USA > Indiana > Porter County > Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 62
USA > Indiana > Lake County > Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 62
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Huckleberries and cranberries are found near. The town stands near the edge of the great sand bed which borders the lake. It was in- tended that this town should cover at least forty acres when it was laid out, but most of the lots into which the forty acres were cut up are as yet unoccupied.
" Wood's Mill," on Deep River, is an old village, but very small of its age. It was started in 1838, and now has about a score of houses, a good grist-mill, also a good school. In June, 1881, a fine two-story frame storehouse, 22x85 feet, was completed. In November of the same year,
GG
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
this was blown down by a tornado. At once it was rebuilt, but only one story high. It is now one of the nicest country stores in the State. It was owned first by Vincent & Wood; now owned by George Wood, and run as a general store. In the last twelve months, Mr. H. T. Smith built a large house, which is used as dwelling, hotel and saloon. A wagon and carriage shop was built about three years ago, and is doing a good business. The mill, which is a brick, is owned and run by Nathan Wood. A cheese and butter factory of about eight years' stand- ing is thriving still, one mile out of town. Wood's Mill is a desirable location for a town, and the mill site is excellent. The saw-mill was built in 1837, and the grist-mill in 1838. This was at one time the only mill in the two counties of Porter and Lake. The quarter-section upon which the town is situated cost $1,000. It was an Indian reserva- tion, patented to Quashma in 1832. This place is about ten miles from Crown Point.
The town of Redsdale is on the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railroad. The post office, Lottaville. There is nothing but a station-house, built in 1879, a hay barn built in the fall of 1881, and a dwelling house. Ains- worth, the next station on the same road east, has a station-house, hay barn, blacksmith shop and several houses. These make five villages, or rather three villages and two new stations in the township. There is also a store where the wagon road crosses the railroad, kept by Keilman & Son, built in spring of 1882; it is about a mile northwest of Merrillville. There are four railroads in the township; the P., C. & St. L. cuts the southwest corner ; the Chicago & Atlantic cuts off a larger slice from the same corner; the Chicago & Grand Trunk cuts through east and west, a little north of the center ; while the Joliet Cut-Off, cuts a small piece from the northwest corner.
Schools, etc .- There are sixteen schoolhouses in the township-fifteen frame and one two-story brick, which is at Merrillville. Some of the prominent teachers in the township are Ada Toothill, Hilda Hyde, S. E. Zuvers, George Bond, Lina Frazier, Asa Bullock, Cyrus Smith, C. J. Smith, Nettie Collins, Frank Merrill, Annie McWilliams and Mere Mer- ton. The following is an exact copy of an entry made in the Trustee's Record Book, for District No. 6, in the year 1852 :
A special meeting called. P. M. Knoll presided. House being called to order, when the following votes were passed : 1. To have three months' winter school, to commence first of December next. 2. To pay teacher from fifteen to twenty dollars per month. 3. To get a quarter of a cord of wood to school, and to have each person get his wood by the first of December next, and, in case of failure, the Trustee is to get the wood and be paid at the rate of ten shillings per cord by the district. A Adjournment.
P. M. KNOLL, Trustee.
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ROSS TOWNSHIP.
One of the first, if not the first, of the schools of this township was taught at Deep River in 1844, by Mrs. Richard Vincent, in her own home. Dr. A. W. Vincent, now of Hobart, received his first schooling here. At the same, John Andrew and Albertine Grissel attended. Miss Rundel was probably the next teacher. When Mrs. Vincent taught, the attendance was seven. Nine or ten attended Miss Rundel's school. She taught two or three terms in succession. School was taught in private families for perhaps fifteen years, when a frame house was built, which was burned down about fifteen years ago. The present house is a frame, one mile west of town. There was quite a contest over the question of moving the house, or rather of changing the location, and it was carried by a majority of one. About half of the township library was burned at Deep River some years ago.
Civil Officers .- The present officers of the township are: John P. Merrill, Trustee; Alvin Green, Amos Hornor and Gideon Bullock, Jus- tices of the Peace; Oliver Merrill, Road Supervisor ; Michael Hartz, Thomas Hoffman and Joseph Holladay, Constables. Both John P. Mer- rill and Squire Green have been in office for many years. Squire Hor- nor is the oldest Justice in the county. The following is a copy of his first commission :
ASHBEL P. WILLARD, Governor of the State of Indiana.
