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 44
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The Marion & Wabash Gravel Road was organized in 1867. with
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James Sweetser, George F. Dunn, D. R. MeKinney, William Wagoner and Hiram K. Hendricks, directors. The board elected James Sweetser, president, and David Seegar, secretary and treasurer. This was a toll- road, and began at the corporate line of Marion, and extended almost dute north to the county line, a distance of about eight miles. The Marion & Jalapa Gravel Road Company was organized in 1872. The first officers were-John Rennaker, president, John P. Campbell, Jr .. secretary- treasurer. The board of directors was as follows: John Rennaker, John P. Campbell, John A. Dunn and James S. Renbarger. The Delphi, the Pipe Creek & Pleasant Chapel, and the Peru-Sweetser free gravel roads were constructed some thirty years ago. There are now under construe- tion in this township ten stone and gravel roads. The P. C. C. & St. L. and the C. & O. Railroads pass across the southwest corner of the town- ship. The former was built in 1867, is a double-track, has an excellent road-bed, and a new station at Sweetser. The C. C. C. & St. L., and the ITion Traction have already been mentioned in connection with Fox Station.
The Methodist Episcopal denomination has a church at Jalapa and at Sweetser. The Methodist Protestants have a church at Jalapa and at Mount Olive in the country, and have a parsonage at Sweetser. The Lutherans have an organization and a church in Sweetser, the Missionary Baptists have a church at the ludian Village, and the Dunkards, or Tunkers, at Cart Creek, two miles southwest of Jalapa.
Sweetser Lodge, No. 433, L. O. O. F., Bernice Rebekah Lodge, No. 158, 1. O. O. F., Caymma Tribe, No. 247, 1. O. R. M., a Pocahontas Lodge, a Cleaners' Lodge, and a Lions' Den, are all located in Sweetser.
Among the early teachers were Chaney, Anthony, Badger and Gil- more. The first school house was built in 1832, on the Badger farm, now the fretsinger farm. This school house was for many years used as a place for holding religions worship. The first honses were rude in structure, and the pedagogies were generally of very moderate ability, so l'ar as "book larnin" was concerned, but were commonly experts in wielding the birch. But as the "three r's" were the principal studies, a finished education was not deemed a necessary qualification on the part of the teacher. The writer has known a few teachers whose mathematical knowledge did not carry them beyond the Double Rule of Three, and who did not know an adjective from an adverb, nor a preposition from a conjunction. But these were the exceptions, and in defense of the township I will say that it has always ranked with the other townships of the county in educational matters. The school houses of an early day had mich the appearance of the dwellings of that day. Within, at one end of the room, was a huge fireplace. On the two sides of the room writing-tables were placed, formed by boring large boles in the wall and inserting therein long, strong pins, inclined slightly downward from the wall, upon which were placed broad planks. The seats were saw- log slabs obtained from the mill, or else split by hand and howed with a broad-axe. Pin legs were placed in the round side, the legs being longer or shorter to accommodate the different sized pupils. Noah Webster's Elementary Spellingbook contains this sentence: "Six boys can sit on one long bench," and the statement would have been equally true had it said-Twelve boys can sit on one long bench.
In the country schools fifty and sixty years ago about the only classes worthy the name were the spelling and the reading classes. In arith- metie no lessons were assigned, but each pupil moved along regardless of any other pupil. When a scholar "stalled." that was, could not "do his sum" (I am now using some old time expressions), he attracted the attention of the "master" by pecking on his slate with his pencil,
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and the master, when he cared to do so, took his place by the scholar, solved the problem, often making no explanation of the solution. Black- boards, if any, were smoothed boards, about three by five or six feet, supported by legs, and stood leaning against the wall, and could be moved from place to place in the room. No school crayon was in use. but bulk chalk instead. The blackboard was rarely used by a pupil, and not frequently by the teacher. The center of the schoolroom was sometimes used as a thrashing floor. Spelling then was held in high esteem, and should be to-day, but the method then would not be received with favor now. All were required to "spell for head" in classes, and some teachers were quite formal with this exercise. The class would be called into line and arranged somewhat in military fashion, then the teacher would say : "ATTENTION," when the boys would bow and the girls would "curtsy," and then the regular exercise began. I must not neglect to speak of one school exercise, in which all were expected to participate, and one of more general interest, possibly, than any other, and that was "geography singing." And it is surprising to know how much was learned in that way, and how lasting the information thus obtained. The area of the earth's surface, the ratio of land to water, the relative size of the oceans and the grand divisions of land, and a hundred other things were sung or chanted. How old, yet familiar the following: "The State of Maine, Augusta on the Kennebec River. New Hampshire, Con- cord, on the Merrimac River. Vermont, Montpelier, on the Onion River. Massachusetts, Boston, on the Bay of Massachusetts. Rhode Island, has two capitals, Providence and Newport, Providence on the Providence River, Newport near the sea. Connectient has two capitals, Hartford and New Haven, Hartford on the Connecticut River, New Haven near Long Island Sound, ete."
