USA > Indiana > Noble County > Counties of LaGrange and Noble, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 7
USA > Indiana > LaGrange County > Counties of LaGrange and Noble, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 7
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C. COREY, Chairman of Committee."
Here we have a close enumeration of the inhabitants at this time, a showing of their religious status, and a classification of their denominational divisions.
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HISTORY OF LA GRANGE COUNTY.
Only four families of the whole number did not want a Bible. Then about one in every eight of the population made a public profession of faith in Christ ; now, as nearly as we can ascertain, the proportion is one in six.
The wave of spiritism which swept over the country in an early day, did not neglect La Grange County, and for a time, between 1850 and the war, spirit-rapping and writing and like phenomena were the leading sensation, and the cause of apparently endless discussion between those who saw in it a divine revelation and those who believed it to be the manifestation of his Satanic majesty, walking the earth seeking whom he might devour. Numerous circles were formed and seances held, and nearly all the performances of the alleged spirits were claimed to be evoked by local mediums. Eloquent and talented lecturers came and proclaimed the new gospel, boastfully predicting its future supremacy over the old religion. Spiritism did maintain a form and substance in society, more or less influential, for some twenty years, but gradu- ally died away, until little is heard of it in public. After the lecturer and medium came the " exposer," and kept up considerable excitement concerning the dying cause. Those who have lived through it, have lived to see the cause of so many exhibitions of hasty credulity on one side and so much anxious fear, and even bigoted persecution, on the other, gradually lose its place as a basis of faith, and become an object of semi-scientific experimentation.
It will be remembered that among the many schemes proposed in the first half of the century for changing the social order and inaugurating an era of good feeling and heavenly acting, the system of Charles Fourier attracted great attention. Into different forms of these socialistic schemes went young men of great faith in humanity and its possibilities, but, after a few years, dropped out, with little faith left, and a resolution to bear the ills we have in society rather than sacrifice themselves in a vain attempt to reconstruct it. The society organized in this county has not had itself perpetuated in romance, as was the " Brook Farm," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, but it made a no less earnest effort for success, and had a pleasant existence for several years.
The history of this organization, as far as it is handed down to us, is full of interest. A number of the best and most prominent citizens of Springfield Township were the founders of the enterprise. A constitution of thirty articles was framed in 1844, upon the basis of Fourier's doctrines as modified and pub- lished by Albert Brisbane, of New York, in 1843. A charter was granted to William S. Prentiss, Benjamin Jones and Harvey Olmstead, by the Legislature. Other members who joined in the first year were Jesse Huntsman, Alanson Mason, William Anderson, John H. Cutler, Eliphalet Warner, L. H. Stocker, Prentiss H. Evans, William Sheldon, Dr. Richardson, Hart Hazen and Margaret Wade. The name chosen was the rather warlike one of the "La Grange Phalanx."
Joseph B. Wade, son of Margaret Wade, and a schoolboy at that time, says in a paper on this subject: "There are many pleasant recollections
Gnomenick LA GRANGE
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HISTORY OF LA GRANGE COUNTY.
clustering around those years, when 120 people from Indiana and Michigan lived under the same roof and ate at the same table. The home of the Phalanx was a house 210 feet long by twenty-four feet wide, and two stories high, with a veranda to both stories on the front. In the center of the first story was a dining-room, forty feet long by twenty-four feet wide; immediately above the school-room, which was large enough to accommodate the children. And a better controlled and managed school, it was never my fortune to attend."
The system of management in the Phalanx was as follows: The industrial department was managed by a Council of Industry, who controlled, laid out, and directed all of the agricultural and mechanical departments, upon the basis as described in Article XVI (75 cents per day of ten hours), and so ordered that ten hours of the man who plowed were paid the same as eight hours of him who grubbed. The Council of Commerce had under its supervision all the buying, selling and traffic of the Phalanx. The Council of Education (made up of the best educational talent) had the entire management of the school and educational matters in the Phalanx. The several councils consisted of three or more members, of which the President was one. The different departments were sub-divided into groups of from three to eight persons, each group having its foreman, chosen by its members, who reported the time of each member to the Secretary once every week, in days and hours.
