USA > Indiana > Henry County > Hazzard's history of Henry county, Indiana, 1822-1906, Volume II > Part 65
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His parents were Henry and Rebecca (Hunt) Ballenger, the former of whom was a native of Guilford County, North Carolina, where he was born January 9, 1772. Henry Ballenger was of Welsh, and Rebecca Hunt, his wife, of Scotch descent. Both were by birth subjects of King George, the Third, and among his earliest recollections is the attack made by Lord Cornwallis and the British upon General Greene and the Continental forces at Guilford Court House. In after years he saw Washington when he visited the scene of that famous battle. In 1821 he attended the land sales at Brook- ville, Indiana, and there bought a quarter section of land located near Knightstown. He also at this early date rode to Indianapolis when there was not a settler between Raysville and the first named point, and no road except an Indian trail.
On April 11, 1832, Henry Ballenger sold most of his possessions in North Carolina and, packing the few household articles that had been reserved for the use of the family, in a four-horse wagon and a one-horse carryall, started for Indiana, where he settled his family on the land in Henry County purchased by him on his former visit to the State in 1821. This little party of immigrants comprised the father, the mother, three sons, and two large dogs, the latter highly prized for their supposed usefulness as body guards through the anticipated dangers that might beset them on the way. They tracked across the Blue Ridge range of mountains, passing through Magita Gap. Of this part of the journey, Nathan H. Ballenger, in his reminiscences, says: "The scenery was enchanting and I was lost in wonder, every day witnessing new scenes, the whole being climaxed, when we reached the celebrated Hawk's Nest on the Kanawha River."
From the Kanawha they passed down to the Ohio River, which they crossed in "a very unsafe ferryboat and cur load was nearly too much for its floating capacity." They landed on the Ohio side of the river in safety and it was with "much relief and thankfulness that they were at last on soil not cursed by slavery, having been used in the old home to seeing droves of slaves driven to a more southern market, like beasts of burden." The party arrived at Richmond. Wayne County. Indiana, May 10, 1832, where they remained for a day or two at the home of a sister of Henry Ballenger, and then started for Henry County, passing through old Salisbury, the first county seat of Wayne: thence to Centreville, and thence along the National Road to their future home in a thick forest, two miles north of Raysville, in Wayne Township, Henry County, where they arrived May 15, 1832. The journey from Centreville is thus described by Nathan H. Ballenger: "There was no Cambridge City then. Milton had a few houses. The National Road was then being used for travel, but it was in a very imperfect condition. We well nigh stuck fast in fording Flatrock at the point where Lewisville now stands. In a short time we came to the fortieth mile, as it was called, just east of where Dun- reith is now located. I shall attempt no description of this noted spot; neither sage nor poet could do it justice. Here a man on horseback, riding at full speed, blew a trumpet behind us, warning us to get out of the way of the United States Express Mail. This hugle blast also served to notify the man at the next station to be ready to receive Uncle Sam's mail and to hasten it on."
The newcomers were heartily welcomed and given shelter in the primitive log cabin erected and occupied by Alfred M. Brittain, who had married Malinda, a sister of Nathan H. Ballenger. She was born January 11. 1810, and married Mr. Brittain in 1825; they came from North Carolina to Henry County, Indiana, in 1826. The arrival of the Ballengers greatly over peopled the little cabin, but they soon learned to adapt them- selves to circumstances. Relating to this period, Nathan H. Ballenger says: "There
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was much work at hand finishing the clearing for planting in corn;" and further that he "used to drop the seed in hills, following close after the plow that marked out the rows, and two persons followed with hoes to cover;" that "no one had ever heard of a corn-planter and that such a thing could not have been used anyway." He also says: "Our wheat was sown in the corn and plowed in with single bull tongues. We harvested with hand reaphooks and a man could put about one acre per day in shock. It was trodden out with horses, often on a dirt floor, and the chaff was blown out, the wind being generated by the flapping of sheets. Two men or women held the corners of the sheets, while a third person poured the wheat in front of the blast thus artificially produced." Continuing he says that "there was little rest from toil either for men or women. The heavy forest must be taken off the land by axe and fagot, the soil broken ap by a plow with wooden mould-board, having enough iron on it for a share. Some- times we used a bull tongue to break the ground." "Our recreations," he says, "were to be had at log rollings, cabin building, barn raisings, corn huskings and quilting bees, but with it all we were a very happy people."
