USA > Indiana > Monroe County > Bloomington > Historic treasures: true tales of deeds with interesting data in the life of Bloomington, Indiana University and Monroe County--written in simple language and about real people, with other important things and illustrations > Part 20
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
"The last skeletons were of per-
--
84
Historic Treasures, Compiled by Forest M. "Pop" Hall
sons, who had evidently been of mas- sive built and great size, probably not less than six and one-half feet high.
"With the skeletons in the Pales- tine mound were found a quantity of flints, arrow-points, etc .; near the head of the largest individual a pair of hammered copper earrings and a globular 'war-whistle' were found. The keen noise of the latter may be compared to the sound of a po- liceman's whistle and could be heard for nearly a mile.
"Stone axes and pieces of ancient pottery were also found scattered on the surface of the earth near this mound."
Succeeded by Fishermen.
The immediate successors of the Mound Builders in this part of In- diana were evidently a race of fisher- men, who lived along the banks of streams and existed almost solely upon the food they obtained from the streams.
Along the western rivers there have been found many "shell heaps", where, it is supposed that these peo- ple made their home for a time per- manently. Monroe and Lawrence counties have shown traces of these riparian inhabitants.
Many stone vaults and sepulchers intruded on the sides and tops of mounds along the fork of White river and on the high bluffs along the streams, have led to the con- clusion that this people adopted many of the habits and customs of the Mound Builders.
But, they too, have long passed out of existence as a race of the earth's inhabitants, leaving almost
naught to tell the curious of today about their life, their times or ambi- tions.
Barbarious Race Follows.
Later there came a barbarious and wandering race of men, originating in ancient Scythia, and bringing with them the cruelties and characteristics
of the inhabitants of that country.
The tell-tale monuments along their rout from Northern Asia to the very center of America reveal the origin of the American Indians.
In their turn, as a race, they will soon have been numbered among the perished races of the earth, along with those that passed before.
OLD GEOGRAPHICAL DESIGNATIONS OF LAND UPON WHICH MONROE COUNTY AND BLOOM- INGTON ARE NOW SITUATED TRACED BACK TO 1640
First Known as Part of "New France," and Claimed by Iroquoise Indians-
England Gets Control in 1713-French Renew Claims-After French-Indian War Became Part of Province of Quebeck-Colony of Virginia Obtains Possession-General Clark Plays Part-Becomes Knox County in Great "Northwest Territory"-Vincennes Seat of Justice.
How many residents of the State of Indiana at the present time have tak- en the trouble to trace the steps in progress that have transpired in mak- ing the history of the, territory in which they live ?
Although many citizens of Monroe county and Bloomington have become quite familiar with early history of our United States, and even the local State of Indiana, and more minutely, with our own community, we find that no one seems to have ever taken the trouble to connect these old geograph- ical designations in cronological form
as actual history of the land upon which we now immediately reside.
After much effort in tracing false hints and piecing details of proven facts, we have gathered together what we believe to be a closely connected jhistory of what we niay call "pre- Indiana" incidents.
New France, First Designation.
"New France," is probably the first geographical designation for any sub- division of the North American con- tinent including the present tract of Monroe County, Indiana.
The Ohio and Indiana country was already claimed by the French in the
GOODS
MERY
-URMEYCH
.....
BLOOMINGTON BUILDINGS
85
Historic Treasures, Compiled by Forest M. "Pop" Hall
Seventeenth Century, as an integral part of their great North American possessions.
By virtue of the discovery of the Ohio river by France's brave explorer, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, and the earlier voyage in 1640 of the Jesuit Fathers Charemonot and Breboeuf, along the south shore of Lake Erie, gave France foundation for her claims.
Iriquois Also Claim Territory.
With the Iriquois Indians also claiming this great section of North America, the French were constantly at war, and the claims of the confed- erate tribes of Indians to the terri- tory weighed nothing with the ag- gressive leaders of the French in the New World.
When, some time in the first half of the Eighteenth Century, the French built a fort on the Iriquois lands near Niagara Falls, the Governor of Canada proclaimed their rights of encroach- ment, saying that the Five Nations were not subjects of England, but rather of France, if subjects at all.
