Early reminiscences of Indianapolis, with short biographical sketches of its early citizens, and a few of the prominent business men of the present day, Part 9

Author: Nowland, John H.B
Publication date: 1870
Publisher: Indianapolis : Sentinel Book and Job Printing House
Number of Pages: 482


USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Early reminiscences of Indianapolis, with short biographical sketches of its early citizens, and a few of the prominent business men of the present day > Part 9


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JOHN VAN BLARICUM.


This brawny son of Vulcan was the first in Indianapolis to lay a plow, steel an ax, make a grubbing-hoe, or shoe a horse. He might have been the same that forged the bolts of Jove. He had a will to dare do anything. He was as much a terror to the children in an early day as Dave Buck- hart was in after years to the "colored society."


The old man was very clever if you would get on the right side of him, but very few had the good fortune to do so. He claimed the same right for his hogs, geese and cattle that he did for himself, i. e., to do as they pleased.


He had an apprentice boy named Jim Shannon. This boy he whipped with an iron nailrod, as he said it was the only thing that would reach the quick. He said his skin was like an alligator's, and when he struck him with an iron rod the scales would fly off. Perhaps he meant the scales of iron from the rod.


On one occasion his geese had got into trouble. He wished for the power of King Herod for twenty-four hours. He said he would slay every boy in the settlement of the age of six years and under. He would commence with John Nowland, and when he got to the Carter boys would take the. old man with them.


Captain John Cain had a very fine dog, which he kept chained in his yard. Mr. Van Blaricum became very suspi- cious that this dog was kept for protection against his hogs. He took his gun and went down to the Captain's house and shot the dog in the presence of the family, and while the dog was chained. Out of this transaction grew a suit for dam- ages. It commenced in the circuit court, and, I think, ended


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Old Helvey.


in the supreme court. It cost Van Blaricum several hundred dollars. It was during this suit that it was proved his hogs had been seen in the second story of Hawkins' Hotel.


A gentleman went to his shop to have some work done, which he needed very much. Van Blaricum told him he would not stop to make a nail for his coffin.


Mr. Van B. owned the lot, and had his shop, on the south- east corner of Washington and Meridian streets, where Blackford's block now stands. . He also owned and lived on the lot immediately back of it, fronting on Meridian street. He sold them and removed to a farm four miles from town, on the Crawfordsville road.


It was John Van Blaricum who whipped the captain of the steamboat " The General Hanna," and cleared the boat of the balance of the crew in 1831, an account of which will be found on another page.


He died at his residence in the year 1850. Like every person else, he had many traits of character-some were bad and some were very bad.


" In yonder on Whitewater," near Brookville, furnished us with John Van Blaricum, in the year 1821. He had ser- eral sons, some of whom will be mentioned in another sketch.


"The smith, a mighty man is he, with large and sinewy hands ;


The muscles of his brawny arms are strong as iron bands.


Thus, at the flaming forge of life our fortunes must be wrought; Thus, on the sounding anvil shaped, each burning deed and thought."


OLD HELVEY


Lived on the school section (No. 16), west of Eagle Creek, and near what was called the "big raspberry patch." His house was the headquarters for dances and sprees of all kinds. He made it a point to invite all the "new comers," on first sight, to visit him.


He made the acquaintance of the late Colonel A. W. Rus- sell soon after the arrival of the latter to the " new settle-


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Early Reminiscences.


ment." He invited him to come over and become acquainted with his family. Said he, "Thar's no such gals in the settle- ment as Old Helvey's ; thar's Bash, and Vine, and Tantrabo- gus, and the like o' that.


" I'll tell ye, stranger, that Bash is a hoss. I would like you to come over and take a rassell with her. She throwed Ole 'Likum Harding, best two in three; 'tother was a dog fall, but Bash soon turned him and got on top on him.


" Vine ain't slow for ten steps, as Ole Jim McCoy sez. She flirted Cader Carter every lick. Cader wanted to spark her, but the gal thought she seed nigger in his eye. It wouldn't do, stranger. Vine's clear grit, as Jerry Johnson sez.


"Now, you are from Kaintuck; you watch Cader's eye ; see if thar ain't nigger thar.


"I'll tell you, stranger, that gal Bash killed the biggest buck that's been killed in the new purchase. She shot off- hand, seventy-five yards. He was a real three-specker, no mistake.


