USA > Indiana > Porter County > Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 11
USA > Indiana > Lake County > Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 11
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY.
made a claim and built a house between Wallace's and A. S. Campbell's. He never perfected this claim, but went back soon after making it to Chautauqua County, N. Y., and did not return to this county till 1835. From that time, however, until his death, a few years since, he resided continually in the township and was the recipient of numerous honors at the hands of the citizens of the county. After his return, he soon pur- chased of Philander A. Paine the northeast quarter of Section 23, where he made his home during the remainder of his life, and where his widow now resides. Selah Wallace's father made a claim on what is now the S. S. Skinner farm and about one mile east of Valparaiso, and came there in the spring of 1834 to live. He was the fourth resident of the township. In 1834, a man named Nise settled on the north west quar- ter of Section 24, and about three-quarters of a mile northeast from the public square in Valparaiso, but either sold his claim or abandoned it. Theodore Jones made a claim, and occupied it, on the southwest quarter of Section 19, just west of the elder Wallace's place. This was in 1834. His brother Levi kept bachelor's hall with him. They stayed about a year. Isaac Morgan made the first improvement on that land. A man named Paine, the father of Philander A. Paine, in 1834 or 1835, located on the east side of the Joliet bridge over Salt Creek, built a log cabin and commenced building a saw-mill, which was never completed, though logs had been hauled from a considerable distance to be sawed. He also sold to T. A. E. Campbell. Charles Minnick located on the northeast quar- ter of Section 24, after its abandonment by Nise. He obtained the east half of that quarter on easy terms. At the sale of lands in 1835, he had not the money to purchase his claim, but a man named Walker, who was interested in the location of the county seat, in consideration of the sur- render of the west half of his claim, gave him the money to buy the east half. This Minnick was a Dutchman, and was subsequently Sheriff of the county. During his term, the Hon. Gustavus A. Everts, of La Porte, frequently had business as an attorney in the Porter County Courts. The name was more than a mouthful for the Sheriff, who always, at the court house door, called for him as Gustavivus A. Everts ! Samuel Shigley, in 1835 or 1836, built a saw-mill on the site now occupied by William Sager as a flouring mill ; that is to say, on Salt Creek, one mile south of Valparaiso. When Adam S. Campbell was on his way to the West, he was met in Elkhart County by a wandering and eccentric char- acter, known as " Bee hunter Clark," who advised him to locate where he did. This Bec-hunter Clark did himself locate in 1834, in the extreme northwest part of the township, at the present site of Henry's Mills. Benjamin McCarty located on the southwest quarter of Section 22, on the Joliet road, in 1834.
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VALPARAISO AND CENTRE TOWNSHIP.
Mr. C. A. Ballard built a house on the northwest quarter of Section 25, near a spring and stream, on grounds now belonging to W. C. Tal- cott. This was not earlier than 1834 or 1835. The place was just south of the land afterward laid out as Portersville. Ruel Starr settled on the eastern side of the township in 1834, and resided in or near the township till his death in 1875, received honors from the people, and acquired a considerable estate. Alanson Finney settled west of Starr's place in 1835. Henry Stoner, Abraham Stoner and a man named Bil- lups came in 1835, and settled in the southeast part of the township.
