USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana. Historical and biographical > Part 12
USA > Indiana > White County > Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana. Historical and biographical > Part 12
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" I often think each tottering form That limps along in life's decline, Once bore a heart as young and warm, And full of idle thoughts as mine."
The hoary locks, the palsied hand, the quaking voice and the general . aspect of languor, all seem to say, with greater emphasis than words could give,
" I feel more like restin' than workin', and every year that goes by
'Pears to tells me I'd better be careful, and leaves me a trifle less spry."
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY.
Pioneer Schools .- The first school in the township was taught about one mile southeast of Brookston, in a cabin built of small, round logs. This first schoolhouse was very rudely constructed, as were all the school- houses in this section of country, in those early days ; yet, it was so from necessity and not from choice. Those early settlers were as solicitous for the welfare of their children as are the parents of to-day for the welfare of theirs ; and, in so far as their limited means would permit, they pro- vided as well for their comfort and well-being. Therefore, let no jeering or contemptuous remarks be indulged in touching those early institutions of learning. Some of the foremost men in our nation to-day received no other school education than what they obtained in just such schoolhouses. This house was quite small ; and in this, also, as well as in being of rude construction, it was similar to most other schoolhouses of that period ; yet, as the country was at that time but sparsely settled, and as there were many, especially among the poorer class, who could not spare their children from home after they became old enough to work, it is obvious that the attendance must have been small, and that a large house was not required. And " ye pedagogue of ye olden time," who, that once has seen him, can- not, forever after, call him up at will, before his mind's eye? On the morning appointed for school to begin, the hour for " books " having ar- rived, he opens the door, takes a piece of clapboard (they had no bells then), and with it gives a dozen or more raps on the door, lustily, and in quick succession. This, as is understood by all, is the signal for "books." When all are in their places, and silence reigns, this pedagogue of the olden time, with austerity depicted in every lineament of his features (not that he is, at heart, the cannibal that he seems ; but the character is as- sumed, for the purpose of inspiring in the minds of his pupils respect for his authority), assumes a position in front of this awe-stricken assemblage of terrigenous toilers in the mines of knowledge, and seems to promul- gate the fact that they have assembled for the purpose of beginning a three months term of school (their terms of school never extended beyond three months in those days), and expresses the hope that they will all get along harmoniously together, and that all will be obedient to the "rules," and endeavor to so improve their time that they will have no cause to regret, in after life, having spent in idle folly the precious moments that are now theirs, but which, once lost, are lost forever. After thus ex- patiating for a half hour or so, and touching upon the subjects of the paramount importance of obtaining an education, the rapidity of time's flight, and the necessity of catching it as it flies, he takes from his pocket a paper, and proceeds to read to them therefrom the lex scripta by which this monarchy in miniature is to be governed. Snow-balling, fighting, chewing tobacco in the house, profanity, obscenity, and pretty nearly
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everything that is malum in se, as well as many things that are malum prohibitum only, are embraced in the long list of things that are pro- hibited, together with many mandatory injunctions. After these "rules" are read to the school, he tacks them upon the door, on the inside, in order, probably, that he may have no qualms of conscience in enforcing the principle of law that ignorantia legis neminem excusant (ignorance of the law excuses no one), and woe betide the boy who has the temerity to pull it down, just to show that he "isn't afraid to." After these prole- gomenary proceedings are ended, the regular routine work of searching for nuggets of knowledge begins. The school being now opened, the reader is left to close it when and as he chooses. As most of the early settlers were poor men, they were under the necessity of keeping their children at home and at work, when the weather was not too inclement. Consequently, their opportunities for obtaining an education were very limited, and their education was correspondingly limited. Their cur- riculum embraced spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, once in awhile geography, and, once in a long while, grammar. There were no class recitations in any of the branches except in spelling and reading. However deficient their education was, as regards the higher branches, it is true that they were generally good spellers. This was their chief pride, and in this they were not far behind (if behind at all) the pupils of these modern days. The young man who had mastered the arithmetic was considered a prodigy of learning. The gentleman who taught this first school bore the classic cognomen of Harrison. The second school was taught in the same neighborhood in a small, log-cabin schoolhouse, by Royal Hazelton, the man who is said to have been the first settler of Prairie Township.
