USA > Indiana > Shelby County > Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana, Vol. 1 > Part 5
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Mr. Wilson continues in his narrative and in speaking of Christian In- dians. remarks :
"One day a settler whose cabin was near the bank of Sugar Creek, where the Indians had come to hunt, went to them for the purpose of trading Jogs. It was in the morning of a beautiful Sabbath day. As he approached their camp. he was surprised to see them all collected together, sitting upon the ground in a circle, in the center of which one of their number was reading from a book. That book proved to be the New Testament, in the Delaware
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language. The settler felt much rebuked when he found they were hallowing the Sabbath day by the worship of God.
"Their ideas of Christianity were few and simple, but they were firm and steadfast in their faith, and stated that they had been converted through the labors of a missionary by the name of MeCoy.
"Some time after the Indians had all gone, a family of fifteen or twenty returned and camped on Lewis Creek, five miles below Shelbyville. My recol- lection of it is that it was in the fall of 1825; and as they were some distance from any white settlement, and peaceable, they were permitted to remain and trap raccoon and muskrat. While there the following occurence took place : One Lewis Buskirk, who had entered and settled upon what was later the Guy Johnson farm, purchased a horse at Lebanon. Ohio. The animal escaped from his new master and returned to Lebanon, pursned by Buskirk on foot and alone. After he had been gone several days his friends became alarmed be- cause of his continued absence, and at once concluded that the Indians had killed him. A company was at once raised, consisting of John C. Walker, then Sheriff, William George and James Goodrich, J. M. Young. William Morris, James H. Lee, Nimrod Gatewood and some others, all well armed, and marched into the Indian camp on Sabbath morning. To their great sur- prise they found the red men engaged in worship. After the services had concluded they were greeted by the Indian minister who inquired of them why they carried guns on the Sabbath. This no good. said he."
The white men then told the Indians there was a man missing, and that it was the supposition that they had murdered him, and fearing the result they had come to advise them to leave, which they agreed to do in three days. as soon as they could get ready. Before the time had expired they had struck tents and departed for the far West. Buskirk returned from Lebanon with his horse in a few days, but not until the Indians were well on their way west. Near the house of Esquire Wells in Marion township is the grave of one of this noble race, and tradition says that it is the last resting place of one of their distinguished warriors-one of the Delaware tribe. At each recurring anniversary of the death of this celebrated warrior chief, if such he was, the remnant of the tribe that inhabited this section would gather at this consecrated spot, and the exercises as described by pioneer Wilson. as follows :
"Quite a number of Indians came to my father's cabin one bright spring morning and borrowed of my mother a coffee pot, into which they poured a qmart of whisky. They then proceeded to the grave, forming a circle there- abouts, with the spokesman at the head. He lifted the coffee-pot to his mouth as if in the act of drinking, and then passed around the circle three times, each one pretending to drink the contents. This having been done they folded their arms and stood for minutes in the attitude of solemn meditation or silent
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prayer. The leader then emptied the vessel at the head of the grave of the dead hero. after which the band dispersed."
TOPOGRAPHY.
Shelby is one of the central counties of Indiana, and its northwest corner comes within a few miles of the state capital. It is bounded on the north by Hancock county, on the east by Rush and Decatur counties, on the south by Decatur and Bartholomew counties and on the west by Johnson and Marion. Its breadth is seventeen miles from east to west, while it is twenty-four miles from north to south. It contains two hundred sixty-one thousand one hundred twenty acres of land.
The face of the country is diversified. Around Norristown there are large and beautiful fields that skirt hills of gentle slope. Around Mount Auburn there is land that resembles the rolling prairies of the far famed Missouri valley. Around Morristown one sees both highlands and lowlands. studded with farms that will bear comparison with any portion of the United States. Again, along the Flat Rock one sees a variety of scenery, hill and dlale, plateau and undulation. Over this entire scope, embracing over two hundred and sixty thousand acres of land, the soil will bear the closest scrutiny of actual test.
Droughts never have afflicted this section of the state. Streams of pure water, clear and fresh. pass over pebbly bottoms and traverse the country in almost any given direction. The eight principal water courses have a total length of one hundred and forty miles, furnishing plenty of water for farm. stock and mechanical purposes. Along these various streams there is a fine. rich bottom land of extra fertile soil.
