USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial history of Grant County, Indiana, 1812 to 1912 : compiled from records of the Grant county historical society, archives of the county, data of personal interviews, and other authentic sources of local information > Part 10
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In 1829 when we landed on the banks of the Mississinewa, the now thriving town of Marion was little more than a town of two houses and a store. There was wilderness everywhere, paths were used as roads and the Indians still were in evidence even then, though rapidly dis- appearing. We settled about one hundred rods a little west of north of the spot on the north side of the river now taken in by the end of the Washington street bridge, and something like thirty rods east of the river bank. In those days the Indians had a trail along the river be- tween it and our home. It was no uncommon tinng for several of the bucks to canter past on their ponies, one ahead of the other, single file. Occasionally one of the brilliant red feathers being dislodged from the headgear. My brothers, my sisters and myself, then small children, were very fond of watching for the approach of the redskins and of picking up the wayward feathers. The Indians frequently camped in the fall of the year, after their summer's tour on the banks of the Miss- issinewa, on the opposite side of the river from our home. northwest of the point where Boots creek empties into the river and on the cle- vated ground.
We children were amazed often, to see the members of the tribe eating coon, after the squaws had roasted them in the coals. The meat was as tender, we afterward found, as if it had been cooked in a white woman's oven. old Dutch style under a lid covered with coals of fire.
As well as I can remember there were no regular Indian villages very close to us in that day. A few miles down the river, however, the commenced and continued at fairly regular intervals to its mouth. I Pern. The camps of Me-shin-go-me-sia, Slocum, Hodfries and the Kill komies, were the divisions of the larger Miami tribe to be found living between Marion and Peru. The Miami tribe claimed the greater part of these Indians, while the Pottawattamie tribe claimed the rest, a com- paratively small portion. The Miamis' skin was a sunburnt yellow ; they were not as tall as the average white man, their disposition was that of a social nature, and they seemed to enjoy life. To ten of the Miamis there was probably one Pottawattamie in this part of the country at that time. The average Pottawattamie was tall, strongly built and a power-
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ful man physically, dignified in his bearing, apparently proud, erect of stature, very dark skinned -- ahost black and morose. Yet I have never heard of the Pottawattamie committing more erimes than the Miami. The few that I saw at that time traveled singly, very different from the Miamis, whose practice it was to travel in groups of twos and threes.
I do not ever remember of having entertained a Pottawattamie at my house. Many Marion people kept liquid refreshments in their houses. Several times a squad of Indians would come to our house at night and ask for entertainment until morning, and my father allowed them the privilege of lying on the floor over night. It was all they asked for. The men would be drunk -- all except one, the sober Miami bossing the others about at will. I never saw an attempt of rebellion among the intoxicated individuals. One thing in this case is very remarkable, at one time one Indian would take the part of the virtual and despotie king of the intoxicated bunch : the next time another would have taken his place and the watch dog of the former spree would be "sot" drunk.
In these twentieth century days the above sounds like fiction, but many settlers would youch for its facts. It has been debatable as to how much attention should be given the Indian in this Centennial history, but he conkl not be ignored even though he has gone on to the happy hunting grounds of his fathers, or to one of the numerous government reservations. It is shown in census reports that there are as many Indians as ever, but they are distributed differently. Judge R. T. St. John may be right when he contends that fair play has not been accorded the Indian, and the school boy will always be in sympathy with him and the wild life in the forest. Indian darts are still picked up, and there are many collections of Indian curios about the country A gen- eration ago there was an Indian band in every presidential campaign. and the story is still told of a serenade at the Meshingomesia cabin when the chief was badly frightened thought of war.
While Wangheoronaugh Place is in Wabash county, Wankoon was such a widely known Indian that the average citizen thinks he was a resident of Grant county. Wankoon's church has been converted into a cattle shed, and yet the front remains unchanged-standing across the road from the little spot where he and bis family are buried along the way from Lafontaine to Pearson's mill, and the "sons of their fathers" in Marion all have stories to tell of the famous Indian preacher. He was "squatty but an Indian all over." and a by-stander relates that when the late M. Blumenthal once asked him: "What the h- you doing in town?" he answered: "No swear-Christian," although one time when his chickens had been stolen he followed the thieves by the feathers along the trail, and forgot he was a Christian. Although a converted Indian, Wankoon was passionately fond of horse racing and when seen at the "Old Bob MeClure" race track in an carly day, some one remarked about it, receiving the information in return: "Jesus Christ went among sinners," and he had no further need of justification.
