USA > Indiana > Porter County > Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 46
USA > Indiana > Lake County > Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 46
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
HENRY HACKETT, son of Henry and Sarah (Cotton) Hackett, was born in Seneca County, Ohio, January 22, 1832. His father dying during his childhood, he went to live with an uncle, with whom he re- mained until he was nineteen years old, when he went to Kent County, Mich., and engaged in farming; there he remained until 1868, when he came to Porter County, Ind., and settled permanently. He enlisted dur- ing the war of the rebellion, at an early call, in the First U. S. Sharp- shooters. The regiment was composed of companies from eleven States, accurate markmanship being a requisite for enrollment. They took part in the Peninsula campaign, and at White Oak Swamp Mr. Hackett was wounded by a piece of shell, incapacitating him for six months ; after this he had charge of the sanitary warehouse at Point Lookout, Md., where he remained until the end of his term, being discharged August 22, 1864, since which date he has been engaged in farming. On August 27, 1852, in Kent County, Mich., he was married to Matilda Fitch, daughter of Amasa and Jane (Tinkler) Fitch, and a native of Genesee County, N. Y. They have but one child-Alta A., now a young lady and a teacher. Previous to 1876, Mr. Hackett was a Republican; since that period, he has been a Greenbacker. He was Trustee of Pine Town- ship from 1874 to 1876.
WILLIAM KEMPER, son of William and Elizabeth (Phol) Kem- per, was born in La Porte County, Ind., January 25, 1857. His father was a native of Prussia, born in the province of Westphalia August 3, 1825. At the age of twenty-eight, he came to the United States, and settled in La Porte County, Ind .; he was a stonemason and bricklayer, and removed to Porter County in 1858; here he lived until his death, February 4, 1881. His mother was also a native of Westphalia, and born September 7, 1827; she came to America in 1855, and was mar- ried the following year, she now lives in Michigan City. Our subject was one of six children, and lived at home until manhood, receiving as a boy the education of the ordinary schools, and afterward working as a farmer in charge of the homestead. He was married, October 10, 1881, to Barbara Kasmatkey, a native of Prussia. Mr. and Mrs. Kemper are members of the Catholic Church of Michigan City. In politics, Mr. Kemper is a Democrat, but exceedingly liberal in all home affairs.
X
396
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES :
WILLIAM LEWRY, senior member of the firm of William Lewry & Son, manufacturers of wagons, buggies, etc., at Furnessville, was born in the county of Sussex, England, October 18, 1834. He is the eldest of the five children of David and Mary (Leopard) Lewry, and the only one in America ; his parents were natives of England, his father being a manufacturing blacksmith and wagon-maker in Brighton, where he resided until his death, in 1856. William Lewry remained with his parents un- til manhood. At the age of twelve, he began to learn his father's trade, and at nineteen he was master thereof. In 1855, he was offered a posi- tion at Niagara, in America ; here he was a partner in the shop and worked some time, afterward opening a shop at Sweden Center, N. Y. In 1858, he settled in Porter County, near his present residence. In 1864, he entered the army, in Company E, Ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and remained until discharged, June 20, 1865; he now opened a blacksmith and repairing shop, and later a manufacturing establishment at Furnessville ; he was married April 15, 1854, in England, to Sarah Lee. They have seven children-Elizabeth (born June 4, 1855), Henry (born January 29, 1858), Eugene (born February 8, 1861), William (born September 8, 1862), Carrie (born July 5, 1866), Annie M. (born October 20, 1874) and Richard D. (born January 27, 1879). In politics, Mr. Lewry is a Democrat, and represents his party as a Township Trustee.
ALBION L. MILES was born in Jefferson County, Va., May 1, 1830, and is a son of Henry C. and Martha (Rhoades) Miles ; his par- ents were born, reared and married in Montgomery County, Md. ; his ancestry were true patriots ; both his grandfathers served in the Revolu- tionary war, and his father in that of 1812; his parents moved to Jeffer- son County, Va., about 1823, and reared a family of nine children. They both died in said county. At the age of fifteen, Albion L. Miles began the struggle of life by learning the trade of a mason, and finished at the age of twenty, working as a mason at various times since then. In 1853, he went to La Porte County, and came to Porter County in 1865, divid- ing the time between masonry and farming. On December 24, 1851, he was married to Catharine Lewis, daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth (Hughes) Lewis, both natives of Wales. Mrs. Miles came to the United States in 1841. They have had five children, three of whom remain- Harry L., Thomas L. (both in New Mexico) and Albion P. Politically, Mr. Miles is a Democrat; he has been Assessor of the township five years, and is now Justice of the Peace. Of his children, all are, or have been, telegraph operators.