The writer has in his possession an Elementary Spelling Book and MeGuffey's readers, which were in use more than fifty years ago. These books would not be taken as models for the book maker of today, and the pictures are not steel engravings by any means, but the books are replete with good stories and wholesome advice. The spelling book, page 141 says: "The Sabbath is a day of rest, and called the Lord's day, because God had commanded us to keep it holy. On that day we are to omit labor and worldly employments, and devote the time to religious duties, and the gaining of religious knowledge. The light of the sun makes the day, and the shade of the earth makes the night. The earth revolves from west to east once in twenty-four hours. The sun is fixed or sta- tionary; but the earth turns every part of its surface to the sun once in twenty-four hours. (This last statement is not universally accepted. ) The day is for labor, and the night is for sleep and repose. Children should go to bed early in the evening, and all persons who expect to thrive in the world should rise early in the morning."
You who were pupils in the middle of the nineteenth century, know that then there were no school bells, and but few hand bells, and so the teacher used other methods of assembling the pupils, such as peck- ing on a window, striking the outside of a house with a board, beckoning with the hand, or calling: "Books, books." In calling the roHl at even- ing, as the name was called, the pupil walked to the door, faced the teacher, and uncovered, bowed or curtsied, and passed out of the house. These are given as some of the most radical customs. The Hon. George W. Steele, now governor of the Soldiers' Home at Marion, taught school at Center, in this township, before the Rebellion, and he says that if he is to be the judge he will pronounce it the best school ever taught in Grant county. In 1865 the county board of education, with A. W. Sanford, county examiner, formulated and had printed a set of rules for the
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guidance and government of the country schools. I cannot now remember all of them. One, probably the last one, read: "These rules shall be posted in a conspirnous place in the school room, and shall be frequently read fo the school." Another said: "The school shall be opened promptly at 8:30, by scripture reading, to which may be added singing and prayer, at the discretion of the teacher." Another: "A fifteen- minute recess shall be given in the forenoon, and the same in the after- noon, and an hour intermission at noon. When school is called, the pupils shall promptly take their seats. At the expiration of five minutes, the signal for silence shall be given, and pupils coming in thereafter must account for their tardiness." Another rule admonished the teacher to open the house early, build fires, sweep and keep the schoolroom neat and clean. The pupils were told not to quarrel or tight, neither at school nor on their way to or from school, and that they were considered under the care of the teacher from the time they left home for school until they returned therefrom. But these methods have all given way to newer and generally better ones. The school system of Indiana is acknowledged to be of high order, and the schools of Pleasant township have long been in the van. A non-commissioned high school was established in Sweetser in 1891. John O. Spurgeon had charge of the school for the first twelve years, which is now a regularly commissioned high school. There are eleven districts in the township, and sixteen teachers are employed. The present teachers are : Homer Hummel, Clara Mellwain, William Tinkle, Frank Gilbreath, Donald Stephens, Ralph Conrads. Clifford Blackman, Ethel Ronbarger, Edith Bragg, Harry O. Lanning, superintendent, Floyd Ferguson. principal, Sarah Line, assistant principal, Rose Morrow, Edna Barngrover, Rose Starbuck and James Brock. The township trustee is Nelson L. Shockey. Others who have held this office, beginning with 1865, were: Nelson Conner, John Rennaker. Stephen M. Sherman, Henry C. Renbarger, George W. Prickett, John O. Spurgeon, William II. Rogers, James W. Anthony, Charles M. Grindle, Alvin E. Wharton and George B. Dooley. The other township officers at present are: A. M. Coffman, assessor ; J. E. Flinn, justice of the peace.
