USA > Indiana > Rush County > Centennial history of Rush County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 41
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Lakin, John Carr, Israel Kister, Joshua I. Walton, Sim- eon Tooley, John Sproul, Turner A. Knox, John Pride, William Pride, Samuel Davis, Thomas Wallace, Edward Linville, I. N. Alley, Thomas Swift, John Kelso, G. W. Moore, Roland T. Carr, Isaac Arnold, D. M. Stewart, Gustavus Cowger, James Brown, Levi L. Smith, Burel Bell, Lot P. Swift, I. W. Ferguson, C. W. Summers, Joseph Watson, Thomas M. Thompson, Jesse Morgan, John Smawley, Thomas Walter, William McRoberts, William P. Rush, John White, Ebenezer Cross, John Oliver and H. Laughlin, these names constituting a pretty representative list of "leading citizens" of the day.
IN THE DAYS OF "BOUND" BOYS AND GIRLS
The custom which prevailed under legal sanction in a generation now past of binding children out to service by formal indenture, a practice which perhaps sometimes resulted happily to the "bound" boy or girl, but which more often, no doubt, resulted quite to the contrary, is re- called by looking through the time-stained book of "In- dentures" in the office of the county recorder. The first entry in this book was made in 1849 and the last in the lat- ter '50s, the record carrying formal copies of numerous such indentures recorded to give them legal force and effect, these indentures binding the children thus in- volved to a form of servitude that happily was made so obnoxious by a recital of the evils of the system in Ed- ward Eggleston's "Hoosier Schoolmaster" and other such tales of the period as to secure a repeal of the inden- ture law in this state. The first entry in this book of indentures in Rush county is as follows :
"This indenture witnesseth that Moses Carr, of Rush county, and state of Indiana, hath put and placed and by these presents doth put and bind out his son, Owen Carr, and the said Owen Carr doth hereby put. place and bind out himself as an apprentice to James A. Fry to learn the art and trade and mystery of farming, which the said
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James A. Fry now useth and followeth, the said Owen Carr to dwell with and serveth the said James A. Fry after the manner of an apprentice from the day of the date hereof until the 9th day of May, 1858, at which time the said apprentice, if he shall be living, will be twenty- one years of age. During all which time the said appren- tice shall well and faithfully serve the said James A. Fry and everywhere and at all times readily obey his lawful commands; he shall do no damage to the said Fry, nor wilfully suffer any to be done by others; he shall not waste the goods of the said Fry, he shall not absent him- self from the service of the said Fry, but he shall in all things and at all times carry and behave himself as a good and faithful apprentice ought during the term afore- said, and he shall not contract matrimony during the whole term aforesaid ; and the said James A. Fry on his part doth hereby covenant, promise and agree to teach and instruct the said apprentice or cause him to be taught and instructed to read and write and cypher to the double rule of three inclusive, if he have intellect sufficient to receive said instruction, and feed and clothe him with ordinary good clothing, and at the expiration of the term furnish him an ordinary good freedom suit and at the expiration of said term pay him $100 in cash, and also teach him the art and trade of farming and during said apprenticeship to furnish him all necessary attention dur- ing the sickness of said apprentice. In testimony whereof the said parties have hereunto set their hands and seals this 4th day of August, 1849. Moses Carr (seal), Owen (his mark) Carr (seal), JJames A. Fry (seal). Attest : Finley Bigger, Samuel B. Diffendofer." This indenture was acknowledged before John Dixon, "an acting justice of the peace, within and for said county of Rush," on the same date. The next entry was that in the case of an eight-year-old boy, who was thus "bound out," and so on through the long list. One of the last entries in the record is that in the case of a little girl, as follows:
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"Indenture of apprenticeship between J. L. Win- ship and J. T. McMillen and Polly B. Winship, witness- eth: The said Polly B. Winship, aged twelve years on the third day of March, 1858, by and with the consent of the said J. L. Winship, her guardian and father, hath and doth hereby bind herself as an apprentice unto the said J. T. McMillen until the third day of March, 1864, from the date hereof to learn the trade and occupation of housewifery, and the said Polly B. Winship covenants faithfully to serve J. T. McMillen as such apprentice dur- ing said term, and the said J. T. McMillen covenants with the said Polly B. Winship to teach her the said occupation and to provide her with all necessaries proper to her age and condition and to send her to school during nine months of said apprenticeship. In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this 23d day of January, 1858. J. L. Winship (seal), J. T. McMillen (seal)." The above indenture was received for record January 25, 1858, at 12 o'clock meridian.