GEORGE PORTER, one of the oldest settlers in Pine Township, was born in Northampton County, Mass., April 16, 1809. His parents, Elisha and Anna (Baker) Porter, were natives of Connecticut. They were of English descent. Our subject has always followed farming. He came West to Porter County in 1847, and has since lived there. He was married, in January, 1833, to Harriet Crandall, a native of New York, who departed this life in July, 1881. In politics, he is a Repub- lican, but always liberal in local affairs.
GEORGE W. SHANER was born in Jefferson County, Va., June 10, 1820, and was the second of a family of four children born to Jolin and Cassanda (Kidwell) Shaner; his ancestry on his father's side was
397
PINE TOWNSHIP.
from Germany ; on his mother's, from England; his grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution, and his father of the war of 1812. The parents of George W. Shaner lived in Virginia until their death, and with them our subject remained until he reached manhood; he learned the trade of carpentering, at which he worked for fifteen years, and, never having an opportunity to attend school, is wholly self-educated. On coming West, he went to La Porte County, Ind., in 1849, and thence to Porter County, where he has since resided. On January 19, 1851, he was married to Lucinda Frame, of this county, but a native of Ohio. She died July 15, 1864, leaving four children-Malinda (now Mrs. A. McCarty). Priscilla (now Mrs. A. Cotton), Lyman and Younger. On June 13, 1867, he was married to Maria Augustine, of La Porte County, by whom he has three children-Laura V., Ida and Butler. Mrs. Shaner is a member of the Baptist Church, while Mr. Shaner is a Methodist, and has successfully organized a fine Sabbath school in his home district. In politics, he is a Democrat, but liberal in local government.
D. S. STEVES, only survivor of the four organizers of Pine Town- ship, was born in Westmoreland County, N. Y., August 28, 1809, and is the eldest of a family of nine born to Isaac and Lovina (Seeley) Steves. His father was of German descent, but born in the State of New York, as was also his mother .; his father was a soldier of the war of 1812, and in many hard-fought battles on the Canadian frontier. D. S. Steves re- mained with his parents until of age, when he came to Detroit, but dis- liking the place, came to La Porte County, (where he worked some time) ; and thence to this county in 1835; here he worked in a saw-mill two years, and in 1837 purchased the land he now owns ; he remembers the " financial crash " of that year, when he began clearing, farming and stock-raising. On December 25, 1843, he was married to Almira Dut- ton, of Welsh parentage, but born in New Hampshire; she was well educated, and a teacher before her marriage. They had eight children, six of whom survive-Sarah L., Isaac L., Julia, Daniel S., Harriet (now Mrs. D. Crandall) and Nellie (now Mrs. R. Stienke). Mrs. Dutton died April 19, 1870. Mr. Steves, with three others, organized this township in 1854, naming it after the pine tree, found only in this township of the county. In politics, Mr. Steves is a stanch Republican; he has been Trustee of the township and Election Inspector for more than twenty years.
JOHN STORMS is a native of Prussia, born March 23, 1820, be- ing one of the three sons of Christian and Krate (Michael) Storms, who were born, married, and who died in Prussia. John Storms lived with his parents until he reached his majority, and afterward worked as a laborer until he came to the United States, in the year 1857, when he came to Porter County, Ind., where he worked some time as a laborer ; he purchased his first land in 1865, and now has 155 acres. On October 9, 1843, he was married to Mary Shutt, also a native of Germany. To this union there have been born six children -- August, Christian. Frank, Henry, Minnie (now Mrs Dr. Warren, of Otis) and Emma. Mr. and Mrs. Storms are members of the Lutheran Church of Otis. In politics, Mr. Storms is an earnest Democrat, with which party he has voted ever since he became a citizen of America.
