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 40
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
Mrs. Daisy Barr, pastor of the Fairmount Friends church, had been invited to recall "Childhood Recollections of Jonesboro," and many who had not met with her since she was a child in the town were delighted to hear her say that the most beautiful sunsets in all the world to her were across Back creek in Jonesboro. While a Friends minister, she had first gone to Sunday school in the old Presbyterian church, and Lillian Coleman had been her teacher and the inspiration of her child- hood. It had been the shock of her young lite when she found ont she was not blood kin to everybody, and she still felt like all the "Uncles" and "Aunts" she had known in the town belonged to one big family. Since Daisy Brushwiller Barr bad met with success in her chosen life work, the ministry, and had come back among her early friends to speak of the past to them, they were glad of her allegiance and loyalty. She said Jacob Bechts had named her-that he had a daughter bearing the same name, and that children everywhere to whom she ministers remem- ber it easily.
Mrs. Barr spoke of Elijah Carter, Alfred L. Barnard, Mrs. Tmrza Howell and other pioneers, and told the story of her sister Virgia being hooked by "Granny Bradfield's cow," and that her father, I. W. Brush- willer, had requested the old lady to keep her cow out of the streets of Jonesboro, thus giving to children unrestricted privileges .. Later she had attended Center Friends meeting, and the old time silent meetings had always impressed her. Mrs. Sallie Winslow Stephens had been her teacher in public school, and when she went as a missionary to India, the call to the ministry came to her -- as yet a little child, and while she had never expected to be heard outside of Grant county Friends pulpits, the child grown to womanhood had been highly honored by the Society of Friends all about the conntry.
267
IIISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
Mrs. Barr characterized her life in Jonesboro as " My Mud Pie Days," and the following clipping will be of interest.
Mrs. Daisy Barr, who was born in Jonesboro and spent her youth there, said in part :
"While I cannot give a history of Jonesboro I will give some of the reminiscences of my childhood. I will call them . My Mud Pie Days,' the grand days of the very best pleasure our hearts ever know, when we dug our hands into the mud and moulded the cakes and left them to dry in the sun. Many of us never quit making mud pies, some of them are of the common things of life and some of them are of silver and gold, and some of them are of characters. It was here in the church built upon the same foundation that this one is that E first went to Bible school. It was here I first learned the sweet stories of the children of Israel. The first shock of my life was when I found that I was not actually blood kin to every family in Jonesboro, and I was almost grown when I found that the people I had called annt and unele were not : in reality, and that their sons and daughters were not my cousins.
"Our pleasures come to us according to our cultivation. The founda- tion for what life will bring to us is built by the time we are fifteen or sixteen years of age, so Jonesboro was my spiritnal battle ground. It was here I first learned to love, first felt anger and pride, told my first lie and stole the only thing I ever stole in my life.
"I think I will tell about the first time I knew what it was to be angry, because the man is here today. The people that lived next to us had a big, tall, homely boy, and we played together. I had a new dress. It was the first new dress that I remember of having, and I don't know how long it was before I had another. I wanted the boy to see my new dress, and I went to the fenee and called him. They had been doing some carpenter work there, and nails and tools were lying near the fence. When I showed him the dress he wanted me to put it through the fence. When I did he took hold of it, took a hammer and nail and nailed it Fast to a chicken coop. Then he went away and laughed. I screamed and sereamed. I began using my voire early. My mother came out, his mother came out and the neighbors gathered. His mother wanted to know what I wanted done to him. I wanted him thrashed. Nothing else would do. My mother took me into the house, and after a while a peace offering came in the form of two doughunts brought by the boy himself. This made everything all right and we were friends again. That boy was Dr. J. S. Whitson.
"I remember distinctly one of my impressions of old age. There was a beautiful old man He was not so old, but his hair turned gray early, and he seemed old to a child. He was so kind to little children. He had a shop of some kind, and the children all used to go there. He was Elijah Carter, and I thought when I got old I wanted to look just like he did. I received my first idea that there was a difference in society here, that some people were a little higher mentally than others, and I thought the Coleman girls a little extraordinary. 'Squire Barnard was another beautiful character, and his daughter, Lillie, who went to what seemed to ns like a great way off', Texas, where she died with tuberculosis. Ile would draw all sorts of things, and after her death he drew beautiful white lilies which he gave to her friends. He gave me one. I don't know why, for I was only a child. At another time he gave me a drawing which I still have. It was two birds with their bills touching. Under it was a verse which has been one of the guides of my life. It is:
.