It is apparent from contemporary evidence that sometimes these bound boys did not "stay put." In a copy of The Indiana Herald and Rushville Gazette of May 4, 1839, in the public library at Rushville, appears the following advertisement: "One Cent Reward but no Thanks-Ran away from the subscriber on the 28th day of April, 1839, Evan Crawford, an indented apprentice. aged about ten years. The above reward will be given for the apprehension and delivery of said runaway at my farm, one mile north of Rushville, Rush county, Indiana. Michael Lower."
RECOLLECTIONS OF CERTAIN BITTER CHURCH FEUDS
In the chapter relating to the churches of Rush county there may be found an occasional reference to divisions in congregations, splits over some point of dis- cipline or doctrine, but there is nothing in those formal statements of fact to indicate anything of the exceeding
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bitterness which sometimes marked these divisions. nor of the bitter neighborhood feuds thus sometimes engen- dered, feuds which in some instances hardly have died out altogether to this day, lamentable as the statement may appear. Doctrinal points of ecclesiasticism were main- tained with a fierceness of belief and a vigor of expres- sion rarely heard today, and when a "split" on a point of discipline or doctrine occurred it usually was a split that tore the church community wide open. The differing factions usually were led by men of strong convictions and a vigor of opinion that would not brook opposition or argument and in consequence there could be found no room for both in the same church, hence a "split" which would result in the establishment of a counter church. perhaps across the road from the parent church, or at least in the same neighborhood. Sometimes these differ- ences arose over the proposition to introduce instrumen- tal music in the church. Particularly were the United Presbyterians and the Christians of the early day hostile to such "agencies of the devil," and many a division has occurred over the insistence of the younger element in the congregation in favor of the introduction of an organ in the church as an instrument of praise. One such memor- able split was that which occurred years ago in a congre- gation (now defunct) in the northwestern part of the county, over the proposition to put an organ in the church. The contest for leadership in this dispute re- sulted in the creation of two factions which rent the neighborhood in two. Fist fights were not uncommon in this dispute, and when "lewd fellows of the baser sort" became enlisted as mercenaries in the war of the fac- tions the poisoning and shooting of cattle became common and in some instances the shooting at individuals was a feature of the war, though happily no person was killed. For a time there is said to have been a real state of terror in the community, so that the more timorous feared to venture out at night. The dog of one of the leading fac-
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tionists was found one morning crucified to a post in the door yard, the poor creature hanging on a nail driven through the skin of its back. There were divisions in other congregations over the music question, recalled by older readers, though none is recalled in which the element of personal animosity entered to quite the degree above indicated. In one instance the leader of the faction which drew away from the parent church on account of the introduction of an organ in the church and erected at his own expense a church not far away, taking with him a considerable number of the other members, was so pro- nounced in his opinions respecting the use of an organ in church that he would not attend the funeral of his sister, held in the parent church, of which she had remained an adherent, until promised that the organ would not be opened during the time of the funeral service. Some of the divisions which took place in certain religious denom- inations during the days of the Civil war have not even yet been reconciled. Rush county suffered "splits" of this character, along with all other parts of the country. In one of the churches the controversy was unusually bit- ter. One of the members of the divided church presently formed a connection with another communion, and his remark on thus finding a new church home is still quoted with interest. Said he: "I thank God that at last I have found a church that has neither religion nor politics in it."
