USA > Indiana > Blackford County > Biographical memoirs of Blackford County, Ind. : to which is appended a comprehensive compendium of national biography embellished with portraits of many well known residents of Blackford County, Indiana > Part 29
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treasurer's office to date and Edward G. Car- roll was allowed two dollars and fifty cents for room in which to hold circuit court for November term, 1843. A. Cassel was a !- lowed six dollars for procuring field notes for the county and William S. Edsall was allowed twenty-five dollars for furnishing said field notes as register of the land office at Fort Wayne, Indiana. An allowance was
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made to William F. and Charles Jones for six hundred and twenty-seven dollars and forty-five cents in full for second payment on the court house, and George S. Howell was allowed sixteen dollars and twenty-five cents for one quarter's rent of clerk's office.
At the June term, 1844, on June 3d1, Jacob Brugh resigned the office of auditor and Abraham Cassel a day or two later was appointed as his successor. Settlements were made with the supervisors of the several road districts of the county. As many of the highways of the county were then to be laid out and opened the office of supervisor, while not lucrative, was important and use- ful. We give the names of those public servants at this time: Harrison township, Samuel D. Wilson, Michael Sills, Thomas Twibell and Joseph Beymer; Jackson town- ship, Matthew M. Thompson, Joseph Creek and Ozias Barnes; Licking township, Joshua Jack, William Rousseau, Thomas Slater, Alexander Kirkpatrick, David Long and Jacob Geyer; Washington township, Fred- erick Seelig, Joseph Richardson, John Wat- son and Thomas Cochran.
Jonathan Hughes was county assessor with Thomas Slater as deputy. At this time the office for the clerk, auditor and recorder, all held by the same person, was rented from George S. Howell, and the treasurer's office and a grand jury room were rented of Elijalı Spangler. John Weeks was allowed three dollars and sixteen cents for use of a room in which the last term of court was held and for glass broken out of windows. At a special session, on June 28, Jacob Payton was appointed an additional supervisor for Jackson township, and John J. Cook was ap- pointed surveyor in place of A. Cassel. On the 3d of December, following, Cook resigned as surveyor. At a special session, on July 14
22 of this year, John Weeks was appointed county agent for three years. At the regular September term, 1844, Dr. N. D. Clouser appeared as auditor, having been elected at the August election.
The December term began on December 2d. A petition was presented, signed by forty-six citizens of Licking township, ask- ing that a license be granted to David Foy to vend spirituous liquors in said township for one year. The license was granted, the required fee being fifteen dollars. Two or three years later the commissioners gave an order to pay for a coffin furnished for the wife of said Foy, he having left the coun- try, being notoriously insolvent. Abraham Cassel was appointed surveyor in place of John J. Cook. W. F. Jones, Charles Jones. John Weeks, J. G. Russey, A. Stahl, Elias Pattison and Henry Stewart petitioned the board to appropriate one hundred and fifty dollars for the better finishing and arranging the court room and stairs in the court house. The petition was granted. The contractors were allowed twelve hundred and seventy- five dollars in full of third year's payment on public building. At the March, 1845, ses- sion the premium on wolf scalps was raised to four dollars. A written agreement was entered into between the board and James Hodge, John Trimble and James L. Russey by which the north half of the southwest quarter of section II, township 23, range IO, was to be divided into cight lots of equal size, running through from north to south. to be numbered from east to west, those numbered 2, 4, 7 and 8 to belong to the pro- prietors, and 1, 3, 5 and 6 to belong to the county. The agreement in full is found in Commissioner's Record No. I on pages 348-9. At the June term Reuben Z. Cassel was appointed county agent. A special ses-
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sion had been held on May 5th, at which an arrangement was made with W. F. and Charles Jones by which the privilege was granted of using the upper story of the court house for holding the circuit and other courts therein from that day until the house was completed, the contractors not to be account able for any damage by said use, and to re- ceive three dollars per day for the then pres- ent May term of circuit court.
At the September term an order was made for the erection of a jail to be con- structed of squared logs, the specifications being given in detail, but at the December term following the order was annulled, and so the log jail, like the log court house, never materialized. At this latter term also John Weeks was removed as county agent for negligence in office and Reuben Z. Cassel gave bond and qualified as his successor.