Henry Ballenger cleared and improved his land and remained upon it until his death in 1865, at the age of ninety three years. His wife survived him until 1870, when she died at the same venerable age. Both are buried at Spiceland. Henry and Rebecca (Hunt) Ballenger were the parents of the following named children: Elizabeth, after- wards Mrs. William Albright; William; Elijah; Malinda; Henry; and Nathan H., the subject of this sketch, whose pareuts remained with him until their deaths.
NATHAN HUNT BALLENGER.
Nathan Hunt Ballenger was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, February 13, 1823. His early education was obtained at New Garden, North Carolina, in a little schoolhouse built on a forty acre tract of land which had been donated by his grandfa- ther. John Ballenger, to the Friends of North Carolina so long as it should be used for church and school purposes, and it was upon this piece of land that the first Friends' Yearly Meeting House in the State of North Carolina was erected. On this same tract, Guilford College, formerly the "North Carolina Boarding School," was also located. The first schooling that young Ballenger received after coming to Henry County was ob- tained in an old log cabin which had slab scantlings for seats and for a writing desk had a slab fastened on pins driven into the side of the cabin wall over which the light was admitted by cutting out a log and pasting greased paper over the opening thus made.
There were few roads in that early time, even the "corduroy", and traveling was done by paths "blazed" through the interminable forests. They did not suffer for food. The woods were full of game and no game laws then existed. They had venison in plenty; wild turkeys, pheasants, quail, wild pigeons in countless numbers, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, and bear meat, besides vegetables, mostly corn and potatoes, hog and hominy, and the ever pleasing, ever inviting, healthful, muscle-making, old fash- ioned "corn dodger" for bread.
During this early period of his life, Mr. Ballenger states there was a mysterious disease prevalent among the settlers, called "milk sickness", which then as now baffled the treatment of the physicians; fortunately the disease is now almost unknown; chills and fever were epidemic; doctors were scarce and the few who practised "rode night and day through forest and swamp to relieve the sick and the distressed."
At the age of fifteen he began teaching school, taking the place of a pedagogue who, because of bad conduct, had to give up his charge. He finished the school and received for his compensation the sum of twelve dollars and a half per month. He afterwards taught many pioneer schools and was regarded as a very successful teacher.
Mr. Ballenger was elected assessor of Henry County at the August election, 1848, and served a year from January 1, 1849, and in 1856 he was elected by the then newly organized Republican party as a member of the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly. He served during the thirty ninth regular session which convened January 8, 1857, having for his colleague, William Grose, who was afterwards a general in the
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Civil War and of whom a full biographical sketch will be found elsewhere in this His- tory. Mr. Ballenger was an attentive and conscientious member and assisted materially in shaping the legislation of that period. Previous to the formation of the Republican party, he had been a warm supporter of William Henry Harrison in the campaign of 1840 and in 1844 was a supporter of Henry Clay, the great leader of the Whig party. Of Clay he says: "I saw him at Knightstown and heard him speak at Indianapolis, and always regarded him as the Cicero of America." Mr. Ballenger took a prominent part in the great temperance agitation of 1840. He delivered many speeches and lec- tures on the subject and was instrumental in bringing many men to reform.
