USA > Indiana > Clay County > Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana : Historical and biographical. > Part 80
USA > Indiana > Owen County > Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana : Historical and biographical. > Part 80
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WAYNE TOWNSHIP.
were the only forms of bread used for many years. Every family, be- sides a garden for the few vegetables which they cultivated. had another small inclosure from one-half to an acre, which they called a truck patch, where were raised corn for roasting ears, pumpkins, beans, squashes and potatoes. These in the latter part of the summer and fall were cooked with their pork, venison and bear meat, and made wholesome and well- relished dishes.
The early society was fairly good, and the people eminently sociable, their community of wants making them helpful of one another, and at all log-rollings or house-raisings were representatives from every neigh- borhood for miles around. In giving a history of the state of mechanical arts as they were exercised at an early period of the settlement of the country, we shall present a people driven by necessity to perform works- of mechanical skill far beyond what a person enjoying all the advan- tages of civilization could expect from a population placed in such
straitened circumstances. The reader will naturally ask, Where were the mills for grinding grains ? Where were the tanners for making leather ? Where were the smith shops for making and repairing their farming utensils? Who were their carpenters, tailors, cabinet workmen, shoe- makers and weavers? The answer to these queries would be that such manufactories did not exist, nor had they any tradesmen who were pro- fessedly such. Every family were under the necessity of doing everything for themselves as best they could.
The hominy and block mills were in use in most of the early houses, and a machine still more simple was often used for making meal, while- the corn was too soft to be beaten, the common tin grater.
The hand mill was better than the mortar and grater. It was made of two circular stones, the lowest of which was called the bed stone, the upper one the runner. These were placed in a hoop, with a spout for discharging the meal. A staff was let into a hole in the upper surface of the runner near the outer edge, and its upper end through a hole in a board, fastened to a joist above, so that two persons could be employed in turning the mill at the same time. The grain was put into an open- ing in the runner by hand. These mills are still in use in Palestine, the ancient country of the Jews, and it was one of this sort our Savior alluded to when, with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, He said,. " two women shall be grinding at a mill, the one shall be taken and the other left." The first mill of this kind operated in Wayne Township was constructed by Abraham Littell, and used by the neighborhood for a number of years. The next mill of which we have any account was operated by horse-power, and stood about three miles northeast of Gos- port. It was built by Aaron McCarty, who manufactured the buhrs from native rock. The other machinery consisted of a bolting apparatus oper- ated by hand, and the mill house was a rude shed resting upon four forks driven into the ground. It was in operation about four years, and during that period was kept running almost constantly in order to sup- ply the large demand for breadstuffs. For a number of years every fam- ily tanned its own leather. The tan vat was a large trough sunk to the upper edge in the ground. A quantity of bark was easily obtained every spring in clearing and fencing land. This, after drying, was brought in, and on wet days was shaved and pounded on a block of wood with an ax or mallet. Ashes were used for taking off the hair, and bear's oil, hog's lard and tallow answered the place of fish oil. The leather, to be
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HISTORY OF OWEN COUNTY.
sure, was coarse, but it was substantially good. The operation of curry- ing was performed with a drawing-knife with its edge turned after the manner of a currying-knife, and the leather was blackened with a mixt- ure made of soot and hog's lard. In about the year 1823, a tannery on a more extensive scale was started by John Holmes in the northern part of the township. John M. Young engaged in the tannery business in an early day also, and operated a yard until 1831, at which time the en- terprise was moved to Gosport.
Another early industry of the township was a distillery operated by Isaac Brazier on his farm, a short distance north of the site of Gosport. Mr. Brazier engaged in the business of making "fire-water" about the year 1827, and early achieved the reputation of producing the best of whisky and peach brandy. His place was well patronized, as whisky was the common beverage at that time, and the settler's peaches and corn were distilled on the shares or exchanged for the "juice " at the rate 15 and 20 cents per gallon. The distillery ceased operations about the year 1831.