" There's a lame schoolmaster, from Jarsey, arter Bash, and the gal, I b'leve, has a kind of hankering arter him. He can't dance much, but he's an awful sight of book larnin'. He used to keep school in Jarsey. He's mighty nice kin folks; he's kin to them new comers, Johnsons and Cools. You know that Doctor Cool; he degraded in college. The school teacher aint far ahind him. So, stranger, come over and see what kind of gals Old Helvey's are, anyhow."


Mr. Russell accepted Mr. Helvey's invitation, and was fre- quently a guest at his house, and when he came all had to stand back, even the lame schoolmaster. He became a great favorite with the family generally. The old lady said " he was the only man in the new purchase that could play Yan- kee Doodle or Leather Breeches right on the fiddle," and


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Old Helvey.


after that dancing never commenced until " Young Kaintuck " had arrived.


The lame schoolmaster was successful, and won the hand as well as the heart of Miss Bashaby. Young Kaintuck was master of ceremonies on the occasion of the wedding. There are many of the guests yet living, among whom is Jacob Landis.


After the bride and groom had retired, the whisky gave out. There was no way of getting more of it except at Mr. Landis' grocery. He was present, but there was no pen, pen- cil or paper with which an order could be sent to his elerk. Old Helvey suggested that Mr. Landis should send his knife, which would be recognized by the young man, and would cer- tainly bring the whisky. This was done, and the whisky came, to the great joy of all present.


Mr. Helvey thought the bride and groom must be dry by this time, so he took the jug to them and made them drink to the health of the guests.


Miss Viney soon followed her sister, and became the wife of Champion Helvey, her cousin. At this wedding there was a grand serenade by Nathaniel Cox's minstrels, which was under his direction. The principal musical instrument was a horse-fiddle.


Old Helvey distinguished himself in many hotly-contested battles at Jerry Collins' grocery, and never failed to van- quish his adversary, and fairly won the trophies of war, which were, generally, an eye, a piece of an ear, a part of a finger, or a slice of flesh from some exposed part of his an- tagonist's person. In Mr. Helvey's house could be found a great variety of munitions of war, such as rifles, shot-guns, muskets, tomahawks, scalping and butcher-knives. In his yard were all kinds of dogs, from the surly bull-dog to the half-wolf or "ingin dog." In his pound or stable was a va-


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Early Reminiscences.


riety of Indian ponies. In his second cabin, used for a kit- chen,


"Dried pumpkins over head were strung, Where venison hams in plenty hung."


After the treaty with the Miamis of the Wabash, at the mouth of Little River, in the year 1832, Mr. Helvey moved to the treaty ground, and there died.


His only son and right bower, Tantrabogus, was drowned in Eel River. The last the writer ever saw of Bashaby she was a dashing widow, and could out dance the world.


JOHN GIVAN.


Among the great variety of characters I have met with in writing these reminiscences, the counterpart, or anything that approximates to that of Mr. Givan, cannot be found. He is a man of as much general information on commonplace sub- jects as can be found anywhere.


He has an acquaintance throughout this as well as nearly all the Western States. Indeed, there is scarcely a town but what he can tell you the name of some person living there, or had lived there, or intended to, or had come from there, or something in regard to it. He has an uncommon memory, and is possessed of more incidents connected with the early history of this city than any person now living, and, al- though I profess to know something of this city myself, I am compelled to yield the palm in that particular.


His mind, from some cause, took an unfortunate turn some years since, from which resulted the loss of his property, or he might be to-day, as he once was, one of the prominent men of this city.


Mr. Givan's store was a perfect curiosity shop. In it could be found any article that utility or necessity might demand. A gentleman once inquired (in sport) for goose yokes, and to his surprise they were produced by dozens.


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John Giran.


In the early settlement of Boone County large quantities of wild honey was taken and brought to this market for sale. Mr. Given was the purchaser of the honey as well as the bees- wax. The honey was brought to market in this way: Two hickory poles were attached together like shafts, the ends resting on the ground. On these poles the barrel of honey was fastened by pins. In front of the barrel boards were placed, on which the beeswax was carried. When the roads were bad two horses were necessary to pull the load; in that case one horse was hitched in front of the other, or tandem fashion.