Near the present village of St. Paul there has long been worked exten- sive quarries of a very superior article of limestone. The strata extends for more than five miles around and afford an abundance of choice building material for both city and country.
GEOLOGY.
Of the geological formation of this county, let it be stated that, while some have termed the county flat and low, the fact remains that Cincinnati. Ohio, is four hundred thirty-two feet above sea-level. while Shelbyville has an altitude of seven hundred fifty-seven feet. Shelbyville is also about one hundred feet higher than the city of Indianapolis and two hundred and fifty feet higher than lake Michigan.
The surface deposits are chiefly derived from the glacial drift, subse- quently modified by fluviatile action. Hence, while the soil is composed of fine impalpable clays, extensive beds of sand and gravel are found beneath the surface, and in the valleys and streams.
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At the close of the glacial epoch, this region was very deeply covered with bowlder drift, as is plainly indicated by high mounds and ridges of gravel and bowlders, reaching in height the summit level of the county. They indicate the enormous erosive agencies which have swept from north to south in this locality, and which have carried away the clays and finer ma- terials, and left behind them the bowlders and gravel as indices and monu- ments of the depth which these deposits originally had.
In the western part of Shelby county the soil is somewhat modified by admixture of detrital matter from the underlying shales, and hence the dark color and its tenacious character. In the central and more eastern portions of the county it is modified by a generous admixture of calcarious material from the lime rocks beneath.
The rocky beds of this county comprise the Devonian and the upper part of the Silurian formation. The black slate of the former under-runs the west and southwest sides of the county. The lime rock beds of the devonian con- tain but few fossils, and the whole exhibit a thickness of from eighty to one hundred and fifty feet.
The rocks of the Silurian period succeed in age and come out to the sur- face from beneath the Devonian period formation in the central and eastern parts of the county, and are from forty to seventy feet in thickness. They contain a great many interesting and well preserved fossils, which illustrate the life of the ancient ocean, whose deep waters rolled over this region and upon whose muddy bottom these animals lived and at last perished.
The St. Paul and Waldron beds have long been a school to scientists of the world, illustrating the geological reports of many neighboring states. and filling museums and cabinets with beautiful and interesting trophies of the long ago past.
As early as 1876 the Centennial history of this county had this to say concerning the stone found at St. Paul: "This stone varies in color from a bluish dove to a light gray, and is in strata of from a few inches in thickness to several feet, averaging about twenty inches. The colored stone has a great capacity for resisting fracture under weight. and is used in piers, lime work, water-tables and monumental bases. The gray stone is equally compact and adapted for door and window caps and casing columns. Subjected to the greatest tests known to science, this stone in endurance and all qualities required by the architect, is fully equal to the best. It has been used in many of the public buildings in this region of the state, and a demonstrative example of its merit and truc excellency may be seen in the court house, at Indian- apolis, the modest colors contrasting well with the neutral tints of other lime stones. This building material commands a ready market in the cities of the West as well as North and South. In 1875 there were shipped four thousand four hundred eighty-nine car loads of this stone.
CHAPTER V.
EARLY SETTLEMENT OF SHELBY COUNTY.
The settlement of Shelby county is divided into two periods-that of the Indian trader, always in the vanguard of civilization in America, and the actual settlement of the white man, who came to remain. as a true builder of a great commonwealth. He came, he saw, he conquered and the present generation owe to him the great advantages they enjoy in this the early years of the twentieth century. While tinged with sadness. yet it is ever pleasant, to recall the scenes coincident with the settlement of any country. Pleasant, because in fancy, we see dear faces again. Sad, because they have long since passed to the great unknown, and do not mingle with ns, their posterity, only in faney and hallowed memory. It was more than ninety years ago that white men first looked upon the fair domain now known as Shelby county, Indiana. Their sons and daughters have seen the wilderness of then blossom into the rose of today.
At the date of admission of Indiana into the Union, the Delaware tribe of Indians occupied this section of the "Hoosier" state, and used it as their hunting grounds. Here they chased the deer and brought him down with bow and arrow. Here they fished in the rippling streams that had been flowing on toward the great sea for time unknown to man. If not this tribe, certain it is that this country was roamed over by other than civilized men and women. By a treaty with the United States Government, this tribe relin- quished all right and title to the lands within this county. October, 1818.