To all who shall see these presents-Greeting :
WHEREAS : It has been certified to me by the proper authority, that Amos Hornor is elected to the office of Justice of the Peace in and for the county of Lake, in the State of Indiana ; Therefore know ye that in the name and by the authority of the State afore- said, I do hereby commission the said Amos Horner Justice of the Peace for the county aforesaid for the term of four years from to-day ; in witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the seal of the State, at the city of Indianapolis, this 26th day of April, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-nine, the Forty-third of the State, and of the independence of the United States the Eighty- third.
By the Govenor,
[SEAL]
ASHBEL P. WILLARD.
C. L. DERNHAM, Secretary of State.
Mr. Hornor has another, bearing date of 1863, issued by Oliver P. Morton ; one of 1867, by Conrad Baker; one of 1871, by Conrad Baker; one of 1875, by Thomas A. Hendricks; one of 1879, by James D. Will- iams, and one for 1882, ready for next term.
A certain Justice of the township, in days long gone by, had for trial a case of assault and battery. The evidence showed that the defendant had hit plaintiff on the side of the head and knocked his head over to one side; here the evidence closed, and the case was left with the dispenser of justice. After looking at both sides of the case and suspending the scales of justice, he proceeded to fine the defendant twenty-five cents for not hitting the plaintiff the other side, so as to straighten his head up again !
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
Squire Hornor is responsible for the following as to the origin of the name Chicago: In the fall of 1833, two men went from Cleveland by land to Chicago, to trade with the Indians, whose annuities were paid them there at old Fort Dearborn. They had also just sold out North- eastern Illinois, and were to get their money for it at Fort Dearborn. The men were delayed ; when they got there, the Indians had received . their pay and gone away. One of the men asked of an Indian in the Pottawatomie language where the Indians were, " Ten-a-pee wish-na ?" The Indian replied, "Nish-na-ba Chi-ca-go "-Indians have gone; and that according to this account, is the origin of the word, Chicago.
Miscellaneous Notes .- There is no general crop failure on record. The year 1851 had a much later season than this of 1882. Squire Green states that roasting ears did not come that year until about the 20th of September. In 1864, there were a number of cases of small-pox. Nine in the family of Squire Green were afflicted, seven with varioloid and two with small-pox. Three or more deaths occurred from it in the township. The general health, however, is good. The township has had a steady and substantial growth. There are many fine farmhouses and barns ; the orchards are good, and most of them seem to be in their prime. The largest land-holders are Dabrill and Julius Demins. Dabrill has a large wind-mill for pumping and grinding feed. The population is largely American, many of them from other parts of Hoosierdom. In the north and east there are many Germans. In the spring of 1836, there was no mill nearer than forty-five miles, so some of the settlers determined to make a mill ; they cut down a large white oak tree, making as square a stump as they could, then kindling a fire in the center of the stump ; burned a hollow place in it ; arranged a pestle with a spring pole over it, and it was surprising to see how fast meal could be made with this rude mill, while buckwheat was readily and rapidly made into flour of excellent quality.
Among the earliest settlers were Yankees from Connecticut, Vermont. Massachusetts and Rhode Island ; people from New York, Ohio, and Hoosiers from Indiana. Once a Yankee, telling of a runaway team, said : " It run into the bush, and run astride astraddle, and broke the neap, reach and evener." This translated into Hoosier is : " The horses got skeert and run astraddle of a saplin and broke the tongue, double- tree and coupling pole." Also an Englishman who had lost a bob-tailed ox, inquired of a Hoosier : " Ave you seen a bob-tailed hox, with a ho on the ip and a hen on the orn ?" The Hoosier said, " How ?" and the Englishman repeated the question, after which the Yankee said, "Which ?" By this time each was disgusted with the outlandish English of the other, and went off wondering how the other could have so little respect for the
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Queen's English. The ox was branded with an O on the hip and an N on the horn. Another time, when out seining, it seemed to be a water haul until, when the seine was near the shore, a Hoosier holloaed out, "I swan, there's quite a snag on em." Another of the party drawled out, " Well raly, there is a right smart chance, I reckon." All these dialects are now well blended, many of the provincialisms have passed out of use, while others are used by all. Instead of being Buckeyes, Hoosiers and Yankees, all are now Westerners.
The following is a description of the costume worn by a beau of the backwoods : Home-made straw hat, tow linen shirt and breeches-home- spun, home-wove, home-made-a brass button worn in shirt front ; no coat, no vest, no shoes ; pants too short by eight inches, and held down by buckskin straps fastened to either side of the bottom of each pant leg, and passing under the hollow of an enormous dark brown foot fastened to a "spindle shank," loose-jointed to a long, lank body, upon which rested a fuzzy face and a shaggy head of seventeen summers.