About the year 1826 a man named Whaley sold Mr. Givan a barrel of honey, and a large cake of beeswax that had been molded in a sugar-kettle, and, although very large, Mr. Givan thought it very heavy for the size. He told Whaley that it was too large to pack in a barrel, as he did for shipping, and pro- posed that Whaley should help him break it open. For this purpose he took a fro (an article used for splitting boards), and had Whaley hold it across the cake while he struck it with a maul. The cake opened and disclosed a rock as large as a man's head, which broke the fro. Mr. Givan not only charged Whaley with the rock, but the profit he would have made on it had it have been wax. He also charged him with the fro. Nor was that all; he told his customer that he kept an account of what was stolen from him, and that whenever he detected any person in rascality he made him pay this account; all of which Whaley paid, and seemed glad to get off in that way.


James Givan, the father of John, and for many years his partner, lived on his farm at what is now the east end of Washington street, and near where Col. John W. Ray now resides. He there died in the summer of 1834.


Since this sketch was written, and in the month of May, 1870, Mrs. Margaret Givan, the second wife of James Givan,


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Early Reminiscences.


has died. No woman, since the first settlement of Indianap- olis, has been connected with so many benevolent and char- itable institutions.


John Givan, the last of his father's children living, yet re- sides here, and looks as though his sands of life were well nigh spent, and is a fit subject for the charity of the few old settlers of Indianapolis, most of whom have grown wealthy, while he is quite poor. I hope this suggestion will not be disregarded by those who could render him assistance with- out feeling any poorer in consequence, and thereby do an act of kindness for one who, in his better and prosperous days, did many acts of charity for the poor and unfortunate.


ROBERT PATTERSON


Was among those who came to this place in the year 1821. He was directly from Jennings County, where he had lived a short time prior to his coming here. He was originally from Cynthiana, Harrison County, Kentucky.


Mr. Patterson had a large family of children (about ten) when he first came, with the addition of several after he came to this place. Those of his children that are yet living still remain in the city and neighborhood.


Samuel J. Patterson, the eldest son, lives on his farm ad- joining the city, where he has lived for the last thirty-five years, and near his old mill, where he carried on milling for many years. This mill was originally built by his father-in- law, Isaac Wilson, and was the first built in the new pur- chase. It has been abandoned for some years, and the water power, which was so valuable, turned and used in the mill near the west end of Washington street.


Elliott M. Patterson, the second son, and as noble hearted a man as ever lived, was killed in Green County, in 1851, by being thrown from a wagon while the horses were running away. He lived but a few hours after being found.


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Calvin Fletcher.


Madison, the third son, is the present engineer and sur .. veyor for the city. He has been engaged in this business for nearly thirty years, and is very proficient in that line.


James M. Patterson, the fourth son, was, for many years, engaged in the livery business. In the year 1862 he fell from his chair and expired in a few moments. He was sitting at his stable door, apparently in good health. It was thought he died of apoplexy. There are two of Robert Patterson's daughters yet living, one the wife of the Hon. David Macy, President of the Peru and Indianapolis Railroad, and one of our most enterprising citizens. The other is the wife of James L. Southard, secretary of the company above referred to.


Robert Patterson was for many years Probate and Associ- ate Judge of the county. He has done a great deal of work on the National road and canals. He also had the contract for delivering the laws to the different county seats. This was before we had railroads, and wagons were brought into requisition. He brought the first pair of mill-stones that came to the new purchase, in 1821, for the mill built by Isaac Wilson, and owned by his son, Samuel J. Patterson, for sev- eral years.


CALVIN FLETCHER.


The first lawyer that came to this place, about the middle of August, 1821. He was a native of Vermont, and there educated. His first residence in the West was at Urbana, Ohio, where he taught school, and studied law with James Cooley, an eminent and distinguished lawyer of that place, and for whom he named his first child, James Cooley Fletcher, who is the present Consul to Brazil.


Mr. Fletcher and his young wife came by way of Winches- ter and down White river in a small two-horse wagon that contained all his worldly goods. There was a cabin stood near my father's, a man named Winslow had raised and cov-


6


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Eurly Reminiscenses.


ered, but no floor was made ; a door was cut out, and a place for a chimney. My father advised him to take possession of it, as it was not likely the owner would ever use it, it being understood he had declined moving to the place since it had proved so siekly. This cabin was situated about the middle of the square between the Canal and West street, and Wash- ington and Maryland streets. It was here Mr. Fletcher lived the first year of his residence in Indianapolis, and until Mr. Blake had built a small one-story frame house (the first in the place) about the middle of the square on the south side of Washington, between Illinois and Tennessee streets; in this house his first two children, James and Elijah, were born.