In 1820, the first wheat ever raised in the township was harvested by Mr. Goss, who hauled a part of his crop to Louisville, and sold it for 50 cents per bushel, taking a portion of his pay in merchandise. The remainder was generously divided among the sparse settlers, and the fol- lowing year a fair acreage was harvested. Mr. Goss planted the first orchard in the township in the fall of 1818, with small trees brought from Washington County, all of which were seedlings. Three years later, the orchard was bearing, and at the present time several of the old trees can be seen presenting a very aged and venerable appearance. Several other orchards were set out as early as the year 1821, and the township became noted many years ago as a fine fruit country. A profit- able industry of the early times was raising hogs, or obtaining possession of those that raised themselves, as the woods were overrun every year with vast numbers of these lank, savage brutes. They were hunted with dogs, and every farmer caught and marked as many of them as he could, after which his property was not molested. A law requiring each man's mark to be recorded with the proper county official was enacted as early as the year 1818, and upon the old register in the Recorder's office are found many quaint descriptions, such as the following, viz. :
" Abner Alexander, of Wayne Township, marks with a crop off the right ear and a hole in the left, March 1, Auno Domino 1819.
" John Treat marks with a swallow fork in the right, and a half crop in the under side of the left ear, October 6, Anno Domino 1819.
"Thomas Sandy marks with a crop and a slit in the left ear, and an underbit in the right, June 4, 1820."
In the fall of each year, the country would be visited by hog buyers, and a busy time was then experienced in collecting the porkers and preparing them for market. For a number of years, they were driven overland to Vincennes, Louisville and other places, but later they were converted into pork nearer home, and shipped on flat-boats to New Orleans.
EARLY EVENTS.
In the year 1819, the first marriage license ever issued in Owen County was filled out for Philip Hodge and Mary, daughter of Ephraim Goss, at whose residence the ceremony which made them oue was performed. The bridegroom is still living, being a resident of Morgan County at the present time.
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WAYNE TOWNSHIP.
Ephraim Goss, Jr., and his cousin, Sarah Goss, were married in the year 1823; and Elijah Bowen took Nancy Alexander "for better or worse" a little later. The first white person born within the present limits of Wayne was William, son of Jeremiah and Elizabeth Sandy, whose birth occurred in the latter part of 1818. Abigail Goss, daughter of Ephraim Goss, was probably the second person born in the township, her birth having occurred in 1819. A son was born in the family of a Mr. Dit- temore as early as 1824, and about the same time a number of juveniles were ushered into existence in various parts of the township.
The first place of burial in the township was the Old Union Grave- yard, and the first interment therein was a man by name of Clark, a resi- dent of Montgomery Township, whose death occurred about sixty- three years ago. Mrs. Hays died in an early day also, and was laid to rest at the same place. Abigail Goss died in 1824, and Daniel Goss and wife de- parted this life about the same time, and were buried in the family grave- yard on the old homestead.
Little Mount Cemetery, in the northern part of the township, was laid out in the year 1850, and the Gosport Cemetery, the principal place of interment at the present time, a few years later.
The second ferry at Gosport was kept by Ephraim Goss, and ran by his son-in-law, Benjamin Arnold, for a period of three or four years, at the end of which time it was purchased by John McKinney, who had charge of it about the same length of time. A Mr. Shirley afterward obtained possession of the business, which is conducted at the present time by Marion Shirley. James Beck ran a ferry a short distance above Gosport a number of years; it was discontinued in 1870, the time the bridge over the river was completed.
EDUCATIONAL.
Men have interested themselves in education ever since recorded time, and even before recorded time. The earliest traditions present only grown men seeking to educate themselves. Children, then, were left to grow, with only the restraints or training that society and home forced upon them, their education being left to their own exertions after they became men and women; and yet such schooling advanced all mankind -made civilization out of barbarism. The fundamental idea of all schools is to take care of the minds and morals of children, and train them up in the way they should go, assisted in the moral work by religion and the church. This being admitted, we have this light thrown upon the subject of progress made in intelligence and morals in the fifty years just passed. There has been as marked improvement in the number and quality of our present splendid and expensive church buildings as there has been in the schoolhouses in that time. So has the improvement in numbers and superiority of teachers kept equal pace with the progress of the age.
