Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana : Historical and biographical., Part 63

Author: Blanchard, Charles, 1830-1903, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : F.A. Battey & Co.
Number of Pages: 982

USA > Indiana > Clay County > Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana : Historical and biographical. > Part 63
USA > Indiana > Owen County > Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana : Historical and biographical. > Part 63

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).

SEAT OF JUSTICE.

The people now began to talk about a county organization, and the location of a county seat of justice. The Dunn settlement was the most numerous of any in the county, but other places were talking county seat, and the matter had to be got into shape. A petition was circulated and signed by the citizens, praying the State Legislature to organize their county, and locate their permanent seat of justice. John Dunn was the messenger chosen by the people to bear their petition and pre sent it to the State Legislature, then in session at Corydon, Harrison County, which place was then the capital of the State. He started on his journey, while the people impatiently awaited his return. He re- turned at night. Before daylight next morning, he arose and went to report the result of his mission to Daniel Beem and family, who were deeply

562

HISTORY OF OWEN COUNTY.

interested. His cabin was at the foot of the "Narrows " above Spencer, and he went across what is now Spencer, then an unbroken forest, to the Beem cabin on the mound, as before described, now in the Riverside Cemetery. The Beem family were all asleep, and Grandfather Dunn fired off his rifle, standing just beside the "cat and clay " chimney of the Beem cabin. That sound always started these old stout-hearted pioneers into wide-awake fighting trim from the soundest sleep. Instead, how- ever, of the war-whoops and scalping-knife of the murderous savage, Uncle Daniel Beem met the outstretched hand of their messenger to the State capital, who bore the joyful news that the State Legislature had granted their prayer, and that their county would soon be organized. The Commissioners appointed were Gen. John Milroy, John Allen, John Engle, William Bruce and Toussant Dubois. Their location of the county seat was on the John Dunn land in the bend of the river, south of the narrows, where the storage houses of the Spencer Ice Company now stand-one hundred acres on the west side of the river, and fifty acres on the east side of the river, and the name chosen for the town was Lancaster. From some difficulty, or misunderstanding, the land was deeded for the proposed county seat by John Dunn, and a new location had to be made. The Commissioners for the second Jocation were John Tipton, James Ward and Patrick Callan. They reported at a special session of the County Commissioners, at the house of John Dunn, on the 12th day of February, 1820. These Commissioners had accepted a do- nation of 702 acres from Richard Beem, 212 acres from Isaiah Cooper, 10 acres from Philip Hart, and 30 acres across the river, from John Bar- tholomew, 132 acres in all, which was accepted by the County Commis- sioners and the permanent seat of justice was so located.

ORIGIN OF NAMES.

The county had been named "Owen " in memory of Maj. Abraham Owen, a gallant Kentucky officer who was killed at the battle of Tippe- canoe. When the question of a name for the county seat came up, on motion of Capt. John Johnson, late of Freedom, the new county seat was named "Spencer" in memory of a Capt. Spencer, who was another brave soldier of Kentucky, and was also killed at the battle of Tippecanoe. It is said the suggestion for this name came from Gen. Tipton, who was present and was a great friend of Capt. Spencer.

EARLY EVENTS.

The first wedding in the county was a double one. James Bigger and Thomas Allen married on the same day two of Philip Hart's daugh- ters, by virtue of a marriage license obtained at Vincennes, this ter- ritory being in the jurisdiction of Knox County, but I have not been able to ascertain the date.

The next wedding, as is supposed, was of a young man by the name of Joseph Pinkard and a girl who lived in the family of John Mitchell, in the neighborhood of where Zebedee Parish now lives in the township of Montgomery. Joe lived with John Hudson on the Zebedee Parish farm. The couple were engaged, the morning of the wedding-day ar- rived, but Joe had no shoes. There were no stores to go to in those days for supplies, and Joe was in a bad fix. John Hudson had some leather of his own tanning of the natural tan color not blacked. The cows had wandered away in the range and had failed to come up at.

