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 51
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
315
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
and opened an advertising office, the first of the kind in the county. He soll his office to a Dr. Fitzgerald, who remained here a number of years and sold out to Dr. B. C. Brimacombe, who is still practicing in the same location. Dr. Benson was in practice here about 1881. only remaming a short time.
It was not an unusual thing for some one in the neighborhood to have a pair of forceps and extract teeth for his neighbors. This was usu- ally done gratis, and only in cases of dire necessity.
Unele Eli Hollingsworth, as he was generally known, had quite a reputation as a tooth extractor. He had only one pair of forceps, but u ed them to extract any tooth that came to him. The old time turn key was used in an early day, and I guess had anything beat as an in- strument of torture that has ever been invented. Chele Bli Thomas has one which he prizes highly, having used it frequently when he was a young man. It has often been said by those having had experience with the turn key that the only thing that kept them from dying was that the tooth "let go" just before death relieved them. Improvements in dentistry have kept pace with progress in other things.
William Winslow was another early dentist who relieved suffering humanity in Grant county, but he went west after a few years of dental practice in Marion. Dr. Newton W. Hiatt, the writer of this article on dentistry, located in Marion in 1889. Ile was in the office with Dr. Kin ley for three years previous to graduating at the Kansas City Dental College in the spring of 1889.
As near as we are able to obtain definite information, there have been about sixty dentists who have practiced dentistry in Grant county up to the present time. The brief sketches given are of those that have been here from twenty to forty years. After the state had passed a dental law. requiring all dentists to register, we find the following names on the register: B. (. Brimacombe, J. W. Brimacombe. W. T. Brimarombe, J. C. Branham. John P. Brunton, Wm. K. Cumrine, Thurman Cole, Os- wald Cartwright. Michael Casey. P. O. Dickey, Carey Doyle, Forest Free man, John O. Fryer. O. M. Flinn, Thos. W. Forshee, Earl Gear, II. M. Gear, Harry Gregg, Elmer Grant, Newton W. Hiatt, N. F. Hadlett, Geo. L. Hill, Edwin S. Hulley. Wilfred F. Kinley, Edwin Kimball, Charles Keener. Raymond C. Leslie, JJ. A. Loughry, James S. McClain, J. H. Me- Clain, E. MeElhaney, Walter Mott, E. J. Martin, L. M. Platt, L. G. Plati, C. W. Platt. James A. Pearey, Charles Priest. Earl Ross, W. N. Ratliff, Miles E. Ratliff, Leonard Strange, S. E. Stouffer. A. H. Unthank, Fred Thomas, Guy Thomas, Clarkson M. Wilson, Win. E. Wagoner, J. C. Whit- ney, J. E. Whitney, Roy Villars and Frank Yule.
L. NATIONAL MILITARY HOME OF INDIANA
It was once that Congressman G. W. Steele, who spent sixteen years in Washington, really "stole a march" on his constituency, when by an aet of congress approved July 23, 1888, entitled : " An Act to Authorize the location of a Branch Home For Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Grant County, Indiana, and For Other Purposes, " became a reality, and when the news reached Marion "There was a sound of revelry by night." Major Steele introduced the bill providing for it in the fiftieth session of congress, the measure coming up in December, and for seven months he watched the proceedings. While some Grant county citizens had - watched developments, others had to have an explanation about the hi- larity down town one summer night.
346
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
One of the conditions under which the institution was secured for the county and state was free fuel-natural gas was then abundant, and sev- eral advantageous sites in the vicinity of Marion were considered. To this attempt the city of Marion owes its beautiful Matter Park, the flowing well being developed at that time, although the natural gas was not found in sufficient quantity to warrant the United States government in locating the proposed institution there. The Elliott farm and some adjacent property amounting to 235.83 aeres in a traet along the Missis. sinewa. was bought immediately at a cost of $26,435,30, it being a con- ditional purchase with an annual appropriation of $300 for basing other land in order to perpetuate the gas supply, and since that time sufficient land has been added till there are 300 acres in the tract. Ground was soon broken, and March 18, 1890, the Home was open to members. Since that time it has been the meera of many visitors. The first governor was General Arthur F. Devereaux, who was succeeded by General Justin
MAIN ENTRANCE SOLDIERS' HOME
I. Chapman, and at his death Major G. W. Strele, who had sustained direct official connection with the Marion Branch from its earliest in- ception, became governor December 11, 1901. Members and visitors alike agree that it is a well managed institution.