THE CAUSE CELEBRE, "MEANS VS. ANTI-MEANS"
In the chapter relating to the churches of Rush county reference has been made to the celebrated division which occurred in the East Fork Baptist Church in Washington township in 1845, a local cause celebre of the period which attracted widespread attention. George C. Clark, who afterward became so influential a figure in ยท the general life of the community, for many years lawyer, publicist and banker in the city of Rushville, at that time
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was a young lawyer without practice (as he admitted), and partly for pastime during the hearing of the case in court and partly for the value of practice in shorthand, took notes of the proceedings. Before the trial was fin- ished numerous elders and others of the Baptist church insisted on publication with so much earnestness that in 1846 he published the proceedings of the trial. Appar- ently the little book was much sought, for the edition seems to have been exhausted. For years afterward in- quiries were made for copies of the book, but none could be found. Finally Luther Benson, the renowned temper- ance lecturer and a native of Rush county, ran down a copy of the old book in Missouri, in the bands of Judge Pence. and prevailed upon Mr. Clark to have a reprint made of the report. This reprint was published at Rush- ville in 1895, and is one of the most interesting documents relating to the history of church fends in the state. Mr. Clark's reprint covers eighty-eight pages, carrying the testimony in the case and the proceedings of the court, the title of the book being "Means vs. Anti-Means; or the Trial of the Baptist Church Case in the Rush Cirenit Court." The title of this notable case in court was John Dee ex. dem. of the trustees of the Little Blue River Reg- ular Baptist Church vs. William Jones, Philander Clif- ford and James Newhouse: ejectment. The case was tried before Jehu T. Elliott. circuit judge, the plaintiff's counsel being Samuel W. Parker, Robert S. Cox and P. A. Hackleman, the defendants being represented by JJas. Perry, George B. Tingley and R. M. Cooper, and the jury was composed of Roland T. Carr. Thomas Maddux, John: H. MeGinnis, Wilson Laughlin, Elijah Billings, Samuel Fries, Nicholas Burns, Conrad Cline, Sampson Cassady, William C. Robinson. James Shields and Isaac Adams. The hearing of the testimony, in which many quaint quib- bles of doctrine and dogma are submitted, and arguments of lawyers in the case consinned several days. In the court's lengthy charge to the jury Judge Elliott pointed
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out that "the testimony shows that the Little Blue River church sent delegates or messengers to the Whitewater Association-that two sets of delegates or messengers appeared at the association, professing to come from the East Fork Flat Rock church, and that a question arose in the association as to which of the two sets represented the true East Fork Flat Rock church. A vote was taken, and the Means delegates received by the association ; this vote caused a division of the association ; the Anti-means party withdrawing from the grove when the vote was taken, to the meeting house, and the Means party holding their meeting at the grove. It also appears that two of the delegates from the Little Blue River Baptist Church withdrew with the Anti-Means party, the other remaining with the Means. Afterward, at the September meeting of the Little Blue River church, a charge was preferred by Smith, the Means delegate, against Baker and Jones, the Anti-Means delegates, for improper conduct in the association, upon which a vote was taken sustaining Smith, which caused a separation and division of the church," and much more covering the points brought out in evidence. "The jury," it is succinctly stated in Mr. Clark's interesting narrative, "retired, and after a short absence returned with a verdict for the plaintiffs." That the case was regarded as of large importance was indi- cated by P. A. Hackleman in his address to the jury when he said "I wish you to bear in mind that you are engaged in trying the most important civil suit which was ever tried in this court house." It will be noted that Hackle- man's side won. It is proper to point out that the Means of the title of this case refers to the "means" by which God works, "His wonders to perform," and that the split in the church was due to various interpretations of this mystery.