563

HISTORY OF OWEN COUNTY.

milking time the night before, and at breakfast had failed to put in their appearance, so John Hudson proposed that if Joe would go hunt and bring home the cows he would make him a pair of shoes by the time set for the wedding. Joe was only too glad of such a bargain. He mounted the old mare and started to hunt for the cows. Noon was the hour set for the wedding. Noon came, but Joe came not. It was a cloudy day, no guiding sun was to be seen, and Joe was undoubtedly lost in the woods. Mr. Hudson sent Ninian Steele over to Mitchell's to explain to the ex- pectant bride why her lover was absent. The poor girl was much dis- tressed; the country was full of Indians, who, though apparently friend- ly, were known to be treacherous; the woods were full of wild animals; bears and panthers were often seen, and who could tell what had befallen her lover? We may imagine Joe's feelings, poor fellow, as the time passed away and he at last realized that he was lost. No one unless he has experienced it can tell the feelings of a man lost in the woods; the utter helplessness and bewilderment which comes over a man at such a time is indescribable. So Joe now felt. The hour of his long-expected happiness had arrived, and now when at this blessed moment he should have held his happy bride in his arms, he was hopelessly lost in the woods, and she-oh, what was she doing? He rode this way and that, seeking to find his way out of the trackless forest. With no sun to guide him, he wandered further away from home and love, when a happy thought struck him. Perhaps if he turned the old mare loose she had sense enough to go home by herself. In the almost desperate hope that. she would lead him to home and happiness, he turned her loose. The old mare finding herself at liberty, turned around and started off in a direction opposite to the one Joe had been guiding her; she started off leisurely through the woods, Joe following. She traveled along very nicely for a little while, until hearing some noise in the woods which startled her, she set off in a gallop and Joe after her in a dead run. Through bushes and briers, over logs and brush, on he ran. It was a "ground-hog case." If he lost sight of the mare, he was a " goner." He ran a good race-he was running in a good cause. The old mare was nearly out of sight; he had run so long that his breath came in great sobs. He was just about to fall from exhaustion, when the clearing opened up to his despairing eyes and Joe was found. But, sad to relate, in his frantic haste to get " out of the wilderness," he had lost his only hat. When he got to the house, the shoes were finished and ready. One ex- tremity was covered, but the other was bare. He had as well gone to meet his bride in the morning bare-footed, as now bare-headed. Young Ninian Steele took pity on him, loaned Joe his Sunday hat, he wearing his old one to this, the first wedding he ever attended.

The first wedding recorded in the old marriage record, No 1, of the county, is of Pitman Chance to Nancy Hicks, October 4, 1819, the cere- mony performed by Jacob McIntire. Justice of the Peace.

The first white child born in Owen County was John R. K. Dunn, son of John and Margaret Dunn. He was born December 12, 1817.

The first sermon preached in the county was by Hugh Barnes, a Meth- odist preacher, at the house of John Hudson, in 1818. The first ferry boat on White River was built and operated by John Dunn in March, 1818, and the first persons ferried over in the new boat were the Goss family, then on their way to settle at what is now Gosport. The county was organized in 1818, by act of the State Legislature, and the first court

564

HISTORY OF OWEN COUNTY.

was held at the house of John Dunn on the 1st of March, 1818, Hon. Amory Kinney, President Judge; Hugh Barns and Joseph Freeland, As- sociate Judges; John R. Freeland, Clerk; Andrew Evans, Sheriff; John F. Ross, Prosecutor for the State; John Mitchell, Thomas McNaught and John Milner were the first County Commissioners; John Bartholo- mew was the first County Treasurer. There were three townships in the county only, at first organization, namely: Washington, Franklin and Montgomery, and the western boundary line of Owen was the eastern boundary of Vigo County.

The first taxes levied were in 1819, as follows:

FOR STATE PURPOSES.

On first-rate lands, $1 on each 100 acres. On second-rate lands, 87} cents on each 100 acres. On third-rate lands, 62} cents on each 100 acres. And on bond servants, $3.

FOR COUNTY PURPOSES.

On first-rate lands, 50 cents on each 100 acres. On second-rate lands, 432 cents on each 100 acres. On third-rate lands, 31} cents on each 100 acres. And on horses, 37} cents per head.

EARLY OFFICERS.