It has cost many thousands of dollars to erect and furnish the numer- ous school buildings of the county. From John Mitchell's pioneer school, taught in the old Union Church, to the elegant and elaborately furnished high school room where Prof. Lilly instructs the inquiring mind, is & long stride in education. This is no place to discuss the question of how to make better the common schools, even if it is of supreme importance. The schools are based upon the idea that all can and should become phi- losophers, with no difference among men except in degree of advancement.
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HISTORY OF OWEN COUNTY.
Whereas, the truth is, that the best and most difficult thing for society to do is to produce gentlemen. True it is that the home influence and training is where this precious commodity to society is mostly to come from, yet if the schools ever arrive at the point where they can, even in the smallest degree, supply to the children of homes that have it not, then will there be the commencement of the real school; then may the teacher, surrounded by his school family, like the proud mother of the Gracchi, exclaim, "Behold, my jewels." Schools were established in Wayne as early as 1825, although no houses were erected especially for school purposes until several years after that date. The old Union Church building, which stood a short distance from Gosport, was the first place in the township where schools were taught, and, from the most reliable authority, one John Mitchell appears to have been the first pedagogue. He was quite an old man at the time, and is remembered by one of his pupils now living as having slept during the part of the day, and during his naps the school was left to take care of itself. The second school at Union was taught by J. T. Moberly, and later a Mr. Young taught sev- eral terms at the same place. An old man by name of Anderson com- menced a school near Gosport in an early day, but was not allowed to complete his term on account of his dissipated habits. Prominent among the early teachers was Elder J. M. Mathes, who, unlike the majority of early instructors, "was a man of fine abilities, and brought with him to his work the advantages of a classical education. He was connected with the schools for a number of years, and did as much as if not more than any other man in the country toward arousing a feeling in favor of the cause of education.
The early school buildings throughout the country were made of logs, and but illy supplied with seats, desks, and the appliances necessary to competent teaching, but as a rule the teachers were conscientious, intel- ligent and energetic, and fully the equal of their fellow-teachers in the State. They were home missionaries, working for the good of humanity at from $8 to $30 per month, one-third public money and the other two- thirds to be made up by the patrons, and about fifty per cent of which was lost. As the township increased in population, the necessity for more school room increased correspondingly, and erelong the little cabins were replaced by more comfortable and substantial frame buildings. There are five good schoolhouses at the present time, in which terms from eighty to one hundred and eight days of the year are taught. The revenue for tuition for the year 1882-83 was $1,020.60. The last enumeration shows 192 children of proper school age in the township outside of Gos- port.
The teachers for 1832-83 were John S. Lingle, J. S. Evans, Lee Mc- Auley, John Brasier and Josiah Mccrary.
Trustees -The last Board of Trustees was composed of the following gentlemen, viz. : William Alexander, James Dagley and L. M. Hays, A. J. Hays being Clerk.
The following gentleman have filled the office since 1859, to wit: Al- fred Glover, James Hutchings, T. J. Blackston, John M. Carleton, John Soth, T. C. Bailey, W. B. Haltom and W. C. Gray.
RELIGIOUS.
The first religious services in the township were held at private resi- dences by the Christian denomination, known as New Lights, and the
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WAYNE TOWNSHIP.
Baptists. Among the early preachers of the former were Elders John Henderson, Joseph Berry, Conrad Kern and Perseus Harris. Among the early Baptist preachers are remembered John Jones, Solomon Dunnegan and Samuel Holmes. The oldest religious society was the Union Christian Church, a sketch of which will be found in the history of Gosport.
Little Mount Baptist Church, in the northern part of the township, was organized in the year 1824, by Rev. John Jones. Among the early members were James Baldwin and wife, John Wilson and wife, Benjamin Mugg and wife, John Mugg, Sr., and wife, John Mugg, Jr., and wife, John Asher and William Truax.
Meetings were held in a schoolhouse for two years, at the end of which time a frame house of worship was erected, on land donated by James Baldwin and John Wilson. This building stood, for a period of twenty years, and was replaced about the year 1846 or 1847 by the present edifice, which occupies the same lot. Among the pastors and stated supplies of the church were Revs. Solomon Dunnegan, Leroy Mayfield, Benjamin Arnold, John Mugg, Thomas Roberson, M. McNutt, -- Terry, F. D. Bland and others. The society was at one time the strongest Baptist Church in the county, and had a membership of over 100 persons; but owing to removals and withdrawals to sister churches, the membership has decreased very rapidly, and at the present time the organization is in a very weak condition. It is the mother church of the congregations at Gosport and Quincy, and many of its early members are living in various parts of the United States.