Prior to this date but few, if any, white men had tred this soil. It is believed that the first of our race were French traders who had dealings with the Delaware Indians, and also the whites traveling from Detroit to Vincennes. by way of old Fort Valonia, in Jackson county. Following the White river and tributaries, they must have gone through what is now Shelby county. The first one positively known to have entered this territory was William Conner, an Indian trader, who at that time had a trading post at the present site of Connersville. Early in 1816 he floated down Flat Rock river in a sinall boat filled with such goods as he could trade to the Indians for furs. Later he traveled along the course of Blue river. and to bands of Indians that camped along its banks he became a welcome guest. In fact. he was often later on in history, known as the "Father of Central Indiana:" was a true type of a stalwart frontiersman and through his intimate relations with the Indian tribes found here, was able to give General Harrison, in days of Indian
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troubles, much valuable information, by which the red men were finally subdued in Indiana.
With the intelligence being made known in Franklin county that the Dela- ware treaty had been ratified. Jacob Whetzel started for this section of the state. blazing his way through the dense forest land, from Brookfield to White river. This trail thus established by his ax, passed through what is now Shelby county, in a northwesterly direction, and crossed the Blue river about four miles and a half north of the present site of Shelbyville. The Whetzels. Jacob and Cyrus, with their families, returned to the bluffs of White river in 1819. and permanently settled there. Richard Thornberry settled at the point where Whetzel had crossed the Flat Rock, now in Rush county. James Wilson, accompanied by a man named Logan, and one named Hanna, followed the blazed trail to where it crossed Big Blue river, and became the first actual settlers in Shelby county.
THE FIRST CABIN HOME.
Here in the wilds of a "green glad solitude." Mr. Wilson and his party felled the trees, from a forest never before touched with the true steel of a woodman's ax, and with these trees made into suitable logs, erected the first log house. It was sixteen feet square, had a slab or puncheon floor and a stick and clay chimney. The location of this rude but very useful cabin was on section 16. Marion township. about three hundred yards from where later stood the better made house of 'Squire Wells.
After the cabin was under roof, Mr. Wilson left his sons to complete the structure, while he returned home and brought his first load of goods. He remained a few days, was much pleased at his future home prospects and returned home again, arriving late in December, 1818. New Year's day, 1819. the father, mother, Isaac H. (then a boy of but twelve years of age) four little sisters, and the baby boy, bade farewell to the scenes of Franklin county and started on their joyous journey to the home just being established in Shelby county. The sons, William, Jonathan and Wesley, having been hard at work in the meantime getting the cabin ready for real winter quarters for the family. \ deep snow had fallen and severe was the day. The creeks were frozen over, which enabled them to cross on the ice, until they reached Flat Rock river, where the wheels broke through the none too thick ice. After some delay. the load was safely landed on the right side of the stream, but being thus belated. they did not reach the new home in the forests of Shelby county until ten o'clock at night of the third day after starting out. The three men, grown sons, had been expecting them and had been thoughtful in that they had killed and had roasting a fine venison, which was steaming and sending forth its savory smells to greet and tempt the hungry new-
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comers. And who shall say, that there in the glaring light of that rude fire- place within a newly built cabin, there was not a royal meeting and a happy family, though poor in this world's actual possessions? This is the story of the coming of the first family of white persons to Shelby county. Vast the changes since that cold winter night in January. 1819.
Not content to be in a wilderness alone with his family. Mr. Wilson in- duced his friend and trusty neighbor. Bennett Michael, of Fairfield. Franklin county, who was by trade a shoemaker, but not a successful business man. to pull up there and cast his lot in this county. He provided this shoemaker with a small cabin, situated near that of his own. Thus we have traced the coming and settlement of two, the first two, settlers in this county. To enumerate all who came in soon, is not possible at this late date in the history of the county, now almost a century old. There are, however, records in earlier histories of this county, taken from reliable sources, including the entries of the land offices, to show the names of quite a goodly number of the pioneer band which commenced home-building in the county.
In the spring of 1820 Benjamin Kaster. John Foreman, John Smith and Henry Fishel, with families all located on the school section in Marion town- ship. as now known. A list of those who made subsequent settlements in Marion will be found elsewhere, in connection with "First Events" in the county.
