Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana : Historical and biographical., Part 8

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 8
USA > Indiana > Owen County > Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana : Historical and biographical. > Part 8

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

310 shares at $5 each, to run ten years from the 12th day of June following. The first election of permanent officers took place October 2: James M. Hoskins, President ; Jonathan Croasdale, Vice President ; P. F. Sharp, Sec- retary ; A. W. Turner, Treasurer ; Silvan Weaver, Superintendent ; and R. M. Wingate, John G. Ackelmire and W. H. Cordray, Executive Board. Under the auspices of this organization, fairs have been held annually in the months of August and September. The present officers of this society are Silvan Weaver, President ; William Cordray, Vice President ; D. W. Brattin, Secretary ; A. W. Turner, Treasurer ; A. J. Montgomery, Superin- tendent ; and James M. Hoskins, Jonathan Croasdale and William Jarboe, Executive Board.

Local fair associations have existed and given exhibitions in different townships, especially in the southern part of the county, due mostly to the lively interest and persistent work of Uncle Jack Biber, of Coffee. In 1857 and 1858, a series of township fairs were organized by the citizens of Lewis, Harrison and Perry Townships. For several years, exhibitions were held on the Baber farm, where grounds had been fitted up with some degree of permanency. On the 7th of September, 1859, Harrison Township held a fair at Middlebury. In 1882, A. J. Baber rented grounds on the Henry Cooprider place, adjoining Clay City, and held a fair of four days' duration, the last week in September. In August, 1883, the Harrison Township Agri- cultural Society was permanently organized by the election of William Gra- ber, President ; Eli Cooprider, Secretary ; Uri Cooprider, Treasurer ; and John S. Tipton, Superintendent. This organization leased permanently the grounds on the Cooprider place used the year previous, and held the first annual fair the first week in October.

EDUCATION.

Where and when the first school was taught, and the first schoolhouse built, is an unsettled question ; but, perhaps, the first house was put up on the present site of the town of Poland, in 1824 or 1825. Samuel Risley and Jared Peyton were the first teachers in the eastern part of the county ; Joe Wiles, Hugh Kane, Zachariah Denny and John Neal in the southern part ; Francis B. Yocum, Jacob Burk and Dr. Parsons in the northern part ; John D. Christie and George Rector in the western part, and David Lane, John Gibson and James McGuire in the central part. John D. Chris- tie was the first white child born on the site of the city of Terre Haute. The teaching in the early history of the county was done, usually, in cabins unoccupied as dwellings. The pioneer "rural college" was built of round poles, chinked and daubed, with one pole cut out on either side, and the space closed by the use of greased paper to admit the light. In one end was the door, and in the other, a spacious fire-place. The floor was of puncheons, and the seats were long benches made of split saplings, or of slabs, the bark side turned down and the split and splintered side exposed for seating accommodations.

HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

These houses were built, generally, by voluntary contributions of material and labor on the part of interested citizens in the respective communities. Under the statute of 1831, the finances and other features of the common school system were managed locally by the citizens of the several school dis- tricts. Having determined to build a house, each tax-payer within the limits of the district was required to work one day in each week until the house should be completed, or, instead, to pay an equivalent of 50 cents a day, that the labor might be employed. Teachers were employed by the districts on such terms as their services could be secured, making partial payment in such commodities as they would consent to receive. The Township Trustees were the Board of Examiners to certify the teacher's qualifications in reading, writing and arithmetic. The statute of 1843, which was to some extent an advance, provided for the more thorough and efficient organization of school districts, and conferred upon them the power to determine whether the tuition revenue apportioned should be used exclusively in payment of teachers, or partially employed in provid- ing grounds and houses. Under this statute, the teachers' qualifications were certified by a Board of County Examiners chosen by the Circuit Court. The names of those serving in this capacity during the ten years intervening between this date and the taking effect of the statutes under the new constitution cannot be given. Under the law of 1831, counties were authorized to elect School Commissioners to receive and disburse school funds, who served for a term of three years, which law was repealed about 1844, and the duties of the office made to devolve upon the County Treas- urer. The Commissioners for the county during this period were Eli An- derson, Thomas Harvey, T. West and Hale C. Conaway. As heretofore stated, an academy building was put up at Bowling Green in 1839. County academies were uniformly built throughout the State. This building was used for school purposes up to 1859, when the first frame schoolhouse was built at Bowling Green. About 1860, it was sold and converted into a dwelling house. Among the teachers who taught in the academy were John Williams, Hiram Wyatt, Nancy E. Waugh, Lizzie Waterhouse, William K. Houston, James M. Oliver, J. Hambleton, Dr. Dodge and George N. Beamer. The law of 1853, under the new constitution, provided for the appointment of a board of three School Examiners, who held for a term of three years. The first appointees were James M. Lucas, Enos Miles and Ebenezer C. Smith. Among their successors were Aaron S. Simonson, O. H. P. Ash, Jesse Purcell, James G. Miles and Carrie P. Doyle. In 1853, twenty-five teachers were licensed in the county. We clip the following from Examiner Smith's report to the State Department for that year :