The first Sunday school in the township, and perhaps the first in the county, was organized as early as the year 1824 or 1825, at what is known as the Big Spring, by a Presbyterian family from the East, by the name of Reed. Mr. Reed was sent to Indiana as a missionary by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and in an early day organized what is known as Bethany Church in Montgomery Township, one of the oldest, if not the oldest, religious society in Owen County. The Sunday school was conducted principally by Mrs. Reed, and two widow ladies, namely: Mrs. Young and Doughty, relatives of the Reeds. It was not conducted upon a sectarian basis, for a few years after its organiza- tion we learn that its warmest friends were Baptists, and Samuel Holmes, one of their preachers, was an enthusiastic teacher. . The school was kept up for several years, and did a great deal of good in the community.
STATEMENT OF TAXATION, VALUE OF LANDS, ETC.
For the year 1843, the total value of taxables in the township was $114,738. The following year, the number of acres of land returned for taxtion was 18,873; value of land, $43,218; value of improvements, $47,955; value of lots and improvements, $33,690; value of personal property, $98,292; total value of taxables, $223,166; number of polls, 173; total amount of taxes, $1,544.97; delinquent for former years, $91.24.
For the year 1860-Number of acres for taxation, 11,872.04; value of lands, $185,711; value of improvements, $59,476; value of lots, $14,646; value of improvements on lots, $58,485; value of personal property, $165,189 ;. total value of taxables, $483,507; number of polls, 170; total amount of taxes, $3,536.99; delinquent for former years, $1,513.27.
For the year 1870-Number of acres for taxation, 14,633.96; value of lands, $263,710; value of improvements, $82,485; value of lots,
ยท
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HISTORY OF OWEN COUNTY.
$21,550; value of improvements on lots, $84,610; value of personal property, $246,905; total value of taxables, $699,260; total amount of taxes, $8,069.95; number of polls, 253; delinquent tax for former years, $1,424.70; population of the township, 1,333.
For the year 1880-The figures for this year and 1882, are for the property outside of the town of Gosport. Value of lands, $235,170; value of improvements, $34,310; value of personal property, $49,910; total value of taxables, $319,390; total taxes, $3,487.90; number of polls, 88; delinquent tax, $381.25; population, including the town of Gosport, 1,288.
For the year 1882-Value of lands, $254,840; value of improve- ments, $34,890; personal property, $92,320; total value of taxables, $380,050; total amount of taxes, $5,299.65; number of polls, 74. The foregoing exhibits do not show the actual value of property in the town- ship, but only the value placed upon it for the purpose of taxation. To make the exhibit complete from 1880 to 1882, inclusive, it will be nec- essary to add the valuation of Gosport town property, which is given elsewhere.
GOSPORT.
The beautiful little city of Gosport is situated on White River, in the southeastern part of the township, and occupies one of the most ro- mantic spots in Indiana. The village proper dates its history from the month of June, 1829, at which time the plat was placed upon record, although the place achieved considerable reputation as a shipping point for flat-boats down White River several years previous to that time. The first building on the town site was a small round-log cabin, erected by one George Nichols, and used by him for a store room, his stock con- sisting of one wagon load of general merchandise hauled from Spencer by Uncle Fred Goss. When the town plat was surveyed, Mr. Nichols' mammoth store building fell into one of the principal streets, in con- sequence of which the house was torn down, and removed to an ad- jacent lot.