268
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
" 'This world is full of beauty, As it might be full of love, If every one would do his duty As the angels do above.'
"I felt my first touch of pride at one of the monthly concerts that Will Melntire used to give. I used to recite when I was a very little girl. I went to school when I was Four years old. Mother had so many children that we were sent to keep us out of the way. At the concerts I was such a little girl that I often went to sleep. When I was called on to recite one evening I was about half asleep. I had a motto that said 'Never say fail.' I got the motto upside down, and did not discover it until t was almost done. Then I saw it, stopped, announced to the audience that the motto was upside down, turned it over, began again and said the piece over.
"Grandmother C'ray had the most nice things that children did not dare to touch of anyone I ever saw. She had the nicest little clothespin basket that I wanted, and I think I should want it yet it I saw it. 1 wanted it, and I think I had asked for it, but it never came, and one evening my brother and I went there after milk, and it was out under the grape arbor. 1 took the basket. I did not realize that I had done anything especially wrong until on the way home my brother wanted me to do something, and said he would tell mother that I took the basket if I . didn't. For three days he kept me his slave. Then I asserted my inde- pendence and he told mother. She took me on her lap and told me the awful sin of stealing. Then she made me take the basket back to Grand- mother Cray and tell her that I had stolen it and was sorry. That cured me. From that day to this I have not wanted anything that was not my own.
"When I was abont fifteen it became a popular thing for young people to leave the church about the middle of the sermon. One day I. with some others, got up to leave. Just as I got my hand on the door my father put his hand on my shoulder, led me back to the amen corner and sat down by me. Since then I have never been able to leave a Ses- sion without embarrassment and a feeling that someone was behind me just about to overtake'me.
"Here was my first great sorrow. There was a little crippled girl, Addie Havens. We children watched over her and played with her. One day she came to our house, and I had to lead her home. We had to give her our hands to lean on. She hurt my hand, and I scolded her. Two days after that she died, and I was wild with grief. These things come to me very tenderly, and I think of Jonesboro as a sweet memory ground, and there are others who echo the same sentiment-join in the chorus."
XXXVI. WASHINGTON TOWNSIHP IN HISTORY By Mrs. Maud Howard Gaines
Saturday, September 24, 1910, was Washington Township day and both residents and exiles were at the Historical Society meeting. It had been a willing service on the part of the historian, who was an invalid, and Mrs. Martha Nicewanger Blinn, read the paper as a favor, the writer saying :
My native township, where I was born and where my childhood days
269
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
were spent, has been to me an interesting and pleasant study. The hands of the clock have been turned back to my earliest recollections and I have lived over again those days that will never come again. As a Daughter of the American Revolution, I naturally am deeply interested in the history of my ancestors. My grandparents, Maurice and Matilda Howard, being pioneers of my native township, the study of it has a double interest to me. My remembrance of them is indeed pleasant and the heritage they left to their posterity is worthy of emulation and one of which I am justly proud. The pioneers of Washington township have all passed away and their children are among the old men and women of the county. They deserve equal eredit with their parents in developing the township to its present high stage of civilization. This township is bounded on the north by Wabash and Huntington counties, on the cast by Van Buren township, on the south by Center township and on the west by Pleasant township. It is drained by several winding creeks, which find outlets in the Mississinewa and Salamonie rivers. Thousands of rods of tile ditches are connected to these ereeks, which makes the drainage system complete. The surface is generally undulating and roll- ing and was originally covered with a heavy growth of mixed timber, with trailing vines and small undergrowth through which it was ahnost impossible to penetrate in many places. The forest was a magnificent spectacle; great trees of oak, walnut, hickory, poplar and the stately ash towered above the beach, sugar, maple and lesser timber, making a dense foliage that almost shut out, when in full leaf, the light of the sun. The dewdrops in the early morning fell from the leaves like rain, and it required the noonday sun to dry the moisture. These forests were the favorite hunting grounds of the tribe of Indians that had their abode near by. Wild game was plentiful.
