USA > Indiana > Washington County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 24
USA > Indiana > Harrison County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 24
USA > Indiana > Crawford County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 24
USA > Indiana > Clark County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 24
USA > Indiana > Scott County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 24
USA > Indiana > Floyd County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 24
USA > Indiana > Jennings County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 24
USA > Indiana > Jefferson County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 24
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Lieut. Gov. Harrison was a gentle- man of culture and education, and well fitted for any position to which he aspir- ed, but he lacked in suavity of manner and tact; qualities very necessary in the make up of a successful politician.
CAPT. ISAAC CHAMBERS .-- Capt. Chambers was born in Melton county, Kentucky, May 28th, 1795, and was raised on a farm. His edu- cation was quite limited. He was in the war of 1812.15, and was at the battle of New Orleans. After the battle he walked to his home in Ken- tucky and raised a crop there; and then came to Indiana and entered a tract of land in Jefferson county in the fall of 1815. He built him a cabin and then returned to Kentucky. In the year following he removed his family to his land in (what is now) Monroe township, Jefferson county, Indiana. He was a man who was respected by his neighbors and by the citizens of the whole county. He was
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
a good citizen, honorable, honest and upright in all his dealings with his fellow men.
In 1840 he was elected as a member of the State Legislature from this county. Ile was a captain in the State militia.
In his youth he flat-boated on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Upon his return home from one of his trips to New Orleans, he was taken sick, and stopped behind the other men who were traveling with him, as they sup- posed to die. Fortunately he fell into the hands of an old Spanish woman, who understood his case and cured him so quickly that he, by taking a short route, was enabled to overtake his comrades before they got home. When he approached their camp they supposed that it was his ghost and were much frightened, but finally he was able to prove to them that it was himself and no ghost, and they jour- neved home to Kentucky together. The old woman could not understand his language, but knew how to treat the malarial diseases of the country, which was much better for him.
Capt. Chambers lived on the place that he entered in 1815 until his death, which occurred in 1865.
JUDGE WILLIAMSON DUNN was a man whose name was connected very intimately with much of the early history of this country. He came to the county in the year 1809, and settled on a farm on which a part of
the town of Hanover now stands. Here he lived for the greater portion of his remaining life.
Williamson Dunn was appointed as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, for the county of Jefferson, Indiana territory, which place he held until April, 1813. At this time he was commissioned as captain of a company of rangers, which had been enlisted in this county and in Kentucky, near here.
Judge Dunn was Associate Judge of the Circuit Court of Jefferson county in 1814, and for some years after that date.
In May, 1820, Judge Dunn was commissioned Register of the Land Office, for Terre Haute district. The land office was afterwards removed to Crawfordsville and Judge Dunn was re-appointed to the position of Register. He and others purchased the land on which Crawfordsville was laid out, and he donated the land upon which Wabash College was built. He also gave land for the establishment of a college at Hanover. In 1829 he returned to Hanover and resided there the rest of his life. In 1832 he was a candidate for the State Senate, but was defeated; but was chosen as Senator in 1837, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Lieut. Gov. David Hillis. In 1843 he was again nomi- nated but was defeated by a division in his party, caused by Shadrach Wil- ber, who was also a Whig, running as an independent candidate for the same office - the State Senate - and Jesse
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
D. Bright, a Democrat, was elected. In 1846 Judge Dunn was elected as Probate Judge of the county, and was re-elected and held the office at the time that the court was abolished under the new Constitution.
Judge Dunn was born Dec. 25th, 1781, near Danville, Ky. He was the third son of Samuel Dunn, a native of Ireland. The family were Presby- terian in their belief. In September, 1806, he was married to Miss Miriam Wilson, of Garrard county, Ky. They raised a family of eleven children- seven boys and four girls. The family have been scattered over the country, and the most of them are dead. There are only four of them now living. (Jan. 1889).
Judge Dunn joined the Presbyterian church at about the age of thirty-five, and was an earnest Christian the bal- ance of his life. For over thirty years he was a ruling elder in the church. He was a man of fine character and sterling integrity ; a man who always had the courage to act upon his con- victions, no matter how unpopular they might be. He was a man of good judgment ; rather slow in forming con- clusions, but once formed in his mind and convinced of their righteousness, he was a hero in their defense. His record during life, in all of the positions which he was called upon to fill, was good and perfectly clean. His wife died in October, 1837, and he was remarried in November, 1839, to Mary Fleming, who survived him.
