to the beginning of the present century. No special impor- tance attached to the section until the capital of the territory was removed to Corydon. Hitherto, its settlement progressed slowly, much as in other portions of southern Indiana, but with the location of the capital within its limits an influx of immigration set in such as before unknown. A large proportion of the early settlers were from Virginia and North Carolina, with a few from Tennessee and Ken- tuey.
A little curious as to the motive which set journying hither so many people from the States south of the Ohio, investigation develops the fact that with many it was for the purpose of escaping what is termed the " curse of caste." Indiana was a territory reposing under the provisions of the famous ordinance of 1787. Not a few of the pioneers have left their record that they sought homes here because the land would never be blemished by negro slavery, and civil and social dis- tinctions be yielded only to those who
owned " niggers." Some of the early settlers brought negroes with them but not as slaves, or, if as slaves, they soon freed them in compliance with the ordinance above alluded to. Much the larger portion of the early settlers, however, were such as did not nor would not own slaves. They were mostly poor in worldly wealth, but rich in possibilities. They were ready to endure all the privations of a new country if a home, free and untram- meled, was the result of their toil.
Among the early settlers of the county whose names have been rescued from oblivion are: "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts his countrymen," Gen. William Henry Harrison ; and Gen. Thomas Posey, Jonathan Jennings, Squire Boone and his sons Isaiah, Enoch, Moses and Jonathan, and five nephews; Henry Heth, William Branham, Thos. Smith, Laurence Black, John Hickman, Isaac Richardson, Robert Long, Wm. Pen- nington, Laurence Bell, Wm. Sands, Benijah Brown, Christopher Fort, Pat- rick Shields, John G. Pfriener, George F. Pope, John Keller, Capt. Brice, Peter Copperas, Spier Spencer, Dennis Pennington, John Smith, William Nance, George Gresham, George Crutchfield, Henry Rice, Reuben Wright, Jacob Conrad, Eli Wright, William Vest, Isaac V. Buskirk, James Shields, Pearce Chamberlain, Jos. Decker, Sanford Ransdall, Robert Cochran, Sack Pennington, George Given, Edward Smith, Richard MeMa- hon, Andrew Johnson, John Dawson,
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
Paul French, Benjamin Brown, Jacob Richardson, Hays. MeCallen, Edward Ransdall, Bennett Wood, Joseph Latta, Peter MeMickle, Richard Arnold, Jas. Stephens, Ignatius Abel, John Stur- geon, Jacob Yountzler, Joseph Nelow, Robt. Rusk, Geo. Tenor, John Harbi- son, Henry Wireau, Wm. Liedley, John Hurst, George Arnold, Jos. Mack- field, Jacob Miller, John Beck, Tice Light, etc., etc. Many other names might be given, but these are deemed sufficient to show who were the pio- neers. Many of them still have descendants in the county.
Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison was the most prominent citizen of Harrison county, and one of the eminent men of the Union. He was born in Charles county, Va., February 9, 1773, and was a son of Benjamin Harrison, a man of considerable prominence in Virginia affairs ; Speaker of the House of Burgesses in 1764 and 1777-82 ; a member of the general Congress 1774- 77 ; one of the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence and Governor of Virginia 1782-85. William Henry received a liberal education, graduating from Hampden-Sidney college, which he had entered with a view of adopt- ing the medical profession. In 1791 he became an ensign in the army, and the next year a lieutenant on Gen. Waynes's staff. He was promoted captain in 1795 and made command- ant of Fort Washington, now Cincin- natti. In 1797-98 he served as secre- tary of the Northwest Territory, although but a few years past his
majority, and in 1799 was its delegate in the Congress of the United States. He was Governor of the Indiana terri- tory from 1801 to 1813, and superin- tendent of Indian affairs, and as such, concluded thirteen important treaties and gained the battle of Tippecanoe, November 7, 1811. Kentucky made him Major General of her militia in 1812, while the Federal Government made him a Brigadier General in the regular army, and the next year (1813) made him a Major General, and as such he won great renown in the defense of Fort Meigs and the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813. He left the army in 1814 and was employed by the government in Indian affairs until 1816 when he was elected a member of Congress from Ohio, hav- ing removed to that State, serving until 1819, and State Senator two years from that date; in 1825 he was elected to the United States Senate. He was United States Minister to Columbia in 1828-29, after which he retired to his farm at North Bend, Ohio, sixteen miles below Cincinnati ; and Cincinnatus-like betook himself to his plow. He was elected to the Presidency in 1840, over Martin Van Buren, receiving 234 electoral votes to Mr. Van Buren's sixty. The election was one of the most exciting ever held in the Republic up to that time. The battle-cry of " Log Cabin and Hard Cider," referring to statements of his adversaries as to his home and his favor- ite beverage, were effectively used by the Whigs, the party to which the Gen-
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
eral belonged, and carried him to an overwhelming victory. These are some of the public services of General Harri- son ; and the fact that he is the grand- father of the present President detracts nothing from his name or fame. He died on the 4th of April, 1841, just one month from the day of his inau- guration as President. Many local incidents of the life of Gen. Harrison are given in Harrison county, which was named for him, showing how absolutely he was a man of the people.