First Birth, Marriage and Death .- Anna Wright (now Browning), who was born in the year 1830, was the first white child born in the township. As nearly as can be ascertained, Leavenworth Willis and Delana Hazelton were the first couple married in the township, and the first death was that of Mrs. Phillips, who died in 1829 or 1830.
Springboro .- In the early history of this township, there was an effort made to built up a town in the eastern part of it, and some ad- vancement was made in that direction; but owing to the fact of other towns springing up in the vicinity, having superior facilities, the project failed. It was situated about five miles east of Brookston, and was called Springboro. The first house erected in this town, was built by a man named Trantler, who also kept the first grocery in the place. There is a grocery there yet, which is kept by the firm of Lizby & Brown.
Masonic Lodge .- Brookston Lodge, No. 66, A., F. & A. M., was organized at Pittsburg, in Carroll County, in 1848, and worked on
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY.
dispensation until May, 1849, at which time a charter was granted them. In 1857, the lodge was removed to Brookston, where it is now located. All the records of the lodge were destroyed by fire in 1857. In 1858, they erected a very neat and commodious hall, at a cost of about $1,500, besides which they have other lodge property of the value of about $200. The lodge has about forty-five active members. Present officers: J. J. Bright, W. M .; David Cochran, S. W .; William Staton, J. W .; Benton Thompson, Treasurer ; A. S. Borden, Secretary. Regular meet- ings, first and third Saturday nights in each month. Trustees, K. J. Mills, John Medaris and Jerry Murphy.
Early Mills .- The first saw mill in this township was erected in Sec- tion 31, on Moots' Creek, by Robert Barr, in 1838. It had an up-and- down saw, which went up and down as regularly as the sun rose and set, and pretty nearly as often. The creek was dammed about a quarter of a mile above where the mill was located, and a race construct- ed. In the spring when the water was high, this mill did a flourshing business. At this mill was sawed much of the lumber that was used in the construction of many of the early improvements in the eastern part of Prairie Township, and the country round about. The enterprise was con- tinued for about ten years, and then abandoned. Some of the old timbers remain to mark the spot where this first saw mill of the township was erected. The second and last saw mill in the township was built in the Gay settlement, by P. M. Kent, about the year 1862, and continued in operation some four or five years. There was, in connection with this saw mill, a small grist mill, which ground wheat and corn for about one year, when the enterprise was abandoned as a financial failure.
Churches .- The first ministers who sowed the seed of divine faith in this portion of the globe terrigenous were Adam Best and Aaron Yarnell, of the Methodist Episcopal persuasion ; and the first services were held at the house of J. C. Moore, somewhere near the site of his present resi- dence. Near the same place, in a hewed-log schoolhouse built by J. C. Moore, the first class in the township was organized. This organization was effected by a one-eyed minister, whose name could not be ascertained. Some of the members of this class were Philip Davis, John Davis and wife, and Joseph Bostick and his wife and son. The first Methodist Episcopal Church in the township was erected about the year 1844, about two miles southwest of Brookston. It was a frame building, the size of which was about thirty-six by forty-two feet. The Rev. Stallard was the first minister. The church is without a regular pastor at present Just when the Baptist Church was organized could not be ascertained. In 1870, they bought the old schoolhouse in Brookston, for $600, and converted it (not in a spiritual sense), into a temple of worship. They
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had been holding their meetings in this same building previous to the time of their purchase of it. Rev. Tedford is the present pastor of this church. The Christian Church, located about five miles east of Brookston, is a very neat frame building, thirty feet in width by forty-eight feet in length, and was completed in November, 1882, at a cost of $1,250. Rev. Lilly is the present pastor.