There were wolves and wildcats, deer, coon, 'possums, minks, foxes, squirrels, wild ducks and turkeys, hawks, owls, cranes, snipes and smaller birds and animals in every part of this great forest. The Indians had undisputed sway in this territory up to the year 1826. In this year Reason Malott and his brother-in-law, Daniel Badger, both of Winchester, Indiana, heard of a new settlement lower down on the Mississinewa, and decided to seek a new home. Build- ing a large Hatboat and loading their personal effects upon it, they waited for a freshet, which came in due time. They reached their destination safely and Malott settled just north of the present limits of the city of Marion, and Badger south of him, on land that is now covered by North Marion. This was in 1826, and there were not a half dozen white families in the county. The Indians were quite mimerons and often camped by scores near their cabins. It is said that the only thing that saved the first settlers was the Indians remembrance of the battle of the Missis- sinewa, which was Fought only a few years before. On the seventeenth of July. 1827, oreurred the birth of Robert Malott, son of the first settler. ITe was the first white child boro in the township and it is claimed that he was the first white child born in Grant county. Two of his sons, L. J. and W. S. Malott, and a daughter, Mrs. James F. Hood, are now resi- dents of Marion. In 1827 Robert Massey settled on the farm known as the Michael Coon farm. It was on this farm that the first hewed log honse in the township was built. Massey built this house several years after he first settled. The year 1828 brought four energetie men to this settlement. They were John Pierson, who settled on the Moses Bradford farm ; Solomon Wright, on the land east of the present site of Charles' mill, but known for many years as Seerist's mill ; a man by the name of Hobson on a part of the Frazier farm; and Samuel MeClure, Sr., who settled on the Caleb Boots farm. MeCIare being by trade a millwright
270
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
and the Mississinewa affording splendid advantages for milling. he was soon engaged in the building of a mill. Ile completed the mill that year and as early as 1829 was prepared to saw the logs of the pioneer into lumber or grind his corn into meal. This mill was highly valued by the pioneer, for it gave him material for bread almost at his own door. In 1829 men whose names were Chambers, Norton and Ellison settled on the Lewis Bocock farm and David Love a couple of miles south of them. In the same year John Endsley settled on the land which is now the beautiful grounds of the Marion Country Club. His cabin was built on the same knoll where the artistic building of the club is now located. Endsley was noted as one of the famous hunters of his time and plenty of wild game was always found in his cabin. A natural spring at the foot of the hill supplied the family with pure water; these springs were mimerous in those days and were appreciated by the settlers.
The lhummels came in 1831. John Hummel first settled on what is known as the Hummel farm on the Huntington road. His cabin stood on ITummel hill, where a large two-story house now stands. Charles settled in the northern part of the township on the Bobdell farm. Moses Bond, Edmind Gaines, Samuel MeNary and Benjamin Bond came in 1834. After this year the population increased so rapidly that it would be diffi- cult to locate each settler. A list of prominent early settlers, without reference to date of settlement, to all of whom, as well as to many others. is due much honor for valuable services rendered within the borders of Washington township: Samuel Woolman, Dennis Dailey, Maurice How- ard, James Hicks, George Hobaugh and son V. D. Hlobaugh, George Conn, John Hamaker, Thomas and Robert Lenfesty, Riley Marshall, Ephraim Bates, Isaac Moore, James Cain, Jacob Miller, John King, Isaac Lan- easter, George Wyans, Jacob Hansley, James Barnett, John Martin, Jacob Jackson, Jacob Line, Christopher Sears, William Dailey, Henry Tinkle, Jesse Marsh and sons Enoch, Benjamin and L. D., Samuel and Adam Pulley, John and Alfred Borock. Conrad Barley, Win. R. Jack- son, James Love, James Marshall, Jacob Wiant, George Bradford and sons George and Leonard, John Lobdell, Henry Renbarger, James Thomp- son, Archillas Bocock, Enoch and John Hendrick, JJacob Streib, Richard Dieken, Redden Chance, Thomas Thomas. These were followed later by John Seerist, Nelson Turner, Frank Thompson, Thomas Campbell, Daniel Shank, Elijah and William Cox, Ebon Badger. Calvin McRae, Henson and Samuel Pulley, Joseph Lugar, James Dillen, Hiram Froat, James Phillips, William Cranston, James Bloxham, Jonathan and Lot Vevard, Allen Edwards, Eli Rodgers, Martin Gingery, David Kingery, John Ellis, Abraham Gallentine, Abraham Bish, Samuel Hawkins, J. W. Melick, James Carr, Jacob Rich, William Williams, Albert Westfall, Andrew Ebbert, Phineas Skinner, Levi Carter, Wesley Allen, Andrew- son and John Maddux, Washington, Madison and Frank Helm, Wil- liam Lenfesty, Samuel Williams, Josiah Oates, David Cretsinger and Christian Hetler.