Pleasant township has been loyal to state and nation. It furnished soldiers for the Mexican war, the late Civil war and the Spanish Ameri- ean war. William Morehead, Jeremiah Sutton, William Dawson and some others were Mexican volunteers from this township. Its patriotism may be shown by the following list of soldier boys, and, doubtless, the Jist is not complete: Enoch Alexander, James W. Anthony, Henry Bran. son, E. J. Beam, Samuel Bechtel, Sammel S. Baxter. Hezekiah Beeson, Harry Beeson, David Brummet, Thad. Bruss, James Cain, John Cain, Daniel C'oner, William J. Conner, John C. Conner, Martin B. Comer, John P. Campbell. Crayton Campbell, John Conner, Daniel Clark, William Dawson, Nathan Dawson, Charles Dolan, Henry J. Davis. John Dunn, Samuel Druley, Garrison Dawson, John Egbert, Calvin Fields, (. L. Grindle, James W. Grindle, Robert Gilpin, William Gilbreath, Eli Green, Elias Gabriel, Frank HI. Hall, John Hubert, Ezra C. Hill, Isaac Hamilton, Moses Harter, Samuel Harter, R. Harter, Cyrus Harreld. Henry Harreld, Enther P. Hess, William T. Hess, Jacob HI Harter, Y Lewis C. Jacobs, Joseph T. Kem, Augustin Kem. Edward A. Key, David Keener, Jacob C. Lugar, Joseph Leazenby, Jesse brazenby, Hudson Loring, E. HI. Loring, Charles Lemming, John Loudebarger, Washington Lewis, Lewellin Martin, John Miller, John Miller, John HI. Miller, William Miller, William Miesse, George W. Miller, Levi H. Miller, Silas G. Morehead, Thomas Murphy, William Mills, John MeNeil, Uriah Mars, Silas Mars, Sanford D. Maggart, Oliver MeGuire, Isaiah Owings, Thos. V. Pixler, Joseph Pixler, Andrew P. Price, Riley Price, John W. Peter-
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son, Jol Pritchett, William Pritchett, Richard Poffenbarger, David Pof. fenbarger, John Poffenbarger, J. Il. Raypholtz, Lewis Raypholtz, Ephraim Raypholtz, George W. Reubarger, James S. Renbarger, William Rutherford, Hiram Renmaker, Elias B. Rennaker, Jacob C. Rennaker, James Rennaker, John Smith, Samuel E. Smith, William Smith, Charles Smith, Jasper N. Seegar, William I. Sutton, Thomas Sutton, John Sutton, Platt Satton, Nathan Stevens, Amos Stevens, William Steltz, Levi Steltz, J. L. Sisson, Daniel Taylor, Alfred Taylor, Andrew J. White, Willis White, William Wolf, John Wolf, Silas R. Williams, Robert Williams and William HI. Voris. A list of the Spanish- American soldiers has not been obtained.
Pleasant was the first organized township in the county.
The first inhabitants were the Miami Indians.
The first white settler was Goldsmith Gilbert.
The first land entry was made by David Comer.
The first store was near Sutton's Ford.
The first mill, the second in the county, was built by Samuel Me- Clure, 1828.
The first death was that of Betsy Prickett, in 1831.
The first marriage was that of Moses Conner and Aun Sutton, April 3, 1832.
The first election was held at the home of Ephraim Badger, near the mouth of Badger creek. Jeremiah Sutton was the first justice of the peace, and George F. Dum was the second, be holding that office longer, probably, than any other man ever held office in Grant county, in all thirty-seven years. He was also probate judge of Grant county from 1844 to 1848.
The first schoolhouse was built about 1832. on the Badger farm.
The first country brick schoolhouse in the county was at Center, that is No. 5.
The first church was built by the Methodist Episcopal denomination, in 1847, on the Whiteman farm, and was known as Pleasant Chapel, but long since abandoned.
The first election for justice of the peace was hekt at the home of Riley Marshall, Jeremiah Sutton being the choice of the voters, he having previously held that office by appointment. He was also a member of the first board of county commissioners. David Conner and Henry Renbarger were two of three commissioners appointed to view and locate the first publie highway north from Marion. This highway is known as the Lagro road. George Renbarger, Robert MeClure, Jeremiah Sutton, Jonathan Berry and Zadok Prickett were members of the first grand jury in the county.
Daniel Badger, Henry Renbarger and Platt Sutton were members of the first petit jury for the first term of circuit court in the county.
At the March term of court, 1832, Joseph Lugar presented his first report as justice of the peace of Pleasant township, which showed that Thomas Mason had been convicted of "Salt & Battery" on the person of Edward Mason. Jolin T. Davis had been arraigned and convicted for disturbing the peace. A fine had been assessed and collected in case of an affray between William Gorden and Isaar Renbarger. The Squire's report in September following, showed that Isaac Renbarger had been tined in two cases for assault and battery upon the persons of Moses Conner and Sammel MeClure, and that Robert MeClure was fined $1.00 for quarrelling with Isaac Renbarger.