Brookston .- The town of Brookston, a neat, sprightly and flour- ishing little town, situated near the center of the township, on the line of the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad, and which has at present a population of about 650, was laid out and platted April 26, 1853, by Benjamin Gonzales, Isaac Reynolds and Joel B. McFarland. The town is situated upon the northwest quarter and the west half of the north- east quarter of Section 22. The blocks, numbered from 1 to 32, both inclusive, are laid off into lots, each fifty feet front, by one hundred and forty feet deep. The blocks numbered 1, 8, 25 and 32 contain four lots each. The lots numbered from 2 to 7, both inclusive, and from 26 to 31, both inclusive, contain six lots each. The blocks numbered 9, 16, 17 and 25, contain eight lots each ; and the lots numbered from 10 to 15, both inclusive, and from 18 to 23, both inclusive, contain twelve lots each. The lots marked A and E are each one hundred feet wide by two hundred feet long ; and the lots marked B, C and D, respectively, are each one hundred feet wide by three hundred feet long. Railroad street is one hundred and thirty feet wide. Prairie street, South street, North street and Wood street are each seventy feet wide. First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Sev- enth streets are each sixty feet wide; and the alleys are each twenty feet wide. First to Seventh street, both inclusive, run east and west ; First street on the north side of the plat, and numbered to the south. Prairie, Railroad, South and Wood run north and south ; Prairie on the west, and thence east in the order named. The strip of ground lying between Blocks A and B, being one hundred feet wide, is not dedicated to the public, but is reserved by the proprietors. The blocks are numbered from the northwest corner of the plat, down the west side of Prairie street ; then north, between Prairie and Railroad ; then south, between South and Wood, and then north, on the east side of Wood. Blocks A, B, C, D and E are between South and Railroad streets; A north of First, and B, C, D and E south of Fourth street. There are two alleys -one between Prairie and Railroad, and one between South and Wood streets. The following additions have been made at various times : Hayes' Addition of sixteen lots, by S. Hayes, January 24, 1854; Moore's Addition of seventy lots, by J. C. Moore, January 28, 1351; Brown & Barnard's Addition of twenty-four lots, by E. A. Brown and Obed
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY.
Barnard, August 10, 1868; Robinson's Addition of thirty lots, by J. W. Robinson, August 26, 1868. The want of space precludes the giv- ing of a more detailed description of those additions. Eli Myers built the first house that was erected within the town plat. The first store in the town was kept by a man named Kane, who also was the first Post- master, and the first railroad agent. He commenced in 1852 and con- tinued about one year. The second store was kept by John Bross. John Best was the first blacksmith in the town. The third store was owned by Colton & Mason. The first election for corporation officers in the town of Brookston was held at the schoolhouse March 23, 1867, and the following officers were elected : Clerk and Treasurer, D. S. French ; Marshal and Assessor, Jonas R. Staton ; Trustees, First Dis- trict, A. L. Patterson ; Second District, S. H. Powell ; Third District, C. D. Staton ; Fourth District, Moses L. French ; Fifth District, D. U. Rice. A. Patterson, President of the Board. The bonds of Assessor and Clerk were each $100, and of Treasurer and Marshal $1,000 each. The present officers are : Trustees, First District, G. U. Rainier ; Second District, A. Cochran ; Third District, George Stowe ; Fourth District, George W. Sanders ; Fifth District, W. H. Sampson ; Treasurer, T. S. Hayes ; Marshal, John Mansfield; Clerk, C. C. French.
Following is a summary of the present business of the town : Dry goods, Truxton Head, E. P. Mason, son and J. H. Brandon ; boots and shoes, Mason & Son, S. S. Colvin, F. Stalman and J. H. Brandon ; ele- vators, F. S. Hayes and Parish & Godman ; groceries, E. P. Mason & Son, D. A. Powell, Rainier & Son, A. Street & Son ; hardware, D. E. Murphy and A. C. Spitzer; confectioners, John Wolf, A. Street & Son ; drugs, Benton Thompson and Van Winkle & Martin ; blacksmiths, A. Deiterlie and George Martin; barber, J. W Holtzman ; furniture, A. Cochran ; harness, Peter Schneider ; lumber and lath, A. S. Boardner ; livery and feed, William Lang and M. Slimar ; cigars and tobacco, J. W. Holtzman ; meat market, A. J. Holtzman ; Justice of the Peace, A. C. Patterson ; millinery, Mrs. R. H. Lockwood and Mrs. A. Rodgers; physicians, John Medaris, Kelley & Mendenhall, W. H. Holtzman and W. H. Sampson ; stoves and tinware, A. C. Spitzer ; undertaker, A. C. Cochran ; tile factory, William Ripley ; hotel, Gress House, J. S. Lock- wood ; American Express, L. E. Street; station agent, William Mc- Clellan ; Postmaster, C. S. Little. The Farmers' Warehouse was built in 1860-61 by a joint-stock company, organized and incorporated under the laws of the State. It is 40x80 feet and cost $2,000. In 1864, John Allen put in a grist-mill, with three runs of buhrs, which he operated for about five years. In 1879, Parish & Godman leased it for a period of five years. The Methodist Church in Brookston was built in 1866 at a cost of $2,000.
