Counties of Whitley and Noble, Indiana : historical and biographical, Part 22

Author: Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Blanchard, Charles, fl. 1882-1900
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: 428, 502 p. : ill., ports. ;
Number of Pages: 962

USA > Indiana > Whitley County > Counties of Whitley and Noble, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 22
USA > Indiana > Noble County > Counties of Whitley and Noble, Indiana : historical and biographical > Part 22

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).

The history of the little village of Forest begins with the erection of the Livenspargar saw-mill in 1854. It was built by the Miller Brothers and Allan Quick, and is still in lively operation. This mill and one residence lie in

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Washington Township, while the balance of the town is built across the road in Jefferson. The site of the village was originally owned by William Bell, who afterward sold out to Calvin Maring. While Mr. Bell owned the land, Allan Quick secured one-quarter of an acre, on which he built a residence in 1854. He afterward built a house on the corner now occupied by Mr. Brock. Meanwhile, Calvin Maring laid out several large lots, and the next improve- ment followed in 1866. During this year, the Myers brothers built a black- smith-shop on the corner, and Henry Myers erected a house on the same lot. In the spring of 1867, Elwood Nichols erected a large building, probably in- tended for a shop, but the same summer lot and building were sold to James Baker, who put in a stock of dry goods and groceries, valued at $1,000. Other improvements followed slowly, and in the fall of 1870, Dr. Richards built the room now occupied by the drug store. During these years, the place had been known by different names, such as Sodom and Lickskillet, and now some of the citizens began to think of a change in this respect. Accordingly, when the building mentioned was completed, a convention was held for the purpose of naming the little place. An oyster supper was one feature of the gathering, and the question before the meeting was settled by ballot. Several names were proposed, but Forest won the day, and as Forest it has since been known. In 1878, Mr. Robbins built a business room in which Mr. Bainbridge, of Columbia City, has since had a stock of dry goods and groceries. The build- ing occupied by the hardware store was erected in 1880, by Vincent White. The first stock of goods was put in by Edwards & Anderson, of Columbia City, who in 1881 sold to James Burwell. Since 1863, Dr. Richards has been practicing here, and later, Drs. Koontz and Putts located at this place. The town has now a population of a little over one hundred, and has a good church, and a brick schoolhouse, four stores, a grist-mill, two saw-mills and a hoop factory. It is growing steadily, and is patiently waiting for that blessing so greatly desired by all inland towns, a railroad.

CHAPTER XII.

BY E. A. MOSSMAN.

THORN CREEK TOWNSHIP-PHYSICAL FEATURES-THE FIRST AND SUBSEQUENT SETTLERS-LIFE IN THE WOODS-FIRST BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH- MILLING INTERESTS-BLUE RIVER WATER-POWER-THE ONLY VILLIAGE (?) -OLD-TIME CUSTOMS-AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES-RELIGIOUS AND EDU- CATIONAL TRAINING.

" And many strokes, though with a little ax,

Hew down and fell the hardest-timbered oaks."-Shakespeare.

T THORN CREEK TOWNSHIP derives its name from a small stream which is the outlet of Round Lake. Throughout the greater part of the township the soil is remarkably fertile. Originally the township was very

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HISTORY OF WHITLEY COUNTY.

