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 52
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The easy manner of borrowing money, giving mortgages in good faith, but by some misfortune such as failure of erops, sickness, some times neglect, not understanding business, bas robbed many of them of their titles to their land. With these conditions the exodus began in the '80s and continued with apparent notice in the '90s. The younger genera- tion in marriage who started out in life, those who lost their possessions, many tiring of farm life, sought new locations and possessions in other parts. The inducement of quick money, the pleasures and seemingly easy town life, made many flock to Marion which already had a few colored families, Calvin Hood, Mr. Jennings, David Smith and Jefferson Size more, whose career is well known as a prosperous barber, a trade at that time wholly monopolized by the colored man. He purchased property in 1867 at the cost of $700, where the Colonial building now stands, besides Vol. 1-23
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he owned the lot on the north side of the square owned by the late llarve Marks, and a large brick residence on South Boots street. Edmond White, the fifth family of Marion, came in 1866, purchased the property on South Adams street where Squire's livery barn stands. Eliza Stew- art, owned property on Gallatin street, near the Pennsylvania railroad, and a few others employed came later and constituted the colored popula- tion in Marion. A Sunday school was organized in the old Wesleyan tabernacle on South Washington street where the Episcopal church stands. Rev. Daniel Burden organized a church later at the home of Calvin Tood. They held services in a log cabin on Nebraska and Ninth streets, near Boots creek, commonly called Possom Hollow. At one time they held meetings in the old courthouse. The church was a mission and a part of Hills chapel circuit. About 1881 they purchased the property on Fifth street, Bethel church, from the First Methodist Episcopal con- gregation. Rev. Robert MeDaniels was pastor of both it and Hills chapel.
The population continued to decrease at the settlement and increase in Marion, aided by foreign families moving here also. The postoffice department by petition established an office at the cross roads and the name chosen was "Weaver," after the predominating family, by which name the place has ever since been known. Weaver was one of the star route places in the county to which mail was carried every day by con- tract. 0. 0. Stewart and S. T. Stewart carried the mail for several years. The postoffice was abandoned for the present system of rural free deliv ery. The exodus had a telling effect on the community and today only a remnant of the original people and possession remain. The mud roads are now pikes, the swamps ditched, producing fine erops, the rail fence has given place to the wire, and many of the log cabins have been replaced by frame dwellings, the bare floors carpeted, the reaper used instead of the cradle and the Wesleyan Methodist church is being used as a barn. The Baptist church does not exist. The Methodist church, Hills Chapel, that was built first, still remains and is in the best repair of its history. No. 2 schoolhouse has been replaced by a new modern brick building. built by a colored contractor, S. M. Plato, of Marion, a product of the Booker T. Washington Institute. No. 3 school is abandoned and the few children that live in the district are transported to No. 2, which is now taught by J. W. Burden. The school has been taught for thirty-five years, with a few exceptions, by teachers born and raised in the settle- ment. They are William Burden, Silas Becks, Willis Hawkins, Catherine Jones, Beverley Pettiford, Jr., Asenath Peters Artis, William White. Lafayette Casey, Clark Smith, Jolm C. Smith, sons of Noah Smith, .I. W. Burden, Vasa Casey and Samuel Stewart.