Mr. Ballenger is a birthright member of the Friends' Church and was for more than twenty years an able and active minister of that Society. Touching his ministry he says: "In the Winter of 1867 I inaugurated the first protracted meeting at Spiceland that was ever held among Friends in modern times, so far as I know. The Lord blessed us with a marvelous revival and scores of young people were converted, resulting in nearly one hundred accessions to the church. There are those now living who well re- member the early manner of worship of the Friends' Church with all of its positive restrictions as compared with its present liberality, and it is with satisfaction that they note the change which now enables the Friends to cordially unite and affiliate with all other denominations that hase their belief on God's Holy Writ and the Christian reli- gion as exemplified in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ." "
His whole life has been one of activity and enterprise. As a moral teacher he has worked earnestly for the betterment of mankind. As a man of affairs, he has had an important part in the growth and prosperity of the county. He early favored internal improvements and was interested in the old Whitewater canal, which in its day was a great avenue of transportation and for a time made Cambridge City a busy mart of trade. He was a stockholder in the first railroad that entered Henry County and a stockholder in the first turnpike in the county; he built the first warehouse at Knights- town and was the builder of a flour mill on Blue River besides being part owner of two others. He had other large interests, among them being a "title to five hundred acres of land in the best part of the State of Kansas and one hundred and sixty acres of the best land in Henry County." He was prosperous, out of debt and happy; blessed in health and strength and possessed of wondrous vigor and power of endurance; hut bad investments and losses incurred by going security for friends swept his property away. Death also entered upon the scene and took his well beloved son and soon afterwards came the demise of his beloved and honored wife, of whom it may he said that "her chil- dren arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."
No one, probably, was more instrumental in bringing about the organization of the "Old Settlers' Association of Henry County" than Mr. Ballenger. This association has for a number of years held annual meetings and has been active in the preservation of many facts relating to the early history of the county which would otherwise have perished. Mr. Ballenger, when health and strength permitted, has not missed any of these annual gatherings. He was also associated with Martin L. Bundy. Joshua H. Mel- lett, Thomas B. Redding, Simon T. Powell, Elias Phelps, Seth Stafford, Benjamin S. Parker, Elwood Pleas, and others, in founding in 1885 the "Henry County Historical Society," an institution which has grown in merit and which now has its own beautiful home in New Castle, on the property hitherto known as the General Grose residence. Mr. Ballenger has been president of this society several times, and has been constant in attendance upon its meetings. He has also furnished the society with a number of interesting papers relating to the early history of Henry County and Eastern Indiana.
His career has been an useful one to the community and entitles him to he con- sidered one of the county's public spirited citizens. Though weighted with more than the four score years allotted as the span of life, he has not given up his interest in the moral and material welfare of the people. His sympathies are broad and enduring and he has always been active in advancing the civilization of his own time. As pio- neer, farmer and minister of the Gospel, he has not lived in vain.
On November 28, 1849, Nathan Hunt Ballenger was married to Margaret Hubbard, daughter of Richard J. and Sarah (Swain) Hubbard. She was a sister of the well known
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Henry County citizen, Charles S. Hubbard, now and for many years a resident of Rays- ville and Knightstown, and noted over a large part of the country for his ability as a preacher of the Society of Friends, for his philanthropy and for his earnestness of purpose. Nathan H. and Margaret ( Hubbard) Ballenger were the parents of the fol- lowing children: Mary V., now the wife of Judge William O. Barnard, of New Castle; Oliver H., deceased; Emma G., widow of the late William S. Seaford; Charles W., of Spiceland; Albert N., of Old Mexico; Rhoda M., wife of Dr. Charles Cunningham, of Indianapolis; Walter, deceased; and Edward L. S., of Arizona.
Margaret (Hubbard) Ballenger was a woman of remarkable intelligence, sweet disposition, hospitable, charitable and devoted to her family. For a number of years, as a minister of the Society of Friends, she preached the Word of God with a fervent zeal that brought conversion and comfort to many hearts and imbued all of her hearers with that love of God which passeth all understanding. She died August 26, 1880, and is buried in Spiceland Cemetery. Nathan H. Ballenger married again on November 5, 1885, his second wife being Martha Kelley, who has been a faithful companion to him. One child named Marguerite has been born to them.
Mr. Ballenger was named after Nathan Hunt, who was in his day one of the ahlest ministers of the Friends' Church. He traveled much and died an old man at his home in North Carolina. Relating to a contemporary of Nathan Hunt, the following is taken from a Friend's historical record: "Jeremiah Hubbard, whom some among the old people still living yet recollect, was a contemporary of Nathan Hunt and was considered one of the most learned and eloquent men of his day. He was an edu- cator, traveled much in the ministry and was many years in advance of his generation in the liberality of his views. He was one fourth Cherokee Indian, six feet and six inches in height, long black hair and a striking, dignified figure, and the revivalist of his day. His death occurred in Wayne County, Indiana, in 1850." Further reference is made to Jeremiah Hubbard in the sketch of Mary V. Barnard, which is appended to the sketch of her hushand, William O. Barnard, published elsewhere in this History.