TRAGEDY THAT ENDED IN A PUN
Happily, in the sidelights on the history of this com- munity there are few tragedies to record. In an earlier
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chapter there is carried the story of the only hanging in the history of the county-an event that left such an im- pression upon the community that even now its echo is heard when an occasional reference is made to the time when "my grandfather saw Edward Swanson hung." But about forty years ago in Orange township there was a tragedy of such an unusual character as to merit a ref- erence to it in this connection. Richard Boling, an Orange township farmer, and his wife had driven over to Shelbyville to spend the day at the Shelby county fair and while there Boling, in a moment of convivial confi- dence, had revealed to a couple of engaging strangers the fact that he had with him a considerable sum of money. Boling and his wife returned to their farm home in the evening without molestation, but in the middle of the night they were aroused from their slumbers by a masked man, who demanded their money, compelling them under threat of death to arise and direct his search for the roll of bills. While the masked intruder was bending over a bureau drawer carrying on his search Boling seized an ax that was in a corner of the room and struck the stranger such a blow on the back of the neck as literally to decapitate him. In the stranger's convulsive reaction to the blow his revolver was discharged. Following the report of the weapon the Bolings heard a voice from out- side the house cry "Tom." evidently an anxious inquiry on the part of the masked man's companion, but there was no further alarm. The next morning Mr. Boling re- ported the presence of the decapitated man in his home, telling the sheriff that he had "axed" him to stav all night and that he had accepted the invitation. The iden- tity of the masked "Tom" never was revealed, as no one claimed the body.
SOME NAMES GIVEN THE OLD TIME DISTRICT SCHOOLS
Besides the number given them when they were or- ganized the district schools of the county usually took the
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local name of the owner of the farm on which the house was built, or of some prominent person in the community, but in a number of instances a local name was given, which lived longer than the number of the school. The origin of some of these names is unknown. The location would determine the nickname of others, and in some the name was probably given by some wag in the community, from which there was no appeal. A few of these local names of the district schools, the greater number of which have been abandoned. are as follows: Hardscrabble. Rabbit Hash, Pin Hook, Neffs Corner, Tilliewiggin, Beaver Meadow, Union, Compromise, Frog Pond, Beech, The Switch, German, Flat Rock, Clifty, Beech Grove, Poplar Grove, Locust Grove, Center, Ireland, Macedonia and Tile Shed.
TWO NOTABLE LOCAL INSTITUTIONS
Rush county has two local insurance associations, which are believed to be unique in the history of such or- ganizations in this state, both working along much the same lines, but with a distinctive difference. Both com- panies, however, are said to be unique in this state from the fact that policy holders are restricted exclusively to the county. The elder of these associations, the Farmers Insurance Association of Rush County, was organized by the adoption of articles of association on November 24, 1877, and the initial members of the association were A. M. Kennedy, Isaac Goble, William H. Downey, John W. Ferree, John Zion, J. M. Gorman, William Powell, Lewis Dalrymple, Robert N. Hinchman, William S. Rey- nolds, J. C. Humes, Lee McDaniel, David Conner, Nicho- las Brown, O. C. Hackleman, Benjamin F. Norris, John Blacklidge, John W. Clark, R. H. Phillips, J. T. Hinch- man and John Fleehart. The present officers of this association are as follows: President, W. A. Alexander; vice-president, O. M. Harton, and actuary, L. R. Webb. the latter of whom has served in that capacity since 1907.
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The association has offices in the court house, and has now no fewer than 2,500 policy holders, with liabilities right around $5,000,000. This association insures farm- ers' property against losses by fire, whether caused by lightning or otherwise. The Rush County Mutual Live Stock Insurance Company. which was incorporated in 1917, insures its members against loss by death to their live stock caused by disease or accident, but not if caused by fire or lightning. Jesse A. Leisure was the chief pro- moter of this latter association, and has been the pres- ident of the same since its organization. The other origi- mal officers of the association were as follows: L. R. Webb. vice-president; Edmund B. Lowden, secretary : Tohn O. Hill, treasurer; Clyde Henley. Will P. Jay and William A. Mull. adjusters. The present officiary of the association is the same as the above, with the exception that Samuel R. Newhouse is now the vice-president : Joseph A. Stevens, secretary, and A. L. Gary, attorney. The association has about five hundred members, and is carrying policies in excess of a half-million dollars.
