USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana. Historical and biographical > Part 20
USA > Indiana > White County > Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana. Historical and biographical > Part 20
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The township already contains three churches, but there is a move- ment advancing in the northern part under the management of the Pres- byterian denomination for the fourth ; $600 have been subscribed and the erection of this church is engaging the attention of some of the most prominent citizens in Liberty Township north. The site for the edifice has been donated by John C. Karr.
Post Offices .- The first post office in the township was what was known as Buffalo, and was established at the farmhouse of Jonathan W. Sluyter, about the year 1857, and Mr. Sluyter was the Postmaster. The office existed for several years and then was discontinued. Efforts are making for the re-establishment of the Buffalo office. About 1867, the
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY.
Flowerville office was established. This office was also at a private house, on the west side of the the Tippecanoe River ; A. A. Cole was the first Postmaster, and Joseph Shell is the present incumbent. The third and last post office established in the township is the Sitka Post Office, which was started at Sitka in April, 1880. Allison Hughes was the first Post- master. Hughes ran the office nearly two years, when R. Hughes was ap- pointed. Allison Hughes kept, in connection with the office, a small stock of general merchandise, but last year sold his entire stock to J. A. Read for $200. Mr. Read is Sitka's only merchant, and has about $1,000 invested.
Miscellaneous .- Drs. Bandal and Scott have been the township physicians. Jonathan W. Sluyter, Crystal D. W. Scott, Greenup Scott and Abram Sneathen were the noted early-day hunters. Mrs. Williams was one of the first and prominent weavers in the township. The new iron bridge across the Tippecanoe River, at what is widely known as Moore's Ford, is one of the best in the county. The bridge is in two parts, one 165 feet long, and the other 135 feet. The bridge has stone abutments, and was erected in 1882 at a cost of about $14,000. The Columbia Bridge Company, at Dayton, Ohio, have the honor of putting up this creditable structure. On the Williams farm are some remain- ing traces of the work of Mound-Builders. The work consisted of building four mounds, the highest one of which is about nine feet. These mounds have never been thoroughly investigated. About twenty years since, some boys opened one of them, but upon the discovery of a few bones, became frightened and at once abandoned the investigation. Hatchets, tomahawks, stone axes, pipes and other Indian relics have been found in the vicinity of these mounds.
CHAPTER XI.
BY M. T. MATTHEWS.
WEST POINT TOWNSHIP-FIRST SETTLEMENT-FORMATION OF TOWN- SHIP -- FIRST ELECTIONS AND VOTERS-THE FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE AND TEACHER-LAND ENTRIES-FIRST BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH-CHURCH INTERESTS-FORNEY POST OFFICE-MEADOW LAKE FARM, ETC., ETC.
A BOUT the year 1835 dates the appearance of the Caucasian race in the territory that now comprises the township of West Point. Perhaps the first men who began improvement in the township were Messrs. Shelby Hudson and Oscar Dyer, who established themselves in
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the northeastern part of the township. The houses that these men erect - ed were about a half a mile apart, similar in their construction and arrangement. Each house was 16x18 feet, built of split trees ; each had its roof of clapboards ; its small garret, which was accessible only by means of that old dangerous garret ladder ; its one small and paneless window ; and last, but not least, the old-fashioned fire-place.
Before the snows of 1835 had whitened the earth, Isaac Vinson and family left the State of buckeye notoriety and started on their way with one two-horse wagon and a buggy attached, to White County, Ind. The journey was a tedious one, taking twenty-nine days to make it. The family would travel during the day and at night would "camp out." Provision was brought with them from the old home, except bread, which was purchased of families along the route. The buggy that Mr. Vinson brought with him served two purposes-Mrs. Vinson and the two chil- dren would ride in it during the day, and at night it was converted into a sleeping apartment for the whole family. Mr. Vinson settled first in Union Township, where he lived until the spring of 1838, when he re- moved to West Point Township, and purchased the improvement that had been begun by Shelby Hudson in 1835. When the Vinson family set- tled in West Point Township, the Pottawatomie Indians were quite numerous. An Indian camping ground lay just across Big Creek, and only a short distance from the Vinson settlement. The wild men of the prairie and forest would come to Vinson's house for favors and to do trad- ing. The articles they had for trade were of Indian manufacture, or such as they could obtain by hunting. Old Mrs. Vinson did considerable trading with the Pottawatomie tribe, and tells that many times she has bartered two or three cold corn cakes for the saddles (hindquarters) of a deer, and that it was no uncommon occurrence for two or three saddles to be exchanged for one loaf of wheat or rye bread. In the early days of West Point Township, the deer were as numerous almost as the trees in the forest, and game of all kinds was exceedingly plentiful. One winter, Mrs. Vinson made a trap and caught 101 prairie chickens. In 1838, John Price came into the township and began settlement, but his wife was taken ill in mid-summer of the same year, and in the fall the family retraced its steps to its native home in Ohio, which was about thirty miles north of the Queen city. A short time afterward, Mr. Price returned alone to his newly-commenced settlement in West Point Town- ship, and almost immediately upon his return to the township, he was taken sick with inflammatory rheumatism, and for three months lay in an almost helpless condition at the Vinson House. The following spring, Price sold all his possessions and left the township. Isaac Beeze, a noted hunter, came into the township in 1837. It is said of Beeze, that his
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY.