Frank Bundy
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF FRANK BUNDY. .
LANDLORD AND PUBLIC SPIRITED CITIZEN.
The paternal grandparents of Frank Bundy, the subject of this sketch, were George and Kerene (Elliott) Bundy, and his parents were Josiah and Maria J. (Stanley ) Bundy. Josiah Bundy was born April 21, 1823, in Wayne County, Indiana, and with his parents came to Henry County in 1835 and settled at Greensboro, where his father very soon afterwards sickened and died. Josiah remained at home with his mother until his marriage in 1844 to Maria J., daughter of John and Elizabeth Stanley. He then en- gaged in farming for a brief period, after which he began to keep hotel at Greensboro and continued in the hotel husiness until 1862, when he disposed of his possessions and moved his family to Minnesota, where he settled on a fine body of land consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, near the city of Minneapolis. Here he remained until 1868, when he sold his farm and returned to Henry County, Indiana.
The Minnesota venture is the nucleus of an e'er true tale. When Mr. Bundy pur- chased the land and even after he had disposed of it, it remained for several years out- side the limits of Minneapolis, but, as time moved on apace, the city began to grow and spread, a movement which continued until it embraced the whole of the Bundy farm. The land is now worth very many times more than the sixteen thousand dollars which Mr. Bundy received for it from Colonel William S. King, a prominent Minnesotan of that day. The sale was not one of necessity on Mr. Bundy's part but was made with deliberate intention to return to Indiana, no matter at what sacrifice. He did not like Minnesota, especially its severe winters, but be did love, as he himself said repeatedly, "the old Hoosier State." He never regretted the change and in the end found his con- solation in the fact that he had lived to know that his several sons were more than able to take care of themselves. He was a fond father, proud of his children, and to him their success was his greatest comfort and happiness. After his return to Indiana, he purchased a farm near Spiceland, where he continued to live until 1876, when he sold the farm to George Hazzard, the author of this History, and going to New Castle bought what then became the Bundy Hotel, formerly called the Taylor House.
Charles Jamison kept a hotel in New Castle in 1824 and is, therefore, apparently the first hotel keeper there. He died in 1835. There has been a hotel in New Castle, on the corner now occupied by the Bundy, ever since the organization of the town. The several landlords were Joshua Chappell, who in 1840 and for several years thereafter kept the Exchange Hotel; and after him came David Murphey, George B. Rogers, Thomas W. Fawcett, Jeremiah Page, and others, until in 1859 John Taylor became the proprietor and changed the name to the Taylor House. He conducted the business until 1869, when he sold to T. B. French, who in 1870 sold to Oliver H. Welborn, of Knights- town, who in turn sold to George Hazzard. Mr. Hazzard leased the hotel to Wilson Cunningham, father of Will Cunningham, the present manager of the "Claypool" at Indianapolis. Mr. Cunningham successfully conducted the hotel until 1872, when the property was sold by George Hazzard. to Colonel John S. Hoover. Colonel Hoover in 1876 re-sold it to Mr. Hazzard, who in a short time transfered it to Josiah Bundy in part payment for the farm above mentioned, and from that time to the present the house has been known as the "Bundy Hotel." It was first conducted by Bundy and Sons: then by the Bundy brothers. Charles, Frank and Orla; and then by a corporation oper- ated by the two last named and managed exclusively by Frank.
The hotel kept by Joshua Chappell was a two-story frame, quite unpretentious but large enough for the time. It was replaced by a brick structure commenced by Jere- miah Page in 1856, but prior to completion transferred to Wesley Goodwin and by him to Elijah B. Martindale, now of Indianapolis, and by him to his father-in-law, John Taylor, who conducted the same as above mentioned. This building was destroyed by fire in 1888, which was a serious loss to the Bundy brothers; but with the pluck and energy that have always characterized theni. they went to work and in a brief period had erected at a cost of more than thirty thousand dollars what is now the main por- tion of the Bundy Hotel. The property is now owned by a corporation with a capital of
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fifty five thousand dollars and is leased to Frank Bundy. The building has been added to and otherwise so changed that it is now one of the leading hotels of Indiana and is considered by the host of traveling men, who journey to and fro in the State, an ideal stopping place.