The bond of the first Treasurer, John Bartholomew, was $20,000, with John Hudson, Philip Hart, Isaiah Cooper, John McNaught, Robert McNaught, Hugh Barns, Adam Brenton, David Johnson, Joseph Free- land, Jacob McIntire, James Bigger, George McHenry, Thomas Allen and William Baker as his sureties. Elections were ordered to be held for 1819, at the houses of John Dunn, in Washington Township; Moses Hicks, in Franklin Township, and John Hudson, in Montgomery Town- ship. Samuel Fain was appointed County Agent for the year 1819, with a $20,000 bond signed by Jesse Evans, David Fain, Hugh Barns, William Alexander. Joseph Freeland, John Freeland, David Lukenbill, Philip Hart, John Hudson and David Johnson as his sureties. An election for Justices of the Peace was ordered to be held on the last Saturday in April, 1819 -for one Justice of the Peace in each township. In May the following persons were appointed to serve as the first grand jury in Owen County, namely: Adam Brenton, Richard Morris, James Atha, John Latta, David Lukenbill, Jacob McIntire, David Fain, Isaiah Cooper, Benjamin Croy, Abner Alexander, Elijah Chambers, Richard Kirby, Robert Patterson, David Thomas, James Bigger, Alexander McBride, William Anderson, John McNaught, Robert McNaught, Thomas Bull, John Parroshaw, Will- iam Baker, Joseph Skidmore, Luke Vaughn, Jesse Evans, Moses Hicks, James Pugh, Caleb Stansberry, Peter Zeal, John Dunn, John Johnson, John Hudson, Samuel Fain, Thomas Allen and John Bartholomew, thirty- five men good and true. At the same time there was appointed the fol- lowing-named traverse jury, to wit: William Alexander, William Latta, Cassius Edwards, Daniel Harris, Berry Jones, Daniel Hall, Samuel Hicks, Daniel Beem, Thomas Bush, Joshua Mathena, John Hasket, Hugh Ends- ley, William McDaniel, William W. Cooper, William Lindsay, Owen Roach, James Steele, Thomas Harvey, Samuel Risley, John Gregory, Thomas Smith and Obadiah Turpin, twenty-two men good and true, mak- ing a total of fifty-seven men for the grand and traverse juries. These jurors were paid 75 cents per day each. James Galletly

565

HISTORY OF OWEN COUNTY.

was allowed $8.50 for surveying the town of Lancaster, Daniel Harris and Abner Alexander $2.50 each for carrying the surveyor's chain, and David Johnson for marking boundaries of the same. Samuel Fain was allowed $20 for his services as County Agent for the year ending September, 1819. For an officer who had to give a $20,000 bond, this salary of $20 per year looks very small. Robert D. Milner and Thomas McNaught had been elected County Commissioners, and resigned their offices; John Johnson, James A. Steele and Jesse Evans were appointed to fill their places until the next general election. It has been said that a certain class of politicians " seldom die and never resign." The above action shows that some of our fathers at least were not of that class. John R. Freeland, the County Clerk, was allowed $25 for his services as Clerk of the county for one year. If that was all the Clerk's office was worth per year now, there would not be such a fight for it as now occurs every four years. William Alexander was the first Lister (what we now call Assessor) of the county, and was allowed $20 for services in 1819. Andrew Evans, Sheriff, was allowed $22 for his serv- ices for 1819.

ACTS OF THE COUNTY BOARD.

The County Board ordered the construction of a temporary court house on the following plan: " A double log house, one room to be 20 feet square, the other 16x20, with a passage between of 12 feet, all to be covered under one roof, the logs to face 8 to 12 inches, the story 10 feet high, foundation to be raised 6 inches above the ground on rock, to be covered with a good clapboard roof, a puncheon floor to be laid in each, each room to be chinked and daubed on the outside. One door and one window in each room, the shutters to be made of plank and hung on iron hinges." That iron hinge specification was the beginning of extrava- gance in public buildings. The hinges to the doors of the settlers them - selves were all of wood, and fastened with a wooden latch or a pin which fitted into an auger-hole bored at a proper place to receive the pin, to secure the closing of the door. The house was to be finished on the fol- lowing May, which would be May, 1820. This house was located on Lot No. 98 in Spencer, and was the first house built in Spencer. One room of the old court house is still standing there. It has been weather. boarded over the logs, and has been a residence for many years.

At the same session, John Dunn was appointed County Treasurer. The first Supervisors of Roads were now appointed. There had been no regularly laid out road, only roads of convenience, running anywhere and in any way, were mere paths through the woods. Several roads were located at this first term of the Commissioners' Court. The roads were to be chopped out and opened sufficiently for the free passage of four- wheeled wagons. The first Supervisor appointed was William P. Ander- son, of the road leading from Spencer down the river to the township line, dividing Townships 9 and 10. The hands allotted to him were Robert D. Milner, Richard Kirby, John Moore, Joseph Rhoades, William W. Cooper and Isaiah Cooper. Moses Hicks was Supervisor of the road from the line dividing Townships 9 and 10, on down the river to Section 16. The hands allotted to him were John Latta, William Latta, James Pugh, Christopher Wyatt, Thomas and Richard Bush. Sam- uel and Joseph Hicks, Joseph and William Britton, Cassius Edwards, James Gregory, Thomas Harvey and James Bigger.

566

HISTORY OF OWEN COUNTY.