A special session was held on October 31, 1845, at which the board found, upon examination, that the court house had been completed according to contract. The total cost of the temple of justice seems to have been five thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars. It was certainly a credit at that time to the new and undeveloped county, and for forty-eight years served the purposes for which it was erected. Several years after the house was built the upper section of the spire was taken down, as it was considered to be unsafe, and the height was thus con- siderably reduced. On July 4, 1873, a heavy storm of wind passed over this section of the country, and while Dr. H. C. Davisson was delivering an oration in the court house the top of a brick flue projecting above the roof on the cast side of the building was biown down, and a young man named Greenbury Cole was struck on the head by a . falling brick and his skull was broken. He
recovered from the wound and is still living. The writer is uncertain as to whether or not there was any logical connection be- tween the Doctor's speech and the furious storm that swooped down over the town.
The commissioners at their meeting in March, 1846, appointed William Rousseau assessor for 1846, and toward the close of the year he resigned and in December Robert H. Lanning was appointed as his successor. In December, 1847, Edward P. Baldwin was appointed surveyor for three years.
The first record we find of a. remon- strance to granting a license to sell intoxi- cating liquors was at the December term, 1846. On the first day of this term a peti- tion was presented asking the board to grant unto John Weeks a license to vend spiritu- ous liquors by the small in Licking township and certifying that he was a man of good moral character. Thirty-three names were subscribed to this petition. The following remonstrance was placed on record :
"To the Commissioners of Blackford county now in session : WVe, the under- signed citizens of Blackford county of the town of Hartford, believing that the retail- ing of spirituous liquors in said town to be unnecessary and uncalled for, do remon- strate against the granting of a license to John Weeks to retail spirituous liquors in said town. December 8, 1846.
."Signed by William Henley, Daniel H. Rose, Simeon T. Marlay, John Sims, Abra- ham Carey, Mark Weaver, Thomas Spencer, John M. Marley, E. G. Carroll, R. Z. Cassel, Charles Jones, John S. Reed, Silas Weaver, Stephen Giffin, John J. Cook, S. R. Shel- ton."
The license was granted, conditioned on the payment of fifteen dollars into the county treasury.
THE EARLY SETTLERS.
For many years, for many centuries per- haps, the aboriginal inhabitants of this sec- tion' of the western continent roamed through the forests of Blackford county in pursuit of the abounding game, wild indeed, but no wilder than its rude pursuers. Lit- tle did they dream of the wonderful trans- formation that was to result from the ad- vent of a superior race. Of these original, dusky squatter sovereigns very little will be said for reasons satisfactory to the writer and that will readily suggest themselves to the reader. On the reservation south of the Salamonie river was an Indian burying place from which quite a number of relics were taken by the first white settlers. The last claim of the Indians to any part of the territory embraced in the limits of this county was extinguished by the deed of con- veyance of the chief, Francis Godfrey, of Miami county, Indiana, to Richard Suydam, David Jackson and Alexander Keever, of the city of New York, dated February 2, 1836. The land described in this conveyance was "the tract or parcel of land lying on the Sala- monie river, to-wit: four sections of land in township 24, in range II, and in township 24, in range 12, and being the remaining part of the reserve granted to said Francis Godfrey by the treaty between the Miami Indians and the United States at St. Marys, in 1818, on the Salamonie river, known as Godfrey's land, as appears on the plats in the land office at Fort Wayne, containing twenty-five hundred and sixty acres, be the same more or less." The first settlements were made in the southwest corner of the
county along Lick creek, and in the north part of Harrison township along the Sala- mionie, for the reason that the best natural drainage existed in those two places and a better opportunity was thus afforded for the cultivation of the soil.
Benjamin Reasoner, Sr., made the first entry of lands in the county, July 9, 1831, the tracts entered being in section 6, in the southwest corner of Licking township. At that time he and his family, with the excep- tion of his married son, Peter, resided in Muskingum county, Ohio. In December of that year probably, and certainly not later than December, 1832, he and his wife, Mary (Hill), came to Indiana and with them came five of their children, viz: Peter, with his wife and two children, and Nancy, Sarah, Jacob and Noah, who were unmar- ried. They stopped a few weeks with the family of John Grimes, just across the line in Grant county, until a cabin was built on their land, into which they moved in the following month. Soon afterward a hewed- log house was erected as a place of residence for the old gentleman and lady.
Benjamin died in 1841, or 1842, and his wife died some ten years later. Mary, the third child of Peter and Rhoda ( Fry) Reas- oner, was the first white child born in the county, and their next, Noah H., now resid- ing in Hartford City, was the second. Peter died in 1868 at the age of seventy years. Nancy married Hiram Dille, also one of the pioneers. Sarah married Thomas Dunn, and his sister, Elizabeth, married Jacob Reasoner, and Noah married Matilda Stotts.