General Devereaux soon returned to Cincinnati, and after Governor Chapman was laid in the Silent Circle, Major J. Q. Adams, then treasurer, was acting governor until Major Steele was appointed and officially in- stalled. There were 586 members when the Home opened. and since then the average has been around 2.000, the enrollment always increasing in winter when the veterans are less able to care for themselves. As the graves in the Silent Circle increase in mmmuber the membership is depleted. and in time some other use will be made of the domain now owned by Unele Sam. There are fourteen barracks, not including the department buildings and official residences, and military life in the strictest sense obtains there. All points of the compass are represented in the mem- bership, and many interesting life histories are wrapped up in the men now spending their days in the quiet retirement provided them by the United States government. While the general health in camp is good, there are many frailties incident to age, and year by year the member-
3-17
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
ship in all the Homes grows smaller-the boys of '61 to '65 answering the final reveille and crossing over to the Plains of Peace.
Since the age of the soldiers averaged but twenty-five years when the war closed, and it was an army of boys that rushed to the defense of the American flag again in the '90's, there will be reernits to the army of disabled volunteer soldiers for a long while in the future, and the Marion Branch is destined to many years of usefulness. It is a beauty spot. whether seen in summer or winter, although more people see it in fair weather. "A little glimpse of camp life when all is wrapped in a covering of snow presents some different features from what the average summer time visitor carries away in his mind. The winter days seem long to the veterans who enjoy outdoor life and associations, and whose physical strength will not admit of rigorous winter time enjoyments. Instead of roses in bloom there were icicles on all of the bushes, and instead of groups of men on the lawn and in the shade, it was a rare thing to ser a uniform, and when a soldier did cross the grounds he
BARRACKS SOLDIERS HOME, OVERLOOKING JONESBORO ROAD
did not stop until he reached his destination. While people flock there in summer, and the public is quite familiar with the life of the veter- ans who are spending the long afternoon of their lives there, very few tourists go there when the camp is wrapped in the embrace of winter, and yet there is somber beauty in storm fronts and other winter time re- minders. "
The Soldiers' Home is a city within itself, and is one of the best single assets of Grant county. More than half a million dollars are dis- tributed annually in the maintenance of the institution and the pensions paid the members. It is estimated that more than $6,000,000 have been distributed in pensions and a like amoins in the improvements and maintenance of the property. The salaries paid amount to more than $9.000 a month, to the employes, including thirteen commissioned officers, fifty non-commissioned officers, seventy-three men who are civilians, sixty-five women; and an average of 264 members who are on paid duty. The total property valuation is ahnost $1,000,000, and while all the revenue from the Marion Branch is not spent in Grant county. a considerable portion of it finds its way into local business channels. While bids are required in awarding contracts, local dealers
348
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
are favored and Grant county labor has always been employed in con- struction. Many Marion wholesale dealers now hold important busi- ness contracts. Marion has always received advertising from visitors to the institution, and it is the summer evening pleasure resort of the whole countryside.
There are several National Homes aside from the different State Homes, as the Central Branch, Dayton, Ohio; Northwestern Branch, Mil- waukce, Wisconsin; Eastern Branch, Togus, Maine; Southern Branch, Hampton, Virginia; Western Branch, Leavenworth, Kansas; Pacific Branch, Santa Monica, California; Danville Branch, Danville, Illinois ; Mountain Branch, Johnson City, Tennessee ; Battle Mountain Sanitarium, Hot Springs, South Dakota, and the Marion Branch, and the president of the United States and the Secretary of War are always members of the board of directors. The presence of a National Home is an object lesson in American patriotism -- a standing denial of the theory that republies are ungrateful to those who in the hour of need defend them by laying all upon their country's altar. While Uncle Sam looks after all the physical needs of the boys in blue, and the economies there would afford an interesting study, he also provides for their spiritual life in both Protestant and Cathohe chapels in which to worship, and all Grant county is glad of this National institution within its borders.
LI. THE NEGRO IN GRANT COUNTY
By Mrs. Asenath Peters Artis
It seemed providential that the secretary of the Historical Society should have urged Mrs. Asenath Peters Artis, known in colored social circles as Mrs. S. Dillard Artis, to write of her people, since on " Frank lin township" day in the society, September 25, 1909, she came into the library in apparent health, accompanied by members of the Eurydice Club, and other friends and read the following excellent history. "Ase- nath Peters" was the first colored graduate from the Marion high school, and she was a leader among the colored population of Grant county. After completing her studies she was a teacher, and later she traveled all over Indiana as an organizer of lodges, and for several years she was colored society news writer for The Marion Leader, doing it as a mis- sionary service in an effort to get matters pertaining to her race before the public in the best manner. She often said that while the negro was an imitator, it was "only folks of quality."