At the April term of court, 1833, the first criminal eanse was that of the State vs. Jonathan Berry and Jesse W. Thompson for affray. Berry pleaded guilty and was fined $2.00. Thompson had not been
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apprehended. At the first trial held in Grant county before a petit jury, Samuel MeClure was found guilty, as charged, in that he kept up his mill dam and obstruction for four weeks, and his fine was assessed at $12.00. Jonathan Seegar was one of a committee of three appointed to select a site and purchase a farm, the first, for county paupers. The report of the committee was accepted, and a farm purchased in Franklin township, a short distance southwest of Marion. The original building was a two-story brick, built in 1855. The biography of Stephen M. Sherman says he was the first assessor in Pleasant township. John O. Spurgeon was a member, by appointment, of the first county council. The first high school in the township was established in 1891.
The first common school graduates were Byron Gebhart, William Lewis and Frank Neff. The first railroad, the Pennsylvania, was built in 1867.
William Morehead was the first volunteer for the Mexican war. The first Grant county Mexican soldier to die and be buried in a foreign laud was Jeremiah Sutton, Company A, Fourth Indiana Regiment, who died and was buried in May, 1848, at Puebla, Mexico. Pleasant town- ship has the distinction of furnishing the first Grant county volunteer for the Rebellion in the person of Levi H. Miller, and the first Grant county soldier boy in blue to receive in his body a leaden ball from a rebel gun was Frank Il. Hall.
The people of Pleasant township are prosperous, with no panpers -- are as honest and intelligent as other people, and with one exception Pleasant township has not received an office by a county vote for more than thirty-five years. In 1904 Elmer E. Veach was elected county recorder.
[Editor's note. The historian fails to explain that Pleasant has always been regarded as the Democratie stronghold, and that all Grant. county was not of the same persuasion. It has been in no seuse a dis- crimination against the locality.]
Pleasant is the historie township of the county. The only battle ever fought in the county was fought on Pleasant township soil. Of this battle between the whites and the Indians we will speak later. The home of the Indian was along the Mississinewa and its tributaries, yet he roamed hither and yon as suited him best. One mile northeast of Sweetser was the location of the Me-shin-go-me-sia sugar camp. He and other Indians came there yearly and camped among the hundreds of maple trees, that they might make syrup and sugar. Any modern account of these people would be incomplete without the name, Meshin- gomesia, the late chief of the Miamis. He was born near the mouth of Josina ereck about the year 1782, and died in 1879. He was a friend to the whites as well as to his own race, and he was held in general good esteem. After his conversion to the Christian religion he became a stead- fast adherent. On Sunday morning it was a common occurrence to See him leading his derrepit companion to his favorite church home to worship. His body was buried in the rear of the village church, and a marble shaft creeted to his memory contains the following inscription :
Me-Shing-O-Me-Sia died December 16, 1879, aged about 98 years.
Meshingomesia united with the Baptist church and was baptized the second Sunday in June, 1861, and lived a consistent Christian until
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he was taken From the church militant to the church triumphant in Heaven.
The writer made a plat of the township in the seventies, and here follow the names of some of the land-owners at that time: Aw-taw-waw- taw, Chang-sin-gaw, Chap-en-do-ce-ah, Chin-go-quah, Ching-gwa-saw, Ke-tab-ke-mung-e-quah, Len-on-zo-quah, Me-shin-go-me-sia, Me tah-con- sah, Me-tah-con-sac-quah, Me-tah-ke-qnah, Or-waw-le-men-dah, l'e to-tem- qual, Po-can-ge-ah, Pe-me-se-ah, Soe-a-chock-quah, Shap-e-ne-naw, Tah- con-sae-quah, Wah-pah-ke-ke-quah, and Wah-pe-nock-she-ne-quah. But the Indian is gone from our midst and scarcely known except in memory or in history.
The memorable Battle of the Mississinewa was Fought one hundred years ago today. It is fully described elsewhere, and I did not feel that it was necessary that I should copy and read to you. I have in my possession a printed copy but do not care to read it, unless requested to do so.
This township history is not wholly original with the writer, but is a combination of personal knowledge, knowledge obtained by conversation with others, and from books.
[Editor's note. Because the Battle of the Mississinewa is county, state, nation wide in its significance, some further data furnished by the historian of Pleasant is used in another place. The Battle of the Mississinewa is given a chapter by itself. ]
XL. WILLIAM JAMES, SCHOOLMASTER
While there are several educational chapters in the Centennial History, the following data concerning William James, who has always been accredited as the first teacher in Grant county was not available when they were written. William, son of John and Mary (Snead ) James, was born May 7, 1807, in North Carolina, and came with his parents to Wayne county in 1814, afterward removing with them to Randolph county, where he died Angust 22, 1830, aged twenty-three years, three months and fifteen days.