Gen. Posey and Gov. Jennings were not permanent citizens of the county, but merely residents during their offi- cial careers. Their history can scarcely be said to belong in the history of Harrison county. They were men of intelligence and patriotism, and the virtues of each are perpetuated by a county in the State, bearing their names. The following publication in a newspaper in October, 1888, refer- ring to Gov. Jennings, should find an echo in every patriotic heart, and is not out of place in this sketch:
"At the next session of the Indiana Legislature a vigorous effort will be made to have the Assembly pass an act appropriating a sufficient amount of money to erect a suitable monument over the grave of Jonathan Jennings, the first Governor of the State. The body now lies interred in an aban- doned little graveyard at Charlestown without stone or slab to indicate the location. The mound has long since disappeared, and it is hardly probable that there is any one now living who
can point out the exact spot where the bones of the first executive of one of the chief States in the Union now lie.
At one time, the cemetery was little better than an open commons, and hogs, cattle and fowls roamed at will over the grounds. Of late years a fence has been placed around the place and the weeds kept in bounds. Al- though the spot at present but little resembles a home of the dead, it is still kept sacred, and but few people are allowed to sojourn in the town any length of time without being reminded that Gov. Jennings lies buried there.
Many efforts have been made to obtain, by private subscription, the needed funds to erect a marble shaft, but nothing ever resulted from the attempts. It is not expected that any costly pillar will be placed at the head of the grave, but it is thought that the State should have sufficient pride to expend a few hundred dollars for the purpose. If this is not done, in the course of a few generations it will not be known to the general mass of people of the State, who the first Governor of it was. As it is, at the present, there are thousands of persons who could not answer the question if it was propounded to them, or tell where his remains are interred.
Gov. Jennings has been dead fifty- four years, and with the death of each pioneer his memory passes that far out of recollection. Besides holding the highest office of the State, Gov. Jen- nings was Grand Master of the Order of Free Masons, from October. 1823,
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
to October, 1826, and it has recently been suggested that this fraternity should use its influence to carry out the contemplated action."
JONATHAN JENNINGS, Gor- ernor of Indiana, was born near Hun- terdon, New Jersey. He received an academic education and removed to the Northwest Territory late in the last century. When the Territory of Indiana was organized he became the first delegate, taking his seat after some opposition. He was three times elected, and when Indiana became a State he was its first Governor. In this office he served for six years, also acting as Indiana Commissioner in 1818, by appointment of President Monroe. At the conclusion of his term as Governor he was elected Rep- resentative in Congress, and was re-chosen for four terms in succession. He was nearly all his life in public office, and filled his places acceptably. He died near Charlestown, July 26, 1834.
Squire Boone, who emigrated from Kentucky to Harrison county, in 1806, with his sons, Isaiah, Enoch, Moses and Jonathan, and five nephews, formed a settlement known as "Boone's settlement," in what is now Boone township. For years he lived a quiet life in this retired locality, hunting and enjoying himself in his favorite pastime. When he died, he was buried in a cave in this county, reference to which has already been made in these pages. The name of Boone is so interwoven with the his-
tory of Kentucky, that even the sur- rounding states seem to gather luster from the name.
Others of the early settlers of the county were more or less prominent men in its early history. Spier Spen- cer, the first Sheriff, held other impor- tant positions, and was Captain of a company in the battle of Tippecanoe, where he was killed. Geo. F. Pope was the first clerk of the common pleas court, and Moses Boone was one of the Judges of the same court, etc., etc.