The old Sioux trail crossed the township from north to south, where Crown Point stands. In 1837 or 1838, a good saw-mill was built three miles northeast of Merrillville by Charles Walton, and he sold to Louver- man, who ran it until 1848. There is a camp-meeting ground about half a mile southeast of Merrillville, which has been used by the Free Method- ists for about five years. One is now (August 18, 1882) in progress, in which much zeal is manifested, and a great rivival is not only prayed for, but worked for as well. In the winter of 1839 or 1840 seventy-six deer were seen in a drove. Here is an account by an old settler which, though not narrating anything that occurred in the township, yet con- tains such interesting materials that no apology is needed for its inser- tion. It is of a trip to Fort Dearborn at an early day (Chicago was not yet born, nor indeed had it been conceived), with a load of thirty bushels of oats and twenty bushels of shell corn. Three yoke of oxen were the team. The trip was from Tippecanoe County, a distance of 130 miles, and for 110 miles of the distance there were no made roads or bridges of any kind ; neither was there a habitation of a white person in all that distance. All that there was of Chicago, or rather of Fort Dearborn, was a trading point for soldiers and Indians. Hubbard and Clark, Indian traders, were putting up a small two-story brick house, which was the first brick house that graced the ground that is now embellished with the parks and palaces of the " Queen of the North and the West." The ground, now covered with brick blocks and stone fronts, with granite and marble in- terspersed, was then an unoccupied swamp, with wolves hiding and howl- ing in its dismal solitudes. There was nothing but an old scow in the Chicago River, where now vessels crowd its narrow mouth and choke its
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
meager channel. One of the party bought a half barrel of fish, at least that was what he bargained for ; when they reached home and all were ready for a fish feast, he opened the barrel, but did not behold a single fish. The merchant had delivered to him a half barrel of soft soap instead of fish.
There is a large mound at Deep River, supposed to have been built by Indians or Mound Builders. It is oblong and straight. Its length is about 150 feet, and its greatest width at base 100 feet. It rises from a level surface in a bed in the river to a height of about fifty feet. Thirty- seven years ago, it was bare ; now it is covered with young trees, some of which are six inches in diameter. At the southwest corner of the mound is a hole that was years ago as much as eighty feet deep ; even now it is perhaps thirty feet deep. In the vicinity, many arrow heads, stone hatchets, etc., have been found. Some have supposed that this mound was formed by the river, but the fact that it seems to be of a different soil, seems to indicate the imposibility of this supposition. At a point that is now at or near the bottom of the present mill-race was a medicine stone. This was a large stone hollowed out so as to hold quite a quantity of water. This water was heated with hot rock and the patient subjected to the heat and steam; thus they seem to have used the hydrophatic system of treatment, at least in some cases. This informa- tion concerning the medicine stone was imparted to the first settlers by the Musquakies. These Indians are to be found now in Tama County, Iowa, on a small reservation, where they have been for many years. There are about 100 of them at present. They farm in a small way, raise ponies and live at peace with each other and with their white neighbors.
CHAPTER IX.
BY WESTON A. GOODSPEED.
HANOVER TOWNSHIP-APPEARANCE OF THE EARLIEST PIONEERS-THE " HORNOR SETTLEMENT "-CATALOGUE OF EARLY SETTLERS -THE POTTAWATOMIES-PRIVATIONS OF THE PIONEERS -- THE GERMANS-THE SCHOOLS OF HANOVER -- VILLAGES-RELIGIOUS GROWTH AND INFLU- ENCE-STATISTICS.
D URING the month of September, 1835, a small party of seven persons-Dr. Thomas Brown, Jacob L. Brown, David Hornor and his sons, Thomas, George, Amos and Levi-left the " Wabash region " and journeyed northwestward, in search of homes in the land which was being rapidly settled and improved between Lake Michigan and the Kankakee. After a quick and uneventful transit, they reached
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HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
the beautiful country on the west shore of Cedar Lake, where, well pleased, they encamped. Here they remained for about two weeks, viewing the locality, making excursions into the groves and prairies of an extensive tract of fine country, of which Cedar Lake was the center, prospecting and estimating the comparative values of land due to location and other natural advantages, locating two or three or more claims and erecting thereon several rude log cabins, making a small amount of hay while the bright September sun was smiling and auspicious, discovering a very large bee tree which they cut down, taking therefrom about 500 pounds of the finest wild honey, and returning to the " Wabash region " to prepare for coming out the following month to the new and wild homes they had founded. So far as can be learned, this was the first attempt by white persons to form a permanent settlement in what is now Hanover Township. On the return to their Wabash homes, seeing a flock of seven wild turkeys on an extensive prairie, they unhitched the four horses from the wagon, mounted the fleet animals, and gave chase after the winged game. Five fine ones were captured, and not a shot was fired. At the next stopping-place, two of the birds were given in exchange for a substantial repast for the whole party. In October, the party returned with their families, and the "Hornor settlement " was commenced. Jacob L. Brown's claim was on the west shore of the lake, on Section 27, while just north of him, on Section 22, was that of Aaron Cox. Thomas Hornor located farther west on Section 28, and David Hornor with his large family, still farther west on West Creek woods, on Section 29. These families brought with them considerable personal property, including horses, cattle, swine, a few sheep (which soon died or were killed by wolves), poultry, together with those indispensable and most domesticated of all domestic animals-cats and dogs. An abundance of provisions was also brought.