The first election held in the township was in February, 1836, for county officers. The next election was held at the residence of C. A. Ballard, April 3, 1836, for one Justice of the Peace. At this election, thirteen votes were cast, and Ruel Starr, G. Z. Salyer and John McCon- nell being candidates, the first-named received nine votes and was elected. May 28 of the same year and at the same place, G. Z. Salyer received eight votes for Justice of the Peace out of a total of fifteen. In August, 1836, at C. A. Ballard's, thirty-three votes were cast for State Senator. On the 7th of November, 1836, at the Presidential election, out of 105 votes polled, Harrison received fifty-nine and Van Buren forty-five. That was held at the house of William Walker in Portersville. August 7, 1837, at the State election which was held in the court house, David Wallace received 101 votes for Governor out of a total of 126. April 2, 1838, the following township officers were elected: Constables- J. W. Wright, I. Allen, H. G. Hollister; Inspector, G. W. Salisbury ; Supervisor of Roads, William Eaton ; Overseers of Poor, Charles G. Minnick, Robert Wallace; Fence Viewers, Thomas Butler, William
Bingham. At the State election, August 3, 1839, Tighlman A. How- ard received ninety-two votes out of a total of 166 for member of Con- gress. August 3, 1840, Samuel Bigger received 102 for Governor against 100 for Tighlman A. Howard. Henry S. Lane received 103 for Member of Congress, while for State Secretary, Sylvanus Everts received 100 against 101 for Charles W. Cathcart. August 22 of the same year, at an election for Associate Judge, there were 158 votes cast, and the result was a tie between John Herr and Peter D. Cline. November 2, 1840, out of 287 votes for President, Harrison received 149; Van Buren, 137. November, 1844, for President, Polk and Dallas, fifty-seven ; Clay and Frelinghuysen, sixty-two; Birney and Morris none, though a few votes were cast in the county for the Abolition candidates. August 4, 1845, for Member of Congress, Samuel C. Sample, sixty-four; Charles W. Cathcart, seventy-one. For Representative, Aaron Lytle received sixty- six, Alexander McDonald, seventy. August, 1846, for Governor, James Whitcomb, seventy-seven ; Joseph G. Marshall, eighty-three. State
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY.
election, 1847 : For Member of Congress, D. D. Pratt, seventy-two ; C. W. Cathcart, ninety-five.
From the first, the people of the township devoted themselves to agri- cultural pursuits, lived in a very plain way, as they still do, and were fairly prosperous in temporal affairs. The monotony of farm life was varied by an occasional visit to the county seat, especially on show or election days, and frequently the question was decided as to which of two was the better man by seeing which could stand the most punishment with- out crying "Enough." The wheat, as it was threshed, was hauled to Michigan City, and the farmers had to be satisfied to receive no more than 50 cents for it there. Corn was generally fed, as it did not pay to bring it to market. As late as 1860-61, corn sold in Valparaiso for 15 cents a bushel, the pay being in currency, worth on an average about 85 cents on the dollar. Pork sometimes brought no more than $1.50 per hundred.
At an early period, wild game was abundant, such as deer, wild tur- keys, grouse, quail, squirrels, and the salt pork of the settler was relieved by frequent feasts procured by the rifle or shot-gun from the forest or prairie. At a certain dancing party held in a country cabin, an immense dish of squirrels was the chief attraction at supper. Frequent reference to a bottle of corn-juice had rendered host and guests less squeamish than usual, so that an accident by which the dish was upset on the puncheon floor proved to be only a momentary interruption, but a subse- quent deposit in it of guano by the poultry roosting overhead proved to be more than they could stand, and supper was forthwith ended in dis- gust. Disorders, however, were rare, for the population was for the most part moral and industrious and not given to spreeing or riotous proceed- ings of any kind. The inhabitants were at the first generally natives of the United States, being from more southerly portions of Indiana, from Athens and Wayne Counties in Ohio, from New York, Pennsylvania, and from Virginia. Until mills were erected in the township or county, the people resorted to Union Mills, La Porte County, for flour, and for some time received their groceries, iron and merchandise generally from Michigan City.
The first birth in the township is uncertain. The first marriage was that of Richard Henthorne and Jane Spurlock, May 5, 1836, by Cyrus Spurlock, who was a Methodist minister and also Recorder of the county. The marriage of William Eaton to Susannah Ault, by Elijah Casteel, on June 4, 1836, was probably in Portersville, this township, and the mar- riage of Rev. W. K. Talbott to Sinai Ann McConnell, on July 13, 1836, was doubtless in Centre Township. Of the first death and burial within the limits of the township, no authentic public records have been kept,
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and the recollection of the early settlers is indistinct. It is thought that a number of infants or very young children had passed away before the death of any adult. The first woman of whose death we have any cer- tain account was the mother of John N. and S. S. Skinner, well known in the political and business history of the county. Her death occurred in April, 1839. She was buried on the slope just above the Valparaiso Paper Mill, whence her remains were removed some years since to the cemetery. Solomon Cheney, who came to Portersville in the winter of 1836-37, died in November, 1839. His funeral sermon was preached by Elder Comer, and his remains were interred on the west side of the hill in the old cemetery, the original ground of which was donated by the Cheney family for a burial place. His sister, the wife of John Herr, died a few weeks afterward in January, 1840. Her funeral sermon was preached by Rev. James C. Brown, and she was buried near her brother.