Asenath Peters was a protege and namesake of Mrs. Asenath Winslow- Whitson-Baldwin, step-mother of the writer of this prelude. After the death of her benefactor, she often asked friendly advice from the "see- retary," and for a year or two she was collecting data, finally reading her paper in September and going soon after to a hospital in Indianapolis, from which she did not return. Now this bit of early negro history is a monument to her memory. Mrs. Mary Peters Blakey sang for the society, and although Franklin township was being considered, all the colored visitors remained for the entire program. The rural negro com- munity of an early day was confined almost wholly to Liberty and Frank- lin, and early residents of Liberty will remember the Reserve as de- seribed by Mrs. Artis, whose death was a distinctive loss to the colored population of Grant county.
As proof of the fact that Mrs. Artis was a woman who had the courage of her conviction, and always stood on the question of privilege when
350
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
name as a protection from slave hunters, le and family were known, having through industry and reonomy purchased a forty-acre farm in Franklin township. At the intersection of the Strawtown and Jonesboro pikes is where they lived and enjoyed a prosperous life. They are all deceased. We love to speak of them, as the reader made her home with them for more than two years, and received advantages that were of value in after years.
In 1850 William Gulliford, the father of Green, Thomas and Jesse Gulliford, the former now an octogenarian at Weaver, came to the county. In 1852 came James Burden, Tommy Burden. Dangerfield White, Ben Skipworth and Cornelins Hill. In 1854. came Simon, Meakin and John Ward, the latter entering 300 acres of land at Weaver, a little north; Simon located on John Ratliff farm in Franklin township. Also in 1854 Betsy MeMath with five children, Owen, Ahad, Elisha and Sarah, settled on the farm later owned by the late Jerry Shoecraft. Johnny Jones and family came from Starke county in 1862, and owned the farm part of which is now owned by John Prior. The remainder is in the pos- session of his son, Silas JJones. In 1862 Samuel Stewart and family and Constantine Stewart. Catherine Stewart Culliford, Parthenia Stewart Bray, their mother, Virgina Stewart, who died at the age of 105, May 4. 1902, came from Ohio. They were originally free born Virginians.
Other Families that lived in the settlement are too numerous to men- tion, but the following are familiar names: Sephas Gaskin and family. (the former died last June at Kokomo at the age of 93), the Shorerafts. Hawkins, Hills, Wallace, Becks, Hornadays, Blacks. Green. Patterson. Fraziers, West. Chavis, Jackson, Casey and Smiths. The predominating families were the Weavers, they being the greatest in mumber, then the Pettifords, Burdens and Smiths. They lived principally in Liberty town- ship, mostly west and south of Weaver. A few families lived in Franklin. some in Mill and some in Fairmount township. In the latter was Wil- liam Frazier, and his widow, Mary Burden Frazier, now lives in their old homestead on Main street in Fairmount : they raised a large family. The oldest son, Annanias, is well known for his fanatical religions belief and has traveled mich with A. F. Norton during the past few years. Robert Patterson, known by everyone as " Uncle Bob. " a Virginia slave freed when but a lad, migrated to Carthage, Indiana, then with his family settled in Fairmount township in 1865. He was known all over the county, having peddled for many years. He died at his late home in Marion at the age of 92 in 1903 or '04. Benjamin Il. Peters, a slave in Tennessee, Freed at the age of twenty-four at the death of his master. with his mother, brothers and sisters migrated to Ohio, where he married Mary A. Stewart, and in November, 1967, with their tive children. they came to Grant county. They are the parents of the writer, who was born to them a few years later at their home on the Eli Hockett farm, three miles west of Jonesboro. About 1872 they moved to Liberty town. ship, west of Weaver. He was in advance of the average colored man of his day, comparatively well read, and was known both in Ohio and Indi- ana as a voeal music teacher, having many classes that sang the old square notes. He also was agent for many book concerns and nurseries, and sold his goods all over the county.