But, on April 11, 1713, by the
treaty of Utrecht, Louis XIV., Le Grand Monarque, of France, renounced in favor of England all rights to the Iriquoise country, reserving only the St. Lawrence and Mississippi valleys to France.
Boundaries were so vaguley defined, however, that disputes easily and fre-
quently arose concerning the terri- tories owned by the respective powers.
Ohio Land Company Formed.
In 1738 a concern known as The Ohio Land Company was formed in Virginia, by the Washingtons, Lee and others. This company was organized under a grant from George II., of England, to occupy a half-million acres of land west of the Alleghanies.
The very year after the Ohio Land Company was formed, in 1740, De- Celeron, the French commandant, of Detroit, led an expedition to the Ohio, dispatched by the Marquis de la Gal- lissoniere, commander-in-chief-of New France, and buried a leaden tablet "at the confluence of the Ohio and Tchadakoin,"(?) "as a monument of the renewal of possession which we have taken of the said Ohio river, and of all those that therein fall, and of all lands on both sides as far as the source of said rivers"-truely a sweep- ing claim.
English Traders Ordered Out.
The French military officer ordered the English traders out of the country, and notified the Governor of Penn- sylvania that if they "should hereaf- ter make their appearance on the Beautiful river, they would be treated without any delicacy."
The territorial squabble which then ensued finally led to the French and
Indian war of 1755-62, which closed upon the cession to England, on the part of France, of Canada and all her American possessions east of the Mis- sissippi river, except some fishing stations.
In Province of Quebec.
Thus, the region, at length passed into the undisputed possession of the English Crown.
We find that there seems to be some difference as to dates when the British parliament insisted upon the Ohio river as the southwestern boundary, and the Mississippi river as the western boundary of the domin- ion of the British crown in that quarter. It is generally conceded that 1766 was the date of this action, al- though Isaac Smucker, in the Ohio State Secretary of State's Report for 1877 (100 years later), gives the date as 1774.
By this measure the entire North- west, or so much of it as afterward became the Northwest Territory, was attached to the Province of Quebec, and the tract that now constitutes the State of Indiana was nominally under its local administration.
In 1769, the Colony of Virginia, by an enactment of the House of Bur- gesses, attempted to extend its juris- diction over this same territory, north- west of the Ohio river, by virtue of its royal grants, and seems to have
Rural scene in picturesque beauty spot in Monroe County, near Bloomington.
86
Historic Treasures, Compiled by Forest M. "Pop" Hail
literally "grabbed" the territory from Quebec, though both were still under the reign of one country's ruler.
Botetourt County Set Up.
By that act, the County of Botetourt was erected and named in honor of Lord Botetourt, who was then Gov- ernor of the Colony of Virginia.
This county was a vast country, about 700 miles long, with the Blue Ridge for its eastern, and for its west- ern boundary, the Mississipi river.
The new country included large parts of the present states of West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and was the first county organization covering what is now Monroe County, Indiana.
In the settlement known as Fin- castle (the place is still the county seat of the greatly reduced county of Botetourt) was made the seat of justice; but so distant from it were the western regions of this mammouth county, that the thoughtful Burgesses inserted the following proviso in the creative act:
"Whereas, The people situated on the Mississippi, in the said county of Botetourt, will be very remote from the court house, and must necessarily become a separate county as soon as their numbers become sufficient, which will probably happen in a short time, be it therefore enacted by the au- thority aforesaid, that the inhabitants perished in the battle of Blue Licks,
of that part of said county of Bote- tourt which lies on said waters, shall be exempted from the payment of any levies to be laid by the said county court for the purpose of building a court house and prison for said coun- ty."
Government was still nominal, so far as the county organization was concerned, between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and a few white settlers and Indians were entirely a law unto themselves. But, controversies arose between the Indians and settlers un- til it was not safe for white folk to stay in the great wooded territory, and this led to the famous invasion of the territory by General Clark and his little army in 1778.
County of Illinois Created.
After the conquest of the Indiana and Illinois country by General George Rogers Clarke in 1778, the county of Illinois was erected by the Virginia Legislature, in October of the same year.
Illinois county was formed from a part of the great county of Botetourt, and included all the territory between the Pennsylvania line, the Ohio river, the Mississippi river and the Great Lakes.