There is of course great similarity in all the pioneer history of the West during the same period. There were the same log-rollings, house- raisings and amusements that prevailed in the other new settlements, and diversified with occasional indulgence in distilled spirits and personal ren- counters, resulting in disfigured features, though the residents of Centre Township have borne a reputation for peacefulness even in those days. No serious alarms were experienced from the presence of the Indians, though they were not very agreeable neighbors. No such encounters with bears and wolves as one reads of in the lives of Boone and Crockett took place here, though the old hunters of that day could entertain you by the hour with their tales of the pursuit of deer. The barking of the prairie wolf was a familiar sound, but carried with it no alarm, save for the safety of the pigs and calves.
The new-comers had followed from La Porte County the Indian trail to the southwest, which skirted the border land before spoken of. Where Door Village is in that county, there is an opening between forests on the north and groves of timber to the south, giving it some resemblance to a door or gate between that portion of the prairie on the east and that on the west of it. Whatever may have been the Indian name of it, the gap received the French appellation of La Porte, which was given also to the prairie, and afterward to the county. The names of village and prairie have been anglicized, and are now called Door. Through that gap poured the stream of emigration following the path before marked out by the red men to where Valparaiso now is. At this point, the trail con - tinued to the west across Salt Creek in the direction of Joliet, while another diverged to the northwest, running in the direction of Fort Dear- born. Along the high lands between Crooked Creek and Sandy Hook, there had doubtless been from immemorial times a trail from Lake Mich-
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY.
igan and the head-waters of the Calumet to the Kankakee. This ran either through or just east of the site of Valparaiso. It is said that the intrepid La Salle 200 years ago passed northward over this trail when returning weary and disheartened from his expedition down the Kanka- kee. These oboriginal engineers were wise in marking out the paths by which their white successors were to go, but the wagon roads overlying these paths have not done much honor to the present possessors of the soil, since both for want of material for improving the highways and the desultory and reckless employment of means for that purpose, their con- dition has been such as to reflect no credit upon the people of the town- ship. The building of a plank road from Valparaiso to Michigan City by a company organized for that purpose (1850-53), and a present attempt to improve the streets of Valparaiso by overlaying them with gravel, being the only efforts at bettering the public highways worthy of mention, since the organization of the township. There being no rivers or large streams in the township, the building of bridges has been an insig- nificant item in the construction of roadways, and this leads to the re- mark that the great water-shed between the Mississippi system and that of the great lakes, passing, as it does, through this township southward to the west of Long Lake, and thence southeasterly, making a circuit through Washington and Morgan around the course of Salt Creek, and re-entering Centre Township at its southwest corner, is a very sure protection of this region against any serious devastations by floods. We read of farms and cities and whole valleys being inundated, and of bridges and houses and crops being swept away by swelling floods, but here the people can sit in quiet security while torrents descend from the skies, assured that the floods cannot overflow them.
The writer has never heard of any country taverns kept at an early day along the lines of travel for the shelter and refreshment of wayfarers. Doubtless, the latch-string of the settler was " out " for the hungry, weary or belated, and the rude cabin, or more comfortable home, afforded the accommodation which there was no wayside inn to give. The only public houses of the township have been in Valparaiso, and will be spoken of further on.
The first attempt at the erection of a saw-mill has been spoken of. A little later, a mill was put up and run for several years for carding wool by a man named Kinsey, about one and a half miles south of Valparaiso, just below the hill that skirts the valley of Salt Creek. The water flowed from a large spring, and was carried through a hollow beech log to an overshot wheel of great diameter. Attached to this power, was also a pair of buhrs, said to have been about the size of a half bushel measure, which were used for grinding both wheat and corn. On Salt Creek, half
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VALPARAISO AND CENTRE TOWNSHIP.