However, Waukoon was not always biblical in his answers, although he frequently preached in the Baptist church in the Indian Village. Onee when James Sweetser met him he asked : " Wankoon, what are you doing ?" and the answer was: "Farming a little-preaching a little." Mr. Sweetser asked what he was paid for preaching and he said : " Noth- ing." Being a man of business, and given to expressing himself in com- mon vernacular, Mr. Sweetser said: "That's d-d poor pay," when the Indian rejoined : "It's a d-d poor preach, " showing himself to be a winner of souls not influenced by money consideration. Waukoon was uneducated, and it is said he could not stick to a text when he took one, and yet all who know the name remember him as a gospel minister. One man said : "If the truth was known, Waukoon was a Pottawattamie,"
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and while asserting himself as a leader of his people, he had certain ideas of business that were remarkably crude. When he died he owed the Sweetser bank, which later became the First National Bank, $100, simply because he wanted to sustain a business relation with the insti- tution. In lieu of indorsed paper as security, the Indian preacher de- posited five twenty dollar gold coins as evidence of good faith-collateral in the bank, and when his account was closed his loss was the twelve percent interest he had paid, not exacting anything in turn from the bank on account of his gold deposit. The war dance and war whoop seem to belong to some remote age, and yet Grant county citizens continue lo tell about them. The stage has been cleared and others are now before the foot lights. The Battle of the Mississinowa was the beginning of the end of Indian history in this part of the heritage.
VI. THE FIRST MAN AND THE FIRST HOUSE
By Hon. John Ratliff
The historian of today must frequently acknowledge the assistance given him by John Ratliff and William Neal, two public spirited pioneer citizens who left some record behind them of the affairs of the time in which they lived, and who were influential and active in the community. Both men had much to do with county affairs, and both had sufficient education to leave record of their proceedings to posterity. Those who knew him talked about James Sweetser, the founder of a well known Family, and his relation to the community. The county historian well remembers Nathan Coggeshall who always knew the situation, no mat- ter about what subjeet was approached in his presence, and while both left their ineffaceable impress neither left any written history. Samuel MeClure's name will never die in the pages of local history, and one pioneer citizen after another might be emerated, and yet none but Mr. Ratliff and Mr. Neal ever left any witness of their part in the general transformation of things.
William Neal died several years before the organization of the Grant County Historical Society, but. John Ratliff was an honorary member from the beginning until his death in 1912, when he was ninety, and when asked to write upon the subject : "The First Man and the First House," he himself' admitted that he did not "stick to the text." that it was not an easy matter, there being so little available data. There were few citizens who knew more about the beginning of things than Mr. Ratliff, and he found it difficult to be definite. Both Mr. Ratliff and Mr. Neal contributed to the Kingman Atlas published in 1877, and later Mr. Neal was local editor of a county history published in 1886, the "Biographical Memoirs" of 1901 having no history department. All township historians who have contributed to this Centennial History have drawn from those two carly writers in addition to their own personal knowledge and individual research, and if in time the Centennial History is regarded as authority, all who have had to do with its making will be glad those two pioneer historians contributed indirectly to it. Mr. Ratliff's paper was read before the Historical Society September 30, '05, and because he had borrowed some of it from himself and others have done the same thing, duplicate preliminary matter is omitted at the expense of its length, and many "first things" in the township papers are thus credited to him.