heavily timbered and owing to the fact that there was at that time no con- venient market for lumber, the early settlers burned, in log-heaps, walnut and other valuable timber which, if standing, would to-day be more valuable than the land on which it grew. There are several very fine lakes in the township, the principal of which are Crooked, Cedar, Shriner and Round Lakes, in which there is an abundance of excellent fish. The last three of the above- named lakes are connected, their common outlet being Thorn Creek. The civil township of Thorn Creek and Congressional Township No. 32 north, of Range 9 east, coincide throughout. Owing to the fallibility of man's recollection, it is difficult to ascertain to an absolute certainty who was the first settler of Thorn Creek Township; yet it scarcely admits of a doubt that John H. Alex- ander and his family were justly entitled to claim the honor of being the first white persons to locate within the limits of the township. It is certain that they came into the township prior to the immigration of the families of John and Joseph Egolf and Martin Overly, which was in 1836. John and Joseph Egolf started from Fairfield County, Ohio, on the 4th day of July, 1836, and arrived in Thorn Creek Township the latter part of the same month. Martin Overly came to the township in the fall of the same year. The family of John H. Alexander is said to have moved to Michigan many years ago, and there is now no one living in the township who can give the exact date when he moved into it. There is a circumstance, however, which Mrs. Margaret Egolf (widow of Joseph Egolf) distinctly remembers, which almost, if not altogether, con- clusively proves that he settled in the township eight or nine months prior to the time when John and Joseph Egolf came, which would have been in the fall of 1835. The circumstance related by Mrs. Egolf was as follows : Mr. Joseph Egolf, soon after he settled in the township, being out one morning hunting his cows, heard voices, which he confidently believed to be the voices of white people. An intervening lake and the want of time prevented him from going just then to see who his neighbors were. In a few days, however, he and his wife started out in search of them. After a long and toilsome walk, they found the object of their search, which proved to be the residence of John H. Alexander. The distance between the two families was not, on a direct line, more than two miles. By the circuitous route they were obliged to travel, however, which meandered around the margin of the lake, it was, probably, fully twice that distance. Mr. Alexander's folks told Mrs. Egolf that she was the first white woman but one they had seen for nine months. The first that they had seen within the preceding nine months was, they said, the wife of an emigrant who passed by their house on his way farther West. Mrs. Egolf does not now remember whether they placed the time at nine months, for the reason that it was that length of time since they had moved into the State or not, but thinks it more than probable that such was the case, for the reason that the general aspect of things about their dwelling seemed to indicate that they had not probably been there for a greater length of time. As would be

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THORN CREEK TOWNSHIP.

natural, both families were overjoyed of course to find that they had so much nearer neighbors than they had supposed. Families residing within two, three, or four miles of each other, were in those days considered near neighbors. But marvelous changes have been wrought here, as elsewhere, during the half century of time that has intervened between those days and the present. When we view Thorn Creek Township as she is to-day, with her large and intelligent population ; her good schools and churches at almost every cross-road; her complete network of excellent highways; and with her hundreds of well-im- proved and well-tilled farms, many of them with superb and costly buildings upon them ; and when we contrast her in her present condition with what she was in those early days, we are impelled to exclaim, in the language of the im- mortal bard :

" Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer's cloud, Without our special wonder ?"

During the next year after John and Joseph Egolf and Martin Overly settled in the township, six other families moved in, all from Ohio. They were the families of Adam Egolf, Henry Egolf, Jacob Shearer, Peter Shriner, Jacob Hively and Daniel Hively. There came, also, at the same time, Mrs. Mary Egolf, mother of Adam, Henry and John. She died within a very few days after her arrival (in June, 1837), and was, probably, the first white person who died in the township. John Egolf, Adam Egolf, Henry Egolf and Daniel Hively are still living on the same land that they entered and located upon when they first came to the State, and will continue, in all probability, to re- side there until they shall close the volume of life's pilgrimage.

William R. Martin was born September 1, 1837, and was, probably, the the first white child born in the township. His father, Benjamin F. Martin, settled in the township in 1837, and died February 10, 1842.

The first election in the township was held at the residence of Benjamin F. Martin, and the voters thereat were Adam Egolf, Joseph Egolf, Henry Egolf, John Egolf, John H. Alexander, Nathaniel Gradeless, Benjamin F. Martin, Martin Overly, Peter Shriner, Daniel Hively, Jacob Hively, Jacob Shearer and Jacob Brumbaugh. One of the first (perhaps the very first) sur- veyors of the county was John H. Alexander, a son of John H. Alexander, the first settler in the township, of whom mention has been made. Adam Egolf was the first Justice of the Peace elected in the township. He served one term, but declined a re-election. The emoluments of the office of Justice of the Peace were not so great, in those days, as to prompt men to make use of every means that they could command, fair and unfair, to secure their election to that office, as is sometimes the case at the present day.