desire was so great for hunting, that he would go for days without eating, and as many as twenty unskinned deer have been known to be in his smoke-house, frozen stiff, at a time, and Beeze still hunting. Beeze never made much improvement, and soon left the township and settled in Pulaski County, where he was killed by a man by the name of Rader, a fellow who had served a term of years doing muscle work in the interest of the State without compensation. He had regular meals, however. The remains of Beeze repose in the Brookston cemetery, unmarked and un- cared for, and thus endeth the earthly history of the once noted hunter of West Point Township. Sylvanus Van Voorst began settlement in the township about the year 1841, and about the same time came John Van Voorst and Drury Woods, and began for themselves homes in the then new country. In 1844, Dr. Halstead, the first physician in the township, came from Ohio, and began improving a home in the new country, and at the same time came his brother, Bartlett Halstead. William Jordan removed from Tippecanoe County in 1844, to the settlement in the town- ship. As early as 1843, James Carson and Gideon Brecount began im- provements in the territory. In 1847, Thomas Matthews removed from Clinton County, Ind., and began settlement in the township on Section 3. In 1852, the territory had added to its number of inhabitants James Thomas, Jr., Cicero F. Thomas and Joseph Thomas, Sr. The first set- tlements made in West Point Township were principally along the point of timber that extends through a portion of the township, near Jordan's Grove, and in the northeastern and southeastern parts of the township. Settlements in West Point Township were more numerous after 1850 than they had hitherto been.
Township Formation .- At the June term of the Commissioners' Court, and on the 3d day of June, 1845, it was ordered by the board that a new civil township be organized within the bounds of White County, and the new township was to be comprised of the following described terri- tory : All of Township 26 north, Range 5 west, and all the territory west to the county line. It was further agreed by the board, that the new township be designated in the roll of townships as West Point Township. This name was derived from a point of timber that extends into the town- ship several miles. This appropriate name the township has since retained. West Point Township is one of the largest in White County, is nine miles long and six miles wide, and has an area of fifty- four square miles, or 34,560 acres, and has for its northern boundary Princeton Township ; eastern, Big Creek ; southern, Prairie and Round Grove, and western, Benton County.
The major portion of the land in West Point Township is of that kind known as rolling prairie. The soil is a black sand loam, except in the
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northeastern part, which is of that quality common to sand ridges or wet prairie. The township has about thirty-five miles of public drainage, constructed at a cost of $35,000. In addition to the public ditches, the township contains much private drainage. West Point Township con- tains one of the finest walnut groves in Western Indiana. It is known as Jordan's Grove, and contains 320 acres of valuable walnut timber. The board ordered, further, that the election of West Point Township be held at West Point Schoolhouse, and Gideon Brecount was appointed Inspector of the election.
First Elections .- At an election held at West Point Schoolhouse on the first Monday in August, 1845, the following men voted : Ira Emery, Sylvanus Van Voorst, Alexander Page, Jesse Tinnison, William Vodyce, Isaac Beeze, William Jordan, John Halstead, Barney Spencer, Gideon Brecount and Isaac S. Vinson.
At an election held at the same place one year later, men voted as follows: William Price. John Q. Patterson, Isaac S. Vinson, Alexander Page, Joseph Tapp, Sylvanus Van Voorst, William Jordan, Joseph Mar- tin, William Vandyke, John Wallston, Jesse T. Vinson, Gideon Brecount, Isaac Beeze, Simon Warren, John Halstead and Thomas Emery. At the first of these elections there were fourteen votes cast, and at the last six- teen votes. There were seventy-eight votes cast in the township in 1865, and 240 in 1882.