The school that once required a principal and an assistant and the other school that employed one teacher are now combined and are taught by one teacher. The groceries are all gone except one owned by John II. Weaver, who started with $5, in partnership with Jesse Gulliford and bought a $300 or $400 stock and building of 10x14 feet from John Turner, a white man on the southwest corner of the cross roads. June 6. 1880. In about ten months they dissolved partnership. Henry Pettiford buying out Gulliford's share in 1881. In 1883 Mr. Weaver bought out Petti- ford, and the building they occupied in the meantime had been moved across the road from the original stand and there he has since remained. He enlarged his Imilding three times (it is now 40x50 feet ) and carries a merchandise stock to accommodate the entire community. He now owns forty-eight acres of well improved land and several residence properties in Marion and Fairmount. He is estimated to be worth about $10.000. Mr. Weaver was married December 27. 1853, to Miss Rebecca Mitchell, of
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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
Richmond, a school teacher, who taught two terms as an assistant at No. 2 school. She died February 9, 1888, and he married the second time, October 25, 1888. Miss Laura White, daughter of Jack White, the cele- brated fiddler. Mr. Weaver has been a successful business man and has a nice home a few rods east of the store at Weaver. Jesse Joues con- dueted a small grocery at his residence, one mile west and one mile north of Weaver, for several years before his death. Now the building is used by Verlie Gulliford, who conducts a small store. John Pettiford has a blacksmith shop at Weaver and commands the trade of the neigh- borhood. George Peterson, in his lifetime, was the first colored justice of the peace. Lafayette Casey, who holds the office now, is known as 'Squire Casey. Many of the men in time past have held the offices of school director, road supervisor and constable. The preachers of the county that have gone to other parts for labor, and the local service of the Methodists are Rev. Daniel Burden and two sons Johnson and Jonathan ; the third son, Lewis, was a local preacher; all are deceased; Osborn Niekles, a local preacher, two sons itinerate, Solomon and Jeremiah, the latter the congenial barber of this city ; Andrew Ferguson, Isom Hill and Joseph Gaskin. The locals are Franklin Weaver, David Weaver, Heury Patterson, Samuel Stewart, Elisha Wallace, Charles Wallace, Baptist ; Jeremiah Shoecraft and Nathan Jones.
The beautiful residence of the late Washington Casey, a mile west of Weaver, now occupied by his widow, is a monument to the race. He owned more than 100 acres of the best improved lands and some town property which is now in the possession of his heirs. Noah Smith, at his death last year, left one hundred acres of land and several pieces of town property to his widow and children. The Robert Wallace heirs are still in possession of the sixty aere farm bought more than sixty years ago. The Jones, Becks, Pettifords, Weavers, Wards, Evans, Stewarts, Burdens and many others are land owners, and several hundred acres of good land are still in the hands of colored people. Most all of the old original settlers have died. Green Gulliford and Edith Pettiford, of Weaver, Jack White, who died September 24, his mother-in-law. Matilda Weaver of near Michaelsville, Columbus Stewart and his sister. Mary Jane Peters Shoceraft, of this city, all octogenarians, are about all that are left. Many of the old residents went west and located in Kansas, Indian Territory and other states.
The people of Weaver now enjoy a good church society, many belong to the various secret organizations in this eity. The ladies are interested in the Women's Federated Clubs, having two clubs and the first club organization in the rural district in the state. The colored population of Marion gradually increased until the gas and oil boom in Grant county, when the colored people flocked to Marion and Fairmount, finding plenty of employment in the factories, etc. The platting of new addi tions, the easy manner of securing homes by small payments, enabled many to purchase lots and construct houses from one room to comfort- able cottages, until more than half the residents own or are paying for their homes. Some through economy own from one to six and seven pieces to rent. They are scattered all over the city in good locations on the principal streets to the by-way places in the suburbs. They are well kept, comfortably furnished, and with few exceptions, they are not known by the old-time mark of broken gates, dirty yards, broken windows filled with rags, but compare favorably with the community in which they are found. Bethel African Methodist Episcopal church on Fifth street was detached from the Hills Chapel mission about 1887 and has since been a station. It was remodeled, changing it from a front enfrance to a side entrance and the addition of a tower and other changes in the
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auditorium by Rev. T. E. Wilson, pastor, in 1899. It was the first church and has ever since held its place, having for its membership the majority of the leading families of the city. It is now presided over by Dr. George Shaffer, pastor, one of the best ministers in the connection. The Second Methodist church purchased the property formerly owned by the Protes- tant Methodist church at Washington and Thirty-fifth streets in 1901, Rev. J. Il. Fisher, pastor. It has been a burden to the few members to meet the obligations, but by the assistance of the friends they have sie- ceeded in paying more than half of the original debt besides making improvements and maintaining a preacher. They have also built a small parsonage on the lot. Rev. C. E. Moorman has been recently appointed pastor.
