USA > Indiana > Washington County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 8
USA > Indiana > Harrison County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 8
USA > Indiana > Crawford County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 8
USA > Indiana > Clark County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 8
USA > Indiana > Scott County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 8
USA > Indiana > Floyd County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 8
USA > Indiana > Jennings County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 8
USA > Indiana > Jefferson County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 8
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GRANTSBURGH Was laid out in 1854. It now has a population of about two hundred. Hlas a few nice residences, business houses, nice church, school building, etc. Its proximity to Eng- lish, only four miles away, and its not being on the railroad, tend to dwarf it. Its future prospects are not flatter- ing.
ALTON is one of the prettiest towns in the county, is situated on the Ohio river about two miles from the western boundary of the county. It was founded in 1838. It, like Leaven- worth, has suffered much from high waters. It has an elegant new school house, two churches, Methodist and Baptist, and a number of good busi- noss houses and residences. The Indiana Oak Mills are situated at the mouth of Little Blue river, at the edge of the town, and is the largest manu- factory we have in the county. Alton is the nearest point on the river to the White Sulphur Well. It is about six miles from AAlton, in one of the most romantic spots on earth. The well was sunk for petroleum, but instead, they struck this vein of sulphur water, equaling the famous White Sulphur Springs, of Virginia. It> medicinal properties are unexcelled. Large mm- bers visit it each year to drink the water and to bathe in it. There is a
large and commodious hotel at the place, owned by the Boyd Brothers. This is destined to be one of the greatest health resorts in the State. Plenty of the finest fishing and hunting is found in the neighborhood.
FREDONIA, as has already been said, never prospered. It has gone down to a country post office. The old houses are fast tumbling down and going to decay. In this town the first brick structure in the county was built. Wickliffe, Magnolia, Mount Prospect, Riceville, Temple and Pilot Knob are country villages and post offices, There is one thing that brought Crawford county to the front very rapidly, and that was the building of the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis railway. It runs through the entire length of the county from east to west, a distance of twenty-seven miles.
It opened up a market for her tim- ber and stone and surplus productions and the north part of the county has made more rapid strides in the past eight years than in a quarter of a cen- tury before. There is now only one seriousdrawback to the county and that is the lack of good roads. In the sum- mer the roads are fairly good, but in the winter they are impassable. There is plenty of material to build pikes throughout the county. With a prop- er effort a turnpike could be built from Leavenworth to Marengo; then were the roads leading to it properly worked the county would be in far bet- ter shape in this respect. Situated in what is called "The Pocket," of Indi-
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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
ana, a region that became notoriously unsavory during the Rebellion as a hot bed of secession and "Knights of the Golden Circle,"yet its people were loyal to a fault. Although "Bowles" came down to organize a few lodges of the Southern sympathizers, and while the county is on the border next to Ken- tucky where slavery was upheld, yet this county of Crawford sent more sol- diers to the defense of the Union, than any county in the North in proportion to her population. Every family sent a husband, brother or father. There was loyalty among the hills and hol- lows, and many a home is saddened to-day because of the war. The coun- ty is justly proud of the part she took in the great struggle. The first regi- ment that received many troops from the county was the 17th Infantry. Jesse Goad became a captain of one of the companies. Dr. E. R. Hawn went out as second lieutenant. Soon after the 23d regiment was formed, and Crawford sent company "H," among whom were Captain Abbott, Lieuten- ants Jesse Fessler and W. H. Bulling- ton. The next regiment that had any Crawford county men was the 1st Indiana Cavalry. Company "E" was made in this county. Among its noted men were Capt. Wilshire Sloan, Maj. Milton Clendening and Major Wm. V. Weathers. In the 38th Infantry she sent Company "K," said to have been one of the bravest regiments in the army. Judge M. D. L. Gibbs, of
Leavenworth, was a member. The next regiment was the 49th Infantry ;
both Companies "F" and "K" formed in this county. Dr. E. R. Hawn became surgeon. Geo. W. Riddle went out as First Lieutenant and became Adjutant of the Regiment. Both of these gentlemen have their biographies in these pages. The latter still lives, and is one of the most famous of our living soldiers. For an act of daring bravery Gov. Morton made him Colo- nel of the 144th Regiment. He never knew fear and was the idol of his men. In the 30th and also in the 53d Regi- ments there was a company of Craw- ford county men. Company "G" of the 66th Regiment went from this county. John R. Land was Captain, and John Kemp, Lieutenant. In the 81st there was a company from this county. Some Crawford men in the 93d Regiment, Companies "D," "F" and "I" of the 144th Regiment were wholly or in part composed of men from this county. Also the 13th Indiana cavalry had one company commanded by Capt. Henry Clenden- ing from this county. Also Company "B," of the 24th Infantry. Capt. Charles Lamb's independent company of mounted scouts all from this county. James R. Clark was First Lieuten- ant. There were some scattering men in other regiments and we could men- tion a hundred men whose names are the synonyms of bravery, courage and devotion to the Union. Many are the anecdotes told by the boys who wore the blue. One told me by Col. Geo. W. Riddle will bear repeat- ing as its truthfulness is vouched for