" The county in which I reside has often been complimented with being one of the darkest corners of the State. If this is true, a few remarks from one living, as I do, in a retired part of this county (and, I suppose, one of the darkest parts of it), may be of some value as affording a better view of the ' shady side' than you would obtain from some other sources. In acting

HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

in the double capacity of Examiner and Township Trustee, I have found myself obliged to use, to its fullest extent, the liberal construction you gave to Section 9 of the school laws, in your instructions on page 58; and even then, it has been with some difficulty and considerable delay that our town- ship has been supplied with teachers. The law, however, on this point, in my opinion, is about right. The standard of popular education in our country is everywhere rising, and something should be done to elevate it in our State. And I do not see how this can be done without bringing up the standard of qualifications in teachers to the proper point. In endeavoring to make the law do its best, instead of refusing to license those whose qual- ifications were not such as were desirable, I have granted them in all cases seemingly admissible. But, at the same time, it has been my aim to be so thorough in all my examinations as to show the candidate wherein he was deficient, and give those who were rusty (as most of them were) a pretty fair hint to brighten up, and I have had the satisfaction of knowing that in some cases this course has had the desired effect. Tedious examinations have been much complained of, and the fear of such may have been one reason why I have had so few applicants. No license has been granted to any one who had not some knowledge of English grammar. There is great want of system in the mode of giving instruction in our schools in this part of the country. This should be attributed to the wretched condition of our houses and want of uniformity in books, rather than to want of capacity in teachers."

Ebenezer C. Smith was a scholar and graduate of one of the leading col- leges of New England. At the time of making this report, he resided in Perry Township, on the present Andy Nees place. In September, 1857, a joint-stock company was organized to build an academy at Brazil, and in March, 1859, a similar company was organized at Bowling Green, neither of which carried its purpose into practical execution. In March, 1861, an ad- vance step was taken in the legislation of the State effecting popular educa- tion, providing for the appointment of one School Examiner for each county to serve for three years, and enlarging the sphere of his duties and powers. At the June term of Commissioners' Court, 1861, Samuel Loveless, then teaching at Bowling Green, was chosen the first Examiner for the county under this statute. In June, 1864, he was succeeded by William Travis, of Center Point, who, having been legislated out of office by amendments to the statute at the next succeeding session, was re-appointed June, 1865. In June, 1868, he was succeeded by William H. Atkins, of Bowling Green. Three years later Mr. Travis was re-appointed, and was again legislated out of office at the session of 1873, when the County Superintendency law was enacted, providing for the election to be made by the Trustees. In June, 1873, Mr. Atkins was elected Superintendent. In June, 1875, he was suc- ceeded by Allen R. Julian, of Bowling Green, who was succeeded in 1877 by Preston B. Triplett, of Harmony. In 1879, Mr. Triplett was re- elected. In June, 1881, he was succeeded by John W. Stewart, of Brazil, who was re-elected

yours Respectfully 2. Wheeler

HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

in 1883, and is the present incumbent. In 1853, the total enumeration of school children for the county was 3,804, the total school fund apportioned for the county,. $2,280, and the total number of schoolhouses, forty-one. In 1868, fifteen years later, the enumeration was 5,866 ; the apportionment of school fund, $13,773.26, and the number of houses, ninety. In 1883, at the expiration of another fifteen years, the enumeration is, 9,227 ; the ap- portionment of school fund, $32,372, and the number of houses, 117. Thir- ty years ago the total valuation of school property in the county, real and personal, did not aggregate $5,000, while at this date it is $119,769.