The Second Baptist church, a neat Hitte edifice, built by S. M. Plato, contractor, abont three years ago, is located on Sonth Branson street, between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets. Rev. Y. C. Terrell has been its pastor for the past eight years. In Fairmount a little Methodist church was built about seven years ago. Rov. J. M. Niekles organized the church and was its pastor for five years. Some are engaged in business enterprises and trades. Filmore Pettiford is engaged in the grocery business and enjoys a good trade on South Washington street. George S. Moss and Andrew J. Wallace have a blacksmith shop on West Second street. Edward Poindexter has a restaurant on South Adams street. J. M. Nickles, John Robinson, Amos T. Niekle, Oliver Bass, Alfred Smith and W. II. Anderson are in the barber business. S. M. Plato is an architect and building contractor. S. Dillard Artis is a street and cement contractor. Morrell and Bushon handle contractors' supplies and Julius Brothers do carpet cleaning. Spires & Mays are painters and decorators; Henry Burden does painting and many are engaged in minor enterprises. Aaron Burnett owns and has successfully run a heading factory for years at Fairmount, and Augustus, commonly called Buck, Weaver has a barber shop there. Professional men are J. W. Bur- den, teacher, who was a deputy in the county treasurer's office for several years, and Dr. W. T. Thomas, who enjoys a large practice. Dr. George Shaffer, D. D., a recent addition to Marion society, is a renowned preacher and a good practicing physician. Thaddeus Smith and Noah Burden are city mail carriers. Two colored men have been members of the metropolitan police force, William Pettiford and John Robinson. The custodians of the courthouse and postoffice are colored men, Charles Winslow and Melvin Ervin, respectively.
The Union Stock Company, an incorporation of stockholders, owns a lot and building at Washington and Fifteenth streets. It is occupied by Dr. W. T. Thomas. Mrs. Susie Morgan Burden is a well known rateress, serving all the first-class functions, and she has the patronage of the best people. Mrs. David Morrell and Miss Floda Williams are accomplished musicians; Mrs. Mary Lawrence IHin, a former resident of the city, was a genius at art and her beautiful pictures adorn the homes of many of her friends. A large number of children attend the public schools and complete the eighth grade work. Since 1888, when your humble servant was the first colored person in Grant county to graduate from the Marion High School, twelve girls and boys completed the course. At present eleven are in attendance and there are one hundred and fifty-two girls and seventy-eight boys in schools throughout the county.
In social life the secret societies are numerous. The Odd Fellows, Mississinewa lodge, No. 2104, is the largest and strongest, owning their ball, in which they meet, and several pieces of residence property and a good treasurer's account. The Free and Accepted Masons, Knights
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of Pythias and Ancient York Masons are among the number; these with the ladies' auxiliaries, the Household of Rath, the Eastern Star, two Courts of Calanthes, Ladies' Court, and Sisters of Charity, are doing much fraternally for the people. Women's elubs are numerous and through these the home life is reached and its influence on the future posterity is receiving attention through the efforts of Asenath P. Artis, present state organizer. There are about two thousand five hundred col- ored people in Grant county, five hundred voters, and they own prop- erty, the combined assessed value of which is $65,920, farm land $45,885, town property $20,035. Being a Hoosier born in Grant county and not. having lived twelve months outside its borders in my entire life, I take great pleasure in searching for facts, although with the cares of a busy housewife I find it no easy task to secure data from an unwritten history of a people of wonderful achievements for more than sixty years. This fact has taught the younger generation to make records of all deeds that the future generation may know of our existence, However, we have presented as accurate an account as could be obtained from the memory of the older people, both colored and white, and from the old records at the courthouse and the personal observation of about thirty-live years of the doings and simple life of a good and great people to which we are proud we belong, and still irust and believe the words of the Good Book that Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands.