Numerous hardships were in store for these early families. The pro- visions brought by the family of David Hornor did not last as long as expected, and the sources of supply were meager or altogether wanting. Late in the winter. it was found necessary to dispatch two teams to the Wabash for flour and other provisions ; but while they were gone the spring thaw came on, the roads, such as they were, broke up, and it was found impossible to return for about two months, during which time the remainder of the family were reduced to the scantiest rations. So short became the provisions that half a bushel of buckwheat, that had been carefully kept for seed, was ground to flour in the coffee-mill, baked into cakes, and ravenously devoured. As a last resort, it was decided to kill the only cow, but before this strait was reached, the white covers of the returning wagons were seen in the distance. It did not take long to bake
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
huge loaves of white bread, nor fry generous slices of fresh, delicious pork, and it took a much less time to place the same where it would do the most good. During this winter, some six hundred Pottawatomie Indians were encamped in the woods within half a mile of the house. They were per- fectly friendly, and furnished the white families with venison in exchange for pork, flour, etc. Venison could be obtained when other meat could not be had; but venison is dry, and lacks the relish and sweetness of pork, and the Indians, nothwithstanding that they had been raised on the former, were always willing, and even anxious, to exchange the same for the latter. They would give a nicely dressed carcass of a deer for a com- paratively small amount of pork, and seem to think that the whites had the worst of the bargain, and the latter eventually came to about the same opinion. And yet the Indians could live for long periods upon nothing but venison, and many of the white squatters and trappers, by force of necessity, were enabled by practice to accomplish the same result. It was marvelous how some of the early families managed to live. Their means of support were invisible in more senses than one. How eagerly the return of the hunter was waited, and how anxiously the mother and children watched for the coming of the husband and father who had gone to mill.
In the spring of 1837, there were living in the township the following men and their families, some, however, being yet single: Jacob L. Brown, Darling Church, Aaron Cox, James Farwell, David Hornor, Thomas Hornor, Amos Hornor, Levi Hornor, Joseph Kerr, Charles Marvin, Hiram Nordyke, Jacob Nordyke, Solomon Russell and John Van Vran- ken. They were located on the following sections given here in the same order as the names appear above: 27, 11, 22, 36, Range 10, 29. 28, 29, 29, 22, 19, 22, 22, 22 and 20. They paid the following tax in the same order : $1.70, $5.16, $4.70, $7.14, $4.44, $1.762, $1.25, $1.25, $1.25, $4.81}, $3.91, $1.25, $1.25 and $2.40; total, $42.28}. Besides the above men, David Campbell had located aclaim on Section 25, Range 10, but had abandoned it before he was required to pay his tax. A claim on Section 36, Range 10, was assessed to John D. Carpenter, who proved to be a minor.
In the spring of 1839, the following settlers were taxed, the amount each paid being given, also the section upon which he resided : Charles C. Batten, Section 32, $1; Charles R. Ball, Section 27, $1; Hervey Ball, Section 27, indefinite ; Solomon Burns, Section 30, $1; Edward Chase, Section 17, $1; Richard Church, Section -, $3.34 ; Darling Church, Section 10, $3.66} ; Leonard Cutler, Section-, $6,52} ; James Farwell, Section 36, $6.60} ; Maj. Farwell, Section 36, $1; Able Far- well, Section 36, $1; Joseph Green, Section 10, $2.56; Edward Green,
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HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
Section 10, $1; Sylvester Green, Section 10, $3.27} ; Jonathan Gray, Section 34, $1; Thomas Hornor, Section 28, $1; Amos Hornor, Sec- tion 28, $1; Levi Horner, Section 33, $1; Isaac Hitchcock, Section 19, $2.30; John Hunt, Section 18, $2.81; George Leland, Section 27, $1; John Livingston, Section 6, $1; William Morton, Section 34, $1; Ly- man Mann, Section 27, $1; Charles Marvin, Section 19, $5.77; Jacob Nordyke, Section 22, $1; Hiram Nordyke, Section 22, $1.30; Hiram Nordyke, Jr., Section 28, $1; Solomon Russell, Section 22, $1; Henry Sasse, Section 20, $3.712; George Willey, Section 36, $1; total, except Hervey Ball, $60.564.