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PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP.
In 1863, the Brookston Minutemen were organized under charter, running for ten years. The charter members were William Stewart, William T. Alkire, D. D. Archibald, Joseph Henderson, Samuel Bachelor, Aaron Yarnell, E. A. Brown, J. C. Garrett, Jeremiah Murphy, William H. Stewart, Benjamin Lucas, Lewis Roderick, William Myers, A. G. Brown, James Chilton, Sr., James Chilton, Jr., and a few others. William Stewart was the first President; Samuel Bachelor, the first Secretary, and Aaron Yarnell, the first Treasurer. In 1873, the charter having expired, the body was re-organized under a new charter, which will expire in 1883. The present charter expires next September, but the probability is that it will then be renewed for a further term of ten years. Their meetings are held once every three months. Their object is mutual protection against thieves and depredators of all kinds. They now have a membership of about seventy. They have done much good in the community, in the way of bringing criminals to condign punish- ment. It is probably the only organization of the kind in the county, and there is probably no other place in the county in which criminals are so rigorously dealt with.
The Brookston Silver Cornet Band was organized in June, 1882, by M. J. Holtzman, with the following members : M. G. Holtzman (leader), Peter Schneider, Ed Petit, Webb Mendenhall, Van Ripley, J. F. Rans- dell, Sherman Cochran, John Wright, James French and Elwood Shelton. They are making fair progress, and will, no doubt, be able to discourse some very excellent music after they shall have had a little more practice. Brookston has two saloons, at which "the deadly juice of the sour-mash tree " is sold in quantities to suit purchasers. There is also a calaboose in the town. The relation between the saloon and the calaboose is so intimate that it is deemed proper to mention them in the same connection.
The Brookston Academy was built during the years 1866 and 1867. The movement which eventuated in the erection of this magnificent structure, of which the people of Brookston are proud above everything else, perhaps, that they have to feel proud of in common, in their beauti- ful and pleasant little town, was inaugurated by Dr. John Medaris. He it was who first suggested the idea, and at his suggestion the plan was adopted of getting the then County Superintendent to hold a series of meetings throughout the township, at which addresses were made by the County Superintendent and others, and the organization of a joint-stock association was strongly urged, after which the subscription of stock was solicited. This plan met with such success that during the winter of 1865 -66 stock to the amount of $7,000 was subscribed, and during the follow- ing spring the work was begun. By the fall of 1866, the building was inclosed and the association was about $6,000 in debt. Before further
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY.
progress could be made, it was necessary that they should get more money. This seemed almost like the labor of Sisyphus, for it would seem as though their resources in this direction had been almost exhausted, as they had made a very thorough canvass of the township in the first instance, and their money was now all gone, although they had made but a very slight beginning toward the completion of the work they had set out to do. Nothing daunted, however, they began to frame new plans by which to obtain the much needed article, money. The plan which they now adopted was to issue new certificates of stock, payable in in- stallments, due, one-third in one year, one-third in two years, and the remaining one-third in three years. By the sale of this stock, about $6,000 was raised. They also prevailed upon the Board of Commission- ers of the county to subscribe for $5,000 worth of stock, the conditions of which subscription are set forth in the order of the Board in relation thereto, a copy of which is here set forth : "It is ordered by the Board that $5,000 of the stock of the Brookston Academy be taken by the county, upon the condition that the Board of Trustees of said Brookston Academy shall, from thenceforth, forever, educate all orphan children, and all children of widows who are not owners of real estate of the value of $500, and shall be bona fide residents of the county of White, free from tuition of all kinds, until said children shall attain their majority." With this additional $11,000 of subscribed stock, together with a little over $4,000 of borrowed money, the building was completed and opened in the fall of 1867. The building is eighty feet in length by sixty feet in width, two stories high, and is divided into four spacious rooms, two below and two above. It is situated outside and just south of the corpo- ration, in a beautiful grove containing five acres of ground. The struct- ure is composed