Judge Dunn died Nov. 11th, 1854,
from the effects of a sunstroke in the month of September previous.
JOHN HENRY WAGNER. - Mr. Wagner was born in Franklin county, Penn. 'The exact date of his birth is not known, as his parents died when he was quite young, and he was bound out till he was of age. The custom in those days was to bind out orphan boys till twenty-one years of age, and girls till eighteen.
. If there ever had been any record of his father's family it was either lost or destroyed. He learned the blacksmith's trade. He married in Pennsylvania, Mary J. Hoffman, who was also an orphan and a bond- girl. In some way they were informed that there was only twenty-one days' difference in their birth. Mr. Wagner and wife were both of German parentage. They kept a tavern in Chambersburg, Penn. They came to this county May 23d, in the year 1808, and landed at about where now is the foot of Jefferson street. They floated down the river in an old-time flat boat called a broad- horns. When they arrived at this point, they determined to settle here, and so removed from their boat, the lumber of which was used for flooring of their cabin. Their cabin (the first one built in the town) stood at where is now the north-east corner of Mul- berry and First streets, on a high bank which has since been cut away, the second bank or rise from the
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
river. Having his tools with him he set up a shop, and so far as is now known was the first iron worker in the settlement. Previous to his coming, the settlers had gone over the river into Kentucky to have their blacksmith work done. This con- sisted chiefly in making axes, hoes and other edge tools, bells for horses and cattle, and all articles of hard- ware, belonging to their department of work, besides a great deal of other work which is out of the line of the blacksmith of the present day. Mr. Wagner and wife raised a family of four boys and three girls.
They remained in Madison for many years, when they removed to a farm on the Michigan road, four miles from town, and from thence to Jennings county, when they returned to Jef- ferson county, where they died. Mr. Wagner died May 25th, 1841, and his wife died August 13th, in the same year. They were supposed to have been about eighty years old at the time of their death.
THOMAS WISE-Was born in Maryland on the eastern shore in 1793. His parents emigrated to Ken- tucky when he was only two years of age. His father died soon after- wards, leaving five children, three boys and two girls. In 1800 his mother came to Trimble county, where the family remained. Thomas came to Indiana first on the day of the first sale of town lots in Madison,
but returned to his mother's, where he remained till a few days after the Pigeon Roost massacre, which occurred on September 3d, 1812, about sunset. Having heard of the massacre, young Wise and a compan- ion went down to see the place. The sight so fired his young blood that he joined the "Rangers" and went out on the "Delaware campaign," as it was called. The company was mus- tered into the service April 13th, 1813. After the year had expired- of his enlistment-he came back to Jefferson county and made it his home. He was a farmer and lived on the land which he entered in 1814, till he died. He was a member of the Board of County Commissioners of this county for twenty-one years and was as well known probably as any man in the county. He was respected for his honesty by all who knew him. He represented this county twice in the Legislature.
LEWIS DAVIS, one of the original proprietors of the town of Madison, was a man of middle age when he met John Paul at the land sale at Jeffersonville in the spring of 1809. Where he was born or where he died is not known. He left Madison some time in 1812 or 1813, and went to Xenia, Ohio, to reside. Afterwards he resided in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1817 he was there, as is found by a deed conveying his entire remaining interest of lands in Madison, Indiana
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Territory, to Lewis Whiteman, bear- ing date of November 24th, 1817. On October 8th, 1813, Davis had sold one- half of his interest in Madison to Mr. Jacob Burnet, of Cincinnati, he then being a resident of Greene county, Ohio.
JONATHAN LYONS, the third partner in the original town of Madi- son, came down in a flat-boat in the spring of 1809 in search of a place of abode. He landed his boat near to the cabin of Wm. Hall, in what is now called Fulton, on the eastern limit of Madison, and after prospecting around the country a few days, and being pleased with the lay of the land, he bought out Hall's claim and left his family here in Hall's cabin and went to Jeffersonville, where he found that John Paul had purchased the site of Madison. He then entered the land on the claim . which he had bought of Hall and other pieces of land, and finally became one-third owner with Paul and Davis of the Madison tract. He returned here and lived for some years, and built a number of houses in the place. The first was on the bank between the old Ross tan-yard and the river, where he lived for some time.
In 1815 he removed to Salem, Ind., where he died quite an old man, and where his descendants are to this day. He there engaged in merchandise with Christopher Harrison (see sketch of).