-
398
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:
EDWIN F. WAY, son of Hiram and Mary A. (Porter) Way, was born in Chemung County, N. Y., October 8, 1842, the second of a family of five, three of whom are in this county ; his father was a native of New York, and his mother of Massachusetts; his father was engaged in lum- bering before coming here; he came to Porter County in 1855, where he resided until two months before his death, which occurred in Missouri, February, 1882. Edwin F. Way lived with his parents until he became of age, when he enlisted as private in the Fourth Indiana Artillery, at- tached to the Army of the Cumberland, taking part in the battles of Perryville and Stone River, after which he was discharged on account of disability. In 1865, he re-enlisted in the Ninth Illinois Cavalry, and served until the end of the war. On November 12, 1867, he was mar- ried to Jemima George. daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Green) George, and born in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., August 21, 1851. To them have been born four children, three of whom are living-Clara L., Henry A. and Winfield M. Mr. and Mrs. Way are members of the M. E. Church. Mr. Way is a stanch Republican ; he is a farmer, and pos- sesses ninety-five acres of land.
PART II.
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
PART II. HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
BY WESTON A. GOODSPEED.
LOCATION AND DIMENSIONS OF THE COUNTY OF LAKE-PHYSICAL DESCRIP- TION-THE SOIL-INDIAN CESSION TREATIES-OUTLINE OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT-FORMATION OF THE SQUATTERS' UNION-POTTAWATOMIE FLOATS-SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY-SOLON ROBINSON, THE "SQUATTER KING"-SALE OF PUBLIC LANDS AT LA PORTE-THIE SWAMP LAND SPECU- LATION-FIRST ROADS AND MAIL ROUTES-STATISTICS-RAILROADS.
L YING in the extreme northwestern corner of the State of Indiana, bounded on the north by Lake Michigan, on the east by Porter Coun- ty, on the south by that capricious stream, the Kankakee River, and on the west by the Sucker State, and comprising (with its lake territory) more than six hundred square miles of low, wet, but very rich country, is the County of Lake. The area of the county not usually covered with water will not vary greatly from five hundred square miles. The southern part is very wet, is known as the Kankakee Marsh, and is principally noted for hay, rich islands, water-fowl, batrachians, mosquitoes and the imprac- ticability of pleasurable, or ever successful passage across its spongy sur- face. The central portion-a rolling prairie country-is as fine an ex- panse of territory as is found within the valley of the Mississippi. The northern portion is crowned with hills and ridges of pure sand and gravel, surmounted with beautiful clusters of pine, cedar and other na- tive forestry. Between the northern and central portions are low, flat, swampy tracts of land, usually serving as the valley of some sluggish stream; and, indeed, marshy tracts of soil, which, some day, will be culti- vated, occur with great frequency throughout the entire county.
Physical Features .*- Across the county from east to west extends the water-shed which separates the St. Lawrence Basin from the Mississippi Valley.
This line enters the county from the west in St. Johns Township, in Section 36, passing north of the head-waters of West Creek in this section; it runs near the village of St. Johns, and passes in a winding
*Much of this chapter is taken bodily from a small volume on the history of Lake County, biography of the Ball family, etc., published some ten years ago by Rev. T. H. Ball, of Crown Point.
402
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
southeasterly direction across Hanover Township to a point half a mile north of the head of Cedar Lake. From thence it winds along the ridges of that strip of woodland in Centre Township, its main direction eastward, passes south of Fancher's Lake, between that and the Mill Pond, comes out upon the prairie about one mile south of Crown Point and enters School Grove. It runs along a ridge in the grove south of the Sherman marsh, and passes in a southerly direction across the prairie to a point not far from Cassville. It then turns northward around the head of that arm of Deep River, and bearing a little toward the east passes on north between Deep River and Eagle Creek, south of Deer Creek, and still bearing eastward leaves Lake County on a line almost due east from Crown Point, passing north of that little lake which is the source of Eagle Creek.
The principal streams of Lake County are the Calumet, Deep River and Turkey Creek, flowing into Lake Michigan; and West Creek, Cedar Creek and Eagle Creek, flowing into the Kankakee. The main direction of the first three streams is eastward and westward. The main direction of the last three is southward. Turkey Creek is a small stream which, starting northwest of Centreville, empties its waters into Deep River a little south and west of Hobart. Deep River has two small sources; the one near Brown's Point, northwest of Crown Point, which flows eastward, and the other commencing in the marshy ground some six miles south- east of Crown Point which flows northward. These two unite east of Crown Point, three and a half miles and north about two miles, and flow eastward, cutting the edge of Porter County. The river then flows northward returning into Lake County, and bears northwest to the mouth of Turkey Creek, having made some three and a half miles westing. It then flows northeasterly to Hobart; and passes from thence northward into the Calumet. The Calumet enters the county from Porter, two miles south of Lake Michigan, and flows westward bearing a little south along a marshy valley across the county. It continues on in the State of Illinois, running northeasterly till it reaches the Blue Island bluff, hav- ing made about seven and a half miles westing from the Indiana line. Meeting this bluff it turns back and flows but little south of east, in a line nearly parallel with its westward flow, until it has again almost crossed the county of Lake, and enters Lake Michigan two miles west and two north of its entrance from Porter into Lake.