Slavery .- The Indiana Territory, as has already been stated, was organ- ized under the ordinance of 1787, which prohibited the introduction of slavery into any of the domains of the Northwest Territory, and as we have seen, many of the early settlers came here to escape the evils of negro slavery. Some few, however, brought negroes with them, and if slaves, at once took steps to liberate or emanci- pate them. The old court records are encumbered .with many entries on the subject, which no doubt will be of interest to the reader of to-day. The following, under date of January 14, 1809, will serve as a sample. "This day, John Smith and a negro man named Jacob Ferrell, aged about thirty-four years, and lately held by the said John Smith in the State of North Carolina as a slave, came before me, Clement Nance, Clerk pro tem of the Court of Common Pleas of the county of Harrison, and it is agreed, by and between the said John Smith
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
and the said Jacob Ferrell, that the said Jacob Ferrell is to serve the said John Smith, his heirs, etc., from the date hereof, until the 14th day of January, 1822, and as a compensation for such services the said John Smith engages to give unto the said Jacob Ferrell on demand one gray mare four years old, named "Til," and a red cow with a white face, as prescribed by a law of this territory, entitled an act concerning the introduction of negroes and mulattoes into this territory."
"Attest: CLEMENT NANCE."
"Know all men by these presents, that I, Clement Nance, of Harrison county, Indiana Territory, do this day make the following statement and commit to record in the Clerk's office of said county, to-wit: In the year 1799, when I was an inhabitant of Pittsylvania county, Virginia, for and in consideration of the sum of $200 to me in hand paid by a certain negro man named "Will," as a compensation to me for the service I was entitled to receive from him as a slave, and that I did then and there emancipate or set free the said negro, Will, who has ever since enjoyed the blessings of freedom, and the said negro man is no resident in this territory. I do by these presents confirm and establish his emancipation.
"Witness my hand and seal this 10th day of May, 1809."
"CLEMENT NANCE."
Indiana Territory, i
Sec. 1s, May 1809. Harrison county.
"This day Clement Nance came personally before me, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for said county, and acknowledged and deliv- ered the within instrument of writ- ing to be his act and deed. Where- fore I have admitted the same to record in my office."
"GEO. F. POPE, Clerk."
Act of Assembly .- It has been said that the native American mind tends toward self-government as naturally as the babe turns to the maternal font for nourishment. The early organiza- tion of Harrison county, when the entire Territory of Indiana had but a few thousand population and but two counties, is proof of that proposition. It was the third county formed, and came into existence during the Terri- torial period. Following is the act of the Legislature creating it :
AN ACT TO FORM A NEW COUNTY OUT OF THE COUNTIES OF KNOX AND CLARK.
1. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the first day of December next, all that part of the Counties of Knox and Clark, which is included in the following boundaries, shall form and constitute a new county, that is to say: Begin- ning at the point on the river Ohio, where the meridian line from which the ranges take number, strikes the same; thence due north to the present Indiana boundary line; thence with
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
the said boundary line to the intersec- tion of the same, by the line which divides the fourth and fifth ranges east; thence with the latter to the above mentioned boundary line, be- tween the Jeffersonville and Vincennes districts, and with the same to the intersection of the line dividing the fifth and the sixth ranges ; thence with the said range line until it strikes the Ohio river, and thence down the same, with the meanders thereof to the place of beginning.
2. Beit further enacted, That the said county shall, from and after the said first day of December next, be known and designated by the name and style of the County of Harrison, and it shall enjoy all the rights, privi- leges and jurisdictions, which to a separate county do or may properly appertain and belong: Provided always, That all suits, pleas, plaints, actions and proceedings, which may, before the said first day of December, have been commenced, instituted and depending within the now counties of Knox and Clark, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and effect in the same manner as if this act had never been passed. And provided also, That the Territorial and county levies or taxes, which are now due within the bounds of the said new county, shall be collected and paid in the same manner, and by the same officers, as they would have been if the erection of said new county had not taken place.