LIL. ARCHITECTURE-THE HOMES OF THE COUNTY
Charles Dickens, the great English novelist, says: "The ties that bind the wealthy and proud at home may be forged on earth, but those which link the poor man to his humble hearth are of the true metal and bear the stamp of Heaven. The man of high descent may love the trophies of his birth and power. The poor man's attachment to the tenement he holds, which strangers have hohl before and may tomorrow ocenpy again. has a worthier root struck deep into a purer soil," and the same holds true from an American standpoint. A little research reveals the fact that not only people of wealth live in their own homes, but that many mechanies and wage earners have put by their savings and sit beside their own hearthstones. Home is where the mother and other members of the family reside, and in very many instances the title to the property is vested in the name of the man who sits in the fire-light.
Another writer says: "A coffage will not hold the bulky and sumptuons accommodations of a mansion, but if God be there a cottage will hold as much happiness as will stock a palace," and Washington Irving adds: "It was the policy of the good old gentleman to make his children feel that home was the happiest place in the world, " and with the Irving sentiment as a standard, Marion and all Grant county is entitled to consideration. This sentiment seems to have permeated many households, and many homemakers recognize the wisdom of having the children remember the home nest pleasantly in after years. People still express themselves as having been happiest in the primitive American dwelling, while others would not exchange their modern homes and com- forts for the pioneer hovel. The last generation has witnessed great strides toward modern home improvements.
While in some measure the material side has been in advance of the aesthetic, and the rich people of the community have not as yet spent a great deal of money on their homes, there is an evolution in progress,
!
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and like the leaven a woman placed in the meal there are homes in every community that are exerting their silent though potent influence. In the last decade there have been rapid strides, and county wide, toward better architecture, and while there may not be so many magnificent homes as in some localities -- there are balanced conditions, fewer extremos in the other direction. It has been human nature to handle material interests first, just as the steressful farmer builds his barn in order that he may save the money with which to build his house, and speaking comparatively of county wide conditions, there are few who live in the alleys as in contradistinction to the avennes, the majority of families being well supplied with food and raiment in addition to shelfer.
"City beautiful," "Farm beautiful," and "All Grant County a Park," is a wholesome sentiment, and a money estimate camiot be placed on beauty until the property is placed on the market-then, beauty becomes collateral. In the story of the creation the sacred writer says: "And Jehovah God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to
OLD HOUSE
dress it and keep it," and shire that time Adam's example has been J'ol- lowed, although with the knowledge of good and evil men have attired themselves differently, and landscape artists and architects have been transforming the earth. While there are some farm houses in town -- just plain, commodious structures, on the other hand there are contry homes as artistic as any to be seen in town, and why not, since for a score of years the town or country citizen has not been distinguished by his apparel, and the same rule applies to his habitation.
It has been demonstrated that country mansions are not a good investment, since family fortunes so frequently change, and many a city farmer from an economic point of view, would move into a bungalow if only the big house could be rented to advantage. Many families leave architectural wonders -piles of mortar and stone -- and need their capi- tal in other ways. The mistake has often been made of investing 100 much money in the home where the finances of the family were limited, and embarrassment has sometimes been the result. When the wheel of fortune renders a division of property incumbent, the palatial home is not always the most fortunate investment. Oftentimes heirs cannot handle the property, and strangers live where the family had planned
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a long period of enjoyment. With the palatial residence comes the increased expense account, and there are many things that enter into the consideration.
Older countries, however, and older eities have their aesthetic develop- ment, and it is coming with rapid strides to Marion and all Grant county. The beauty of any community lies in its variety of develop- ment. and people are beginning to look out for building sites where nature has already had part in the transformation. It is not alone a matter of dollars and cents involved, but something of far greater con- sequence- the building of character, the environment always being on a par with heredity. While many homes do not have pleasing features to relieve their barreness, no one fails to admire attractive spots and even the practical man is not ready to sacrifice all elements of beauty is not morally opposed to trees, flowers and shrubs. It is a lack of perspective, a narrowed vision, that allows any one to tolerate ugliness where beauty can be substituted with such little effort, and yet homes
EAST MAIN STREET, SWAYZEE
that are positively ngly from lack of energy and the saving sense of aestheticism, here and there dot the community.