Lyman Mann and Jonathan Gray were expert fishermen. They had located on the west bank of Cedar Lake, had built small cabins, and had devoted almost their entire attention to the capture of myriads of large and excellent fish, which inhabited the clear waters of the lake. After a good many had been caught and barreled, they were conveyed to localities further south and sold. Whenever the white settlers in the neighborhood wanted fish, it was no trouble to go down to thelake and catch as many in half an hour as were wanted. The Indians trapped muskrats, minks, etc., on the lake and along West Creek and other smaller streams. Gray and Mann would bring back pork from the Wabash regions, where they dis- posed of their fish and the furs they had traded for from the Indians. The later career of both men was not perhaps the best to be pursued. They were both quite skillful hunters, and managed to take with them south a considerable quantity of deer skins. They traded for hides with those settlers who were sufficiently expert to occasionally bring down these animals. Albert Burns, who reached the township a little later, was perhaps the most expert deer hunter among the early settlers of Hanover. During one winter, about 1842, he killed thirty-six of these animals, and had at one time their frozen carcasses hanging in all directions in the woods. He was in the habit of conveying the meat and hides to the Chi- cago market, but owing to bad roads, they at this time had accumulated on his hands. He asked Henry Sasse if he did not want to buy venison, and the latter inquired what was to pay. " What will you give ?" asked Mr. Burns. "I will give you this," replied Mr. Sasse, taking from his pocket a five-franc piece. " All right," returned Mr. Burns as he pock- eted the coin, "the venison is yours." Many of the earliest settlers, though they could see herds of deer almost every day, never attempted, strange as it may seem, the very attractive pastime of deer-hunting. When asked why they did not, they usually reply, " Oh, we had enough to do without bothering with that." That reply contains a long and interest- ing lesson on the privation and self-denial of pioneer life. Too busy to
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
engage in what hunters consider one of the most attractive sports on earth !
The Pottawatomies .- The Pottawatomies were encamped on Section 20. They visited the cabins of the settlers to beg and to exchange com- modities. They were consummate beggars, rivaling the modern tramp in skill and expediency. They frequently entered cabins when the men were away, and by their threatening aspect so frightened the women, that their wants were speedily satisfied, when they would quietly depart, probably laughing in their sleeve (if they had any), at the success of their artifice. One morning, eight Indian men and one squaw called at the house of Hervey Ball and asked for breakfast. When the meal was ready, all took their seats at the table except the squaw, who seemed to think it proper to wait while the braves were eating. But Mr. Ball in- sisted upon her sitting down with the men, which act on his part caused no little merriment among the Indian men. At the conclusion of the meal, each Indian presented Mr. Ball with two muskrat skins in payment for his breakfast. Mr. Ball at this time kept a small store where the white settlers and Indians came for supplies of groceries, dry goods, etc. After the Indians had eaten their breakfast and had paid for the same, they entered the store and traded out quite a quantity of fur. After a few hours they departed.
Privations of the Pioneers .- One of the most serious things to be overcome by the early was the successful journey by team across the wet, swampy country to mill or to market. Bridges there were but few, and at certain seasons of the year it was absolutely impossible to cross the lower tracts of land. A volume might be filled with incidents of these journeys. Chicago was the market where the greater portion of the prod- ucts of Hanover were disposed. Probably Michigan City received the greater portion of the remainder. To quote from Rev. T. H. Ball : " In the winter of 1838-39, Hervey Ball was returning from Michigan City to Cedar Lake; the nightfall found him on the open area of Twenty-Mile Prairie (in Porter County). The snow clouds obscured the sky, the wind blew, the horses missed the track, and he was lost. No houses were near. It was to him a night of suffering and danger. Two or three cir- cumstances combined to save his life. A star shone out for a moment, and kept him from taking a direction that led yet further away from human abodes. Finding it useless to continue wandering around on the bleak prairie, having with him fortunately a bolt of satinet, and having a pair of large and powerful horses, one of which was remarkably sagacious, he wound the cloth around him, and stood between the heads of the horses to seek some shelter from the wind. To grow weary and seek rest, or to lie down in the sleigh and become benumbed, was to perish. And so
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