CHURCH SOCIETIES.

The first church society in the county was the Eel River Association of Pre- destinarian Baptists, organized as early as 1825, if not prior to this date. The families composing it were the Chances, Peytons, Andersons, Dyars, Lathams and others. The first preaching was done at Purnell Chance's house, now the Wilkinson place, a mile and a half west of Poland. About 1828, this society built the first church house erected in the county, which was a hewn-log house about 20x24, with puncheon floor and two fire-places, located on the Chance place already named. Jared Peyton was the leading spirit in this movement. As the whole neighborhood of pioneers joined in the building, the house was open to all denominations. The first Regular Baptist minister at this place was a Mr. Arthur, from Owen County. Oatman and Applegate, New-Light ministers from Putnam County, occupied the house also at a very early day. This denomination of Baptists now numbers a membership of about 200, comprising three societies, and having three church edifices, ag- gregating about $4,000 in value.

The Missionary Baptists organized two societies in the south part of the county at an early day-Good Hope Church, near Middlebury, about 1832, and Friendly Grove Church, in Lewis Township, a few years later. The for- mer society built the log house on the present James Moody place, about 1835, the first house of worship in the south half of the county. About 1839 or 1840, the foundation of Friendly Grove Church was laid on the Joseph Chambers place, one mile northwest of the present site. This location was afterward abandoned, and the foundation put down where the building now stands a year or two later, on Congress land, which the citizens afterward bought. The first house built was an eight-square log one. The first min- isters in these societies were Abraham Stark, his sons, Daniel and Stephen. This denomination now numbers a membership of about 300, comprising four societies, and having three houses, aggregating $2,500 in value.

The teachings of the United Brethren Church were first preached within the limits of the county by John McNamar, father of John McNamar, Esq., deceased, of Bowling Green, the pioneer representative minister of this de- nomination west of the Alleghanies, who came to Indiana prior to 1820, and resided near Jordan Village, Owen County, where he died and was buried. In 1841, the first organized congregation of this denomination was instituted at the Zenor Schoolhouse, on Birch Creek, in the central part of the county,

HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

under the ministration of Rev. John Featherhoff, who was succeeded by John and Ephraim Shuey, Amos Hedge and Dillon Bridges, Sr. Samuel Briley was the first preacher of this denomination south of the Old Hill, and as early as 1842 a society was organized at Uncle Jimmy Briley's, on the present Bruce Chambers place, near Coffee. The United Brethren in this county now number a membership of 1,400, comprising thirteen congregations, having ten church edifices aggregating $12,000 in value.

Probably the first preaching in the county by ministers of the Methodist Church was done at George Moss', in the central part of the county, as early as 1833, whose house was the home of the pioneer itinerants of this denomination. The first house built by this church in this part of the county was the log one on the Lash place, called Shiloh. In the south part of the county, the first Methodist class was instituted at John Edmonson's, in Lewis Township, about 1842. As early as 1831, a Methodist class was organized at Leven Woolen's, on the present Phillips' place, in Posey Township. Richard Har- graves was the first minister. A few years subsequent to this, a congrega- tion was organized near Croy's Creek, and a log church house built, called Wesley Chapel. This denomination is now the most numerous, the most generally diffused and the wealthiest in the county, having a member- ship of 1,500, and no fewer than twenty church buildings, their property aggregating in value not less than $30,000.

In 1833, the Cumberland Presbyterians, led by Joseph Alexander and John Thorlton, organized a society and built a shed 20x40 feet on the pres- ent Kress place, opposite the graveyard on the Sink farm, a mile southwest of Middlebury, where camp meetings were held annually for several years. Rev. McCord, of Rockville, was the recognized minister of this society. After the death of Alexander and Thorlton, this organization waned and dissolved. At this time there are four Presbyterian societies and houses, aggregating a membership of 350, and a total valuation of $20,000.