Colonel John Todd was appointed first county lieutenant and civil com- mandant of Illinois county. He
August 18, 1782. Timothy de Mont- brun was named as successor to Col- onel Todd.
At this time there were no white men living within the boundaries of what is known as the State of Indiana now, except a few Indian traders and a very few French settlers.
The legislature of Virginia, at the time Illinois county was created, made provision for the protection of the country by reinforcements to General Clarke's little army.
By another enactment, passed in May, 1780, the act of 1778 was con- firmed and somewhat amended, and further reinforcements were ordered sent into the wilderness.
West Illinois county, however, does not seem to have been destined to make any large figure in history as it was originally set up.
Conflicting Claims Filed.
After the war of the United States for independence from England had been practically won by General Wash- ington's armies this part of the new Republic came in for its share of the controversy.
At the preliminary negotiations for peace, in Paris, France, in November, 1782, between England and her j'e- volted, successful American colonies, both France and Spain, for similar reasons of discovery and partial oc- cupancy, filed their protests against
Where one is tempted to linger in the shade.
87
Historic Treasures, Compiled by Forest M. "Pop" Hall
the claim of either of the lately con- tending parties to "the Illinois county."
It cannot be too often repeated, to the everlasting honor of General Clarke, that it was his conquest in 1778 that determined the controversy in Paris at this time in favor of the infant republic, and carried the lines of the new Nation to the Mississippi river and the Great Lakes.
Otherwise, the east bank of the Ohio river, or possibly, even the Alleghanies would, in all probability, have been the western boundary in part of the new Republic.
The final convention, at Paris, September 3, 1783, confirmed the claim of the United Colonies as made good by the victories of General Clarke.
Illinois County Wiped Out.
On October 20, 1783, the Virginia Legislature, by solemn enactment, transferred all her rights and ritles to lands west of the Ohio river to the General Government. Illinois county was thus virtually wiped out.
After the title of the United States to the wide tract covered by Illinois county, acquired by the victories of the Revolution and the Paris treaty, had been perfected by the cession of claims to it by Virginia and the other States and by Indian treaties, Congress took the next step toward the government of what is today In- diana, and Monroe county.
This step was surely an impor- tant one in the civil organization of the country.
Upon the date of July 13 (a month which has been largely associated with human liberty in many ages of history, it is believed, more than any other period in the calendar year), in the year 1787, Congress passed the act which has had its great bearing upon history of our commonwealth.
This date marks the passage of the celebrated act entitled "An ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio," by Congress.
Remarks of Chief Justice Chase.
By this great organic act-"the last gift," as Chief Justic Chase said, "of the Congress of the old Confedera- tion to the country, and it was a fit consummation of their glorious la- bors"-provision was made for var- ious forms of territorial government to be adopted in succession, in due order of advancement and development of the western country.
"When the settlers went into the wilderness," said Mr. Chase, "they found the law already there. It was impressed upon the soil itself, while it yet bore up nothing but the forest."
Gen. Arthur St. Clair, Governor.
This measure was succeeded, on October 5, of the same year, by the ap- pointment by Congress of General Ar- thur St. Clair as Governor, and Major Winthrop Sargent
as Secretary, the first officers of the Northwest Ter- ritory, of the United States of
America.
Soon after these appointments, three territorial judges were appointed- Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitch- ell Varnum, and John Armstrong. In January, the last named man, not
Scene on Indiana University Campus.
having yet entered upon service, de- clined his appointment, which then fell to the Honorable John Cleves Symmes, the hero of the Miami Pur- chase, of which Cincinnati is now the chief city.
The appointment of Mr. Symnmes to this important office gave much offense at the time in some quarters, as it was supposed to add to his op- portunities of making a great fortune in the new country.
It is a well known fact, even today, that Governor St. Clair's appointment to the Northwest Territory was pro- moted by his friends, in the hope that he would use his position to relieve himself of pecuniary embarrassments.
But, be it said, there is no evidence obtainable, however, that either the Governor or Judge Symmes prosti- tuted the privileges of their positions to such ends at any time in their careers.
All these appointments being made under the Articles of Confederation, they expired upon the adoption and operation of the Federal Constitution.
President Washington Reappoints.