Immediately after the signing of the Indian treaty, the government had this land surveyed out. The parties who executed such work in Shelby county. were as follows: W. B. Laughlin, completed his survey July 23. 1819: A. Wallace, July 23. 1819: B. Bently, May 31, 1819: Abraham Lee, July 22. ISI9: John Hendricks, April 20, 1820.
The land office at Brookville was opened for the sale of lands the first Monday in October, 1820, and almost instantly settlements were made throughout the entire county.
By some it is affirmed that a settlement was effected in what is now Hanover township. as early as the latter part of 1819, by Joseph Hewitt and Firman Smith. The Yankee settlement at Freeport was among the most prosperous of the early settlements.
In Addison township the first settlement was effected in the northwestern corner and was many years styled "Wray's Settlement." The pioneers in that section of the county were. Rev. James Wray, Isaac and James Templeton. Samuel and Jolin Nail. Zeboniah Stubbs. James Montgomery. Zebedee and Barnabas Wray. all natives of North Carolina. In and about Shelbyville, the Hendrickses, Goodriches, Walkers. Davissons, Mayhews. Wingates and Wil- liams, with others whose naines have been mentioned in the various chapters of this work.
In Jackson township. the "Haw Patch Settlement." three miles to the
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northeast of Edinburg, was one of the earliest made in Shelby county. Many of the early-day citizens of this township became prominent in the affairs of the county. Among one of the earliest to locate there was Col. Hiram .All- dredge, who was appointed by the County Board of Commissioners, at their first term in 1882. to the office of County Clerk. He faithfully attended to the manifold duties of this office until his death in the thirties. Other promi- nent men of Jackson township were. Judge Joseph Dawson, the Rev. James Clark, Moses Pruitt. Judge Joshua B. Lucas, Zachariah Collins, Rev. Alfred Phelps. Ivory H. Leggett, Dr. Benjamin Sanders. John Cutsinger. Jacob Wirtz. David and Jesse Scott, Abner Connor, John and George Warner and Dr. A. J. Treon.
In the southeastern part of Shelby county there were few, if any, squat- ters on land, but soon after the survey had been completed Alexander Vanpelt came with his family and settled at the mouth of Con's creek, in what later was known as Noble township. Others who came about the same date were: Arthur Major. Isaac Avery. Joshua and Daniel Williams, William Major. Mathias Floyd, John and Anderson Winterrowd, Peter Bailey and Jonathan Paul. The last named was a conspicuous figure in the settlement of both Shelby and Decatur counties.
During the year 1821, the settlers came into the county so rapidly that it is not possible to give them in the order in which they made settlement in various parts of the county.
LAND ENTRIES.
The land-office was opened at Brookville, in the month of October. 1820. and during the next three months, or thereabouts, the following entries of land were made to settlers :
Township Eleven, Range 5-Jesse Scott. John Collins Archibald Gordon. Jesse Cole, Merry McGuire. Joseph Dawson, C. C. Tires. George Graham, John A. Wilson, William Slayback, Moses Pruitt. Henry Warmen, John Priest, David Jolison. David Scott. Isaac Wilson. Thomas Gwynn.
Township Eleven, Range 6-James McCoy. Arthur Major. Samuel Ward. Joseph Reice. Lewis Drake. Amon Betts, William Campbell. Jeremiah Long. Alexander Vanpelt. Abraham Lee, Aaron Atherton. Augulla Cross. Samuel Walker, Moses Wiley. Ithamer Drake. Job Moore, William Powers. Amos Higgins, Daniel Hock. James Record. Martin Cheney, Leonard Cutler, Adam Sceny, Willis Tow, David Garard, Benjamin Ensley. Harvey Brown, Charles Collett. Judah Tingle. John Varard, James Campbell. James Thomp- scn. J. D. Conrey.
Township Tecele, Range 6-Peter Andrews, Charles Hubbard. Hugh Campbell. Nathan Simpson, John Fancher. Ed. Toner. Jerre Campbell, James Wood.
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CHADWICK'S HISTORY OF SHELBY CO., IND.
Township Thirteen, Range 6-William Creddy. S. G. Huntington, James Johnson, Joseph Roll, Matthew Campbell.
Township Eleven, Range 7-Isaac Avery. George Palmer, D. Jewett.