In the early times of New Castle there was also a hotel on the corner now occu- pied by the Citizens' State Bank. The landlords were John Taylor, Samuel Hazzard, James Calvert, John G. Welch, Isaac R. Howard, and others, whose names cannot now be recalled. With the exception of the "Junction House," located in a part of the depot of the present Panhandle and Lake Erie and Western railroads, but long since aban- doned for hotel purposes, the Bundy has been the only first class hotel operated in New Castle, until the recent completion of the "Imperial."
During the partnership of Frank and Orla Bundy, they also had charge for several years of the McFarlan Hotel at Connersville, the same being managed hy Orla Bundy. Under them this hotel also had a well deserved reputation, commensurate with the name of the Bundy brothers as hotel men. It has been thoroughly demonstrated that it is not every man who can successfully run a hotel, but in this case it seems that as "mine host," no man is better fitted for the business than Frank Bundy.
Josiah and Maria J. (Stanley) Bundy were the parents of seven children, namely: Kerene, afterwards the wife of William Woods, but now deceased; Charles, the well known liveryman of New Castle; David C., deceased; Lorenzo D., deceased; John M., the present auditor of Henry County, who, prior to his election to that office, resided at Knightstown; Frank, the subject of this sketch; and Orlistus (Orla) P.
Josiah Bundy was something more than the ordinary man. He had a wide ac- quaintance, especially in Eastern Indiana, and was noted for his excellent social quali- ties, his urbane manners, his generous hospitality and his hearty sympathy with the poor and needy. He was like a brother in his friendships and had no word of censure for such few as may have been his enemies. He overflowed with genial good humor and delighted in hearing and telling a good story. In his family relations, he was an affectionate husband and a kind father. To his wise oversight and to the loving care of the mother may be largely attributed the sterling character of the children who were reared to honor their parents and to respect the rights of others. Josiah Bundy died January 6, 1894, and Maria J. (born November 14, 1826), his wife, died May 9, 1887. Both are buried in South Mound Cemetery, New Castle.
FRANK BUNDY.
Counting by years, Frank Bundy, who was horn April 25, 1861, is a comparatively young man, hut from his youth up his life has been one of strenuous exertion. His early and continued connection with the hotel business of New Castle has been narrated in the preceding part of this sketch, and to that may be added that in truth he was born and grew up in the business, and that his apprenticeship as well as his later independent career in the business has been marked by a careful watchfulness, coupled with genial and pleasing manners, that have made him one of the leading landlords of the State. He has the mind to direct and the hand to execute which have made him a master of his profession.
It requires administrative ability of a high order, constant supervision and rigid economy to successfully manage a hotel; every avenue of waste must be closed, and the welcoming, feeding and speeding of the guests is an art in itself. A selfish public, often unreasoning and hard to propitiate, adds greatly to the troubles of the landlord, yet in the face of these manifold difficulties Mr. Bundy has won the confidence and good will of his many patrons. He is possessed of executive ability, well balanced judgment and shrewd discernment, and his mind is open to every opportunity in his business. Personally, he is polite and suave, extending a warm welcome to the coming and speeding the parting guest on his way with the hearty invitation, "come again, we will treat you well."
Mr. Bundy's connection with the hotel business in New Castle covers a period of thirty years, from 1876, when he was but fifteen years of age, to the present time. His
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career has been a successful one from both a personal and a financial standpoint. Out- side of the hotel business, he owns and cultivates three hundred and thirty two acres of land and in connection with it gives a great deal of attention to the raising of fine cattle and hogs. His reward has been commensurate with his labors.
In politics he is strong in his attachment to the principles of the Republican party and in a quiet but effective manner gives that party his fullest support. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church of New Castle and give freely of their time and means for religious purposes. Mr. Bundy is also a member of New Castle Lodge, Number 91, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; of Crescens Lodge, Number 33, Knights of Pythias; of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, New Castle Lodge, Number 484; and of Iroquois Tribe, Number 97, Improved Order of Red Men, New Castle
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