The statements of the surviving pioneers are somewhat discrepant as to the location of the first schoolhouse that was built in the township, some affirm- ing that it was built on very nearly the same ground that Thorn Creek Bethel

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HISTORY OF WHITLEY COUNTY.

now stands on, and others, that it was on Jacob Humbarger's farm, now owned by a man named Hoops. The probability is, however, that there was one erected at each place and about the same time. The time was about the year 1841. The first teacher at the schoolhouse that stood where Thorn Creek Bethel now stands was Charles Hughes. He received $13 per month and boarded himself. William Widup taught school in a private house, in what was known as the Egolf neighborhood, as early as the year 1841, and it is probable that he taught the first school that was taught in the township. The first schoolhouses were built of logs, with puncheon floors, chimneys composed of sticks and mortar, a wide " fireplace " at one end, or side, and a clapboard roof. The walls were chinked with mortar made of clay, and the "furniture " consisted of a sufficient number of indestructible, backless benches, more con- ducive to backache than to comfort. The writing was done on broad slabs, hewn as smoothly as they could conveniently be, and, supported by stout pegs, or pins, driven into auger-holes in the walls. The branches studied were reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and grammar ; geography and grammar, however (especially the latter) were studied by but a very few. The methods of instruction were quite different from the methods of to-day. The pupils were not organized in classes, in any of the branches except reading and spelling. If a pupil wanted any difficult point in any other branch explained, he-had to wait until the teacher was at leisure, and then go to him. Although it is ob- viously true that this method was greatly inferior to those that are in vogue at the present day, yet it is also true that those who obtained their education under the old regime compare favorably, in point of intelligence, with those who have been educated under the new. Thorn Creek Township has at .pres- ent some first-class brick schoolhouses, and she is probably able to make as good a showing, in all matters pertaining to educational affairs, as any of her sister townships.

The early settlers, although they were, as a rule, men in very moderate cir- cumstances, yet, as they bought their lands very cheaply, which rapidly grew into value, and as they were almost universally enterprising, industrious and frugal (being compelled, by force of circumstances, to practice economy, even had it not been their natural inclination to do so), they rapidly rose to easy, and many of them affluent, circumstances. True, they were compelled, at first, to pay exorbitant prices for such commodities as they were under the necessity of purchasing, but after they had been here a year or two, and had an opportunity of clearing up a few acres of ground, they were able to produce and manufact- ure very nearly everything that their necessities required, be it food, raiment, implement, vehicle, or whatsoever it might be. Very many, and perhaps most, if not all, of the very early settlers made their own and their families' shoes, spun the flax, and carded and spun the wool for the clothing for their entire families, besides being their own carpenter, wagonmaker, blacksmith, brick mason, etc., etc. In short, each man was, of necessity, a jack of all trades.

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THORN CREEK TOWNSHIP.

Log-rollings (not of the disreputable kind, however, that the present-day poli- tician is eminently noted for) and raisings were everyday occurrences. Some of the early settlers say that they have attended rollings for as many as twenty- three consecutive days, Sunday only excepted. Notwithstanding the hardships and privations they were compelled to endure in those times, however, the pioneers generally say that life was infinitely more enjoyable then than at the present time, for the reason that every person of respectable antecedents was then regarded and treated as the peer of any man, even though he were as poor as the grandfather of poverty ; or, otherwise, that the social position of an indi- vidual in nowise depended upon wealth or the lack of it. Whereas, to-day, it is, they say, lamentably otherwise, and that the world seems to think that

· " Dimes and dollars ! dollars and dimes ! An empty pocket is the worst of crimes !"

His eye brightens and his countenance is all aglow with heartfelt pleasure as the aged pioneer relates how families went en masse in sleds to visit other families four or five miles distant, to spend the long winter evenings, and how greatly they enjoyed themselves in those primitive times, when an unblemished character was a free passport to the best society in the land.

Thorn Creek is one of the few townships in the county (perhaps the only one) that has not somewhere within its limits a platted town or village. There is, however, a collection of houses in the northeast corner of the township, to which the name of Bloomfield is applied, although it has never been platted as a town. There is a small stock of "dry goods and groceries" kept there by Abraham Friend, and this is the only place in the township where any kind of merchandise is sold.