Township Thirteen, Range 7-Jacob Fox. Jane Sleeth, William Sleeth, William Fouts. David Fisher. Benjamin Williams. James Williams, James Greer. Thomas B. Brown, A. Wallace, S. Lewis. Thomas Harvey, John N. Cobert. John Walker, Henry Bass. Calvin Kinsley, James Davison, William Goodrich, John Lane, Thomas Porter, J. II. and James Young, John Van Buskirk.
Township Fourteen, Range 7-Resin Davis. E. Encas. Joseph Hewitt. Joshua Wilson, Richard Tyner, James Griffin, William Johnson, P. Kitchell, Eleazer Busham, S. M. Cole, Benjamin Cole, Nathan Davis.
Township Eleven, Range &-George Salery.
CHARACTER OF EARLY SETTLERS.
Having recounted the chief incidents connected with the various settle- ments made within this county, let us linger a moment and view what can now be learned, after so long a period of years, concerning the real traits of the pioncer characters of those whose offsprings still inhabit and make to blossom like the rose. this goodly heritage.
In the settlement of all new countries, there are several elements entering into the make-up of the community. For example, there is always found that class of roving men and women, who come, remain a few months or possibly years : hunt, fish, trap and set a bad influence to others and then move on to new fields, where they repeat the same nomadic life, only to be appreciated by the better classes when they have forever forsaken the country. Then there has always been the professional speculator who comes in with a sound of trumpets and flourishes many maps, many propositions to the honest toiler. He plats towns, builds mills and factories and establishes highways, etc .- but only in his mind --- he in fact accomplishes nothing of intrinsic value in the com- munity. The real county builders are the men, and women. too, who have the laudable ambitions of life and look to the building of permanent homes, where they may rear and educate their children and at last be buried as honorable and praiseworthy citizens, ever aiming at the right and law-abiding principles of the commonwealth in which they live.
Not a few of the worthless, shiftless class before named. found their way to the bounds of early-day Shelby county. This will, in a great measure, ac- count for the large number of cases of assault and battery that figured in the courts of this county in the first few years, or possibly decades, in the county's settlement. Yet, those days were remarkably free from real capital crimes.
Churches and schools were soon established by Shelby county pioneers.
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Upon the weighty authority of none other than the Hon. Barnabas C. Hobbs. 1.1 .. D., it may be stated in his language: "These people were high- tomned and patriotic, and had great regard for law and order. It was not safe for any man to swear profanely when in the presence of any authority that could impose a fine. Men had to obey for wrath if not for conscience. There was a strong repugnance to immorality generally, however much the people might have been deficient in general culture or learning. They were intensely but sincerely sectarian in their religious views. It was at an age of brave men. being soon after the great War of 1812-14. Though religious they were men of honor, and ever held themselves in readiness to vindicate their honor by hard knocks when they thought it necessary."
Little remains to be added that can be said to be historic concerning this people. The early, true and actual settlers of Shelby county were men and women of industrious habits, content with small gains and pleasunes not too dearly paid for. In brief these people who first set foot on this soil were not the type who could create the materials for a real stirring history. But in the language of another, "Happy is the country whose annals are a blank."
EARLY DAY STRUGGLES.
To fully know of the pioneer hardships endured by the real builders of this one of Indiana's banner counties one must needs view the domain that it embraces as seen in the years of its first settlement. Hence. let us pull away the screen that divides the early past from the prosperous present and gain a better understanding of the premises, as they then existed.
This was not an inviting prairie-land, such as enchanted the pioneer band in the settlement of Illinois, Iowa and other true prairie countries. No-this was an unbroken boundless, almost impenetrable woodland. where the kings of the great forest had held sway many centuries. The people who came here Were mostly from Ohic. Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Virginia and Kentucky. They were nearly, if not all. poor and usually, after entering and paying the general government its price for an eighty-acre tract of land, had not one dollar left to begin the improvement on the same. Onoting the eloquent language of another-an eye witness, who has long since been numbered with the honored. but departed dead of the county, who said: "Without money, and without the assistance which money always brings, they had come here to make war upon Nature in one of the most forbidding forms. Where now we may see broad fields and wide pastures of open woodland, then the thickly standing oak, the poplar. the beech, the maple, and the ash stood closely intertwining their limbs. When clothed in their summer verdure. a shade so deep and dark was produced as to shut out the sun from May to October. From the damp carth below sprang a growth of underbrush, so dense that it presented in many places an
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