St. Clair and Sargent were reap- pointed to their respective places by President Washington, and confirmed by the United States Senate on Sep- tember 20, 1789.
On the same day Parsons and Symmes were reappointed as judges,
with William Burton as their asso- ciate.
Meanwhile, on the date of July 9, 1788, the Governor arrived at Mari- etta, and proceeded to organize the Territory.
He and the judges, of whom Var- num and Parsons were present, con- stituted under the ordinance, the Ter- ritorial Legislature.
Their first law was proclaimed July 25, and on July 27, 1788, the first proclamation of Governor St. Clair was issued, establishing the county of Washington, to cover all the territory to which the Indian title had been ex- tinguished, between Lake Erie, the Ohio and Scioto rivers, and the Penn- sylvania line, being a large part of the present State of Ohio.
Marietta, the capital of the Terri- tory, was made the seat of justice for Washington county.
The next civil division proclaimed was Hamilton county, proclaimed on January 4, 1790, by the legislature, through Governor St. Clair.
Cincinnati Was Losantiville.
With this proclamation Cincinnati was established under that name as the county seat of justice for Hamil- ton county.
The place named Losantiville, situ- ated on the Ohio river, was, with this
88
Historic Treasures, Compiled by Forest M. "Pop" Hall
proclamation renamed Cincinnati, and now, for the first time so-called.
Hamilton county was an immense tract of land, of which but a small remnant is now left, territorially re- guarded, in the county of that name, at the southwestern corner of Ohio. It was named for Colonel Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury of the United States.
A. few years afterward, two new counties were created in the North- west Territory, which were named Wayne county, now as reduced as Hamilton, but situated in what is now the State of Michigan; and Knox county, which is still as greatly re- duced, in Indiana.
Knox County, Indiana Site.
Knox county is the county of the Northwest Territory that interests re- sidents of Indiana, and especially Mon- roe county and Bloomington in the present day, as its formation was a direct step in the geneology of our present city, county and state.
The boundries of Knox county then contained all the land west of Ifamil- ton county, on a line drawn from Ft. Recovery, nearly on the present boun- dry line between Indiana and Ohio, to the mouth of the Kentucky river. It, of course, included what is now Monroe county, Indiana.
Vincennes was the first county seat of this newly created Knox county,
and may be said to be the first county seat situated in Indiana.
The writer had the pleasure of visiting Ft. Recovery during the last year, and found many stories of his- toric incidents still easily talked of in a familiar manner by the residents of the Ohio town.
Old Ft. Recovery.
The old fort was destroyed, but the town erected a monument in memory at the centennial celebration during the nineties of the last century.
The old fort was situated on the Wabash river, which is not much more than a large creek at that point, and was first named Ft. St. Clair, in honor of the first Governor of the Northwest Territory, but later the name was changed.
In a famous battle with the Indians, the fort was captured by the savages, and many of the settlers murdered or scalped and left for dead.
Then word reached General Wayne, who became famous in the early days as an Indian fighter, and was nick- named "Mad Anthony" for his seem- ing fearless and corageous ability as a leader in battle.
General Wayne, with a small hand- ful of his soldiers, reached the locality of the captured fort, and after scout- ing about for imformation, suprised the Indians and recaptured the old Fort St. Clair. And, after the garrison was once more established it was re-
named Ft. Recovery in honor of this famous battle of Anthony Wayne.
Reservations Made In Deed.
When the Colony of Virginia gave the general government of the United Colonies a deed of cession of her lands in the Northwest Territory, a reserva- tion was made in the deed for a track of land not exceeding 150,000 acres, to be apportioned to General George Rodgers Clarke and the officers and soldiers of his regiment who were at the reduction of "Kerskaskias and St. Vincent's" (Kaskaskia and Vincennes) in 1778.
This grant was known as the "Clarke Grant," and was made by the legisla- ture of the state January 2, 1781. A sword had previously (in September 1779) been voted by Virginia to Gen- eral Clarke.
In the same act of 1781 reserva- tion for land grants for her soldiers who served in the Continental line was made of the military district in Ohio, between the Sciota and the Little Miami rivers.
Locate In Indiana.
The Clarke Grant was to be laid off on the northwest side of the Ohio riv- er, in such place as the majority of the officers entitled to the land-bounty should choose.