The manufacturing interests of the township, like the mercantile, are quite limited, and will occupy but little space in this history. About the year 1841, Richard Baughan built a water-mill, with one run of buhrs for grinding corn, on the Blue River, in the southwest part of the township. There was also a saw-mill in connection with it, and subsequently a bolter was put in, so that wheat and buckwheat were ground, although it is said that the flour made was very inferior in quality. About the year 1855, the dam was carried away by a freshet, and there was no grinding done after that time, although the dam was partially repaired, and some sawing was done afterward. Some portions of the substructure are still to be seen, although the upper portion of the build- ing was long since carried away. About the year 1846, a saw-mill and carding machine were erected on Thorn Creek, just on the bank of Round Lake, by Solomon Auspaugh, who operated it until the year 1849, when he sold it to Wesley Hyre, who rebuilt it, discarding the carding machine and digging a new race, about a quarter of a mile in length. The water-power is excellent the greater part of the year ; the fall is ample (about ten feet), and the mill did a great deal of work for many years, but on account of the scarcity of timber,

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HISTORY OF WHITLEY COUNTY.

it is not, and has not been for the past few years, running much more than half the time. It has proven a very valuable piece of property to all who have owned it, and is yet a good mill, and would be valuable still, if there was plenty of timber in the neighborhood. About the year 1860, Wesley Hyre sold the mill to his son, Joseph Hyre, who owned it until about the year 1865, when he sold it to his brother, Leonard Hyre. Frederick Magley purchased the mill of Leonard Hyre, about the year 1867, and still owns it. Mr. Magley came to the township from Licking County, Ohio. About the year 1850, a man by the name of Knaga built a saw-mill on Thorn Creek, about one and a half miles from Round Lake. In a very short time after he built it, he died. After " the death of Mr. Knaga, Frederick Humburger rented the mill of the Knaga heirs, and ran it for about five years, when Cyrus Knaga, a son of the original builder, took possession, and ran it for about nine years, when Samuel Cover- stone bought it, and still owns it. This, like the one just mentioned, was very profitable for a long time, but, being located but a very short distance from it, the scarcity of timber in the vicinity renders the property of less value year by year for the purpose for which it was erected. The water-power, however, as has been previously observed, is excellent, and when the time shall come, as it un- doubtedly will, when they can no longer be profitably run as saw-mills, they can be converted into flouring-mills, woolen-mills, or something of the sort. The depth of water in the lake, and consequently the amount of fall at the mills, is liable to fluctuations of several feet, as the weather changes from very wet to very dry. During high water, there is a fall at the upper mill of about ten feet ; and in very dry weather, the water is so low that the mill cannot run. In consequence of this fluctuation, it manifestly would not be prudent in con- verting those saw-mills into other kinds of mills, to put into them the full amount of machinery that could be run when the water is highest, for the reason that such a large portion of it would necessarily have to stand idle for such a great length of time each year.

About the year 1873, a steam saw-mill was erected by Thomas N. Hughes & Co. about three miles north of the southwest corner of the township, and just across the line from Smith Township. The mill was run there until the fall of 1881, when it was removed to near Taylor's Station, on the Eel River Division of the W., St. L. & P. R. R., about four miles west of Columbia City.

It is somewhat involved in doubt as to who were the first couple married in the township; but the probability is that it was either Mr. Solomon Auspaugh and Mary Hively, or Peter Egolf, son of Adam Egolf, and the lady whom he mar- ried, whose name could not be ascertained. It is tolerably certain the first mentioned couple were married in the fall of 1843, but whether the latter were married before that time or after cannot be definitely ascertained, although it is quite certain that there was but a very short interval of time between the two marriages, whichever may have been first.

What is now Whitley County constituted a portion of Huntington County

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up to about the year 1839, and it is said that after the county of Whitley was struck off, and was organized as a separate county, the first term of the Whit- ley Circuit Court was held at the house of Richard Baughan in Thorn Creek Township and that Charles Ewing was the Presiding Judge, and John H. Alexander one of the Associate Judges at the court.

About the winter of 1872-73, Thomas Hildinger was killed in the town- ship whilst loading a saw log, by the log rolling back upon him in consequence of the chain breaking. About the winter of 1880-81, David Bowers was killed by a limb falling on him while cutting down trees in the woods. About twenty or twenty-five years ago, Rudolph Brock was drowned in Shriner's Lake. At a very early day, probably in 1838 or 1839, a man by the name of Michael Divibiss died at the house of Joseph Egolf under such circumstances as to make it very doubtful whether he intended to commit suicide, or whether he took the poison which killed him without knowing that it was a poison, and believing that it possessed medicinal properties that would cure his ailment. He had entered a piece of land near where Joseph Egolf lived, and was improving it, and boarding at Joseph Egolf's, his family still continuing to reside in Ohio. He had been complaining for several days of not feeling well, and one day he took his tobacco pipe, which he had been using for a long time, and, scraping off the gummy substance that was adhering to the inside, took it. In a short time he became deathly sick, and died in the course of a few hours. Before he died he seemed exceedingly anxious to tell to those who were present something that seemed to weigh upon his mind, but his tongue seemed to be paralyzed so that he could not. These are all the fatal casualties that could be learned of upon diligent inquiry.