In 1849 the A. M. E. church, known as Hills Chapel, was built a half mile east of Weaver, then called the "Crossroads," at the present site where Weaver now stands. The first pastor was Ben Hill, from Kou- tueky. Others were Davey Rush, From the Deer Creek church in the Rush settlement in Howard county, about eight miles northwest of Kokomo, Ben Skipworth, Rev. Endient. Davey Wilson and Daniel Burden. The church was under the episcopal district of Bishop Paul Quinn, the pioneer
351
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
cireuit rider that has done much for Methodism in the middle west and whose remains lie in the cemetery at Richmond, Indiana. Elisha Weaver, when a boy, was carted over the Ohio river under a load of goods by white friends to escape; came to Richmond, grew to manhood and was a noted preacher, and he often visited Hills Chapel and preached. The Baptist church, a log cabin, was built in 1854 or '55 by Tom Robinson, a Baptist preacher, and assisted by Billy Boswell, a leading Baptist, on a plot of ground on the David Matthew farm, where the old graveyard is now abandoned as a burying ground. Later on Unele Johnny Jones, as he was called, gave the church a plot of ground at the crossing of the Roseburg and Jonesboro pikes, a mile north of Weaver, where a frame building was erected to be used for church purposes. When it ceased the ground should revert to the Jones Farm, which it did, and is now owned by his son, Silas Jones, who at a small cost purchased the church building from the four remaining members, and converted it into a dwell ing a few years ago.
Some time in the '70s the Wesleyan Methodist church was built a few rods west of the crossroads, the promoters being Beverley Pettiford, Bou jamin Peters, Thomas Wilson and George Peterson. It was pastored by Isaac Meeks. Doctor Coats and Nathan Davis and others, all white. Sey eral colored men were licensed from that church that afterward came 10 prominence in other denominations. They were Andrew Ferguson, Isom Hill and Charles Wallace, In 1869 John Ratliff, then a member of the legislature, succeeded in getting a portion of the school funds for the colored people to have their own school. No. 2 school of Liberty town- ship was built a few rods west of the crossroads on the south side of the road, with two rooms, and two teachers were employed, principal and assistant. The first were white and among the earlier teachers were John (2. Thomas and Albert Smith. The colored teachers were George Shaffer and wife, John Mason and wife and John Evans. A few years later Mr. Ratliff succeeded in passing a bill to allow colored children to attend white schools throughont the state, which was an advantage greatly appreciated.
The county was comparatively a wilderness, low, swampy, nuhealthy, winters long and severe, wolves and other wild animals were common and there was plenty of wild game. Chill and fever was a malady, but by hard work clearing and ditching the settlers succeeded in getting their farms in condition to raise fair crops. Orchards were planted and in a few years fruit was abundant. The roads were made of puncheons or corduroy and for rods in the wet season were impassable. It would take four horses to pull an ordinary load. The homes were simple log cabins, some few were hewn logs daubed with clay, one room, with a loft which was reached by a ladder, sometimes from the outside. Some had a ladder attached to the wall right straight up. A big fireplace that would burn almost a cord of wood at a fire was the means of heating. The chimneys were made of sticks and clay. It is said Osborn Niekle built the first brick chimney in the settlement and was first to own a sewing machine. "The Howe. " The old-fashioned cord bedsteads were used with a trundle bed for the children, a table and enpboard. a few chairs with bark seats and stoves constituted the principal furniture of the ordinary home. The stables were miserable log huts. There were few outhouses and the years' provision was kept in the house, as well as all the tools, such as saws, angers, chisels, manls, wedges, axes, etc. The housewife was com- pelled to bring a brood of chickens in the house to protect them from rain; spread her beans out under the bed to dry; pumpkins and other vegetables were often placed under the bed out of the way. The beds were high and filled with straw or shucks and feather bed weighing many
352
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
pounds. Beautiful quilts, the bandwork of the housewife, were inmer- ous. The whitewashed walls and well-serubbed floors showed an air of comfort.
Everybody worked, the women helping in the clearings and assist. ing in planting the corn, which was done by the hand and hoe. Wheat was hand sown and reaped by eradles. Some of the best timber was ent down and made into rails to fence the farms. In the '70s the settlement was at its best, with a large population and prosperous. The second school was opened in an old log schoolhouse previously used by the white people which had been moved on the Hlaekleman road a mile west and a half mile south of the cross roads. The first teachers were Anna Harvey, white, and William Burden, colored. This building was abandoned a few years later and a new frame building was erected about a quarter of a mile north of it. Social life, with three churches and a Sunday school, and two day schools, education mentally and moraly, was eagerly sought. The churches were seeking the salvation of souls and the ministers never failed to deliver hell-searing sermons, especially during the revival meeting, which usually began on New Year's night and held many weeks, sometimes late in the spring, until none desired prayer. Everybody went to church, men, women and children. They parted at the door, the men going on the men's side, the women on the women's side and to do otherwise was an offense. The young man who desired to take the lady of his choice home would station himself near the door and wait her coming. Sometimes he would get sacked for some other fellow. People would come for miles around, plodding through water, und, snow and over the ice, walking foot logs, and cooning fences. In every direction one could see lanterns. hickory bark lights and torches. They would worship until a late honr. praying with the mourners seeking religion, who rolled, cried and mourned for hours, which was necessary. for the sincerity of bis profes- sion or religion was judged by the time it took him to get it, and if one believed in a short time after seeking, or did not shout all over the church and run and hug his enemy, if he had one, it was not genuine; got it 100 quick to be sincere and would not last until baptising day, which was generally in May or June.