WILLIAM CHAMBERS, SR .-
The subject of this sketch was the oldest son of Alexander Chambers, who was the son of David Chambers who emigrated to America from England during King William's war, about the year 1689 or 1691. David Chambers at that time was a mere youth, and settled with his father, Samuel Chambers, in Rockbridge county, Virginia.
In 1756, Alexander, the father of William Chambers, was born, and in the war of the revolution was the only survivor of three brothers; the other two, Samuel and David, losing their lives in the struggle for liberty from the British crown. After the close of the revolution, Alexander removed with his mother to Ruther- ford county, North Carolina, where, in 1789, he married Ann Monroe, an aunt of the Rev. Wm. Y. Monroe, who at one time was County Treasurer of Jefferson county.
In 1791, the oldest son, William, was born, and in 1799 removed with his father to near Boonesboro, Ky. Here they resided till 1806 when, with about three other families, Alexander removed to the Wabash country, near to Vincennes, where they resided about two years, when Chambers, with his family, removed back to Kentucky, and remained there one year; then he removed his family to what is now known as Kent, in Jefferson county, Indiana. At this place Alexander and his son William, now a young man of eighteen years of age, erected a fort, or, as it was then called, a block house.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
This was in the year 1809. This was the point of defense against the In- dians of the various tribes who roamed through the wilderness.
In the war of 1812, William Chambers was a soldier in Capt. Wil. liamson Dunn's company of Rangers. Just before the battle of Tippecanoe, Dunn's company was ordered to join General Harrison's army, and started to do so, but when near where Columbus, Ind., now stands, Col. Mc- Farland countermanded the order and sent the Rangers under Dunn back to the settlements, as reports were sent them of threatened attacks by the Indians. William Chambers was one of a detachment of twenty-five men that went to the "Pigeon Roost" massacre-ground, the day after the massacre, and assisted in burying the bodies of the twenty-three persons who were butchered by the Indians. After peace, William Chambers mar- ried Sarah Blankinship in the year 1816. The license issued to him being the first one recorded in the county. From this marriage, one child, James B., was born in 1825, who is still liv- ing near the site of his father's first settlement. In 1825 his wife died, and the next year he married Catherine Blankinship, a sister of his first wife. Nine children were the fruit of this marriage, all of whom are dead, except one son, J. G. Chambers, of the firm of Branham & Chambers, furniture dealers in Madison, Ind., and one daughter, Mrs. Le Roue, of Evansville, Ind.
Mr. William Chambers was a mem- ber of the Baptist Church, at White River, which was organized at the fort in June, 1811, where they held their services of worship for a number of years. His membership extended over a period of time of more than sixty years ; for more than fifty years he was a deacon in the church.
In 1823, when returning from a trip to New Orleans, on the steamboat "Old Tennessee," the boat sank on the night of February 9th, in the middle of the Mississippi river, near Natchez. He saved his life by swimming ashore, leaving all the money he had- which was gold-tied around the ban- nister of the boat. William Cham- bers died July 16th, 1879, at the age of seventy-eight years. His father died in 1857, at the extreme age of one hundred and one years, one month and fifteen days.
Sketch furnished by J. G. Cham- bers, of Madison, Ind.
WILLIAM MCKEE DUNN, JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL U. S. A. -Mr. Dunn was born at South Hanover, Jefferson county, Indiana Territory, December 12th, 1814. His parents were Judge Williamson Dunn, and Miriam Wilson. See Judge Dunn's sketch in this volume.
He was the fifth child and the fourth son of his parents, and inher- ited from them a robust frame and vigorous constitution. These were developed and strengthened by work
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
upon the farm and general out-of- door exercise, in which he spent his childhood and youth. He had a genial, cheery disposition, and enjoyed good health during the greater por- tion of his life. Having these advan- tages, he was well fitted for the life of toil through which he passed, and was enabled to b ar up till very near the end in full vigor of both mind and body.
He used to laugh at the recollec- tions connected with his first school- days in the log school-house at Hanover, and the rough times at the school, relating incidents that were full of mirth to the man, but had been of sore distress to the boy.
He attended the State University at Bloomington, Ind., where he received the degree of A. B. in the year 1832. In the year of 1835, he received the degree of A. M. from Yale, Bloomington and Hanover Colleges. He was principal of the Preparatory Department of Hanover College from 1833 to 1835. Post graduate studies in science, Yale College, in 1835 ; professor of mathe- matics at Hanover College, 1836-37. He was a member of the Indiana Legislature in the session of 1848-49.