THE "REBEL HOUSE" OF RUSH COUNTY
As has been pointed out elsewhere, there were nu- merous rebel sympathizers in Rush county during the days of the Civil war, and in several instances serious clashes between Unionists and "copperheads" were averted only by the counsels of calm judgment on the part of the community leaders. One of these reputed southern sympathizers was a man named William Grif- fin, who in 1861, erected a dwelling house on his place. five miles east of Rushville, expressing his sympathies in the architectural arrangement of the house, the cor- nices of which were emblazoned with figures of a "'cop- perhead," and elsewhere about the dwelling were decora- tions emblematic of the South, the walls of the lower corridors being painted in the colors of the Confederacy. When the house was being built a league of local Union-
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ists was organized in the vicinity and this league pre- pared to set fire to the building, but the pleadings of Mrs. Griffin saved it from destruction. Not long after the close of the war the place was bought by John Gray, but the emblematic peculiarities were not altered and all through the years since the house was known as the "rebel house" of Rush county. In the spring of 1921, Mr. Gray retired from the farm, and moved to Rushville, the "rebel house" being taken over by a tenant. A few weeks later the house caught fire from a chimney spark and was de- stroyed, and thus passed a singular relic of a time when sectional feeling found expression in various ways here- about.
SLAVES ENTER GOVERNMENT LAND IN RUSH COUNTY
It is not generally known that quite a large tract of land in this county was entered by fifteen colored men and women, who had been slaves, prior to their coming to this county. The Register of Sales on file in the recorder's office, which contains a list of names of pur- chasers of Government lands in this county, reveals the fact that all of section 35 and the east half of the south- east quarter of section 34 in township 13 north, range 8 east was entered by fifteen persons whose name was Graffort. The names of the fifteen persons were Peter. Kasander, John, Hannah, Mary, Tryphenia, William, Hazard, George, Jesse, Westley, Amy, Jane, Leonard and Hedgeman Graffort. The 720 acres of land in this county is situated in the northwest corner of Orange township. These same persons also entered a tract of land in Shelby county near the Rush county land, that contained 480 acres, making a total of 1,200 acres. This acreage gave to each one eighty acres, which carried out the provisions of the owner of those slaves. It is said that by his will the master of those slaves directed that at his death, they should be given their freedom and that his executor was directed to purchase for each of them a tract of eighty
.
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acres of Government land. Perhaps there is no one now living that remembers that the land mentioned was ever occupied by colored persons. as they remained in this county but a short time and there is now no evidence in the neighborhood of the land that any such persons ever resided there or owned the land. The only evidence of the fact. in this county, is the record to which reference is here made, and the few deeds on record that these persons made conveying their several interests, before leaving the county.
SOME STATISTICS RELATING TO RUSH COUNTY
The last annual report of the auditor of Rush county showed balances and receipts (county fund) for 1920 to be $85,743.73 : expenditures, $83,352.58 : balance, January 1. 1921. $2,391.15 : miscellaneous funds, including princi- pal of flood bonds, interest, redemption bonds, benevo- lent, state, school, roads and the like- balance. January 1. 1920, $80,596.90; receipts for 1920, $1,113,525.34: dis- bursements for 1920, $1.014,347.58: balance January 1. 1921. $99.177.50. Bonded indebtedness of the county, flood bonds and coupons. $19.417.50: townships. for re- demption in free gravel road bonds: Ripley township, $78,502.70; Posey. $71.072.10: Walker, $65,214.45; Orange, $120,104.05; Anderson, $143.823; Rushville, $203,547.65; Jackson. $81,021.60; Center, $56.003.35; Washington, $8,074.50: Union, $56.619.80; Noble. $60 .- 143.15; Richland. $66.717.30. The school township bond indebtedness is set out in the chapter on the schools of the county.