School Interests .- The first schoolhouse that was built in West Point Township was erected about the year 1844, and near the site of the pres- ent West Point Schoolhouse. The building was a round log structure, 18x24 feet, and was noted for its floor of puncheon and its backless seats. James Carson taught the first school, which numbered ten pupils, some of whom were obliged to come a distance of several miles if they attended school. At this schoolhouse the first elections in the township were held.
The first frame schoolhouses erected in the township were built by Abram Van Voorst, who hauled the material from Delphi for them. One of the houses was erected on Section 7, and the other on Section 15. The buildings were similarly constructed, and were 20x24 feet, and cost $500 each. There are now nine frame schoolhouses in the township, the last one having been built in Centennial year. The following are the West Point Township teachers for the current school year, and the district in which they are teaching : No. 1, Walter Carr; No. 2, Robert A. Laurie ; No. 3, Flora McKee; No. 4, William F. Fisher ; No. 6, Samuel Young ; No. 8, Flora Thomas ; No. 9, Jennie Wallace; No. 10, J. C. Jackson ; No. 12, Frank Moore. Benjamin Walker is the present School Trustee of the township.
First Land Entries .- The following is a list of some of the persons
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY.
who entered land in West Point Township, and the date of the entry is also given : Thomas H. Brown, 1836; Joshua H. Scarff, 1839; I. T. Vinson, 1841; Jacob Nyce, 1841; Andrew Brown, 1836; George Mc- Gaughey, 1835; John Lewis, 1835; Armstrong Buchanan, 1835; Nathan Goff, 1837 ; John Hutchinson, 1837; William Galford, 1834; John F. Bunnell, 1834 ; Shelby Hudson, 1834; Oscar Dyer, 1836; John Price, 1836; Isaac S. Vinson, 1836; Thomas H. Hibbard, 1836; Charles P. Kirkland, 1836; Michael C. Doughtery, 1836; Jacob Walker, 1836; Calvin Finch, 1836. There were many tracts of land entered in the township by persons who made no improvement, but held the land in a speculative sense simply.
The first frame dwelling house in West Point Township, was erected by John Van Voorst. The material was brought from Lucas County, Ohio, by canal boat to Pittsburg, in Tippecanoe County, and then wagoned across the country to the building site in West Point Township.
First Birth .- The first white child born in West Point Township is supposed to have been Miller Beeze, a son of the old hunter of the township.
First Marriage .- James Carson, the township's first school teacher, and Miss Lydia Brecount were the first persons who were married in West Point Township. The marriage occurred in 1840, and Isaac Vin- son and wife, Samuel McQuin and wife, and Isaac Beeze and wife were some of the persons who attended the wedding. A Presbyterian minis- ter from Monticello sealed the twain as one.
First Death .- An infant child of John and Mrs. Price that died in the summer of 1838, is the first death that occurred in the township. The death of William Vinson (son of Isaac S. and Mrs. Vinson), on the 21st of August, 1838, was also one of the first that took place in West Point Township.
Ministers and Churches .- One of the first preachers that ever preached in West Point Township, was a circuit rider by the mame of Lee. Rev. Lee was a representative of the orthodox faith and an advo- cate of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and preached at the Old Vinson House, and during his administration held several protracted meetings at that place.
A Methodist Episcopal class was organized in the township about 1844, and a log church was erected on Section 2, Range 5 west.
The United Brethren in Christ held services in the township in No. 2 schoolhouse. The only church in the township is the Presbyterian Meadow Lake Chapel, situated in the northern part of the township. The structure is a well-built frame structure, 26x40 feet, built in 1877 at a cost of $2,000. The class was organized at the Meadow Lake School-
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WEST POINT TOWNSHIP.
house in 1874, and Jesse McAllister and wife, Oliver Wilson and wife, E. G. Roberts and wife, Samuel Snyder and wife, J. Duryea and wife, James Blakemore and wife and Christian Miller were the organizers of the class. William Campbell was the first minister who was called by the congregation to preach in the new church. John Smith was the second minister ; Campbell was recalled and preached for several years, and was succeeded by Angus Taylor. The church has no regular minister at pres- ent. The congregation numbers fifty members.
Forney Post Office .- West Point Township has one post office, and that is located on the Lafayette & Wolcott Mail route, and is in the southwestern part of the township. This office was established in 1881, and James Rittenour was the first Postmaster. John W. Forney is the present incumbent. The office has a tri-weekly mail, and serves as a great accommodation to the people residing in that section of country.