Samuel Jackson was Supervisor of all the road below the line of Section 16 to the line between Greene and Owen Counties, and all the hands below Section 16 were allotted to work under him. John Dunn, Philip Hart and John Bartholomew located the road from Dunn's Ferry toward Terre Haute to the county line. David Johnson was ap- pointed Supervisor, with the following hands to work under him: Arthur Johnson, Enoch Beem, Adam Lamb, John Foster, Jesse Evans, Andrew Evans, Philip Hart. James Galletly, Daniel Mull, John Van Camp, Samuel Van Camp, John Dunn, Eli Tarbutton, Michael Smith, Thomas F. Johnson, William S. Boalds, Reuben McDaniel and all others in the bounds of the neighborhood. It was ordered by the board that this road toward Terre Haute should be opened from ten to fifteen feet wide, and in all respects passable for wagons. A public well was ordered to be dug of a sufficient depth to afford plenty of water; to be well walled with stone; to be provided with a sweep, and a bucket with iron bands.

At the May season, 1820, Eel River Township was organized, bound- aries fixed and election ordered to be held at the house of Samuel Risley. Adam Lamb was allowed $51.35 for building the temporary court house before mentioned. This could not have been so imposing a structure as the million and a half court house of our neighbors in Marion County; but our early settlers, doubtless, felt very proud of it when they had it ready for occupation by their courts, and their Judges of that day pre- sided over their courts with as much or more dignity than our neighbors' Judges above named preside, under the shadow of their gilded goddesses of justice, blindfolded with a golden band over their eyes, and holding aloft the scales of justice in a gilded hand.

John Dunn was allowed $9.873 cents for whisky, furnished the county on the day of the sale of town lots, in the town of Spencer. The spirited bidding must have made our fathers thirsty. At the special session held August 11, 1820, it was ordered by the board that a jail of the following dimensions be built on the public square, to be 18 x36 feet; the timber to be of oak, black walnut, locust and coffee-nut; the logs to be hewn one foot square for walls, floors and ceilings. My first recol- lection of this old jail dates back a good many years. Many who are yet living well remember John Foster. " John the Rauncher" he called himself. He was a noted character. a man of naturally a fine mind; he had read a great deal and had a most wonderful memory, but unfortu- nately for himself, he loved whisky; he got drunk every time he came to town. When drunk he would preach, pray and recite chapter after chapter from the Bible; being entirely peaceable and harmless, he was never mo- lested by any one, but he always had an attentive audience in " us boys." One day, however, his friends concluded that if he should be put in jail it might shame him into sobriety. Accordingly an officer arrested him, and after trial before the Justice for drunkenness, he was put in jail. I was a little boy, then, and we boys all followed John to the jail. He was put inside, the door locked, and the officials left him. We boys, however, could not leave him; we peeped through the cracks between the logs at him. He sat on the floor with his back to the partition wall and facing toward us; his hands were locked around his knees, his head bowed down upon his arms; he was a picture of the most abject misery. He said, finally, " Raunch, are you in jail ?" Repeating the question until the sense of his deep disgrace became unbearable, he raised his head from his knees, spread his hands high above his head, turned his face upward and in

567

HISTORY OF OWEN COUNTY.

tones of the most agonizing supplication cried out: "Oh, Lord God of the Rechabites, out of the belly of hell I cry." His countenance ex- pressed the most perfect picture of deep disgrace and earnest supplication I ever saw. The experiment was a failure. It did not stop Johu from drinking.

At the regular session, August 14, 1820, the first tax for road pur- poses was levied as follows:

On first rate land. .$1.50 on each 100 acres.

On second rate land. .$1.30 on each 100 acres.

On third rate land. 934 cents on each 100 acres.