In part. Mr. Ratliff said: "Grant county was organized August 5. 1831, and the residence of David Branson near the MeFeeley mill site
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was the plare designated for holding the courts for the time being. * * The board met at David Branson's residence and proceeded to define the boundaries of the townships. This was in September, and the first county officers and court officials were: Circuit judge, Charles Il. Test ; associate judges, Samuel MeClure and Caleb Smith; county clerk and auditor, Jesse Vermilyca, the same man filling both offices while now it takes several men to each office; recorder, Benjamin Knight; treasurer, David Branson ; and sheriff, Benjamin Berry. The first sur- veyor was Caleb II. Cole, and the second was D. P. Alder, and the records A and B made by those men were lost in the river, but the writer well remembers them. These two men made all the county surveys until 1846 when Ephraim Smith followed them," and at this point the speaker indulged in most interesting reminiscences not written down in his paper.
Mr. Ratliff was then past eighty-four and Ephraim Smith was then living, and the story told of the loss of records A and B by their con- temporary, William Neal, was graphie enough although a misfortune to the community. The historian heard Mr. Ratliff tell that story twice, and one year at the meeting of the Octogenarian Club it was with evi- dent pleasure that he introduced Mr. Smith, again relating Mr. Neal's experience, and saying Mr. Smith was the man who made record C in 1846-7, and since that time the record of the county survey is on file, the first fifteen years being blank because one day when Mr. Neal was crossing the Mississinewa in a canoe the boat capsized with him, and the two books he was carrying went to the bottom of the stream. While the books and instruments sank to the bottom and were never recovered, Mr. Neat succeeded in reaching dry land and safety, Mr. Ratliff saying he canghi to a limb and saved himself.
"The educational facilities For years after our county was organ- ized were not of the best. The school houses of that day were made of logs put up in cabin style, and covered with clapboards. They were generally built of round logs and hewed or 'seutched' down after being put up. The cracks were 'chinked' and daubed with mud. A log was sawed ont of one side or end to within a foot or two of the corners of the building, and strips of probably an inch in width were nailed across this opening about a foot apart, and clean white paper pasted on these strips, oiled or greased. [ Editor's note. It is probable that wooden pins were used, the writer being old and not having put anything to- gether in rude fashion himself for many years. | The oiling or greasing of the paper served a double purpose, first to prevent the rain from wetting the paper so it would not be easily torn by the wind or atmos- phere, and second, to allow the light to penetrate and light the room.
The log under this window was flattened on the top side and served as a window sill. This was a convenient shelf on which to set the ink stand and lay tho goose quill pens. Immediately under this window was the writing desk, which was formed by boring holes in the under log and putting pegs in upon which a broad, smooth shelf was placed with a slant downwards from the wall. It was the prevailing opinion in that day that persons could write better on an inclined plane. For this writing desk a slab bench was provided to accommodate pupils when writing This bench as a rude was not enemmbered with a back. The teacher of 'master,' made goose quill pens and set copies for the writing students. The school house was warmed by a wood lire built in a dirt fire place, clay back, jams and hearth and all were tamped, upon which was built a 'stiek and clay'- some old people say 'stick and eat,' chimney. The furniture was such stool and desk as the teacher saw fit to provide for himself. There were benches for the students usually called ' scollers' to sit on.
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" Black boards, maps and charts were not common in that day. The teacher as a rule stood close to the spelling and reading classes to cor- reet mistakes, as there was too much noise for him to hear at a distance. The lessons were studied 'out loud.' As the log school house gave way to the frame and the brick the 'out loud' methods also went. Now this is no fancy sketch of the primitive school building. Your humble servant has sat on the slab bench and at the paper window, and warmed at the wood fire on the dirt hearth. The introduction of new methods like any reformation, meets with opposition. The writer tanghi a school in Jonesboro some sixty odd years ago in a log Friends church about sixteen or eighteen feet square, and without consultation the first black board in the county was put up. The teacher made the board two by ten feet of dressed poplar plank and painted it with lamp black and butter milk, and when dry rubbed it with a woolen cloth. A few of the employes considered it an invasion of good order. It was alleged the small children would watch the larger ones at the board and neglect their lessons. The larger boys were instructed to clean all figures off of the board before any publie meeting was to be held. A black board in a school room and an organ in a church in that day was an hmovation, but today neither is, considered complete without these articles of fur- niture.