Some current statistics along other lines show that in Rush county the total value of real estate and improve- ments is $51,968,600: mortgage exemptions, $705.410. Net value of real estate and improvements, $51.263.190; steam and electric railroad property. $3,606.470; tele- graph and telephone property. $286.625: express com- panies' property, $11.445 : other corporations and per-
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sonal property, $14,389,825; total net taxables, $69,556,- 555; polls, 3,123. Taxes levied (state)-general fund. $15,472.82; benevolent institutions, $27,127.04; highway commission, $27,127.04; schools, $37,730.90; educational institutions, $19,475.84 ; vocational educational, $1,391.11. Taxes levied (county )-general fund, $51,812.58; gravel road repair, $41,733.91; gravel road construction, $168,- 936.63; other funds, $6,963.63. Taxes levied (all town- ships)-township fund. $15,836.23; tuition, $99,571.42: special school fund, $124,182.74: road fund, $46,377.39; poor fund, $4,424.20; other funds, $37,043.94. Corpora- tion taxes-general fund, $29,160.54; light and water, $2,660.39; other funds, $13,293.07: total, $770,340.43. One of the most significant showings made in Rush county in the statistical way is that relating to infant mortality, the death rate of infants under one year per 1,000 births being 56, against a state average of 71. Dur- ing the year covered by the report for 1920, there were 338 births in the county, 145 males and 183 females. Ac- cording to the June, 1920, apportionment of common school revenue for tuition made by the state superintend- ent of public instruction the number of children between the ages of 6 and 21 in Rush was 4,492. The sum of $19,733.55 was derived from the state school tax. The enrollment in the elementary schools of the county for the year 1919-20 was 3,124; high school, 659; total 3,783; average daily attendance in the elementary schools, 2,581 ;
high schools, 561. Graduates-commissioned high schools, 90; certified high schools, 2; common schools, 224. Number of elementary teachers, 102; high school teachers, 46. Number of high schools, 13. Disbursements from tuition fund, $112,620.38; school fund, $182,038.29. Rush county ranked fourth in the state for progress in school consolidation and abandonment of one-room schools since 1890, being preceded by Randolph, Mont- gomery and Marion. It ranked first in swine production, with 70,721 all purpose swine; 11,720 breeding; total. 82,441.
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LASTLY : THE STUDY OF BIOGRAPHY
. The second volume of this work, to which the atten- tion of the reader now passes, has to do with the biogra- phies of the leading families of Rush county ; these repre- senting, naturally, in the main what commonly and prop- erly are known as "the old families" of the county. The thoughtful reader of the concluding volume of this work cannot fail in his perusal of its pages to be impressed with the statements that "biography is the home aspect of history," and that "history, after all, is but collective biography." The collective biographies of the individ- uals composing a community, under the analysis of the thoughtful student of biography, become the history of the community thus composed. Particularly is this true of such a community as that of which this history treats. In this collection of biographies, therefore, will be found much of the heretofore unwritten history of Rush county ; intimate and informative details of the lives and labors of those stalwart men who took possession here and then passed on, leaving to their descendants the task of carry- ing on the great work they had so laboriously and so un- selfishly begun. In the generations which have suc- ceeded these "old families" in the main have persisted. In the nature of things, intermarriages in these families have been frequent, so that there has arisen here a fine community of interest based upon ties that bind this com- imunity as few such in the state are bound; creating, in fact, a real community, a fine neighborly relation in which all share, and in which all take a proper pride.