The first religious meetings that were held in the township were held in the old log schoolhouse that formerly stood on the spot on which Thorn Creek Bethel now stands, just north of Adam Egolf's residence. This was about the year 1843. A very short time afterward, Adam Egolf organized a Sunday school at the same schoolhouse, and the same has been kept up during the summer season ever since. The minister who established the first church was Zachariah Garrison. He was, at that time, a Methodist minister, and the church that he organized was a Methodist church; but he afterward severed his connection with the Methodist Church and became a minister in the Church of God, and the entire congregation, or the major part of them at least, went with their pastor to the Church of God. They now have a membership of about thirty, and their pastor is Benjamin Ober. They also have a very nice cemetery, that has the appearance of having been well kept, and in which there are a number of very neat and pretty and some quite expensive appearing tombstones. Just three miles north of the church just spoken of is a church that was erected, about the year 1867, by the Lutherans and German Reform- ers conjointly. It is commonly known as the Hively Church. Thomas Hil- dinger, who met with an accidental death, as before stated, was the builder.

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HISTORY OF WHITLEY COUNTY.

The probable cost of the building was about $500. There is a very pretty and neat cemetery adjacent. Neither society has any regular pastor at present, nor are there any meetings held there. Rev. John Miller is the last Lutheran minister who has occupied the pulpit. Who was the last of the German Re- formers the writer is unable to state.

The finest church edifice in the township, probably, was erected by the Free Methodist denomination, on the northeast corner of Section 25, in the year 1875. The first pastor was Rev. A. F. Gadwin. The society, at the time of the erection of the church, was but four. The building cost, probably, $1,400. It is beautifully situated on the north bank of Blue River, within a few rods of the confluence of Blue River and Thorn Creek. A very neat graveyard lies just across the highway from the church. . They have a present membership of about twenty. They have a Sunday school during the sum- mer season, which is generally well attended. The present pastor is Rev. Thompson.

The surface of the greater portion of the township is slightly undulating. There are portions of it, however, which might, not inappropriately perhaps, be termed hilly, and there are also portions, although the area is quite small as compared with some of the other townships in the county, that are swampy or marshy. There being no facilities for transportation within the township (not a mile of railroad, canal nor navigable river), it is essentially an agricultural and stock-growing district. All the agricultural products that are usually culti- vated in this latitude yield well here. The central and northern portions are rather remote from any good market for grain and other agricultural products; yet, notwithstanding this fact, real estate commands a good price. Stock rais- ing is engaged in quite extensively by several of the more wealthy farmers of the township, and it seems to be very remunerative. In passing through the township one will see a great many very fine herds of stock. Much attention is given to the breeding and importation of thoroughbred stock, and Thorn Creek never fails to secure her full quota of red ribbons at our county fairs, on account of her fine stock, as well as on account of the excellence of her farm products.

CHAPTER XIII.

BY COLONEL ISAIAH B. MC DONALD.

TROY TOWNSHIP FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO-CUSTOMS OF THE EARLY TIMES- VALUABLE STATISTICS-FIRIT BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH-CATALOGUE OF OLD SETTLERS-INDUSTRIES-VILLAGES, SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES-EDU- CATIONAL REUNION-OLD SETTLERS' MEETING-E. L. BARBER'S ADDRESS, "RESPECT FOR OLD AGE."

THIS TOWNSHIP was organized by the Board of Commissioners in May, 1839. This was originally organized as Township 32 north, Range 8 east, and contained the usual 36 Sections. The township was named Troy by Jesse S. Perin, who had formerly lived at Troy, N. Y. The first election was held on the

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Counties of Whitley and Noble, Indiana : historical and biographical, Part 22

Author: Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Blanchard, Charles, fl. 1882-1900 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: 428, 502 p. : ill., ports. ; Number of Pages: 962

Author: Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Blanchard, Charles, fl. 1882-1900
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: 428, 502 p. : ill., ports. ;
Number of Pages: 962