a mile above Sager's mill, Jacob Axe a little later erected a carding-mill, which was used for several years. In 1841, William Cheney built the flouring-mill now owned by William Sager. This subsequently came into the possession of M. B. Crosby. Since coming into Mr. Sager's possession, it was, in 1864, greatly enlarged and improved. Subsequently, there was built the flouring-mill owned since 1866 by William McConkey, formerly Eglin's mill. In 1852, William Cheney and Truman Freeman built a small flouring-mill just south of the corporate limits of Valparaiso. The power is furnished for the most part by springs flowing from beneath the bench of land that skirts the southeastern and southern sides of the city. This mill passed into the hands of the present owner in 1861. In 1855, Samuel Haas and M. B. Crosby built a steain flouring and saw mill within the limits of Valparaiso, on the present site of Kellogg Broth- ers' machine shops. Its cost was $15,000. On the 7th of June, 1861, S. P. Robbins and a Mr. Cronin, of Chicago, having become interested in it, it was burned with all its contents, involving the owners in heavy loss. The timber of the county being nearly all north of Valparaiso, we must look in that direction for its manufacture. There being no water- power north of Valparaiso, a steam saw-mill was put up at Flint Lake, at a date now uncertain, by a man named Allen. It was subsequently owned by Capt. Hixon, and was sold by him to Aaron Lytle, and after- ward owned by the latter and his son Richard W. It was bought by T. A. Hogan about 1861. It had two twenty-eight-foot boilers, forty-four inches in diameter. In 1863, the end of one of these boilers blew out, and the boiler was lifted up bodily and carried a distance of twenty-five rods into the marsh at the lower end of Flint Lake. In 1867, the mill was sold to Richard W. Lytle, and afterward the boiler was removed to the paper mill then being erected in Valparaiso. The date of the erection of Mr. Henry's mills, in the extreme northwest corner of the township, is unknown to the writer. About 1878, John McQuiston built a saw-mill at Flintville, which was burned in 1881. In connection with the steam saw-mill at Flint Lake, Daniel Depew, agent for certain parties living at Sycamore, Ill., carried on for a number of years quite an exten- sive stave factory. All the timber available for such uses having been consumed, the work was abandoned about 1867. J. G. Updyke, after the completion of the Peninsular Railroad, built a saw-mill near the depot of that road, which, after being operated for a few years, was removed to Section 8, in Washington Township. The first tannery in the township was built by a Mr. Hatch in 1843, south of the corporate limits of Val- paraiso at the time. Afterward, a small tannery was carried by John Marks south of the present line of the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, and just east of Franklin street. About 1860, a Mr. Gerber built a
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY.
steam tannery on grounds south of the Fort Wayne Railroad, and on the east side of Washington street. In 1865, it passed into the hands of George Powell and John Wark, and, in 1868, into the hands of William Powell and John Wark. In 1871, Wark sold to Powell. In 1874, it was burned to the ground, and the tanning business ceased in Centre Township and Valparaiso to this day.
The population of the township, including Valparaiso, was, in 1850, 1,012; in 1860, it was 2,745; in 1870, it was 4,159; in 1880, it was 5,957. The population of the township, outside of Valparaiso, was, at these several decades, 492, 1,055, 1,394, 1,497. The foreign born popu- lation in the whole township, in 1870, was 872. Of these, 272 resided outside of Valparaiso. They are chiefly from Germany (more especially from Schleswig-Holstein), Ireland and Canada. Among the latter, are quite a number of Canadian French. The census reports for 1880 not being published as yet, the number of foreign birth cannot be given here.
Valparaiso .- It is seldom that a county having its resources and population, has within its borders so few villages of any pretensions as Porter County, Ind. And Centre Township has from the first been virtually without any village or city except Valparaiso. Flint- ville, laid out in 1875 by Wheeler Goodman et al., near Flint Lake, on the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 6, Town 35, Range 5 west, is a little hamlet having a few residences, a blacksmith and wagon shop and a small saw mill ; while Emmettsburg, laid out by S. I. Antho- ny and T. A. E. Campbell, December 8, 1868, is merely a suburb of Val- paraiso.