Meadow Lake Farm .- West Point Township contains a number of fine and splendidly improved farms, but if there is one that deserves a more special mention than another, it is, perhaps, the Meadow Lake Stock Farm, in the northern part of the township. This farm contains 900 acres of choice land, and is owned by Chicago's greatest express and omnibus man, Frank Parmalee, and is superintended by his son, C. K. Parmalee, and under his efficient management is fast becoming second to none in Indiana. Located on the Meadow Lake Farm is one of the larg- est,as well as one of the best and most conveniently arranged, barns in the State. This improvement was commenced in 1880 and completed in 1881. The barn is 75x150 feet and forty-five feet high, contains 375,- 000 feet of lumber, and was built by Thomas Pugh, of Wolcott, at an esti- mated cost of $12,000. Mr. Parmalee is sparing no pains, labor or capi- tal in making his farm one of the best stock farms that the country affords. This farm is supplied with thoroughbred stock, and is a credit to its founder and an honor to West Point Township.
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY.
CHAPTER XII.
BY M. T. MATTHEWS.
CASS TOWNSHIP-FIRST SETTLEMENTS-BIRTH AND MARRIAGE-CRE- ATION OF TOWNSHIP-NAME, ETC .- EDUCATIONAL GROWTH AND INTEREST-ELECTION-1851 TAX-PAYERS-FIRST ENTRIES OF LAND -DRAINAGE-POST OFFICE-FIRST PREACHER, ETC.
T T is not remembered who was the first man to make improvement in the once wild territory that now composes Cass Township, but Chris- topher Vandeventer was one of the first white men to begin a settlement. From the Empire State, in the spring of 1837, came Vandeventer, who located on the south branch of Indian Creek. Here, a cabin 20x26 feet was erected of round logs. Settlement was commenced on Section 12 in 1837, by Daniel Yount, and the same year came Tavner Reams, and began settlement in the township. In 1838, Edwin Perry settled on Sec-
tion 27. Philander McCloud, Joseph Headlee and Josiah Dunlap were among the first to settle in the township. Charles Reed came in 1840. Jesse Millison was one of the pioneers in Cass Township. John Poole settled in the township at an early day. Stephen Moore came in 1845. William McBeth began an improvement in 1847. John Burgett, com- monly distinguished as Dutch John, settled in the northern part of the township in 1846. On Section 35, Elias Vanaman began settlement about 1848. William Bare settled at a very early day in the history of Cass Township, on Section 34. Robert Acre, Robert Blackburn, William King, Benjamin Bare and Henry Bare were among the very first settlers in the township.
At the time of the United States survey of lands in White County, the territory that now comprises Cass Township was returned by the Sur- veyor as condemned, or dead, land, but in 1837 Gen. Tipton, Congress- man from this section at that time, introduced a bill into the Lower House providing for the survey of the territory, which was done in 1839 by Richard Vanesse, of Logansport. For many years, Cass Township was_ known as the " Lone Township."
Pioneer Life .- The coming of each family to Cass Township meant the erection of a cabin, and another settlement in the forest by clearing the ground and preparation for crops. These clearings for the first year or two were usually limited to an acre or two planted to corn and vegeta- bles, with, perhaps, a patch of oats and wheat. To be successful in those days in raising grain and " garden truck," required great vigilance to protect them from the depredations of the wild turkey, deer, raccoon,
THE NEW YORK PUELL IR ANT
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William 11.
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CASS TOWNSHIP.
squirrel and other pestiferous animals with which the country in those early times abounded; though these seemingly early-day pests, in many re- speccs, served a valuable purpose in affording almost the entire supply of meat to the settlers. In common with the experience of all frontiersmen in the settlement of a new country, the early settlers were subjected to many hardships and privations, and often the most heroic fortitude was required to overcome the seeming insurmountable obstacles. The prod- ucts from the miniature improvement in the clearing, and the game that was secured by the ever-trusted rifle, afforded subsistence for the family.
The spinning-wheel and the loom supplied the cloth for clothing and household purposes, save, however, where the prepared deer-skin and the furs from the fur-bearing animals were brought into use. Luxuries in those early days were obtained at a great cost, and many times at no small sacrifice. Groceries and the most common kinds of merchandise were catalogued as extras, and only to be indulged in sparingly. In the first days of Cass Township the nearest trading points of any prominence were Chicago, Michigan City and Logansport. To these places grain was hauled and produce taken under the most trying circumstances, and at prices so insignificant that the farmer of to-day would not consider them of sufficient magnitude for the mere transportation over the best roads. In the face of all these impediments to be surmounted, there was real and unalloyed happiness to be found in the pioneer's cabin. In those primi- tive days, their wants were of the most simple, and wholly in keeping with their surroundings. Society knew no castes or factions, and the only recommendation needed to obtain a membership was good character ; and even the want of this was not always taken into consideration. For the young men and the young women to attend church bare-footed was not considered a disgrace, and for the whole families to eat, sleep and live in one room was the rule, and to be in the enjoyment of more than this was the exception.