After the death of my father Mr. Fletcher borrowed of my mother a horse for the purpose of attending court at Pen- dleton. While in his possession the animal foundered so bad that he died. Mr. F. bought of Mr. Blake the only horse in the settlement, that was for sale, to replace the one that had died. This was not so good a horse as the one he had got of my mother. Said he, " When your daughter is old enough, and is married, I may be able to give her a better horse and (pointing to the babe in my mother's lap,) when she is mar- ried I will give her one also." Both of those pledges he faithfully kept, the latter twenty-five years after it was made, thus giving three horses for one.


Mr. Fletcher was the first Prosecuting Attorney for this Judicial Circuit, and when practicing before magistrates had frequently to explain the law both for and against his client as was the case I have referred to on another page, where Esquire Basey was in favor of sending a horse-thief direct to the penitentiary without troubling the higher court with the case.


Mr. F. was elected senator for the district composed of the counties of Marion, Madison, and Hamilton ; and it was while


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Calvin Fletcher.


a senator he first met in that body that irritable old bachelor and Irishman, "John Ewing, of Knox."


Mr. Fletcher was quick to discover the weak points in Mr. Ewing's character, and amused himself and the Senate often by attacking them. Mr. Ewing was one of the most talented men of the Senate, and had been very overbearing toward his associates, but had never met his match in wit and sarcasm until he met the " Yankee poney," as he called Mr. Fletcher.


Many a practical joke did he play upon his associates at the bar while traveling the circuit. On one occasion himself, Harvey Gregg and Hiram Brown were going to attend the Johnson Circuit Court; Mr. Brown wore a very high-crowned hat, which Mr. Fletcher said resembled a North Carolina tar bucket. At or near Greenwood Mr. Brown stopped a few minutes, while Messrs. Fletcher and Gregg rode on. They had not gone far when they met a traveler ; said Mr. Fletcher to him, " you will meet a man riding a white horse, tell him we have found the tar bucket ;" and so he told every person they met between that and Franklin, and by the time Mr. Brown reached the latter place he had been told at least a dozen times that they had found the tar bucket, which an- noyed him very much.


Mr. Fletcher was a successful practitioner of the law for about thirty years. His unequalled success was as much the result of his close application and attention to the business intrusted to his care as to his talent ; he was, during nearly the whole time he practiced, the collecting lawyer for Eastern merchants throughout the State. This great business he got through the influence of his friend, the late Nicholas Me- Carty.


At the time Mr. F. first came to Indianapolis there was a strong prejudice existing among the people against the Yan- kees (as all Eastern people were called), but he soon over- came this by his disposition to suit himself to the times, and


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Early Reminiscences.


taking a deep interest in the welfare and success of all the settlers, and his attention to them in that trying time, when nearly every family was helpless by sickness.


As I have said before, he was worth but little in property when he first came to this place, but he brought with him that which afterwards made him a fortune, and one for all his numerous family, i. e., perseverance, industry and economy. At the time of his death, 1867, he owned and managed some of the finest farms in this and the adjoining counties, and I have been told that the immediate cause of his death was over-exertion on one of them. One of Mr. F.'s maxims, and by which he was governed, was never to leave until to-morrow that which could be done to-day.


The first night he spent in Indianapolis was under my father's roof; and he was for many years after the death of my father the friendly adviser of our family.


About the time of his death it was said that he came to this place a laborer; this was not true; to my certain know- ledge he never did a day's work for any other person but him- self, save in a professional way, or assisting at house-raisings or log-rollings, after he came to this place.


Mr. F. has several sons residing in the city and county, all of whom inherit the leading traits of their father's character.


He was a contributor to, and for, the erection of nearly every church built in the city, from the beginning up to the time of his death. He ever took great interest in Sunday Schools, and was for many years the Superintendent of one. Such was Calvin Fletcher.


ANDREW SMITH.