The first settlements were made as a general rule as near the county seat as possible. This was located in 1831, across the line in Center township, and named in honor of General Francis Marion of Revolution- ary fame. The first home built by the pioneer was a rude log cabin with a puncheon floor and a elapboard roof. The windows were made by cutting ont a portion of a log and covering the opening with greased paper or coon skin stretched very tightly so as to admit light. The doors were hung on rude wooden hinges, which announced the opening and closing of the door with a loud creaking noise. The chimneys were built of sticks which were held in place by a kind of mortar made by mixing clay, ashes and water together. When finished these were
271
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
large affairs and often it was hard to determine whether the chimney was built for the house or the house for the chimney. The furniture for these first cabins was hand-made and necessarily crude on account of there being no tools with which to work. It consisted of two or three rude benches used for chairs, a bed fastened to the wall by means of wooden pins, a slab table, and a enpboard made by laying slabs on wooden pins fastened in the wall. The light of evenings was for- nished from the fireplace in winter and a rag was dipped in lard placed in a small tin vessel and one end lighted; those who could afford it had tallow candles. The cabins were built on knolls, so as to secure natural drainage for the door yards. Corn dodgers and corn pone, wild game and boiled meats were the principal diet and prepared before the open fire. Orchards were set out as soon as enough ground was cleared; the trees grew with little attention in the early days. They were free from the tree-destroying insects of the present time. The idea of bet- ter dwellings was soon entertained and hewed log houses with parti- tioned apartment and stairways to the upper story took the place of the one-room cabin. The furniture likewise became more elegant. The tirst innovation made in the accustomed methods of preparing the meals was by the Bradford family, coming from Virginia ,and setting up a cook stove. At first it was looked upon with suspicion and many doubts, but after a time the new method was adopted and came into general use with the exception of baking corn bread. Around these old home- steads our fathers and mothers recall many sacred recollections. The trundle bed with its little wooden wheels, on which they slept, and the great fireplace that filled the room with light and heat are two memories that linger in their minds. Here by the glow of the burning wood the Family spent the long winter evenings together; a basket filled with apples was always in evidence, the bellflower, golden russet and luscions rambo being common varieties. The mother usually occupied one corner, sphming or knitting, and the father usually dressed an ax-handle or mended shoes. The children played games, cracked nuits and ate apples. As the forest was cleared, the brush and logs were piled up through the day and set on fire at night. Often around these fires the adjoin- ing neighbors would meet in a central location and in front of a blazing . tog heap talk over the events of the neighborhood. The fraternal spirit that existed among the people greatly softened the hardships they had to endure.