"Schools in those days were supported with but little pubhe funds. the pay coming entirely from the employes or patrons of the schools. Wages were sometimes as low as ten dollars per month and the teacher would board around among the employes. It is a matter of history that William James taught the first school in Grant county in the first school- house built on a knoll on the Bazil Foster farm, and the first school taught by a woman was in a log church in what is now Fairmount township. The woman was Susannah Baldwin."
In 1865 the school revenue for tuition was #11347.12. In 1875 the tuition revenue for Grant county amounted to $25,089.77. having more than doulded itself in one decade. About this period nearly two thirds of the children of school age attended school. Om tingon ret enue for the year 1905 (the year Mr. Ratliff read his paper,, is $117, 710.05, an ammal increase of a little over $4,000 for the past thirty years. The school revenue paid teachers of the state for the year end- ing in 1901 was $6,512,321.70. Tuition revenue ten years ago-1891. was $4.370,660 making an increase of about fifty percent in the last decade. and our permanent school fund at last report was $10.637 .- 564.36. Under our present statute this amount cannot be reduced, but may be increased from year to year by adding fines and forfeitures There are few states if any whose school system excels that of Indiana.
The writer taught his first school in a log house sixty-three years ago. It was a subscription school wherein the employes paid in pro- portion to what they subscribed -- a scholar or a scholar and a half, and if they sent more than subscribed, they paid accordingly. There were no public funds. The wages about that period seldom exceeded $50 for three months. The writer probably has $50 in accounts still stand- ing out not yet paid for schools taught of winters. He does not give in this account for taxation, and the tax ferret has not unearthed it. [ Editor's note. To whom could the historian have turned for infor- mation given by Mr. Ratliff, as he describes his own part in shaping the destinies of the future?]
While many old people have vivid memories few of them are able to write down their own past experiences as has Mr. Ratliff, and all who knew him have stories to tell of his strong personality. When he was a young man with only $15 in his pocket he walked to Franklin college. paying his respects to the governor of Indiana as he passed
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
through Indianapolis, and he always had the necessary determination with which to overcome difficulties. After quitting farm activities, his old Family homestead in Franklin now being occupied by a son, Harvey Ratliff, he continued traveling about the country with his surveying mstruments, and it is admitted that he established more boundaries and corners than any other engineer in the county. On the day he read the paper, Mr. Ratliff exhibited a willow knot from a witness free standing near where Deer creek flows into the Mississinewa that had not increased in size in eighty-four years, the time since it had been a matter of record in Washington, D. C., and when he removed the knot be substituted a gas pipe for it to mark its location. He said he would fill it with oil for better preservation.
Me. Ratliff explained some of the irregularities in the publie roads. saying the government seldom corrects mistakes, but for several year's the system of surveying has been changed and fewer "jogs" ovenr along public highways than when he first established them. When he left the farm he tried the experiment of an apartment Inder for a few months, and related to his old friend and neighbor. of a Harris, that he had never known anything at all of human nature until after that adventure. For many years he made an early morning pilgrimage from the home adjoining the city library to the farm, always walking the dis tance, although horses were at his command, and it is sand that an acquaintance once asked him to ride. Mr. Ratliff answering: . Since I am not in a hurry, I will ride with thee." the "plain language" always being his method of expressing himself. What the historian of Franklin said about Mr. Ratliff and others of his day is true, and none will be remembered longer by what they have accomplished than John Ratliff.
VIL CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN GRANT COUNTY
In his preface to Civil Government of Indiana, Marshall Williams says: "Increased knowledge of the general plan and even the details of the system by which the people of Indiana are governed can hardly fail to develop in them a wholesome respect for her government and a patriotic pride which will make them better contented and more law- abiding citizens." and frequent reference is made to that little volun m writing about the government of Grant county.
Another has declared that government begins with the home. ex- pands to the state and finally the church is the controlling influence, but the question arises as to the strength of the church in a community where not all the people are members. The government of the Family. school, state and nation must be vested in some recognized head, and yet many wise ones are doubtful - have never thought of it at all. The judge and prosecuting attorney are judicial officers and receive their pay from the state although elected by the people of the county. The county offices created by the constitution of Indiana are seven in number-ministerial offices with duties defined by statute, although the construction placed upon the statutes sometimes seem to be a matter of personal opinion of the particular officer.