of brick, and presents a very beautiful and imposing ap- pearance. What with the money the association had borrowed, and with the subscribed stock that was not collectible, they found themselves in debt in the sum of about $8,000 when the building was completed. As they did not feel equal to the task of raising this amount, it was sold in 1873 to the Trustees of the township, by whom it was, at the same date, leased to the corporation of the town of Brookston for a term of ninety- nine years. It was sold to the Township Trustees for the amount of the debt, and no more. It is greatly to be deplored that some of the men who contributed most liberally of their time and means to the furtherance of this noble enterprise should have been so mercilessly fleeced as some of them were, the details of which, for lack of space, cannot be here given. As before stated, the academy was opened in the fall of 1867, with the following corps of able teachers : Principal, Prof. Hart; Grammar, Miss Serena Handley; Intermediate, Miss Sallie Mitchell ; Primary,
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Miss Jeru Cook; Assistant, Miss Rachel Hayes ; Music, Miss Lida Oakes. Prof. Hart was a graduate of Yale College, and had, for many years before coming to this place, been Principal of the public schools in Danville, Ky. He was an accomplished scholar, and a very suc- cessful and popular teacher. The present teachers are : Principal, Prof. Frank D. Heimbaugh, a graduate of the Normal School at Valparaiso ; Primary, Miss Eda Cutter ; Intermediate, Miss Lizzie Holmes ; Gram- mar, Miss Belle Marsh. The first Trustees were, John Medaris, Russel Stewart, Samuel Ramey, E. A. Brown, Alfred Ward and G. W. Cornell ; President of the board, John Medaris. Present Trustees, John Medaris, John Roush, John P. Carr, O. Barnard, Robert Alkire and Russel Stew- art. John Medaris has continued to be President of the board, by suc- cessive re-elections, from the time of the first organization of the board. The schools are now and always have been very efficiently conducted. There is probably no town or city in the State that contains a better edu- cated or more refined class of citizens than does Brookston, and that this is true is due to the fact of the existence of this academy in their midst, more than to any other one thing.
Bridges .- Prairie Township has within its borders five good iron bridges, three of which, across Moots' Creek, are each one hundred feet in length, and were erected at an estimated cost of $2,000 each; one across the same stream, fifty feet in length, was built at a cost of about $1,300; and one across Spring Creek, also fifty feet in length, cost about the same amount as the one last mentioned. The first four of these bridges are of the conical center pattern, and the other of the square truss style. These bridges were erected by the Wrought Iron Bridge Com- pany of Canton, Ohio.
Surface Features .- Prairie is the largest and, perhaps, the best township in the county. The west half of it, and a portion of the east half, is prairie land. Probably three-fifths or more of the entire township is prairie, and it is from this fact that the name which it bears was given to it. The west half is almost exclusively prairie, whilst in the east half timbered land and prairie are interspersed. The timbered portions pro- duce wheat better than the prairie, whilst the prairie produces the better corn crops. Of late years, however, the farmers in the western portion have been cultivating much more wheat than formerly, and with good success. The soil of the prairies is very rich, and corn grows very lux- uriantly.
A Storm of Sleet .- Lest the date and the fact should be forgotten, and lest some who take but little note of passing events should say in the future, " this is the heaviest sleet that I ever saw," it is here recorded that during the night of February 2, 1883, a sleet was formed, which was
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY.
pronounced by many old and observant citizens to be the heaviest that they had ever witnessed. It rained almost incessantly during the night of the 2d, and also the greater part of the day on the 3d, with the tem- perature a little below the freezing point the greater part of the time. Sleet formed to the thickness of about one inch, and damage was done to fruit, forest and ornamental trees to an extent that was almost incredible. The telegraph lines were snapped asunder in many places, and many poles were broken down, merely by the weight of the accumulation of ice upon the wires, whilst, in many places, saplings or small trees were bent down across the wires by their burden of ice, and the wires thus were broken, rendering communication by telegraph, for the time, impossible. Not only did ice form around the limbs and twigs of trees, but numerous icicles, from four to five inches in length, hung pendant from every little twig.
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