These men selected the tract of land adjacent to the rapids of the Ohio river, just across the river from where
89
Historic Treasures, Compiled by Forest M. "Pop" Hall
the city of Louisville, Ky., now stands.
After the second treaty of Ft. Stan- wix, October 22, 1784, and the treaty of Ft. McIntosh, January, 21, 1785, had been confirmed to the United States the Indian titles to the western lands congress provided, by ordinance, for their survey and sub-division.
This was the third ordinance of the kind reported to congress, and bears the date May 20, 1785, by which time Virginia, New York,, and Massachu- setts had ceded their several claims to the territory northwest of the river Ohio to the United States.
Divided Into Townships.
Under this act, whose principles of survey are still substantially in vogue, the territory purchased from the In- dians was to be divided into townships.
These townships were to be six miles square, by north and south lines crossed at right angles by others. The first north and south line was to begin on the Ohio river at a point due north of the termination of the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and the first east and west line was to begin at the same point and extend through- out the. territory.
The ranges of townships thus formed were numbered from the Penn- sylvania line westward; townships themselves were numbered from the Ohio river northward.
Each township was to be sub-divided into thirty-six parts or sections. Of course, each section was to be one mile square.
One- Seventh To Goverment.
When seven ranges of townships had been surveyed, the Geographer of the United States was to make a return of them to the Board of the Treasury, who were to take from them one- seventh part, by lot, for the use of the Continental army, and so on, every seven ranges as surveyed and re- turned.
The remaining six-sevenths of the township were to be drawn for by the several states, in the proportion of the last requsition made upon them, and
they were to make public sale thereof in the following manner:
Range first, township first, was to be sold entire, township second in sec- tions, and so on, alternately; while in range second, township first was to be sold in sections, and townships second entire, retaining throughout, both as to ranges and townships, the principle of alternation.
The price for this land was to be at least $1 per acre in the specie, "loan office certificates reduced to specie value," or "certificates of liquidated debts of the United States.
Five sections in each township were to be reserved, four for the United States and one section for schools.
All sales thus made by the States were to be returned to the Board of Treasury __ a council of three, who had jurisdiction over the public lands, which was subsequently, under the Consitution, vested in the secretary of the treasury, and finally in the General Land Office.
Method of Dividing Soldiers' Land. This ordnance also supplied the meth- od of dividing among the Continental soldiers the lands set apart to them, reserved three townships for Canadian refugees, secured the Moravian Indi-
ans their rights, and excluded from sale the territory between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers, in accord- ance with the provisions made by Vir- ginina in her deed of cession in favor of her own troops.
Many points in this law were after- ward changed, but its great features remained .*
Six land districts were established, with an office for registery and sale in each district.
The Vincennes district had jurisdic- tion of all the public lands in the ter- ritory which is now known as Monroe County, Indiana, and all the early land entries of the county show that the first sale was made at that place, by the government.
It is an interesting fact that the first ordinance reported, May 28, 1784, proposed townships of ten miles square; the second, brought in April 26, 1785, would have made the town- ship seven miles square.
But, as has been proven, the above described ordinance seems to have been the most practical, as it has con- tinued as a basis for land measure- ments to the present.
*Annals of the West, edition of 1847, 269-70.
FIRST SETTLER TO BRING FAMILY WAS FAMOUS HUNTER-DAVID McHOLLAND
Colonel Ketcham Built a Grist Mill in 1818 on Clear Creek-Taylors Sent First
Flat-Boat From Monroe County to New Orleans-Woman Who Baked First "Corn Pone" in County Lives to Great Age.
The first settler in Monroe county, Indiana, according to old Colonel Ketcham (and passed on through oth- ers), who settled in the northwest cor- ner of what is now known as Clear Creek Township, in 1817, was David McHolland.
This man and his wife came to the township for permanent residence when the state was yet a territory, or in 1815. Colonel Ketcham, who
came in one year later, and was well acquainted with McHolland, often stated that the later was, no doubt, the first white settler in Monroe county.
Of course, the territory now com- prising the county, had previously been invaded by white hunters and trappers, but, so far as is known, no white family, including wife and chil- dren, became residents until the Mc- Holland family arrived.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.