The principle of universal brotherhood was more completely car- ried out then than it is now under the best organized unions. It was a spontaneous and unselfish regard for the interests of each other with- ont any declaration of by-laws or binding obligations. The Golden Rule was their motto in business affairs as well as in the hospitality shown around their frugal board. Distinction or caste had no place in their social intercourse, as it was based on the high plane, a man's a man wherever met. The latchstring of everybody's door was always out. In fact it was a leather string fastened to a wooden latch and must of necessity always stand out to the outsider. The social fabric of the women rested on a common level and was entirely divested of all formality. Their social gatherings consisted of quilting bees, wool pickings and apple cuttings. All the women in the neighborhood were invited to these gatherings. They took an unfeigning interest in the welfare of others and no deception or hypocrisy was practiced. The pioneer women possessed traits of character and simplicity of manners that would be well for us to cultivate in this more cultured age. They shared with the pioneer the hardships and privations of the new country without murmur or complaint and willingly joined with him the ardu-
272
IIISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
ous work of making the home and clearing the farm. All the clothing was made by the women even to the spinning the threads and weaving the cloth. Their wardrobe in the summer was made up of heavy shoes, a plain calico dress and a plain sunbonnet. In winter, linsey and some- times flammel was substituted for calico; the heavy shoes and sunbonnet were not changed. As the population increased from immigration and children multiplied and grew up other duties aside from clearing away the physical obstructions were forced upon the pioneer. Mental, moral and religious culture as well as material things must be looked after and meetings were held to discuss the needs of the neighborhood, as well as the political issues of the day. Lectures on the abolition of slavery were frequent, and a strong anti-slavery sentiment was devel- oped. Fugitives From the slave states always found willing friends among the pioneers of Washington township, and many a black man and woman has been helped on his way to freedom, to a soil that kuew not slavery. The home of Grandfather Howard was one of the " Under- ground Railroad" stations through Grant county. I have often heard my Father tell of assisting when he was only a young boy in long night drives in covered wagons, carrying loads of human freight to the next station. The bloodhounds were often not far behind them. Moses Bradford was actively engaged in this work and he had many exciting experiences in connection with it.
The first school in the township was taught by Miss Ellen Love, in a cabin on the Robert Massey farm, with about a dozen pupils enrolled. This was in the summer of 1834. Mrs. Sarah Little, daughter of John Endsley, was one of the pupils who attended this school. She is now eighty-four years old and lives in Huntington county.
Two or three other schools were taught in deserted cabins that stood around in the fields. One was on the Hummel farm and taught by Mitchel Jackson. The first schoolhouse built in the township was on the farm of John Endsley. It stood north and east of the Country Club building. It was a log structure built at a cost of $40, and thought to be a very fine house. A huge lireplace took up half of one end of the room. The benches on which the pupils sat were slabs split from logs, with legs three feet long fastened to them. There was no backs to these benches and pupils sat in a very uncomfortable position, their feet, elad in rustic beauty, dangling six inches from the floor. A board was placed around the wall for a writing desk.
Goosequills were sharpened and split for pens. Spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic were the branches taught. The pupils studied their lessons out loud without any thought of disturbing those who sat near them.
Samuel Woolman taught the first school here, in the winter of 1837 and 1838. Miss Mary Nicewanger taught the following summer. She was a sister of William Nieewanger, who settled across the line in Van Buren township.
Mr. Nicewanger has always been identified in affairs that concerned both townships.
In 1838 another schoolhouse was built, on the Redden Chance farm, now known as the Mark Hillsamer farm, near where Salem school- house is now located. Sugar Grove schoolhouse in the center of the township was built about the same time. Log schoolhouses, like log churches, multiplied as fast as the increase in population required. Mrs. Millen, Ink and Camblin were early teachers. As time advanced grammar and geography were added to the curriculum It was the custom when the holidays came to loek the teacher out until he stood "treat." If he refused, he was punished as the pupils saw lit. The
273
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
big boys had this matter in charge and the punishment rivaled the haz- ing practiced these days in the leading colleges. He usually yieldled to their demands, however, and came around with a generous supply of candy and fruit. The old log schoolhouses were later replaced by sub- stantial frame buildings. These were the centers of literary societies and debates in which everybody took part. The people came for miles around to these meetings, which were profitable as well as entertaining. Spelling schools were frequently held, to which all surrounding schools were invited, each school taking its turn in holding these spellings. Great crowds came and often it was a late hour before all were spelled down. In a contest held a few years ago Washington township took the prize for having the best speller in Grant county.
I'p to thirty years ago little thoughi was given to the grading of the district schools. This subject was brought up at the institutes and freely discussed. Many thought it impracticable and impossible. Finally a course of study was adopted in the county and the systematie grading of the schools began. Diplomas were to be given to all those who com- pleted the course of study. The first examination was held in the spring of ISSI and Washington township had two graduates that year, one of them being the writer of this history, the other Miss Quella Hicks. Both attended school at No. 6, known as the lantiold school. Edwin Caldwell was the teacher, Ephraim Creviston, township trustee, and G. A. Osborn, county superintendent.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.