" This system in many respects was advantageous to successful labor, and but for the fact of too little care in taking in members, might have been suc- cessful and popular as a labor-saving organization. But the whole thing was new and untried, and many adventurers came in, some for want of a home, others to winter and leave in the spring. I do not doubt that the prudent, careful men of the Phalanx, after disbanding that organization, could, with their years of experience, have formed one that would have been a step in advance of the old isolated system of living, not for successful industry merely, but socially and educationally. This Phalanx was wound up and settled by William Sea- burn and Ephraim Seeley, commissioned as provided by the constitution, without litigation, in 1847 or 1848, and its members scattered, leaving only at this writing (1876) in this county, Hon. William Prentiss and the mother of the family of William S. Prentiss; Phineas Huntsman, of the family of Jesse Huntsman ; Harvey Olmstead, the writer and his wife, and Mrs. Ellen Deal, daughter of Benjamin Jones, upon whose farm the Phalanx was located."
At about the same time as the Fourier movement, like ideas of co-opera- tion, but on a more religious basis, gave rise to an organization in Lexington of a co-oporative society under the modest title of "The Congregation of Saints." The association was completed March 5, 1843, when the following preamble was adopted, which will reveal the nature of the proposed remedy for evils, real and imaginary, afflicting society :
The Congregation of Saints at Lexington, La Grange County, Ind., deeply sensible of the innumerable evils which afflict all classes of society, and despairing of deliverance through the
D
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HISTORY OF LA GRANGE COUNTY.
agency of our present social and political systems which we believe are at variance with the principles of Christianity, and consequently the best interest of man : being desirous of securing for ourselves constant, and as far as possible, agreeable occupations, just dividendsand the advan - tage of economy, only to be realized in association ; and to establish a complete system of edu- cation in all useful and elevating branches of physical, intellectual and moral science, together with the most ample provision for the aged and afflicted ; and above all, to escape from the per- petual conflicts and litigations which now render society little else than a pandemonium; and which, we believe, grow out of the present systems, and out of the depraved nature of man ; do agree to unite in association, and to purchase and cultivate a domain of from two to six thousand acres of land, to prosecute such branches of commercial, mechanical, scientific, agricultural and horticultural employments as shall be conducive to our good ; to divide the products of the labor among ourselves on a discriminating scale, by which each shall, as nearly as possible, reap what he may sow; to abolish the distinction of master and servant ; to preserve individuality ; to se- cure the rights and extend the privileges of women ; to cherish and strengthen all the tender ties and relations growing out of the family compact ; to enlarge the freedom of the individual by granting to all varied occupations, and the selection of the particular branch of industry for which they may feel an attraction. We believe that we shall be thus enabled to put in practice the two divine precepts-" Love thy neighbor as thyself," and "As ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them."
The La Grange Freeman, of April 8, 1843, in which we find the articles of association of the Saints, remarks editorially, in referring to it: " What next! And what is to be the end of all these associations ? Time alone will, reveal the results. If they prove beneficial, we shall rejoice ; but if disastrous, awful will be the consequences. The matter to us looks dark." A contributor in the same paper, commenting on the subject, says : " The world, at this day, Mr. Editor, is full of expedients for improving and ameliorating the condition of society. Among other reformers and new modelers of country and the world we have the Socialists, the Rationalists, each in their turn inculcating their peculiar doctrines, and some new and wonderful discovery about to en- lighten the world, renovate the earth and elevate human nature above the wants, the woes, and the vices which have so long afflicted mankind. * * I, for one, have no confidence in these visionary theorists, these philosophic and intellectual benefactors of mankind, who are forming for us new principles of association and government, under the blessings of which offenses are to cease, and men to become peaceful and harmless as doves."
Editor and contributor proved wiser than the "Saints," and Fourierites. Both associations were short-lived ; indeed, the "Saints " hardly got organ- ized before disorganization commenced, and the society was disbanded before the new mode of living was tested. No open advocates of these theories now remain. But for these reminiscences very few of this day would know such societies were ever advocated and formed in the county. Though unsuccessful, they merit a recollection as evidences, if no more, of the intellectual activity among the early settlers.
A more popular and exciting theory of that day was the construction of the Scriptural prophecies preached by William Miller, to the effect that Jesus Christ would come into the world again, some time between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. Several Millerite preachers came into the county and
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HISTORY OF LA GRANGE COUNTY.
held revival meetings, at which there was great excitement, and as many con- versions as could be hoped for in such a thinly populated country. But the sun went down calmly March 21, 1844, and the world still went on in its old, old fashion. The millennium was set for a later date, and another "ism " lost its hold upon the people.