"It is not necessarily a body of rascals in the courthouse," said one conscientious official, and he asserted that oftentimes the l'anit is in the law itself. Men have simply construed it differently, and taken as a whole the government of Grant county is made up of good, honest rit- izens. The clerk, auditor and recorder are elected for Four years while the treasurer, sheriff. coroner and surveys each serve two years, no per
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IHISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
son being eligible to any of such offices for more than two consecutive terms. The manner of transacting business is not specified in the con- stitution, although some things of an administrative character are im- plied. The board of county commissioners is composed of three voters, one from each of the three commissioner's districts, though all are elected by the voters of the entire county. The term of office is three years, a vacancy occurring each December. The board of commission- ers is the real head of county government-the first body organized in the history of Grant connty. While all the other officers have their duties prescribed by statute, the commissioners have latitude --- are re- sponsible for things and are allowed to arrive at decisions in their own way. Their duties are numerous and very important to the tax payers of the county. They have full control of all property, real or personal -might even dispose of the courthouse square if they saw tit. The county auditor is ex-officio member of the board, and he keeps a record of its proceedings, and if necessary the sheriff attends to preserve order.
The commissioners from the first district who have served the county from its organization are: Jeremiah Sutton, Charles Hummell, James Barnett, W. E. Hendricks, Stephen D. Hall, Samuel Doyle, R. II. Lenfesty, John Seerist, Jonathan Seegar, John Spears, Jacob Minnick, D. F. Horton, Nicholas D. Holman, James Charles, E. W. Creviston, A. N. Stephens, Joseph Lugar, John T. Williams, W. K. Frazier and O. M. Bruntiel, their term of service being in the order named although there have been irregularities- vacancies tilled and short terms thrown in. and once in the second district another man was commissioner for about ten minutes until a detailed report showed different results.
The second district commissioners have been: Reason Malott. Silas Overman, William Roberds, John James, James Sweetser, Benjamin Morgan, Greenup F. Holman, Thomas Wall, Robert Griffin, W. C. Miles, Robert Griffin- must have been some close elections, Mr. Griffin drop- ping out and returning as men have done in recent years; Robert Beatty, C. T. Tibbits, John Serrist. Robert Beatty, George White, Abijah C. day, G. B. Sweetser, B. C. Harris, Frank W. Chase, Paris A. Hoover, E. W. Pemberton, John Wilson, John Kiley, William Baldwin, Isaiah Wall and commissioner elect C. C. Nelson.
The third district commissioners have been: David Adamson, Sol omon Thomas. Thomas Kirkwood, John Russell. S. N. Woolman, JJ. B. Allen. W. Il. Smith, Thomas Dean, Thomas Coleman, J. L. Dohnan, Robert Wilson, Spencer Reeder, Joshua Canon, Daniel Coleman, Hugh Hamilton, George Cairens, Edmund Duling, Piner Evans, William Wharton, I. P. Winslow. B. F. Stevens, George Needler. W. R. C'oomler. James M. Pecle, Isaac W. Carter, John Kelsay, T. JJ. Lneas, I. S. Ben- bow and T. J. Lucas a second time, the game of polities being uncertain -out and back again. The board of commissioners is advised in a legal way by a county attorney chosen by them, and whose business it is to look into technicalities connected with all their transactions. By Act of the Indiana Legislature. April 27, 1899, a Connty Conneil was ere- ated-a body of men chosen every four years at the general election to provide for the expenditure of money by the commissioners, and the first election was in 1900, the second in 1902, and after that-every four years. There are four conneilmanie districts with three conneilmen at large, and this council fixes the rate of taxation and has general oversight of all important monetary transactions.
The first councilmanie district includes Marion and Center; the second. Washington, Van Buren, Monroe and Mill; the third. Pleasant, Sims, Franklin and Richland, and the fourth, Jefferson, Fairmount, Liberty and Green. The county comrilmen chosen in the 1900 election were: John Swisher, Harvey H. Jay, Jolm O. Spurgeon, Warren J
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