The appearance near Dyer is as though the water of Lake Michigan, a number of years ago, washed this ridge and dashed its waves upon the sand, finding here its southwestern limit, then retiring northward, ridge by ridge, reached its present bounds, leaving its old beach to show where once its free waves dashed their spray. The eastward continua-
403
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
tion of this apparently lake beach is a broad prairie ridge between Turkey Creek and Deep River.
South of Deep River, and especially south of the water-shed, the ridges and slopes of the woodland and the prairies cause the streams to flow northward or southward. West Creek, commencing at the water- shed on that Section 36, before named, about half a mile from the Illi- nois line, flows south, bearing a little east, and runs into the Kankakee, passing along a broad, marshy valley, forming, before bridges were built, an almost impassable barrier near the western border of the county. Its length, in a straight line, is nineteen miles.
Cedar Creek is the outlet of Cedar Lake, and winds along a narrow valley, at first eastward and then running southward, reaching the Kan- kakee at a distance, on a straight line, of about thirteen miles from its outflow at Cedar Lake.
Eagle Creek starts in Porter County, being the outlet of a little lake lying due east of the north part of Crown Point, but soon crossing the line, as it bears westward; it reaches the Kankakee about thirteen miles from that little lake.
One of the main tributaries flows from a marsh at the south end of School Grove.
Besides these six named, there are still smaller water-courses, as Deer Creek, Duck Creek, Plum Creek and Willow Creek. Springs will be hereafter mentioned in the township chapters.
The principal lake in this county is Cedar Lake or Red Cedar Lake, five miles southwest of the geographical center. Its eastern shore is in Centre Township, and its western in Hanover. It was named from the red cedar trees growing on its bank. In length, it is two and a half miles. Its greatest breadth is one mile. It has no inlet ; is evidently fed by springs ; its waters are clear, pure and soft ; and, when first seen by the white settlers, abounded in fish, water-fowls, muskrats and minks.
The surface and the soil in this region are quite varied. There are beds of white sand as clean and pure as sand can well be. There are miles of yellowish sand where corn and potatoes will grow quite success- fully. There is a whitish clay soil, producing oats, grass, and winter wheat, and rye. There is the rich black soil of the prairie, and the still deeper and richer soil of the high and dry marsh. The large Cady Marsh, the Calumet and Kankakee Marshes, and other smaller ones, contain many thousands of acres of land that must one day become very valuable. Some of it, once called waste land and " swamp land," already produces large crops of grass and oats.
Over Lake County, and above the line of the water shed, the warm vapor from the southern valleys and the slopes, or from the rivers and
404
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
waters of the South meets with the cooler vapor of Lake Michigan, giving to this region, in ordinary seasons, an abundant moisture, and causing the atmosphere to be very seldom perfectly cloudless. As, how- ever, late in the season the water of Lake Michigan becomes quite warm, and continues during those golden days of October and sometimes through November, which we call Indian Summer, the north wind bring- ing that vapor and warm air over the ridge and down our southern slope to the Kankakee keeps off the early autumnal frosts, and this county is sometimes protected for weeks after the frost appears farther west and farther south. If the springs, therefore, are wet and backward, occa- sionally, the autumns are, quite usually, warm, late and delightful.