The Christian Church was instituted in the south part of the county in 1842, at the house of Elihu Puckett, on the Stager place, two and a half miles southwest of Coffee. The first officiating ministers in this society were William Brush and Richard Wright. We have no data relating to the early history of this church in other parts of the county, further than that Michael and Job Combs, David Lane and Jesse J. Burton were among the first ministers in the northern and central parts of the county. There are at this time as many as twelve societies of Christians in the county, number- ing a membership of 1,000, with as many church buildings, having a total value of $12,000.

The Roman Catholics have three organizations, with an estimated mem- bership of 1,200, and three houses, valued at $15,000.

There are two Congregational organizations and houses in the county, having a membership of 60, and a valuation of $5,000.

There are also five or six organized German Church societies within the county, each having a house of worship. These are Lutheran and Reformed, except one Methodist, or Albright.

HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

Any religious history of the county, however brief, would be incomplete without mention of the Mormons. As early as 1835, they began the work of proselytism here. In that year, on their way to the West, Sidney Rigdon preached from his tent on the National road, near the present site of Bra- zil. Following this, apostles of the faith began preaching to the people in different parts of the county. As early as 1836 or 1837, John Wietsch came into the vicinity of Middlebury, where he preached at intervals for several years, making a number of converts. Among those who left this lo- cality to join the church in the West were Fielding Lankford, Frederick Ott

and George W. Duncan. Ott and Duncan were ordained ministers.

Not

liking the surroundings after reaching Nauvoo, Duncan returned, and subse- quently organized the Church of the Saints, ordaining ministers in the same. It is due to the memory of Mr. Duncan to say that he was a man of more than average native ability. In the capacity of teacher, minister and Jus- tice of the Peace, he ranked high among his fellow-citizens. As a member of the General Assembly of 1857, he commanded general appreciation on the part of his fellow-legislators. In 1838 or 1839, a minister of this order, named Babbitt, came to Bowling Green and preached in the court house. Later, he was followed by another named Stannedge. Among their converts to the faith were Lee and Allen Biby, Joshua Hall, Mrs. Lane, the Sloans and others.

CIVIL TOWNSHIPS.

Originally, there were but three civil townships in the county-Wash- ington, Harrison and Perry, named, respectively, in honor of the first Presi- dent, the first Governor of the Indiana Territory, and the hero of the signal victory on Lake Erie. In 1828, Posey Township was organized out of Wash- ington and Perry, and named in honor of Thomas Posey, the last of the Territorial Governors. A few years later, perhaps 1832 or 1833, Jackson Township was organized out of Washington and Posey, including the pres- ent territory of Cass and Van Buren, and named from Andrew Jackson, then President of the United States. In 1837, or prior to 1840, Van Buren and Dick Johnson Townships, were organized and named in honor of the President and Vice President. Some time in the '40's, Lewis and Cass Townships were organized and named from Lewis Cass, then a prominent prospective candidate for the Presidency, who had passed through Clay County on his way to Terre Haute early in the '40's, many citizens of the county having flocked to the National road to see him and honor him with salutations. A little later, about the close of the Mexican war, Carrithers Township was organized out of Washington, Harrison, Perry and Lewis, and named in honor of Alexander Carrithers, an exemplary young man who was raised in that part of the county, and who was the only Clay Countian who lost his life in battle in the Mexican war. The organization of this town- ship was discontinued in 1853, and the territory divided out among the townships from which it had been taken. In 1854, Sugar Ridge Township

HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

was organized, embracing a part of the territory of the former Carrithers Township. This township, at the suggestion of C. W. Moss, was named from the high ridge passing through the central part of it, which had been named " the Sugar Ridge," by the earliest settlers; John J. Peyton suggest- ed the name Birch Creek. Brazil Township was organized out of Dick Johnson and Van Buren in 1868. This is given only approximately, or rather, as a compromise of the various recollections and conflicting state- ments made by those on whom the historian must rely for information.

POPULATION.

The population of the county in 1830 was 1,616; in 1840, 5,567; in 1850, 7,800; in 1860, 12,121; in 1870, 19,084; in 1880, 25,839. The ratio of in- crease from 1830 to 1840, was 244; from 1840 to 1850, 40; from 1850 to 1860, 57; from 1860 to 1870, 60; and from 1870 to 1880, 35 per cent.

HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

MILITARY RECORD OF CLAY COUNTY.

BY JACOB HERR.

CAUSES OF THE GREAT REBELLION.