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A few years later another son, Benja- min, Jr., came, and after remaining some years returned to Ohio. Near the same time Stephen, another son, came and after a few years went on westward to Iowa. Probably near the same time James Hughes Reasoner, a nephew of Benjamin, Sr., came also to this county. Jacob died August 24, 1897, at the age of eighty-seven years and six months.
In the early part of 1834 James .A. Gad- bury, Sr., and John Beath came from Ross county, Ohio, and Aaron and Archibald Mc- Vicker, brothers, came from Guernsey coun- ty, Ohio, at the same time. They settled along the creek from one to two miles north- east of the Reasoners. Mr. Gadbury was the father of Allen K., Samuel L. and James A. Gadbury, Jr.
Aaron McVicker probably taught the first school in this county. The school was taught in the single-room cabin in which he resided. His wife did the cooking and baking at one side of the fire-place and the pupils kept warm at the other side. The children of Gadbury, Adam Cunningham and a few others in the neighborhood, made up the school.
Eli Rigdon, a cousin of Sidney Rigdon, the noted Mormon elder, came at a very early day. He was a member of the first board of county commissioners and one of the first teachers in the county. The first water power grist-inill in the county, built on Lick creek, on the Reasoner land, must have been managed by him for a time as it was long known as the Rigdon mill. He was a be- liever in the Universalist faith, and died at Wheeling, Delaware county.
Adam Cunningham and his wife, Mary, were among the first to locate in the south- west corner of the county. They were the
parents of James W., John, Henry, Andrew J., and Mrs. George Needler, of Grant coun- ty. Adam died after a residence of nearly forty years in the county. David Adams, another pioneer, was a unique character and fashioned considerably on the rough order. Henry Secrest located on land entered by his father in section 5, just east of the Rea- soners. After several years he went to Illi- nois. Hiram Dille and James Romine set- tled in the same section. Daniel Geyer and his wife, Susanna, natives of Pennsylvania, came from Muskingum county, Ohio, and located in section 5, in 1833 or 1834, both being then over fifty years of age; with them or near the same time, came their sons, Michael, Jacob, Casper and Abel; also near the same time came his daughters, Cather- ine, wife of Leonard Cline; Elizabeth, wife of Michael Cline; Margaret, wife of Henry Secrest, and Hannah, wife of Jacob Clark. Daniel died about the beginning of 1863. Michael and Elizabeth Cline were married in Muskingum county in 1832, and came to Blackford county in 1834; his widowed mother, Catherine Cline, came also. Among other pioneers in this vicinity were John Jennings, Eli Sabin, Jacob Clark, Jr., and Jacob Clark, Sr. In the Gadbury and Mc- Vicker neighborhood was Elias Craw, who afterwards came to the farm first occupied by Andrew Boggs south of Hartford City, and built the frame house still standing there as an old landmark. Levi Connelly and Jane, his wife, were natives of Penn- sylvania and came from Ohio to Blackford county at a very early date ; he was probably sixty years old when he came here. Three of his sons, Simon, Eleazer and James, were among the carly residents of the county. Jacob Hart and David Hart were among the first comers in the southwest part of
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Licking townhip. They were not rela-
tives.
The brothers, Aaron Hughes and Jona- than Hughes, came about 1836, in the prime of young manhood, and they and their wives Emily and Keziah, spent the remainder of their days in this county. Lair Runyon, a Methodist local preacher, came about 1837, and after residing several years in the Hughes neighborhood, removed to Hartford City, where he died about thirty years ago. In the southeastern part of Licking town- ship the pioneers were Philip Groves, who died in 1863 at the age of fifty-nine years; Henry Hays, the father of William and John J., who died early in the '405; and William Underhill, who also died at an early date. Among others were Patrick Carmi- chael, a soldier of the war of 1812, and his sons, William and Andrew, and James H. Sprague. Along the line between Licking and Jackson townships was the Stewart neighborhood, where Robert Stewart, Sr., and his sons, Adam and Robert, Jr., were in Licking township, and Henry, the doctor and one of the early commissioners, and John were in Jackson township. Jacob Shroyer was also in the edge of Licking township. His wife, Rebecca, and Emily, wife of Aaron Hughes, were daughters of Robert Stewart, Sr. The Stewarts and Shroyers came from Virginia. Shroyer died at the age of twenty-nine years; he was a man of unusual strength, tall and well built. Samson Dildine used to relate an in- cident, prefacing it with the statement that Shroyer was either the first or second man he ever met who was a match for himself in strength. They were at a log-house rais- ing for James Parker, who entered in 1837 and lived for some ten or twelve years on the farm known for nearly fifty years past
as the Guseman farm. The logs were of green timber, mostly becch and quite heavy ; there were four men to carry up the cor- ners and only eight to carry and push up the logs. Some of the men complained of the heavy work, and -proposed to quit at once and wait until more hands could be had. Dildine suggested that he and Shroyer would handle one end of the logs if the other six men would handle the other. They divided off in that way and then went to racing, and in nearly every instance Dil- dine and Shroyer had their end of the log up to its place first. The custom of racing at the raising of log buildings was quite ex- citing, but was certainly imprudent and dan- gerous.