The principal causes which led to the birth of the village were the de- mands of a large scope of country for a trading point, and the desire on the part of the proprietors for a big profit, which they thought could be realized from the sale of lots, as the admirable location promised much for the welfare of the future city. The town was laid out on a tract of land lying in Sections 31 and 32, Town 11 north, Range 10 west, and belonging to Andrew J. Huston, of Circleville, Ohio. The survey was made at the instigation of Ephraim Goss and Abner Alexander, who afterward purchased the town's site. The original plat embraces an area of thirty-six acres divided into sixteen blocks and 112 lots. Adams, Market and Jackson streets run east, and west and are intersected at right angles by North, South and Main streets, running north and south. The majority of the lots were purchased by persons living in the immediate vicinity of the village, and many of them were not improved for a number of years, and some of them not at all, owing to the gen- eral poverty of the buyers, in consequence of which a goodly portion of the town reverted back to the original owners, thus serving as a check to the development of the little city. As time passed and the population of the country increased, business men were attracted to the place, and erelong it became the principal distributing point for merchandise in the
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WAYNE TOWNSHIP.
county, and took upon itself a substantial growth which has character- ized it until the present time.
An addition of twenty-six lots was made to the original plat in the year 1845, by William A. Dunning and John Hudson, and two years later Wampler's Addition of sixty lots was surveyed and placed upon record. Joseph E. Goss made an addition of twenty-seven lots, in De - cember, 1870, and in 1874 the last addition to the town, consisti g of twenty-eight lots, was made by John M. Stuckey. It will be impossible to give a complete list of the early merchants and business men of the village, as the names of many, and facts concerning them, have been forgotten in the lapse of time.
Mr. Nichols, the first merchant already referred to, sold goods on a small scale for about two or three years, and was succeeded by John M. Young, who erected a log store and residence on the lot occupied at the present time by the residence of Tillman Davis. Mr. Young handled a good stock of general merchandise, and for a period of twelve or fif- teen years did quite an extensive business. In the meantime, Col. Robert Wooden, Tillman A. Howard and C. P. Hester engaged in mer- chandising, and erected a commodious plank building on the lot owned at the present time by the Widow Chrisman. Later came William Alex- ander, who for twenty years did a large business, not only in selling goods, but in buying and shipping grain and live stock. Isaac B. Edwards and C. G. Hussey engaged in the mercantile business in an early day, their store room occupying the spot where the post office now stands. They ran their store about ten years, at the end of which time the stock was purchased by Joseph E. Goss, one of the substantial busi- ness men of the town. An early merchant and business man who gave an impetus to the town was H. Wampler. His store was one of the largest of the place, was very successfully conducted, and in addition he did a thriving business in buying and shipping cattle, hogs, grain and lumber to New Orleans and other cities on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. His successors were A. H. Pettitt & Co. Other business men who sold goods in the town from time to time were Ephraim Goss, William A. Montgomery, Dunning & Killough, who also oper- ated a tannery; Montgomery & Alexander, Miller & Dagley, Spill- man & Fritz, W. H. Fritz & Son, -- Buck and E. W. Arganbright.
The town became a prominent live-stock market in an early day, and the first profitable industries were the packing and shipping of pork. William Alexander built the first pork house near the river, and operated it successfully for several years. The building was log, and Mr. Alex- ander conducted his business on a limited scale, and discontinued it about the time that Wampler and Goss erected establishments of the same kind. Goss' first building was a frame structure, and stood not far from the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad, on the river bank, and was operated about ten years. Wampler's building stood in the west end of town and was used about five years.
In the year 1850, Joseph E. Goss and Dr. Hussey engaged in the pork business on quite an extensive scale, and erected the large house, which is still standing, at a cost of $14,000. It stands near the river in the southeast part of town, and at the time of its erection was the largest establishment of its kind in Southern Indiana. For a number of years the firm did a large and lucrative business, and slaughtered as high as 33,000 hogs annually, besides doing a large packing business for many
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HISTORY OF OWEN COUNTY.
farmers of the county. This was before the days of railroads, and White River served as means of transportation, the principal market place be- ing New Orleans, and later Pittsburgh, Penn., to which place Dr. Hussey moved. The firm enjoyed a monopoly of the pork business of Owen and adjoining counties until the completion of the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad, when the trade began rapidly to decrease, owing to the sharp competition by shippers on that highway. Hussey afterward dis- posed of his interest to other parties, and a firm known as Peters & Co. operated the business until a few years ago, when they sold out and left the place. The parties who succeeded the above firm failed, and in the embarrassment Mr. Goss became financially ruined. The building is used at the present time as a spoke factory.
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