Perhaps in the history of the past the carpenter has been more in evidence than the architect, and yet many twentieth century abodes bespeak the advantages to be gained from architectural supervision and planning. In the last decade the bungalow, which is simply a modifica- tion of the cottage, popular for so long from an economical view point, has swept the country and it is found on farms as well as on corner lots in town, and in its elaboration, sleeping rooms above, although maintain- ing the one story appearance, it seems destined to continued popularity. Native building material has been used until the lumber supply was exhausted, and concrete has proven an excellent substitute. Attention is given to sanitation and hygiene, and there are both rural and urban homes calculated to attract favorable notice, and the general public is rapidly cultivating the habit of observation. The house is not the only consideration, and shade and shrubbery are finding certain recog. nition. A landscape artist seldom inquires whether or not a family owns its home, the atmosphere of the place answering that question for him.
The shrubbery on the lawn tells its own story, and the hopeful thing
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is that people are beginning to note the surroundings. The courts and driveways about modern homes are in evidence in both town and country, and nothing adds so much to a commodious house as a spacious door yard and garden about it. While wealth is still centrally located, and very few business or professional men have caught the suburban fever, it will sooner or later assert itself in this direction, and while the era of princely palaces may only be dawning, many families spare no pains in surrounding themselves with books and music, and the artistic side of community life seems disposed to take care of itself. Of course many families have accumulated wealth after their children have left the home circle, and they feel little need of the modern mansion, only as the spirit of the times demands it of them. Those who, like Mrs. Means in Eggle- ston's story, "while getting got plenty, " have usually had the rose bush growing by the door, and every precaution has been taken to add to the beauty of the surroundings.
One gentleman said : "Marion homes are substantial, but they are perhaps without the element of elegance, " and another loyal citizen exclaimed: "Say what you will, but if the town goes back to only one inhabitant, 1 want to be that man." Then the truth dawned upon him that the material had outstripped the artistic in local development, and the following explanation-that Marion has been a busy center, and in the rush of things not so much attention has been given to detail as will be in future. "Know thyself" is not more important than " Know thy house, " and the homes of the community are being built with comfort and utility in mind, the smaller towns and country places all keeping pace in the substantial nature of their improvements. In England houses last for centuries, and durability is being considered by builders of today. There have been artistic temperaments all along, and through the materialistie age, when only as much sentiment as conkl be cashed at the bank was encouraged, the civic spirit has only slumbered and at last it has awakened, and the future is before it.
LIII. THE STORIES THAT GRANDFATHER TELLS
By Mark Baldwin
O, wonderful tales ean grandfather tell
Of the wonderful times and the things that befell
When he was a boy, and roamed the thick wood,
Enjoying his life as a boy only could
With vigor and health, with pioneer blood
Flowing strong in his veins.
Ile swam the swift food, or hunted the sty little impudent beasts,
That peopled the forests and stole for their feasts, The corn from the erib, or took from the soil
The grain, making useless the pioneer's toil.
And I think to myself, how grand it must be To live in a Int in the forest so free
From the vain, pompous ways of the life of today,
From the swift pace we're living at present-but say,
When grandfather tells of the woodticks and lice,
Of the fleas and the chiggers, the rats and the mice, The ague and fever, I don't think I'd lose
The freedom from these to have been in his shoes.
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IHISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY
LAIN. THE ORGANIZED FAMILY
While the human family dates back to Adam in the Garden of Eden, the organized family is really a twentieth century innovation in Grant county. It was an area of material prosperity and people were enjoying the comforts of life, their debts having been paid and they began to think of recreation and more intimate knowledge of each other. It. was coming to be a reproach for a man to know more of livestock pedi- grees than of his own genealogy, and the human herd book-family tree- became a reality in many households. While there are organized fami- lies everywhere, it is said that Grant county is in front rank, and more annual family gatherings are held in Matter Park than in any other Indiana pleasure resort-a statement frequently heard at family reunions.
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