An active interest in the cause of education is one of the characteristics of the county, from its first settlement to the present. While the first pio- neers were wending their way into the wilderness here, seeking homes for themselves and families, a member of an infidel club at Victor, N. Y., was sit- ting at the feet of the distinguished evangelist, Charles G. Finney, a humble, penitent, and then an enthusiastic convert to the Christian faith. This man, Nathan Jenks, as soon as he came to answer the question, under the new light he had received, " What wilt Thou have me to do," conceived the idea of founding an educational institute somewhere in the West, modeled somewhat after the Oberlin Institute of Ohio, then the favorite of Mr. Finney, and of which he was many years the President. Mr. Jenks, in coming West, struck Ontario, was pleased with the locality, bought land and settled down, and soon proposed his favorite project. On February 6, 1837, an organization was effected, a Board of Trustees elected, and the La Grange Collegiate Institute became an institution, and one of the very first institutions of higher education in Northern Indiana. A fuller history of this institute will be found in the Lima Township record. It wielded a strong and healthful educational influence for many years, lifted hundreds into the higher range of intellectual culture, and was materially beneficial to the cause of education throughout the whole coun_ ty. When it was proposed in the new constitution of 1852 to incorporate the free school system, the people of La Grange County were at the front urging its adoption. Before this the schools were supported almost exclusively by indi- vidual subscription. Since then as exclusively by State and local taxation. At present, and for some years past, tuition in all the public schools has been en- tirely free to all residents of the respective school districts. From the adoption of the new constitution to 1861, the teachers were licensed by a board of three examiners. Rev. C. Cory, of Lima, served several years on this board. From this time until 1873 there was but one examiner for the county, the office being filled during that time by Joseph H. Danseur, one year and five months ; George A. Marks, one year ; W. H. Hemenway, ten months ; Rufus Patch, three years and six months ; A. Fitz Randolph, one year and nine months ; William Cathcart, seven months. Now came a radical change in this office, the duties being so enlarged as to require a general supervision of all the schools of the county. The name was also changed to County Superintendent, and the office at once assumed an importance before unrecognized. This office has been filled as follows : S. D. Crane, 1870 to 1871; Alfred Bayless, 1871 to 1873 ; S. D. Crane, 1873 to 1874; E. T. Cosper, 1874 to 1875; S. D. Crane, 1875 to 1881; E. G. Machan, 1881 to date. With the office of County Super-
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HISTORY OF LA GRANGE COUNTY.
intendent was also established the County Board of Education, consisting of the Superintendent, the Trustees of the several townships, and the President of the School Boards of incorporated towns. This board is required to meet semi-annually, to ascertain the wants and needs of the schools, in property and text books, and to adopt general rules of management. Under this system ma- terial changes have been wrought in the school management. A higher grade of qualification for teaching has been enforced, nearly one-half of all applicants for teachers' licenses being rejected; school work has been better systematized, recitations arranged so as to secure more equal advantages for pupils, better class of text books adopted, the methods of instruction improved, more attention given to analysis than mere rule, and nearly all the schools put on a graded course of instruction. Nearly all are now graded, and arrangements are com- pleted by which pupils who finish the course of study, adopted October 17, 1881, will receive a diploma which will admit them to any high school in the county without further examination. The course requires nine years to com- plete it, and as it is arranged, classes can be graduated from each school every two years. The marked improvement in the country schools of the county within the last three years shows the wisdom of establishing the office of County Superintendent. It will require but a few years more, with the hearty co-op- eration of patrons, teachers and school officers, to give our country schools the advantages largely of those in the towns. Better schoolhouses have been and are being built, and all are being supplied with greatly improved facilities for illustration, as maps, charts, cards, mathematical blocks, magnets, globes and other apparatus.
Another part of the school machinery is the County Institute, held once a year, and Township institutes, held once a month, in each township, during the school months. It is claimed for the county the honor of having inaugurated the Institute system in the State, the first Teachers' Institute being held at Ontario, in 1846. This was followed the next year (1847) by a Nor- mal school of four weeks' term. Normal schools are yet held every summer, as a private enterprise, on the part, generally, of the Superintendents, but greatly to the benefit of those seeking to qualify themselves for effective teaching.