Elijah Sims came from Tennessee about 1836 and established his home about two miles south of Hartford City. He was an anti-slavery man and one of the original abo- litionists. He was a local preacher in the Methodist church, and married a large pro- portion of the early couples who were mar- ried in the south half of the county. He had three sons, John A., James M. and David W. James was a man of remarkable strength and activity ; he served during the war in the Twelfth and Thirty-fourth In- diana Regiments. While in the vicinity of New Orleans he and some comrades, includ- ing a lieutenant, crossed the river in a boat to the city and were taking in the sights. In one of the business houses the proprietor indulged in the expression of some radical rebel sentiments. Sims knocked him down and administered a punishment such as he thought the disloyal offender deserved. On their way back across the river the lieuten- ant told him he would report him at head- quarters for his disorderly conduct. Sims very promptly seized him and held him out
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HISTORICAL SKETCII OF
at arm's length over the edge of the boat and told him he would drown him then and there unless he would promise not to report him. The officer made the promise and it was kept.
The Slater family and its connections have constituted a considerable element of the population of this county ever since its organization. The ancestors, Jacob and Sarah Slater, came here from Guernsey county, Ohio, some three or four years be- , fore the county was organized, locating some three miles south of Hartford City. Jacob died in 1839 and his wife died soon after. Their oldest son, James, came at the same time, with his wife and four children. Three other sons came with the patriarchal Jacob, viz: Thomas, Isaac and John, and their single daughter, Rachel, who married Washington F. Reasoner. Not far from the same time came their married daughters, Keziah, wife of Jonathan Hughes; Maria, wife of Lewis Kirkpatrick, and Elizabeth, wife of William Hellyer. The latter is still living in Hartford City. The Kirkpatricks came soon after the Slater and Hughes families, and were near neighbors to both. They came from Guernsey county, Ohio. David Kirkpatrick was a soldier of the Revo- lutionary war. He lived here some years with his children, and is buried in the Stew- art graveyard. Jane, the wife of James Slater, was his daughter. His sons, Alex- ander, Lewis and Francis, came with him or very near the same time. Alexander died in about six or seven years after coming here, and Lewis died some years later. Francis and his wife, Polly, both lived to a good old age. Kenzie D. Ross came to this neighborhood a few years later. John Lewis, a farmer and miller, purchased a large tract of land, but sold it in a few years
and went away. His successor was George, Atkinson, who came from Highland county, Ohio, about 1839 and for several years run the corn-cracker mill which had been erected by Lewis. He was for a number of years one of the main supporters of the Presbyte- rian church in Hartford City. Joseph At- kinson, a brother of the foregoing, came two or three years later and located further up and on the opposite side of the creek, where he improved a large farm and accumulated a considerable amount of wealth. His widow still lives on the old homestead. Abraham Shideler and Levi Bowman werc early residen's four or five miles south of Hartford City. Quite a number were lo- cated west and northwest of Hartford City at the time the county was formed. Ira and Jolin Casterline were natives of New Jer- sey, and resided about sixty years in this county, the former dying at the age of ninety-three, and the latter at ninety-one. Their father was a soldier in the Revolution, and their mother when a girl was in the em- ploy of Martha Washington during the win- ter at Valley Forge. Uriah B. Hull lived in that neighborhood and the county commis- sioners' records show that he was the pro- prietor of a beaver dam. John and Eliza- beth Saxon were pioneers along the north line of Licking township. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and resided in New Jersey prior to coming to Indiana. Elizabeth Saxon died April 25, 1852, aged eighty-two years and twenty-six days, and John Saxon died September 24, 1862, at the age of one hundred years, ten months and seven days. Two of their children came also to Blackford county, viz: Mary, wife of Gilbert Townsend, Sr., and James Saxon.