T THE election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States in 1860, as the candidate of the Republican party, was received with every mark of dissatisfaction by the people of the Southern States. It was the climax of a great political controversy. All that reason, persuasion and peaceful arbitration could effect had been accomplished ; the differences re- mained unsettled, and now, what had formerly been but a political contest, was about to develop into a civil war. It was one of those supreme junct- ures that frequently occur in the affairs of nations, when peaceful methods had failed to effect a reconciliation of differences, and an appeal was about to be taken to the arbitration of arms. For many years previous to the war, the country had been divided upon a great question. That question had engrossed the attention of the best minds, had involved all the people, and the clamor of the opposing factions resounded over all the land and filled its legislative halls. The contest was between liberty and slavery. The question was : Should slavery be restricted in its territorial limits, confined to, and, for the time being, permitted in those States where it already existed, and be excluded from the new States and Territories ; or should it be pushed forward, and its boundaries enlarged until the institution should become lawful in all the States and Territories ?

Enough had been taught by previous experience to convince the people that the one must finally exterminate the other, and that one or the other must ultimately take universal and undisturbed possession of the land. The Republican party believed that the institution of slavery should be con- fined to the States where it already existed. Upon that doctrine the Republican party was founded ; upon that doctrine the campaign of 1860 was fought ; upon that doctrine Mr. Lincoln was elected President of the United States, and to the realization of that same doctrine he devoted the powers of his administration. His election was regarded as the final tri- umph of those principles against which the Southern people had been so long contending. The language of the Declaration of Independence, incor- porated in the platform upon which Lincoln had been elected, " that all men are created equal," was understood to embrace the colored people, and was regarded as a menace against slavery. That same platform denied the au- thority of Congress or a Territorial Legislature to give legal existence to slav- ery in any Territory of the United States.

HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

The question of the establishment of slavery in the Territories had been undergoing a test for some years in the case of Kansas. That Territory was under a federal Governor, appointed by a Democratic President, repre- senting and endeavoring to uphold the slave interest, and to procure the ad- mission of Kansas into the Union as a Slave State. The Territorial Legisla- ture had passed an act prohibiting slavery in the Territory. The federal Governor had vetoed the act. A similar controversy existed over the Ter- ritory of Nebraska, and had terminated in a similar manner. Both Terri- tories were asking admission into the Union as Free States, but as long as checked by the veto power of a federal Governor, devoted to the slave interest, there was no alternative except to remain beyond the pale of the Union or to come in as Slave States. The importance of the acquisition of these Territories to the slave oligarchy will be realized, when the enormous scope of territory embraced in them is taken into consideration.

For fifty years previous to the war, the slave question had been the chief source of agitation in American politics. Each year the question had grown in intensity, and it became more and more evident that a settlement of the matter would have to be reached in some form. It was evident that a crisis was approaching. It was plain to be seen that the state of things then ex- isting could not continue. One part of the Union was free, the other part slave. The two sections were hostile to one another, each jealous of its rights and determined to protect itself against any infringement upon the part of the other. It was evident that "the house was divided against it- self." Men of the most limited sagacity could see that this division could be reconciled only by the adoption of such a plan as would define the limits of slavery or abolish it altogether. It was necessary either to surround the institution with such restraints as would confine it to certain defined limits and prevent its establishment in the new Territories, or else to exterminate it alike in all the States and Territories where it already existed, and thus by tearing up the evil, root and branch, put the question at rest for all time to come. This prospect presented no agreeable alternative to the slave-holding people. To abolish their cherished institution they regarded as an infringe- ment upon their constitutional rights of property. To exclude its establish- ment in the new States would stunt its growth, and after lingering on through a period of gradual decline would result in its final extinction. The North and West, devoted to enterprise and freedom, would rush to so high a degree of prosperity that it would tower above and shadow and finally squeeze out the institution of slavery from the little territory to which its. existence had been confined. They resolved not to accept either alternative, except as the result of dire necessity and after every source of resistance had been exhausted. It was therefore with great alarm and high indigna- tion that the Southern people saw, in the election of Lincoln, the triumph of all those principles against which they had waged a political warfare, from generation to generation, almost since the days of the Revolution. And now an administration was soon to be inaugurated, hostile to the extension

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Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana : Historical and biographical., Part 8

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