He studied law 1837-39, and was admitted to practice at the bar at Lexington, Scott county, Indiana, in 1839. He located at New Albany, Indiana, in the practice of his profes- sion, and remained there for three years, removing to Madison, Indiana, in the fall of 1842, where he resided
until 1864, when he removed to Wash- ington city, D. C., where he lived until his death, which occurred July 24th, 1887.
At Madison he engaged in the practice of his profession, first in part- nership with Michael G. Bright, and afterwards with A. W. Hendricks.
In 1849 he was the Whig candi- date for Congress in this district, but was defeated by Cyrus L. Dunham. In 1850 he was elected as a member of the Constitutional Convention from Jefferson county. In 1858 he was elected as member of Congress from this District to the 38th Congress, serving from 1858 to 1860. In the campaign of 1860 he was re-elected to Congress, and in 1862 he was defeat- ed for that place. At the breaking out of the rebellion he was offered a Colonelcy by Gov. Morton, and an appointment as Brigadier-General by President Lincoln. He declined both of these, preferring to finish his term in Congress. At the close of his term in Congress, he was appointed, in 1863, as Judge Advocate General of the Department of Missouri, head- quarters at St. Louis. In 1864 he was appointed Assistant Judge Advocate General of the Army of the United States, headquarters at Washington city. At the death of Gen. Holt, he was made Judge Advocate General of the United States Army, in 1876. He was retired in 1881. In 1877 he was given the degree of L. L. D. by Han- over College.
He was a man full of honors from
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
his fellow-men, and deserving of them.
In the fall of 1841, he was married in Madison, Indiana, to Miss Elizabeth G. Lanier, eldest daughter of J. F. D. Lanier. (See his sketch). They were the parents of seven children, four of whom are still living. Major Wm. M. Dunn, of U. S. Army, Mrs. Fannie McKee, of Washington city, Lanier Dunn, farmer, of Virginia, and Mr. George Dunn, lawyer, of Denver, Col- orado.
His widow still survives him, living in Washington city, D. C.
Mr. W. W. Woollen, of Indianap- olis, is engaged in writing a full his- tory of him which will be published in the near future.
COL. MICHAEL C. GARBER .- The late Mic' ael Christian Garber, was of German and Scotch-Irish ancestry. He was born in Augusta county Virginia, in 1813. His grandfather, Michael Garber, was the inventor of the first machine to make cut nails. When a youth Mr. Garber went to Pennsyl- vania, where he engaged successfully in merchandising, canal and railroad building. In 1843 he removed to the West, and finally located in Madison in 1849. He purchased the Madison Courier of S. F. Covington, and con- tinued its sole or principal proprietor until his death. Mr. Garber had be- come convinced that slavery was a mistake for all parties concerned by his residence in Pennsylvania, hence his sympathies as an editor, when he
took control of the Courier were not as strongly pro-slavery as those of Hon. Jesse D. Bright and his wing of the Indiana Democracy. With this as a basis of disagreement the com- bative and independent spirits of Garber and Bright were not long in unison. The result was Bright had Garber read out of the Demo- cratic party, and the bold and aggres- sive editor went further and further in his opposition to the fugitive slave law and advocacy of free soil until he became one of the Indiana leaders of the movement that culminated in the organization of the Republican party. He was the chairman of the party's first State Central Committee and was one of the draughtsmen of its first State platform. When the war broke out Mr. Garber was com- missioned a brigadier quartermaster with the rank of Captain. He was promoted to Brevet-Major for gallantry in the battle of Mill Springs, Ky., in 1862, and subsequently was promoted to be Colonel for conspicuous efficiency in the Red River campaign of Gen. N. P. Banks. He was afterwards quar- termaster of the Army of the Tennes- see, and was attached to Gen. W. T. Sherman's staff, as Quartermaster-in- the-Field of the great Army of the West in its march from Savannah, Ga., to Washington, D. C. After the war Col. Garber was retained in the ser- vice for over a year and sold vast quantities of government stores, ships and other property, in the Southern States. Declining a commission in
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
the regular army he returned home in 1866 and resnmed editorial control of the Courier. He was recognized as a great force in Indiana journalism and loved and honored his occupation. In 1875 he was appointed postmaster at Madison, and was stricken with hem- orrhage of the brain April 2d, 1881, while standing at his desk in the office. His death occurred five days subsequent. Col. Garber was of tall,
stalwart form, and of genial, prepos- sessing appearance. He was charac- terized by patience, industry, courage and pertinacity. Few men have ex- erted a more wholesome influence, so far as their careers extended, than he. His family life was particularly happy. He was married in 1837 to Miss Ellinor Schell, of Schellsburg, Penn., who with three daughters and two sons survived him.