Gilbert Townsend, Sr., son of Eher and
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BLACKFORD COUNTY, INDLINA.
Elizabeth (Drew) Townsend, married Mary Saxon in New Jersey and there their five older children were born. In 1815 they moved to Steuben county, New York, where six other children were born. In 1839 they came to Blackford county, and settled in the southwest corner of Washington township, and afterwards lived in Licking township. Nine of their children came with them, five of six of whom were grown at the time. Beginning with the oldest, their names are as follows: Charles, who married Harriet Bennett, and was the father of Gilbert W. and James B. ; John, who married Temper- ance Householder, and was the father of Mrs. P. M. Covault and Lewis B. Town- send, now living in Hartford City; Gilbert, Jr., who married Rachel Hess; Lucy Ann, who was the wife of Allen K. Gadbury; Sa- rah, wife of Thomas Ashen; James S., still living, who married Mary Leffler; Alva, still living, who married Elzara Shields; Elizabeth, who married Daniel Leffler, and Mary, the wife of Fantley L. Foy. Gilbert, Sr., died in 1861, aged eighty-one years. When he came here Hartford City consisted of one log cabin and a blacksmith shop.
Joseph Gettys, a native of Pennsylvania, with his wife, Maria, came here in 1837, and remained here until his death, July 9, 1861. His widow is still living, as are two of his children, John R. and Mrs. Dr. Wheel- er. His brothers, Edward and Samuel, came soon after but did not remain here long. About 1845 another brother, James, came from Pennsylvania and at or near the same time came Jacob Hedge and John S. Fordney, from the same state. James Get- tys' sons, Joseph N., John S. and Samuel, live near 'Hartford City. Wallis Benedict and his wife, Rachel, were among the oldest
persons who were here at the formation of the county. Rachel died July 20, 1839, nearly sixty-five years of age, and Wallis died in 1855 at the age of seventy-nine. Their sons, Peter and Daniel, probably came with them. Another couple who were old as well as early settlers were Jacob and Eliza- beth Foy, who both died in 1856, aged re- spectively eighty and seventy-eight years. Peter Kemmer, a Kentuckian, was a soldier of the war of 1812, and was elected a rep- resentative to the legislature in 1843. Lewis Bailey served in several official stations al- ready noted. Philip and Peter Smell were brothers who married sisters, all being na- tives of West Virginia. They both served in the war of 1812. Peter died in 1844 and Philip died in 1876 at the age of ninety- three years. The maiden names of their wives were Elizabeth and Hannah White- man, daughters of Edward and Elizabeth Whiteman. The latter is buried in the old cemetery at Hartford City; she was born March 18, 1756, earlier in point of time, probably, than any other person buried in this county. She died August 24, 1842.
Jacob Stahl came from Pennsylvania in the fall of 1839, and bought land adjoining Hartford City on the cast, where he resided until his death, fifteen years later. His
son, Abraham Stahl, who had a family and was thirty years old, came with him. His other children who came wth him were: Sa- rah, the oldest child; Elizabeth, who became the wife of Scaly Havens; Bethuel ; Rebecca, - who married Philip Huffman, and Moses S. These were the children of his first wife, Mary, who was the daughter of Bethuel Co- vault. There were two children of the sec- ond wife (Eleanor Recse), namely : Jon- athan, and Mary J., who is the wife of S. L.
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IHISTORICAL SKETCH OF
Gadbury. Jacob and Catherine Hess came from Pennsylvania in 1842, and their chil- dren were: Abner, Jacob, David and Re- becca; also William C. Hess and Fanny Co- vault, his children by his first wife. In September, 1842, Jacob Covault, a son of Bethuel, previously mentioned, and his wife, Fanny, came and settled southwest of Hart- ford City. They had a large family of chil- dren. Jacob died in February, 1843. One of their children, Philip M., has been for some time in the jewelry business in Hart- ford City. Ephraim, Abner and Nathaniel wère farmers here for many years. In Au- gust and September, 1859, the Covault fam- ily had a terrible visitation of diphtheria. Five of Fanny's children died, and another partially recovered and died with consump- tion some three years later. Two of Abner Covault's children also died.
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