3. Be it further enacted, That the
pages of the General Court, or some one or more of them, shall hold a Circuit Court in the said county on the last Monday of May, annually; and that the terms of the Common Pleas of the said county, wherein business of a civil and criminal nature is trans- acted, shall be at the following annual periods, to-wit: On the second Wednesdays of January and May, and the third Wednesday of Septem- ber; and the three other annual ses- sions thereof, which are intended by law for county purposes, at the fol- lowing periods, to-wit: On the second Wednesdays of March, July and November.
4. And be it further enacted, That in compliance with the wishes of the good people within the bounds of the said new county, the said seat of justice thereof, shall be and is hereby at the town of Corydon.
JESSE B. THOMAS,
Speaker, House of Representatives. JOHN RICE JONES,
President of the Legislative Council. Approved, October 11, 1808. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.
The County Organized. - The county was formally organized under the above act, and the municipal machinery duly set in motion. The first term of the Court of Common Pleas was held in 1809. The first page of the record is gone, and on the second page the first entry is: "Spier Spencer produced a commission from the Governor of the Territory, appoint-
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
ing him Sheriff for the said county."
Moses Boone was sworn in as the third Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. The first grand jury impaneled in the county was sworn in as follows : Dennis Pennington, foreman, and John Smith, Win. Nance, George Gresham, Reuben Wright, Tice Light, Henry Rice, Geo. Crutchfield, John Livanks, Jacob Conrad, Eli Wright, Win. Vest, Edward Smith, Lawrence Black, John Smith, Sr., William Branham, Isaac Richardson, John Hickman, Lawrence Bell, William Pennington and William Sands. As the records quaintly note it, "were sworn as a Grand Jury for the United States, in and for the body of the County of Harrison, and having received their charge from Thos. Ran- dolph, Attorney-General for the Indiana Territory, retired from the bar to con- sult of and make up their presentments and indictments."
Three indictments were returned by the grand jury, to-wit: One against Benijah Brown, and Polly his wife, for living together as man and wife, when each had a wife and husband living; also against James Bruce for "firing the woods;" also against Christopher Fort and Phoebe Elder for living together in adultery. Whereupon, the grand jury having nothing further to present, were dis- charged.
At the April term of court, there were present, Patrick Shields, John G. Pfreiner and Moses Boone, judges. The first thing done at this term was
ordering the county levy as follows : To James Shields, for build- ing a jail, 8200.00
" James Shields, for clearing public grounds, 29.75
" Philip Bell, for a wolf scalp, .75
" John Smith, for a wolf scalp, .75
" John Smith, for two wolf scalps, -
1.50
" Mrs. Branham, per acc't, 3.25
Geo. T. Pope, clerk, for office services, 30.00
" Lane, per account, 14.50
" Spier Spencer, for extra office service, 50.00
8330.50
By county levy, $409.20 " Sheriff's commission
for collecting, 32.563
It was ordered that the sheriff of Harrison county collect agreeable to law, etc. On each horse, mare, etc., above three years old a tax of fifty cents was levied ; on each "stud horse" the rates of the season; on each ferry, except Geo. Doup's, four dol- lars-on Geo. Doup's ferry two dol- lars ; on each tavern licensed four dollars ; on each $100 land valuation ten dollars. It was ordered that taverns be rated as follows :
For each one quart of whiskey, 37} cents : for each one quart of "bounce," 373 cents ; for each one quart of brandy, (French,) 50 cents ; for each, one quart of brandy, (peach), 373 cents ; for each one pint of bounce,
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
25 cents ; for each one pint of brandy, (French), 25 cents ; for each one pint of brandy, (peach), 182 cents; for each one-half pint of brandy, (French), -- cents ; for each one-half pint of brandy, (peach), 123 cents; for a breakfast, dinner and supper, each 25 cents ; for cold breakfast, dinner and supper, each 163 cents ; horse, one night stabling and hay, 25 cents ; for feed of grain, per gallon, 12} cents; lodging, per night, 123 cents.
The following appears at this term of the court: George T. Pope, as clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, for Harrison county, with John Har- bison and Dennis Pennington as securities, entered into bond in the penalty of $1000, payable to the Gov- ernor of the Indiana Territory, etc.
Some of the entries in the quaint old court records sound a little amus- ing to us at this day, with four-score years resting on them. The follow- ing for instance :
Ordered that the "mark" of John Lapp, to-wit : A "crop" off the right ear and an "under-bit" in the same ear, and that his "brand," to-wit : "H" be admitted to record.
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