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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
by the Colonel. Allen Johnson, who lives near Sulphur Well, belonged to the 49thi Regiment and was detailed at Chickasaw Bayou, where the bullets flew like hail, to carry off the wound- ed. He picked up a fellow who had been shot through the foot, and just after he had slung him across his shoulder, a bullet from the enemy went through his head. As he was
carrying him along, Col. Riddle says "Why are you carrying off that dead man?" "He's not dead," says John- son. "He is dead," replied Riddle. Johnson throwing the fellow down and perceiving that his skull was crushed, said, "Well, Colonel, he told me a lie, because he said he was only shot through the foot."
FLOYD COUNTY.
(BY C. W. COTTOM, Esq.)
W HEN the first settlers came into what is now Floyd County, in 1804, there were but three counties in the territory now embraced in the State of Indiana. The county of Clark, which embraced all of the present Floyd county, was organized in 1801, and the counties of Knox and Dearborn were organized in 1802. Atthat period nearly all of that sub-division of the State known as Southern Indi- ana, was subject to incursions by war and hunting parties of the Indi. ans of the Shawanee, Piankeshaw, Mi- ami and Pottawattomie tribes; and the earliest settlers have left the record that they had also encountered in this part of the State straggling depreda- tory parties of the Delawares and Wy- andottes. The Shawanees, however, were the original proprietors of this part of Indiana, and these warlike savages, of whom Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet, were the chiefs, in the early years of the present cen- tury, and who organized them for the war of 1812 as the "Shawanees' League," into which all the northern
and many of the southern tribes were aggregated.
When the first emigrants came from Kentucky and made their homes on Knob Creek and near the present site of the little town of Georgetown, in the then county of Clark, the bound- aries of that county were defined as follows: "Beginning on the Ohio river at the mouth of Blue river, thence up that river to the crossing of the Vincennes road, thence in a direct line to the nearest point on White river, thence up that river to 'its source and to Fort Recovery, thence on a line of the Northwest Territory to the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Kentucky river, thence with the meanders of the Ohio to the place of beginning." Out of this immense county there has since been formed the counties of Jefferson, Jennings, Jackson, Scott, Floyd, Harrison, Washington, Brown, Bartholomew, Shelby, Johnson, Marion, Hancock, Wayne, Randolph, Rush, Decatur, Orange, Martin and Lawrence.
The first persons to settle in Floyd
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
county were Patrick Shields and wife. They came into the county in the spring of 1804, and "squatted" upon a half section of land near the west- ein border of the county, in George- town township, and near the town of Georgetown; Mrs. Shields being the first white woman to cross the range of hills known to the Indians as the "Silver Hills," but perverted by the pioneers into the more common-place and vulgar name of "The Knobs." At that time these high and beautiful hills were covered by a heavy growth of cane, and in these cane-brakes was the favorite resort of bear, panthers, deer, wild turkeys, and all the larger game They were given the name of the "Silver Hills" by the Indians from the bright, silver-colored haze that hung upon their sides and crowned their summits. In after years Mrs. Shields, speaking of the emotions she felt on reaching the summit of these hills, said: "I was enraptured with the view. The Ohio river lay be- neath us, and we had a view of it up. and down stream for many miles, as it glided peacefully on its course, looking like a broad ribbon of silver. Off to the southeastward five miles we could see the little town of Louis- ville, then regarded as the most sickly and unpromising of all the Ohio river settlements. It was evening and the roar of the falls floated to us on the still air with a music that filled my young heart with sad, but most enjoy- able emotions. I looked away to the southwest where the Kentucky hills
reared their crowns like mountain peaks, and then we bade adieu to the charming landscape and plunged into the forest to seek a new home amid its wilds. I am the first white woman to look upon this fair pan- orama, and as I left its entrance- ment for the wilds yet unexplored, I felt that it was my farewell to civili- zation and unbidden tears filled my eyes, which, my husband discovering, I tried to conceal, and which he gen- tly wiped away and gave me re-assu- rance by kissing their stains from my cheeks. It was lonesome enough in our new home, but we both went to work with a hearty good will to build us a cabin, making our home in the covered wagon bed until it was com- pleted. I now look back to those days of 1804 with supreme pleasure, for to me, with all their hardships. they were very happy." Mr. and Mrs. Shields long lived in their Hoosier home ; but many years ago they passed away, honored and respected. The original Shields farm is still in culti- vation, after eighty-four years from its opening, and produces abundant crops.