At the November term, 1820, it was considered by the board that the allowance made John F. Ross by the Circuit Court for services as public prosecutor was exorbitant ($75 being the allowance made), therefore it was ordered that he be allowed $30 for said services. The sturdy pio- neers had not yet learned how lawyers charged for their valuable services. Hugh Barns was allowed $18 and Joseph Freeland $10 for services as Judges of the Circuit Court. These men were Associate Judges, and while court was in session, sat one on each side of the Presiding Judge. In rendering decisions, the Presiding Judge would consult first one and then the other of the Associate Judges, and then announce the decision of the court. As the Associates usually agreed with their Presiding Judge, the lawyers used to say they had 100 Judges-a one and two naughts. Philip Hedges was ordered to purchase a table and to prepare benches sufficient for the court and jurors; also a desk and book-case for the clerk. At the February term, 1821, of the Commissioners' Court, Morgan Township was organized and elections ordered to be held at the house of John Latham, Jacob McIntire, Inspector. Philip Hart was ap- pointed County Treasurer for 1821. At this session it was ordered that the timber on the public square in Spencer be cleared off; all trees under six inches in diameter to be grubbed out, and all above six inches to be cut not more than six inches above the ground; brush, chips, chunks, etc., all to be cleared off, and all the timber falling out to be cleared up, and the whole square to be made clear of timber. Philip Hedges received the job, and cleared it all off for $25. This was done sixty-two years ago. We who now live in Spencer would gladly pay $1,000 to have that same timber standing now in the court house yard. One quarter of an acre for the jail, and fifty feet square for an estray pen was ordered to be cleared off by the 1st of April following. The tax levy for 1821 was on town lots 372 cents on each $100 value; poll tax, 31} cents; 184 cents per head on work oxen, and 373 cents per head on horses. The County Agent was ordered to bring suit against Adam Lamb for failing to build the temporary court house according to contract. The ferry at the foot of Marion street was established at this session. Lewis Noel was the con- tractor to build the new jail, and at this term received his first county or- der in payment for $44.93. At the August term, Noel was allowed $339.60 for building the jail. At the November term, Levi Beem was allowed $2 for guarding James and Robert Robertson one day. As it was now growing cold, Daniel Harris was appointed to build a chimney to the new court house. It was directed to be built of " cat and clay;" the fire-place to be eight feet wide, back and jambs to be of rock as high as the mantel. The expenditures of the county was this year advertised in three of the most public places in the county, but the old records fail to state the amount. At the February term, 1822, Thomas Allen was al-

568

HISTORY OF OWEN COUNTY.

lowed $7.59 for whisky furnished the county at the second sale of lots in the town of Spencer. It seems that whisky was an absolute necessity at the sale of lots in the new county seat of justice. These old records are interesting, but I must pass over many of them. The new brick court house (the one still standing and in use by our courts and county officers) was built in 1825 by Philip Hart, contractor. Anderson B. Mills and Findley B. Johnson are, perhaps, the only persons now living who worked on the construction of this building-Mr. Johnson as a carpen- ter, and Uncle Anderson carrying brick, finishing the second story. Joe Witham, Elisha Mills, William Edwards and Anderson B. Mills attended the masons, carrying to them the brick and mortar. Uncle Anderson and John Hicks, who lived near Freedom, Owen County (lately deceased), were the only men of many who tried to and could carry (or " tote ") fifty bricks to the top of the building at one load. In those days when men were respected according to their strength and endurance, this was a feat to be proud of.

Philip Hedges kept tavern on the corner where Dr. Schell's brick block now stands. His sign of Gen. Jackson in full regimentals, painted with the bluest of blue, and the "yallerest of yaller," was a "thing of beauty and a joy forever," to the proud possessor. Anderson B. Mills says the first court he ever attended in Spencer (he has attended many since) just south of where the court house fence now stands, was under a large beech tree. The tree stood beside the first public well. Judge Wick was on the bench, and it was a bench too, not a fine cushioned chair with rollers under the legs, and a screw attachment underneath by which the Judge easily faces his chair in any direction without rising; but it was a veritable bench, a puncheon split out of a good oak log, hewed with the broad-ax, smoothed off with the drawing-knife, and round dog-wood legs inserted in two-inch auger holes. That was truly a Judge's "bench."

Craven P. Hester, then a young man, was prosecutor, and sent a man to State Prison for two years for stealing an ax. Axes were scarce and a very important part, in fact an indispensable part of a settler's outfit, and no doubt they made an "awful example " of this fellow. About this time there came out here from Virginia one George Thompson, a brother-in- law of A. B. Mills. George was a shoe-maker, and a good one, too, as well as an excellent man. He went to work at his trade in Spencer. Naturally he visited his sister, Mrs. Mills, who lived on the other side and down the river some five miles from Spencer. After one of these visits, as he was returning to Spencer, he saw along the path he was traveling, a "'possum " track in the snow. A Virginian was never known to miss a chance to catch a "'possum," so George followed up the track for some distance, until he found that the "'possum" had gone into a hole in a tree. The hole was of a pretty good size, so George thought he would look in and see where his "'possum " was. He put his head to the hole but it was not so large as it looked ; but he wanted that "'possum," so he pushed and worked until he got his head in; it was so neat a fit that but very little light could get in; he could not see very well; he looked up and down and twisted his head to look round to the side, when "yow-ow," went the " 'possum " right at the end of his nose. George flew back to get out, expecting every moment to feel the "'possum's " teeth in the end of his nose; but he couldn't get out; his ears pulled up against the edge of the hollow inside and held him fast. He pulled and twisted, but every time

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.

Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana : Historical and biographical., Part 63

Author: Blanchard, Charles, 1830-1903, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : F.A. Battey & Co. Number of Pages: 982

Author: Blanchard, Charles, 1830-1903, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : F.A. Battey & Co.
Number of Pages: 982