The State Superintendent, in his annual report of 1880, shows the follow ing interesting facts pertaining to this county :
Number of persons of school age-from six years to twenty-one years .. 5,136
Number that cannot read or write.
6
Number admitted into the schools for year ending August 30, 1881 4,324
Average daily attendance. 2,676
Number of school districts. 111
Number district graded schools 108
Number township graded schools 4
Average length of schools-Days.
145
Number of teachers-Male .. 86
Number of teachers-Female 94
180
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HISTORY OF LA GRANGE COUNTY.
Average wages of teachers per day :
In townships-Males
$1.60
In townships-Females.
1.29
In towns-Males.
3.12
In towns-Females
1.50
Total revenue for tuition
$44,688 81
Total revenue for special school purposes-building schoolhouses, expenses of schools, etc. $17,250 71
Number of schoolhouses-Brick 17
Number of schoolhouses-Frame. 95
112
Value of school property.
$181,893 00
Volumes in township libraries.
2,048
Amount paid Trustees during the year for services in connection with the schools $525 00
At the organization of the county, one section of land in each Congres- sional township was set apart for school purposes, its proceeds, when sold, to be invested as a permanent fund, and the interest to be applied to a tuition fund of the respective townships. All this land was sold some years ago. The total amount of the principal of the Congressional fund held in trust by the county May 31, 1881, was $17,576.80. There are three different funds used for the education of the children of the State-the Congressional fund above mentioned ; the Common School Fund, made up from various sources by the State, and which, on the 1st of June, 1880, amounted to $6,616,112.04 ; of this amount, $3,904,783.21 is in the form of a negotiable bond of the State, and the rest in money distributed to the several counties, pro rata, held in trust by the counties and loaned to the citizens. The constitution of the State prohibits the reduction of the principal of either of these funds, which now aggregate the immense sum of $9,065,254.73, equal to $12.88 per capita of those of school age. The amount of the Common School Fund, held in trust by La Grange County, May 31, 1881, was $21,621.68, making the total school funds held in trust, Congressional and Common School, $39,198.48. To the interest derived from these sources of school revenue, there is each year a levy by the State of sixteen cents on each $100 valuation of property, which is twice a year dis- tributed to several counties in proportion to enumeration of children. Another source of revenue for tuition is made by town and township levies, which they are permitted to make to an extent not to exceed 25 cents on each $100. These two taxes, added to the interest on the Congressional and Common School funds are for the tuition of the children. For the building of schoolhouses, repairs, furniture, apparatus and incidental expenses, each township and town levies a special school tax, to an amount deemed necessary, not to exceed 50 cents on each $100 valuation.
The aggregate sums expended for school purposes, derived from these sources in this county for year ending September 30, 1881, was, for tuition, $26,581.20; and for special school purposes, $15,097.44; total, $41,678.64. The sum for many years has aggregated so nearly this amount, that a table showing each year's expenditures for schools is hardly necessary.
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HISTORY OF LA GRANGE COUNTY.
The number of teachers licensed for the year ending June 1, 1881, was 212 ; per cent for two years, 4; for eighteen months, 12; for twelve months, 34 ; for six months, 50.