The next family to come into Floyd county was that of Robert La Follette. This family also came from Kentucky. They reached Floyd county in the au- tumn of 1804, and settled upon Gov- ernment land on Knob creek, in Franklin township. Robert La Fol- lette and his wife were a sturdy couple, possessing all the material to make them pioneers of a new country.
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HISTORY OF FLCYD COUNTY.
They were courageous and physically strong and healthy, of sterling integ- rity and distinguished for industry. They were poor financially, but rich in resources, and while they were often in great straits there never was a time when they were in want. Both were good shots with the rifle, and when other resources for provisions began to fail, either of them could take down the trusty rifle from its resting place on buckhorn brackets above the cabin door and speedily replenish the larder with a deer, a few wild turkeys and an occasional bear. Squirrels, while numerous, were con- sidered too small game to waste cost- ly ammunition upon. It was thirteen miles from their home to the nearest mill-Tarascan's Mill at Shipping- port, and a journey "to mill" was attended by dangers. Mr. La Follette usually made this trip in a flat-bot- tomed, box-shaped skiff, rowing up the river near the shore to avoid the strong current. The trip homeward was much easier, for the skiff would float with the current at the rate of four miles per hour, requiring but little rowing and only guidance. On a cold day in the latter part of De- cember, 1806, Mr. La Follette started in his skiff, with a sack of grain, to Tarascan's Mill. The weather grew colder steadily, and when he finally reached the mill the mercury was sev- eral degrees below zero and the river rapidly filling with floating ice. The next morning heavy ice filled the Ohio from shore to shore, and the sturdy
pioneer felt that he was cut off from home where his wife and baby were alone and unprotected. He deter- mined to reach the Indiana shore, feeling a presentiment of danger to his family; but in his effort he was nearly drowned, his rescue from the ice being effected by several brave men at imminent peril. He could only wait for the river to close by ice, and this it did in a few days, as the weather grew intensely cold. As soon as he thought the ice would bear his weight he placed his sack of corn meal in his skiff, which he pushed over the ice ahead of him till he came to Sand Island. Here he crossed over to the Indiana shore, hid his skiff in the un- dergrowth of bushes, and taking his sack of corn meal on his shoulders started for his home, which he reached by evening. He found his wife with- out provisions of any kind except meat, and almost without fire. She stated that on his second night from home two Indians had come to the cabin and tried to gain an entrance. She took down the rifle and carefully loaded it, and then placed her flax hackle near for use in an emergency. The Indians were ordered away, and she permitted them to see her rifle that they might know she was pre- pared for defense. She kept up a steady conversation as if with some one in the house with her, and in this way deceived the Indians, who left after an hour's stay in the vicinity of the house. They returned the next afternoon and begged to be admitted
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
and given something to eat, but Mrs. La Follette once more warned them away with her rifle and they disap- peared over the hills and were seen no more.