In the spring of 1829 Mr. James located a claim and "put ont a deadening" on Deer creek, where the Big Four Railway crosses the stream. While he was working there the Quakers of the vicinity asked him to teach a school, and the following article of agreement was the result. While he was a nonresident, three years after his death, his parents took up their residence on his claim-the beginning of the James family in Grant county. There are subsequent teachers who have l'ol- lowed the example of this original Grant county pedagogue and provided homes for their relatives.
While there are no firstlies and secondlies, nor parties of the first and second parts, as are common nowadays in binding contraets, this original document seems to have served every purpose. The agreement reads: "Indiana, Delaware county : Know all mien by these presents that Wil- liam James intends to commence a school on the first day of June next near the dwelling of David Branson For the term of three months at the rates of one dollar and twenty-five cents, and the said William James is to teach spelling, reading, writing, arithmetie and the English grammar if required of him, and we the subscribers promise to pay the said William James one dollar and twenty-five cents at the expiration of said school for each and every scholar numbered opposite to our names, April 28 day, 1829." This was duly signed by William James and the fol-
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lowing patrons: David Branson, three scholars; Thomas Mason, two; Martin Boots, three; Richard Jones, one; Sarah Ballinger, one; Thomas Knight, one; Ephraim Overman and Thomas Branson, each one half scholar; Robert Massey, one; Reason Mallott, one; Daniel Boyer, two; and Eli Overman, three.
On the reverse side of the agreement is written: "William James' artiele, this June 10 day, 1829, for Eli Overman to make up, " and since Mr. Overman "signed" three scholars, he was naturally interested in the school question. There are also credits to S. Ballinger, M. Boots, S. Castor and T. Branson for money not shown in the subscription list. so that the school must have netted the teacher about $30, there being nineteen scholars regularly signed and all entries made in splendid hand- writing, penmanship once an art among teachers. This document -- a good strong word is necessary-was enclosed in a letter written August 22, 1913, to David Snead James, president of the James Family Associa- tion, by Lewis James, son of Daniel James, who was an older brother of William James, and who recently died in Fort Wayne. It was just eighty-three years after the death of the first Grant county schoolmaster that the following was penned in a letter to D. S. James: "I enclose to you an old school certificate or subscription paper given to U'nele William James in 1829 which you might like to keep as a relie, as I have no use for it. lle died August 22, 1830, and when I was in Rau- dolph county three years ago I visited his grave," and thus ends the life history of Grant county's first school teacher.
While the Renbarger family gave the first child, the James family gave the first school teacher, and when this article of agreement reached D. S. James, who has always been a connoisseur of family heirlooms, he promptly added it to his collection of nineteenth century antiquities. The paper is yellow with age, and when payment had been made on sub- scription the credit had been so many heavy lines drawn across the signatures of those carly day Grant county citizens as to almost render them illegible, but it is a valuable document and properly belongs in the pages of the Centennial History. While the grave of William James was made in Randolph county three years before the family came to Grant county, his brothers, Daniel, Robert and Henley, and his sisters, Mrs. Hannah Overman, Mrs. Mary Conner, Mrs. Lydia Bowles and Miss Rachel James, who was the "bachelor maid" of the Octogenarian Club and the last of the immediate family, all lived in Grant county. D. S. James ( see biography section) is a son of Henley James, and a nephew to William James, and one of the many subsequent school teachers in the James family.
While there has always been much capital made of the three r's in the common school curriculum of the past-readin', 'ritin' and 'rithmetic, and "cipherin' as far as the Rule o' Three," William James agreed to teach English grammar, and his use of capital letters in the article of agreement was in conformity with present day usages, and since "custom makes grammar," he must have understood it. This roll of subscribers was certainly the first families of Grant county, and since older resi- dents say the David Branson homestead was adjoining the Branson cemetery along the cemetery boulevard, this original Grant county insti- tution of learning must have been near the site marked by the Branson family monument, of which mention is elsewhere found, and the original church. Friends meeting house built the next year was at the entrance to Friends cemetery adjoining the Marion I. O. O. F. cemetery, and thus what was once the scene of busy life when first the young idea acquired a knowledge of educational tire arms is now the beautiful "city of the dead," and as the centuries go drifting by who will prophesy
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