Due to these intermarriages and the continuing rela- tions borne by the "old families" to the work of the com- munity, the biographies contained in the succeeding pages will be found to cross and to recross. repeated references being found to the work done by the original settlers in establishing neighborly relations here. There will also be noted throughout these pages repeated references to
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the influence exerted by the various church establish- ments that were set up here in the then wilderness in the days of the pioneers and of the manner in which the infhi- ence of these respective establishments has persisted in the families now representing the pioneer stock. Other relations will be noted by the thoughtful reader, and it is to these that special attention is called, for in all this cor- relation there will be found much that will help in the critical interpretation of the real history of the commu- nity which the historian has so understandingly presented in the pages which precede this. Therefore the biograph- ical volume of this work will be found to possess as much of value to the student of history as has the historical volume and its pages should be read with as much care, for therein ofttimes will be found statements of fact that will make clear passages in the present volume that other- wise might not carry their full meaning save to those fully informed regarding the history of their home county. To the intelligent student of biography the fol- lowing volume ought to prove a veritable "mine" of in- terest and to him is addressed a special invitation to give the succeeding pages his most thoughtful attention. If read from a correlative viewpoint they will be found to be not only wonderfully informative, but intensely inter- esting, and ought to stimulate the growing interest in the science that treats of tracing pedigrees as well as to accent the importance of the same in connection with local his- torical research, pointing out the duty of the family to preserve a record of individual descent.
Of late years there has been created in this country an interest in genealogical research that has led to much well-directed and intelligent action along that line. Quite a few Rush county families have carefully compiled records published in attractive book form carrying much valuable information of a genealogical character relating to their particular lines, and it is exceedingly gratifying to note that American families are thus apparently find-
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ing much of interest in this process of taking stock of who and what they are. The threads that were broken in Revolutionary days are being picked up, and connections re-established with the mother country, while members of successive generations of the American descent are being traced back and set out in sober printed array with those of the present generation in order that their posterity may have a proper introduction to their forefathers and to their "folks." It is an interesting study, and those who have been caught in the mazes of this sort of research de- clare it to be a most fascinating one.
That you may kuow 'Tis no sinister nor no awkward claim Picked from the wormholes of long vanish'd days, Nor from the dust of old oblivion rak'd, He sends you this most memorable line, In every branch truly demonstrative; Willing you, overlook this pedigree. -King Henry V.
Shakespeare knew the vahie of "pedigree." The modern live stock breeder knows-none better-the value of "pedigree." If it was important to the claimant of a throne to show that his claim to individual descent was "no sinister nor no awkward claim plucked from the wormholes of long vanish'd days, nor from the dust of old oblivion rak'd;" if it is important to the intelligent breeder of live stock to know that the strain of his breed- ing stock runs unsullied, is it not equally important that American families should have some definite information relative to the lines from which they have sprung? Hence the present value of definite genealogical research ; hence the creation of a sense of duty on the part of each family to preserve a record of individual descent,-a service of inestimable value to future generations of the family- for unless records that are now perhaps readily accessi- ble for such a purpose are thus definitely preserved they in all probability will be lost to the succeeding generation, or at least consigned to "the dust of old oblivion," thus entailing upon the family a distinct and definite loss that
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
will be a matter of regret to every member thereof. Re- member: "Every man is a quotation from all his ances- tors." "Rely upon it," said William E. Gladstone, "that. the man who does not worthily estimate his own dead forefathers will himself do very little to add credit or do honor to his own country." It is trusted therefore that it will not be regarded as presumptuous in this connection to suggest the importance of preserving such records. Your grandchildren and theirs some day may be vitally interested to know who your grandparents were. The preservation of such details of genealogy may spare them what otherwise might prove a difficult, if not a wholly fruitless, task. Those who have sought through the bio- graphical volume of this "Centennial History of Rush County" thus to preserve family records as a part of the definite history of their county have done well, and are to be commended for their forethought. They have re- sponded to the call of a plain family duty and future gen- erations of their line will thank them. They thus have relieved their posterity of the graceless task of being com- pelled to pick "from the wormholes of long vanish'd days" an "awkward claim" to descent. They have made their "memorable line in every branch truly demonstra- tive." They have obeyed the exhortations, "Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation." "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father and he will show thee ; thy elders and they will tell thee." "Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things."
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