Some towns have grown up where they are, from the very nature of things. A water power or a crossing of roads gives rise to a factory or a little store, and by gradual accretion there comes to be an assemblage of houses and an increase of business which, at length, necessitates the lay- ing out and incorporation of a village. Other towns have their origin in the speculative minds of men. Thus it was with the town of Portersville. In the early settlement of this State, and its organization into counties, there were wide-awake men who found it to their interest to be on hand at these organizations, and to have a hand in the location of the county seats. This was of course perfectly legitimate, if pursued without cor- ruption. A man named Benjamin McCarty, who had settled on what is now known as the Hicks place, west of Valparaiso on the Joliet road, became the legal owner of the southwest quarter of Section 24, in Town 35, Range 6. It was on the road from La Porte to Fort Dearborn and Joliet, and at the point where that road forks, in order to reach the two places named, the new county having been formed with the territory of Lake attached, but with the understanding that that was soon to be or-
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VALPARAISO AND CENTRE TOWNSHIP.
ganized as a separate county, that particular quarter section belonging to Mr. McCarty was also at the geographical center of the county, as it was to be. It appears that before the meeting of the Commissioners of the new county in June, 1836, there was in existence the Portersville Land Company. The plat of the town of Portersville bears date July 7, 1836, and was recorded October 31, 1836. It consisted of forty-two blocks, with the intervening streets and intersecting alleys, bounded on the south by Water street, on the east by Morgan street, on the west by Outlots, 15 to 20, inclusive, while the northern limits consist of Blocks 1 to 5, inclusive, being a strip of four rods in width lying north of Erie street. How the Land Company had its origin is now a matter of conjecture. Its members were J. F. D. Lanier (then a resident of Madison in this State, but afterward a distinguished banker and financier of New York City, and recently deceased), Benjamin McCarty, Enoch McCarty, John Walk- er, William Walker, James Laughlin, John Saylor and Abram A. Hall. Whether the other members of the company bought their shares from Benjamim McCarty, or whether they were a gift to them in order to secure their influence, is not known. There were three other sites press- ing upon the Commissioners their several advantages. One of these was at Prattville ; another was at Flint Lake, in which the Fletchers, of In- dianapolis, were interested, and the other was a mile and a half northwest of Valparaiso, on the Chicago road. The last was owned by W. K. Tal- bott, with others, perhaps, interested. Mr. Talbott was a Presbyterian preacher, a school teacher, a Freemason, a politician and something of a speculator. There was not a house in the town of Portersville, and there was, therefore, nothing to hinder its being seen. From the records of the Commissioners, it appears that their dealings were with the Por- tersville Land Company and not with the legal owner of the land, and that company was able to show a fairly handsome site, to prove that their town was in the very center of the county, and, therefore, most conven- ient to the population that would come in ; and, furthermore, they pro- posed to give to the county Block 23, and ninety-six lots in blocks num- bered 11 to 35, inclusive ; that is, half the lots in twenty-four blocks. In addition to this, they proposed to donate to the county $1,200 for the erection of public buildings. There is no evidence that they paid, or offered to pay, anything to the Commissioners, personally, or even that they treated them to brandy or cigars. There is no sign of corruption in what was done, but everything to show that the Commissioners had a single eye to the good of the county. It is evident now that Portersville was the right place for the county seat. Only this, the Land Company was fortunate in owning the right piece of property. This munificent offer having been accepted by the Commissioners, they instructed the county
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY.
agent, Mr. Samuel Olinger, to receive the gift in behalf of the county. The whole of Block 23 (now the public square), was given to the seat of justice of the county. As it is expected that the Commissioners will soon erect a new court house, it has been freely suggested that it would be well to build it on some lot facing the public square, and that that should bereserved as a public park. In view of this, it may be well to refer here to the conditions of the original gift, which are found recorded on page 101 in Deed Record A, in the Recorder's office of Porter County, and are in the words following, viz. :
Therefore, in consideration of the seat of justice as aforesaid being and remaining permanently fixed as located by said Commissioners at or near the southwest quarter of Section 24, Township 35, north Range 6 west, in the La Porte Land District, the said Benjamin McCarty being the legal owner of said southwest quarter of said Section, have by virtue of said location and in consideration of the county seat remaining perma- nently fixed upon the public square, as laid off at or near the center of said quarter section and the public buildings erected thereon, have granted, donated and confirmed unto the said Samuel Olinger, agent appointed agreeably by law for said county, and to his successors in office, block or square No. 23, in the town of Portersville, county and State aforesaid, as the public square and seat of justice for said county of Porter, it be- ing the ground chosen by the said Commissioners for the county seat of said Porter County, * * * and each alternate of 192 lots laid off around the public square, and numbered, etc.
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