Among the carly settlers of Indianapolis, and one of those entitled to notice, is Andy Smith. He came here in 1822, a mere boy, in search of work. His father, at that time, lived on White River, north of this place, and near the residence


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Andrew Smith.


of the Conners. He afterwards removed to near the bluffs, and adjoining his old Whitewater neighbor, Jacob Whetzel, where he resided many years before his death. His son Robert now owns his homestead, and lives there, and is a near neighbor of Cyrus Whetzel.


Andy did not make his father's house his home much after they came to the "New Purchase." His first work in Indi- anapolis was for Thomas M. Smith, and then, for several years, he lived with and worked for General Hanna. It was during this time, and on the third of July, 1830 (the fourth being Sunday), while firing the cannon, that he lost his left arm by a premature discharge. Mr. Smith had admonished those engaged with him that the gun was becoming too hot, and in five minutes after, and while General Hanna was standing on the table, singing his favorite song, "The Liberty Tree," and which he used to sing on all public occasions, the discharge took place that robbed him of an arm.


Andy afterwards married the niece of the General and daughter of Mr. John Hanna, of this county. He was for many years, nearly a quarter of a century, a deputy sheriff, sometimes buying the business from the sheriff elect.


Twenty-five years ago Andy might have been seen at al- most any hour of the day on Washington street, with his book under his arm, filled with divers writs, summons, execu- tions and all kinds of legal documents that pertain to a sher- iff's duties, and calculated to intimidate debtors as well as culprits, and there were but few that cared to meet Andy, lest he might have something for them.


Although he had but one arm and a half and but one hand, he did not seem afraid to arrest the most daring criminal ; and with this one hand he could use the ax as dexterously as most persons could with two.


Andy is now one of our prosperous farmers of Lawrence township, in the north part of the county, near the Peru rail- road.


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Early Reminiscences.


SAMUEL DUKE


Was among those citizens that came to this place in the winter of 1821-22, and the second cabinet maker that cast his lot with the hardy pioneers of Indianapolis. He was an Irishman by birth, and the second one of his countrymen to make this place his home, and an honest, upright man, and in his every-day deportment seemed that he would rather suf- fer a wrong himself than do a neighbor an injury.


Mr. Duke was fond of fun and enjoyed a joke. It was he that induced the blessed Ingins to pay a visit to the tonsorial establishment of "Fancy Tom," an account of which will be found in a subsequent sketch.


He brought the first "hearse " to this place in 1824. To describe this vehicle is entirely out of my power; like a gentleman of Lafayette, my friend E. J. Peck tells of, in a similar situation, for the want of language to describe some- thing he had seen, he said that " there was not language in the whole English 'rocbuluary' to give an idea of it;" I never saw anything like it before nor since ; it was enough to give a well man a sinking chill to see Mr. Duke, with his old grey horse in the thills, on the way to the grave-yard. Perhaps the worthy undertaker had an increase of business in view when he purchased it, as an experiment of the effect it would have upon the mortality of the people.


Mr. Duke died several years since. He has several child- ren yet residing in the city ; one is the wife of David Lang, a well known carpenter and builder, who has also been a cit- izen of the city near forty years. He is an honest, upright Scotchman, content to attend to his own business and let others do the same.


Forty-five years have come and passed away since the first hearse was brought to this place, and now we have in its stead those elegant vehicles of that kind of Messrs. Weaver, Long


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Incidents of 1821 and 1822.


and Williams, which look as though they intended that our last ride, though a silent, should be a stylish one.


In the undertakers' establishments of the gentlemen above named the most fastidious, who wish to " shuffle off this mor- tal coil," can be suited and fitted, for in them


"Coffins stand round like open presses That show the dead in their last dresses."


INCIDENTS OF 1821 AND 1822.


The first dance of any kind that came off in Indianapolis with perhaps the exception of that of the war or scalp dance of the tawny Delaware or dusky Pottawattamie, was at the double cabin of John Wyant, in December, 1821, on the bank of White River, near where Kingan's pork house no stands.


Mr. Wyant had invited the entire dancing population of the " new settlement," men, women and children. The father and mother of the writer were there, as well as himself. Indeed there was but little of a public nature in Indianapolis at that early day that I did not see, although there were many pri- vate transactions that I did not witness for the want of an invitation, but I have heard considerable about them since.


There was a charge of twenty-five cents admittance for each male adult that attended this "gathering ;" this charge was to furnish the fluids, which was the only costly article used on those occasions.




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