JENNINGS COUNTY.
(BY W. H. PERRIN, EsQ.)
JENNINGS COUNTY lies in the southern part of Indiana. It was organized in 1816, and named for Jonathan Jennings, the first Gov- ernor of Indiana, after it was admitted into the Union as a State. It is bounded on the north by Bartholomew and Decatur counties, on the east by Ripley, on the south by Jefferson and Scott, and on the west by Jackson and Bartholomew. It contains 375 square miles, and by the census of 1880 it had 16,453 population. The surface bordering the streams is bro- ken, while rich alluvial valleys, and high table-lands or "flats" form the water-shed between the streams. The ground is well drained by Big Creek, which washes the county on the south- west; Big and Little Graham, uniting below San Jacinto; the north or west fork of the Muscatatuck, which unites with the South Fork at Old Vernon; Sand Creek, rising in Decatur county, flowing through the western part of this county, with its various branches, Rock, Nettle, Wyalusing, Rat Tail, Bear and other small tributaries, mak- ing one of the main feeders of the
White river; Coffee, Six Mile, Tea, Ice, Storm, Wolf, etc.
Heavy timber originally covered the county. The timbered lands were of two different kinds; first the "flats," which were covered with large and tall timber-white oak, beech, gum, soft maple, burr oak, hickory, and some other varieties, with a thick under- growth in many sections, interwoven with native grape-vines. Second, the rolling land, where the timber is white oak, black oak, beech, sugar tree, lin- den, ash, black walnut, white walnut, cherry, poplar, with an undergrowth on rich bottoms of pawpaw and an occasional large sassafras. On the bottom lands along the streams, syca- more, hackberry, elm and buckeye flourish. These forests have, as a general thing, been stripped of the best timber. The white oak has been extensively cut for staves, the upper parts of the trees being left to decay upon the ground. In some sections the native forests remain untouched, and from these may be formed some conception of their vigorous growth.
A killing frost which occurred here
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HISTORY OF JENNINGS COUNTY.
May 8th, 1833, is still vividly remem- bered by many of the older people. The timber in certain localities was much injured. On the "west flats" the beech growth was nearly entirely killed and in other places the tops of the white oaks were killed. Coming so late in the season and being so severe, all the fruit in this section was killed, except a few varieties of late, hardy apples. A frost so late in the season is rare in this latitude and is productive of great harm. It also becomes a kind of chronological event from which all neighborhood happen- ings date.
Productions .- As a general rule, the rolling lands bordering the numer- ous streams are more productive than the flats. Bordering on Sand Creek, North and South Forks of the Musca- tatuck, and Big and Little Graham, are rich alluvial bottoms yielding bounteous corn crops. In fact, all the small streams of Coffee Creek have more or less of such lands along their borders. The principal productions are corn, wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat and hay. The following are the crop statistics, according to the census of 1880: Corn, 651,119 bushels ; wheat, 159,358 bushels; oats, 67,904 bushels ; buckwheat, 1,280 bushels ; hay, 9,919 tons; Irish potatoes, 34,611 bushels ; value of orchard products, $26,117. A considerable area is in pasture and large numbers of mules, horses and cattle are raised for the Cincinnati and other markets. Large numbers of hogs are fattened for the various
markets. The same statistics (cen- sus of 1880) show the following: Horses, 4,816 head; cattle, 12,456; hogs, 22,273; sheep, 9,354; wool, 53,436 pounds. The disease known as "hog cholera," is sometimes quite prevalent and the most practical farmers attribute the disease to para- sites which find lodgment in the intestines of the hog, and finally develop themselves into worms, which destroys its health and terminates in death.
Fruit culture is becoming more and more extensive every year and the soil proves that it is a good fruit region. The usual varieties of summer and winter apples do well; occasionally, cherries and pears. Peaches are not extensively grown. Wild blackberries grow in profusion, and are quite a source of income at some points, also wild grapes. Strawberries are success- fully cultivated in certain localities.
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