It was in the year 1804, the date of the first settlement of Floyd county, that Gov. W. H. Harrison, of Indiana Territory, made the important "treaty of St. Louis" with the Delawares, Piankeshaws, Kaskaskias and Sacs and Foxes Indian tribes, by which acces- sion over 50,000,000 acres of land was made to the United States, embracing the territory from the Ohio to the Wabash, and between the Illinois, Mississippi and Fox rivers. Other Indian tribes, however, claimed to own a portion of these lands, and in conse- quence continued their incursions into southern Indiana, the last one of which ended in the "Pidgeon Roost Massacre" by Shawanees, on the 3d of Septem- ber, 1812. The settlement had been formed in 1809, and was in the present limits of Scott county. There were twenty-eight souls in all, men, women and children; of these all were murdered except four, Mrs. John Beadle and her two children, the brave mother escaping with her little ones in the darkness and walking six miles to the nearest settlement to give information of the terrible butchery ; and a man named Collins. The alarm spread rapidly and within twenty-four hours the settlers had met as militia and started on the trail of the Indians, but failed to overtake them. Many of those killed were buried in their
cabins. This was the last Indian in- cursion into this part of Indiana, and in the pursuit of the murderous sav- ages the two pioneers of Floyd county, Patrick Shields and Robert La Follette took part.
Among the first, if not the very first settlers in Lafayette township, were John and Nancy Chew, who came into the county in 1810. John Chew was a volunteer in the war of 1812, serving as a private soldier in Captain Spier Spencer's company of "Spencer Rifles," and fighting with his company in the battle of Tippecanoe on Nov. 7, 1811, this being one among the fiercest battles of the p'oneer period, of Indiana; the loss of the Americans, commanded by Gen. William H. Har- rison being 62 killed and 126 wounded, out of between 700 and 800 men en- gaged. The Indians, under Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, num- bered 1300. Capt. Spencer and both his lieutenants, McMahan and Berry, of the "Spencer Rifles," were among the killed, and many of the privates of that gallant company were either killed or wounded. John Chew, how- ever, who fought as bravely as any man in the battle, escaped unhurt. It may be stated in this connection, that the Indian name for Tippecanoe river, for which this famous battle is called, though fought on Burnet's creek, is "ketto-tippe-ce-nunk," which means "Buffalo Fish." The descendants of John Chew still reside in Floyd county.
In October, 1811, the first steam- boat built on the western waters left
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
Pittsburg for New Orleans under the charge of Capt. N. J. Roosevelt, one of the company chartered by the Territo- rial Legislature of Indiana in Decem- ber, 1810, as the "Ohio Steamboat Navigation Company." The incor- porators were Daniel D. Tompkins, Robert R. Livingston, De Witt Clinton, Robert Fulton and Nicholas J. Roose- velt. The boat descended the Ohio at the rate of about eight miles an hour, and arrived at Louisville, Ky., early in November, where it had to remain over a month for a sufficient rise in the river to enable it to pass over the falls. The passage of this steamer down the river caused great consternation among the scattered settlers, many of whom thought the hoarse noise of escaping steam through the escape pipes was caused by some fiendish spirit ; others thought a burning comet had fallen into the river and produced the strange sounds and fiery emissions from the smoke stacks.
.
The great earthquake of 1811 fol- lowed soon after the arrival of this steamboat at the falls of the Ohio. The first shock was felt by the settlers in Floyd county on the 16th of De- cember, and the shocks continued with more or less severity until the 21st of April, 1812, when the last one was felt. The pioneers of that day say they witnessed many changes during the periods of these earthquake shocks in the topography of the county. Many previously living streams of water disappeared entirely and their former beds are now overgrown with forests
or covered with cultivated fields. A pioneer of that period in Clark county states that he well recollects seeing the trees in that county in a perfect calm, move and interlock with each other as if they were agitated by a great tempest. The chimneys of the cabins of the settlers were thrown down, and in Louisville, Ky., it is stated, not a single brick chimney withstood the terrific shocks, and every brick house was so cracked and damaged as to be rendered unsafe. The people often spent the night in the open air from terror. Robert La Follette, the first settler in Frankiin township, Floyd county, says some of the shocks were so violent as to throw him and his wife from their feet in their cabin and cause great rocks to break loose from the strata in the highest hills and come down with a force sufficient to break down large forest trees that stood in the line of their fierce descent.
In the year 1805 the Territorial Leg- islature of Indiana passed an act in- corporating Benjamin Hovey, Josiah Stevens, Davis Floyd and others to construct a canal around the falls of the Ohio on the Indiana side. The charter provided that the head of the canal was to be at Jefferson- ville, and that it should end at or near the mouth of Silver Creek. It is a historic statement that Col. Aaron Burr assisted in obtaining this charter and was expected to assist in complet- ing the canal. It is known that Col. Burr was at Jeffersonville and Vin-
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
cennes about this time, and that be- lieving his objects to be laudable- many estimable citizens of the western country were ardent admirers of Col. Burr at the outset.