The newspaper history of the county commences with the establishment, at Ontario, of the La Grange Freeman in July, 1842, with Samuel Heming- way, Jr., as editor. In the election of the next year it supported the Whig ticket and bore at the head of its editorial columns the names of Samuel Bigger for Governor and John H. Bradley, La Porte, for Lieutenant Governor. The paper was a six column folio and fairly printed. Its publication was continued nearly two years, when it was suspended and the material of the office moved to Lima, and the La Grange Whig started in 1845, with James S. Castle as editor and publisher. In September, 1844, another paper was started at Ontario by James M. Flagg, an attorney, called the People's Advocate. Early in 1845, this paper was moved to Lima and the name changed to the La Grange Advo- cate. This was also a six column folio and Whig. in politics. The few copies of these papers that have been preserved unto the present are almost destitute of local references, the editorial labor seemingly having been directed to clip- ping from distant papers and occasional comments upon National and State matters. There is a remarkable contrast, in respect to "locals," between the newspapers of that day and the present. A country paper now without five to ten columns of home news every week would hardly be looked at by the people. Then there was hardly as much in as many months. The La Grange Advocate, after a short life at Lima. was merged into the Lima Whig, which continued an active career until 1855, when it passed into the hands of C. D. Y. Alexander and soon after was discontinued. The Whigs, though, during all this time, were not permitted to exercise all the newspaper talent of the county. In Oc- tober, 1845, Messrs. Jewett, Owen & Bennett started the La Grange Democrat, which held up and defended the Democratic banner some four or five years, when it was suspended. Who were the different proprietors during that time, or whether there were any changes, cannot now be ascertained. The town of La Grange, the new county seat, had, by this time, so grown as to aspire to newspaper standing, and then, as now, there was somebody ready to fill such "felt wants." Mr. G. D. Stancliff was the first man to try the busi - ness in La Grange, by starting the La Grange Herald in 1856. It was but an experiment, and ere the year closed the Herald had expired: But the want had by no means been gratified, and one morning in December, 1856, the current topic was a new printing office in town. John K. Morrow, of Bryan, Ohio, had moved in, bringing with him a Washington hand press and printing ma- terial covered with a chattel mortgage. Associating with him - Rayhouser he at once commenced the issue of the La Grange Standard, which has made regular weekly visitations to the people of the county from that day to this. It was the first Republican paper established in the county. A number of changes in proprietors and editors have occurred; but, with all the changes,
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HISTORY OF LA GRANGE COUNTY.
the paper has been gradually improved and advanced in circulation and pros- perity. Rayhouser held his interest but a short time, when he sold to C. D. Y. Alexander, of Lima, and he soon sold his interest to Joseph B. Wade. Morrow and Wade conducted the paper about a year, when Mr. Wade sold his interest to John D. Devor, in the winter of 1859.
In April, 1860, Dr. Charles O. Myers bought the entire office, and con- ducted the paper until 1863, when he sold out to Thomas S. Taylor, who had, a few months previous, started a paper, the Lima Union, at Lima. Mr. Myers taking the material of the Union in part pay, moved it to Kendallville, and started the Kendallville Standard. Mr. Taylor conducted the La Grange Standard until November 22, 1867, when he sold the office to Dr. John H. Rerick, who held it until May, 1869, when he sold it to John D. Devor. The latter added some $2,500 material to the office, consisting of a new Washington hand press, two job presses, a large quantity of type, and other material. On the 18th of July, 1872, the office was again bought by Dr. J. H. Rerick, and is still owned and conducted by him. In October, 1874, he added a power Taylor press (the first power press ever brought into the county), steam-power, mailing machine and considerable other material.
In 1859, J. S. Castle started a Democratic paper at La Grange, called the La Grange Democrat, which he published about a year at La Grange, when he moved the office to Lima and continued the publication there until some time in 1862, when it was discontinued entirely. In 1868, through the joint opera- tion of a number of Democrats in the different parts of the county, an entirely new office was bought and a new Democrat started, with Francis Henry and Howard M. Coe as editors and publishers. This paper took an active part in the campaign of 1868. In April, 1869, the office was consumed with the block of business buildings then destroyed by the most disastrous fire that has yet occurred in the town. A number of Democrats renewed their stock, and new press and new material were again purchased and the Democrat re-issued. Mr. Henry soon retired from the paper, when its publication was continued by Mr. Coe until some time in 1870, when he abandoned the office and it was closed up. The material of the office was purchased in 1871 by Hiram A. Sweet, and a new paper was started, entitled the La Grange Independent. Mr. A. Bayliss bought an interest in the paper in 1872, and conducted the edito- rial department about a year, when he sold his interest back to Mr. Sweet. Mr. Sweet continued its publication until the spring of 1874, when he discon- tinued it and moved the office to Sturgis, Mich. In the spring of 1874, A. H. Wait, of Sturgis, Mich., started the Register at Wolcottville, which he sold a few months after to his publisher, James R. Rheubottom. In December, 1875, S. D. Crane, of La Grange, bought an interest in the office, and in March, 1876, bought the remaining interest held by Mr. Rheubottom, and moved the office to La Grange, changing the name of the paper to the La Grange Register, the first copy of the latter being issued in April, 1876. In June, of the same
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