This county contains, as laid out by the United States Surveyor, two entire ranges, 8 and 9, three rows of sections in Range 7 on the east, and one row of sections in Range 10 on the west. The Congressional Town- ships are from 32 to 37 in each range, some of which, on the north and south, are not full. Ten Congressional Townships are almost entire. The prairie region covers, probably, about two-thirds of the county. The first prairie, beginning at the northeast of the prairie portion, is just south of the town of Hobart, is level, rather low, and was formerly wet. It is now sufficiently dry for successful cultivation. It is small, not more than two miles in extent. The second, lying west of Deep River, which is here running northward, is much larger, quite level, and was formerly wet. As it spreads southward and westward, it grows higher and slopes upward along a ridge, that broad prairie ridge south of Turkey Creek. This ridge, and for several miles, is high but not rolling prairie. South- ward slopes the broad expanse, spreading also out for miles to the west- ward, of what was called, in early times, Robinson's Prairie. Its land- marks were the Hodgeman place, Wiggins' Point, Brown's Point, and Solon Robinson's, afterward Lake C. H .- that is, Court House-and finally, Crown Point. The large extent of prairie contained some that was low and wet, some high ridges, but very little that could be called rolling. South of the center of the county the prairie spreads out over nearly the whole width, and having passed the water shed becomes, in the south central part, truly rolling. It is not, to much extent, broken and hilly, but contains magnificent slopes, one succeeding another, gradually descending toward the Kankakee meadow lands, and between these slopes are broad but not deep valleys. The landmarks here are School Grove, Southeast Grove, Plum Grove, Orchard Grove, Hickory Point and Pleasant Grove. Between Southeast Grove and Hickory Point, and ex- tending southward, there is some low and level prairie. West of Pleasant Grove and of Cedar Lake, and extending south to the Belshaw Grove and west to the West Creek timber, lies the gem of the prairie region of
405
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
Indiana, known as Lake Prairie. South of the prairie proper, extending across the county, lies a belt of marsh or meadow land five or six miles in breadth, interspersed with islands of timber, and bordering the channel of the Kankakee River. A part is dry, a part is wet marsh. This marsh region makes that river remarkable. A river is known to be there. The blue line of trees marking its course can be discerned from the prairie heights; but only occasionally, in midwinter or in a time of great drought, can one come near its water channel. So far as any ordinary access to it from this county is concerned, it is like a fabulous river, or one the exist- ence of which we take on trust. The fowlers, the trappers and the wood- men have looked upon its sluggish waters.
By the treaty of the United States with the Pottawatomies in 1828, a strip of land ten miles in width was acquired along the northern border of Indiana, which extends in a narrow strip to the extreme southern limit of Lake Michigan. This was the first land purchased from the In- dians in what is now Lake County. By the treaty of 1832, the remain- der of this county was acquired.
Up to this time, there were no whites in all this region, except fur- traders, perchance some hunters and trappers, and the soldiers at Fort Dearborn. In this year took place the Black Hawk war, and a few . white settlers came into what is now La Porte County. A route for travel was immediately opened along the beach of Lake Michigan. Three men, Hart, Steel and Sprague, started a stage line from Detroit to Fort Dearborn, or Chicago, probably in 1833, and four-horse coaches were placed upon the road.
During the summer of 1834, United States surveyors laid out most of the land in Lake County into sections, the range or township lines hav- ing been previously run. This party of surveyors camped for a week in June or July in that part of the grove now owned by Dr. Pettibone, in the town of Crown Point. One who accompanied this party, J. Hurl- burt, an old settler of Porter, remembers no cabin and no settler at that time in any of our central groves. As yet the squatters were not here. He remembers some cabins along the stage road on the lake beach, and thinks that Goodrich, in the place of Bennett, then kept the tavern at the mouth of the Calumet. Burnside had this job of surveying from the Government, but the work here was done by St. Clair.
The Settlers .- Many settlers, or rather squatters, came in during the years 1834, 1835 and 1836, located claims on the best lands to be found, erected rude homes and commenced the cultivation of the soil. Specu- lators also appeared, with sharp eyes, to be prepared to purchase the homes of the squatters as soon as the land was thrown into market. The Government price was $1.25 per acre, and after a fine farm had been im-
406
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
proved and cultivated for three or four years ; after houses and barns had been built and the cultivated soil had been surrounded with substantial fences, the opportunity of securing this prize, ere the unfortunate squatter who had endured so much to obtain it was aware of the danger, was one not to be passed lightly aside by the avaricious and unscrupulous specu- lator. From the fact that the land of the county was tardy in coming into market, and also that large numbers of squatters located their claims ere such sale of the lands, it soon became apparent that much difficulty would be experienced by those who had secured squatter claims to homes in Lake County to preserve the same from the clutches of the speculators, except by offering amounts far in advance of the Government price, as the latter, in order to secure the farms, many of which were extensively improved, would bid up sometimes as high as $4 and $5 per acre, and unless the squatters would overbid them the farms were sold by by the land agent to the speculators. This outlook was very discouraging to those squatters of Lake who were wise enough to see far enough into the future to know that, unless something was done to remedy matters and outwit the speculators, many would be cheated out of their homes from their inability to overbid the Government price at the land sale. After much talk and deliberation among the squatters of Lake County, and many of Porter County, decisive action was taken, as the following . from the records of the meeting will show :
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.