In the early times of Cass Township, huckleberries formed one of the greatest productions, and from means obtained by selling this production were taxes on lands paid.
First Birth .- It is not distinctly remembered who was the first per- son born in Cass Township, but George Vandeventer, a son of Christopher and Elizabeth Vandeventer, was one of the first white children born within the limits of the township.
Marriage .- In the fall of 1840, occurred one of the first marriages that took place in the township. Andrew Hamilton and a Miss Beechum were the contracting parties.
Township Creation .- From the formation of Liberty Township in 1837, until the creation of Cass in 1848, all the territory now inclosed 13
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY.
by the boundary lines of the township last mentioned remained attached to Liberty for election purposes. On the 7th of June, 1848, it was ordered by the County Commissioners that all that portion of Liberty Township contained in Congressional Township 28 north, of Range 2 west, be declared a political township, and receive the name of Cass. Just why this township was distinguished as Cass is not clearly known. Some suppose that it received its name from the number of cast-iron plows used in the township at that time; others affirm that it was given this distinction on the account of bordering on Cass County, and still there is a third class who declare that the township was so called in honor of Senator Cass, of Michigan, at that time prominent in State and Na- tional politics.
Cass Township is the northeast township in White County, is six miles square, and contains 23,040 acres, and is bounded on the north by Pulaski County, east by Cass County, south by Jackson Township, and west by Liberty.
It was further ordered by the board, that the place of holding elections in the township be at the house of Daniel Yount, and Albert Bacon was appointed Election Inspector for the year 1848. For several years, the elections in the township were held at private houses.
Educational Growth and Interest .- The first school in the township was taught in a round log cabin that stood on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 6. The first term of school was taught during the winter of 1848-49, Samuel Gruell, teacher. Mrs. Anna McBeth taught a summer term there in 1849. To this school, Christopher Vandeventer sent five pupils, a man by the name of Horim, four ; Daniel Germberlinger, two; Tavner Reams, two; William McBeth, two; Peter Prough, two; John Baker, of Pulaski County, two; Daniel Yount, two; Albert Bacon, three. The second school was taught by Mrs McBeth in a round log house that stood on the land of William McBeth, on the south- east quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 6. This term was taught during the winter of 1849-50, and was attended by about twenty pupils. Mrs. McBeth was a lady of great intelligence, and possessed the natural qualifications for an early-day instructor, and therefore was a successful teacher in the first schools of Cass Township.
The first schoolhouse in the township was erected about the year 1850, on the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 8. This was a hewed log structure, 22x26 feet, and was considered a great improvement over the houses that had been the first schoolbuildings in the township. William McBeth, Alvin Hall, Milton Dexter, Walter Hopkins and James Potter were some of the first teachers who taught in this house. What is known as King's Schoolhouse, on Section 6, was built about 1853, and about
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CASS TOWNSHIP.
1857 two frame schoolhouses were erected, one on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 7, and the other near the center of Section 9. The township now has eight frame schoolhouses, the last one having been built in 1882. The teachers for the schools during the cur- rent school year are as follows : Samuel Callaway, Reid's ; W. B. Wiley, King's ; Anna Rathform, Popcorn ; Laura Guthrie, Union ; Effa Guthrie, Wickersham ; James Mills, White Oak ; Leonidas Rizer, Fairfield ; Adda Murry, at the new schoolhouse. There were 218 pupils admitted to the schools in the township last year. The round log cabin, with its seats of puncheon and total inconvenience, has passed into oblivion, and in its stead appears the modern schoolhouse with all the improvements of the day. The school of scarcely a score of scholars in 1848, has been ex- changed for eight schools with more than a score of pupils each. From the first days of education in the township, the advancement has been steady and marked, and to day there is presented a more extended system of culture and civilization. The old-fashioned spelling-schools and a singing-geography-school were, in the early days, well patronized by the sturdy young pioneers in their home-spun suits, and the lasses in their long-ago-day "frocks." The amusements at an early-time spelling-match recess or a singing-school intermission, are yet pleasant reminders of the now dead past.
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