The first settlers in New Albany and Greenville townships, Floyd county, came in 1808. There was a ferry house at the present site of New Albany-a cabin-as early as 1804, but it was only used for the protec- tion of people awaiting ferriage, and was not occupied as a residence until
1808. The first mill built in the county was located on Falling Run Creek, in the present northern suburb of New Albany. It was erected by Henry Jones, of Shelby county, Ky., in 1810, and washed away by a flood in the creek in the latter part of the year 1813.
The county of Floyd was organized in 1819, and is divided into five civil townships as follows: New Albany, Lafayette, Greenville, Georgetown and Franklin. It contains 150 square miles and the acreage of the several townships are: New Albany, outside the city, 19,511; Lafayette, 19,110; Greenville, 20,960; Georgetown, 17,- 220; Franklin, 15,150; total, 91,951. The county lies between the 38th and 39th degrees of latitude, and the 35th and 36th degrees of longitude, and possesses a most equitable, mild, de- lightful and healthful elimate.
The county was named for Davis Floyd, a member of the Territorial Legislature in 1805 and afterwards a judge in Indiana and in Florida.
Judge Floyd, Col. R. A. New, the first Secretary of State for Indiana, A. Ralston, a prominent and enterprising citizen, and a number of others equally prominent in the territorial era of the State, became infatuated by Col. Aaron Burr and joined in his conspiracy, which was exposed by Gen. Wilkinson, and started with Burr on his treasona- ble expedition. After Judge Davis Floyd's return to Indiana from the ex- pedition-it is said he was to have been one of Burr's principal officers-he was indicted for a misdemeanor, and on being convicted was sentenced to be imprisoned for half an hour. Judge Floyd afterwards became one among the most popular men in Indiana Ter- ritory, as there was a very strong feel- ing in the Territory at that time in favor of capturing Louisiana and the mouth of the Mississippi river from the Spanish government that then owned them.
The country immediately surround- ing New Albany on the west and north is considerably broken by the range of hills. This hill region. how- ever, is celebrated for its adaptability to the culture and production of fruits of all kinds grown in this latitude, and the lands are consequently valuable. Strawberries, raspberries, gooseber- ries, currants, cherries, quinces, pears, peaches and apples are produced in great perfection on these uplands, the crops being large and the fruit of the finest quality and flavor. The annual fruit crop of the county averages about $500,000. They produce also
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HISTORY OF FLOYD COUNTY.
good crops of corn, oats, wheat, pota- toes and vegetables of all kinds, and are therefore very desirable. They are finely adapted to the thrifty growth of the vine, producing splendid crops of all varieties of grapes. After the hills are passed westward and northward, as fine farming lands as are to be found in the West spread out toward the south, west, central and eastern sections of the State, producing pro- lifically all the cereals; thickly settled, in a high state of cultivation, and pos- sessing all the advantages of nearness to railroad lines and navigable rivers.
The timber of the county is varied: poplar, walnut, butternut, hackberry, sugar and soft maple, beech, elm, white, red, black and burr oak, honey locust, sycamore, hickory, mulberry, wild cherry, and chestnut are found in the forests. The rivers and creeks are the Ohio, Big and Little Indian, Silver Creek, Knob Creek, Middle Creek, Falling Run and Coon Creek.
While Floyd county possesses all the advantages of good schools, nu- merous churches, benevolent and se- cret societies, embracing in their scope nearly every Order, both native and foreign, it also offers to the emigrant all the attractions of good society. The people of the county are distin- guished for their generous hospitality and genial social characteristics. There is no caste here founded upon birth, religion, or politics ; and prob- ably there is no county in the entire West of equal population, in which
there is so little of that contemptible aristocracy that has its only basis upon the possession of wealth. Men and women are not ostracised from so- ciety here because they may happen to be poor ; but as a rule they are ad- mitted into society upon their real merits in mental, moral and social cul- ture, without regard to their worldly possessions. Among the foreign born portion of the population, and those whose parents, or one or other of them, were foreign born, there re mains all the generous characteristic and social customs of the Fatherland, and these make the emigrant of the same nationality feel at home immedi- ately upon coming among us. The native born citizens who come here from other sections of the Union will find all the advantages of the most re- fined society, and receive cordial wel- come from the people of Floyd county.
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