Notwithstanding these peculiarities, true religion was enjoyed by the forefathers, which was demonstrated on quarterly meeting occasions, at love feast and holy communion services. The annual camp meeting held in the Weaver woods, a half mile north of Hills Chapel church, was a drawing card, the white people for miles around would attend. It was looked forward to with great anticipation. It was the financial agent of the church. Aside from the religions service, which consisted of good preaching and singing, which was very pleasing to the vast crowds, there was every pleasure of a fair or carnival; ten cents was charged at the gate, guards were established to see that no one climbed over the fence and men with marshal powers patroled the grounds to keep order. Rights were sold for stands to sell goods, large cooking and eating tents were put up, and long tables were eagerly sought by hungry persons. They were laden with boiled ham, beef, roast pig, chicken and dumplings. chicken pot pie, cabbage, sweet potatoes, etc., pies, cakes with red and bhie sugar icing, and redhot candies on it. There was the confectionery man with his peanuts and candy, ice cold lemonade stirred with a spade. It was here that many of the children got their first stick of warm candy or taffy. The watermelon man was there. Everyone enjoyed the orea- sion, but at its close returned to their daily vocations.
The Sunday school pienie was a great treat for the young people Each Sunday school had a banner bearing its name, with streamers held
353
HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
by little girls dressed in white, with paper crowns and glazed muslin sashes, others marching and presenting a pretty sight. Andrew Jackson, a fifer, and his son John, the drummer boy, and others formed a drum corps that usually furnished music on all such occasions. On reaching the pienie grounds, after remarks by the Sunday school leaders and revi- tations and songs by the children, a bountiful, well prepared dinner was spread upon the ground for all present. The church festival and Christ- mas trees were great social events. The spelling match and the last days of school were great features, which were attended by the patrons, who brought baskets laden with good things to eat and after it was devoured a program of recitations and dialogues displayed the ability of the pupils. and wisdom of their teacher was rendered, followed by remarks by the school director and influential patrons who complimented or criticised the year's work. The teacher gave the scholars pretty picture cards as tokens of remembrance. The literary societies, with their debates, were attended with much interest. The wood choppings, when the best chop- per got the cake, log rollings, quiltings, apple peelings, taffy pulling, the old play party, the square dance and sleigh riding furnished ample pleas- ure for the young people.
The Grangers and the Masons were the first seeret beneficial societies the earlier settlers enjoyed. Farming was the principal occupation, many working as farm hands for the white people. Johnny Jones was the blacksmith for the neighborhood, Beverley Pettiford was the shoe cob- bler. Jack White, the community fiddler. The earlier grocers were Wel- lington Barnett, Jesse Gulliford and Jack Venters, the congenial county vender. He alone could read his figures, although they were right with- out exception ; their places of business were at the crossroads. Barnett's was in his home a little west on the south side of the road, as was Gulli- ford, but Venters was located a few rods north on the east side of the road. On rainy days the farmers would congregate in the groceries and argue scripture and discuss the topies of the day. Osborn Nickle, Frank- lin Weaver and Meredith Patterson, a eripple, both feet being amputated, and Elisha Wallace were the local preachers. There were many soldiers who had fought in the war of '61 for their country who lived in the com- mmmity. Several Indred acres were under cultivation, clearing, ditch- ing and fencing were continued and the settlement was widely known, but sickness carried many to the silent grave yard, which is located a few rods east of the cross roads, on the north side of the road. The ground was often so wet that the grave diggers would have to dip gal- lons of water out before the body could be lowered, but the water quickly ran back in. Many heads of families were called to the Great Beyond, which caused a division of their estates, the heirs not able to purchase the interests of the others, a sale was necessary of the lands and the buy- ers were often white people, until they were dotted here and there.
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.