Historical Sketches and Reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana: A Detailed History of the., Part 5

Author: Forkner, John L. (John La Rue), 1844-1926
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Anderson, Ind. : Forkner
Number of Pages: 1055

USA > Indiana > Madison County > Historical Sketches and Reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana: A Detailed History of the. > Part 5

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COL. BERRY'S ADDRESS.

Fellow Citizens: As the oldest living inhabitant of Mad- ison county, and the oldest living native born Hoosier, I have been invited by your committee on arrangements to say some- thing to you to-day relating to the early days of the county. And as I look back over the long line of years that have come

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.

and gone, I find that all of Madison county's history has been made during the period of my life within her borders.

Sixty-one years ago the 4th of March, last, a young and beardless strippling, I came to Anderson with my father from another and older part of the State. At that time there was no county of Madison. The land throughout this part of the State was almost uninhabited except by the Indians. The surveyor's chain had never marked its boundaries, and the large tract of unbroken forests now composing this and ad- joining counties was the hunting grounds of the Delawares.

In those days life on the frontier meant a life of hardships and privations. Railroads had not been dreamed of and the only roads were the Indian trail and the ways blazed through the forest. In these days of steam machinery and appliances for the saving of labor, it is hard for the man now in active life to appreciate what it was for their fathers to make a farm in " ye olden time," and how difficult it was to wring from the stubborn earth a sustenance for themselves and their families. The forests were to be cut down and the logs hewed, rails were to be made and log cabins built, with nothing but an ax and a broad-ax for tools. The implements of the farm were of the rudest kind-the old bar-share plow, the sickle and the flail. Wheat was sown broadcast among the stumps, cut with a sickle and cleaned with a flail and sheet. And I remember how fast we thought our progress when the sickle gave way to the cradle, and how we congratulated ourselves that we had reached the summit of human invention. when the old fan- mill came into use for cleaning our grain. In those days the mothers and daughters spun the wool and flax and made all the clothing worn by both sexes. There was not a store within thirty miles. The nearest mill was at Connersville, fifty- five miles distant, and a long and weary way it was to the mill, over the wretched road that was then our only way.

But in speaking of the privations and hardships of our early life, I would not forget its pleasures and enjoyments. The early settlers and pioneers, cut loose from former associa- tions and kindred ties, braving the dangers and enduring the privations and hardships of a conquest of the forest, were bound together with the bond of steadfast friendship and warm sympathy. If the neighbors were few and far between, they were hospitable and kind, and when they gave them- selves up to enjoyments and pleasures they did it with a zeal that would be wondered at by the people of to-day. A house 4

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.

was not then built after the well-considered design of a skilled architect and let out by contract to the builder or mechanic, but the neighbors for miles around would come with their axes and handspikes, and work with a hearty good will until the cabin was raised, and would receive nothing but the good will of the owner and his assistance when help was needed in their own affairs. At night, though tired with the labors of the day, the frolic and dance would begin. All night the cabin in the clearing would resound with the sound of merriment and innocent mirth, which would only cease when the gray light in the east shut out the twinkle of the stars. If the cabin home was rude and homely, yet the latch-string was always out, and within was warmth and good cheer.

The county was then filled with Indians of the Delaware tribe, and our relations with them were of the friendliest char- acter. I recall now with pleasure the noble traits of character of such chiefs of the tribe as Killbuck, White Eyes and Nan- ticoke.

I wish also to mention at this point some of the honored names of my pioneer associates, most of whom have been gathered to their fathers. Frederick Bronnenberg, Sr., the ancestor of the large and honored family of that name, was among the first settlers of this county, having come here in 1819. Eli Harrison, Robert Stockton, Zenas Beckwith, Con- rad Crossley, William Diltz, Charles Fisher, Elias Hollings- worth and James, his son, Amasa Makepeace, Nathaniel Richmond, William Marshall, William Williams, Samuel Holliday, John Suman and William Curtis were all men of this early period, who did much by their labors to advance the interests of this county and state. Madison county was sur- veyed in the summer of 1821, and the next year the sale of lands commenced. At that sale my father purchased the old home farm at $1.25 per acre. Looking around me to-day, I see upon that ground large and expensive buildings, and lots valued at much more than the whole half-section cost on that day, for upon the old home farm stands to-day the greater part of the beautiful city of . Anderson, and the grand and im- posing structure now being reared as the court house of our prosperous county, stands upon a part of the same land. Time will not permit me further remarks upon the early days of the county. It is not my purpose to follow it from the primitive times to the present age of culture and advance- ment. I leave that for younger and abler men. Fellow-

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.

citizens, the young man looks into the future gilded with bright hopes and laden with joyous prospects, but it is the province and pleasure of the old man whose active life is over, whose ambition is quenched, and whose race is nearly run. to look backward over the past, drawn by the golden cord of memory, to the days of youth and early manhood. I assure you it has given me no little pleasure to speak to you as I have of the early days of Madison county, live again in memory times long gone by, and summon from their graves the ghosts of past events, and I thank your committee for the privilege of so doing.

COL. J. B. MAYNARD'S ORATION.

Governor Porter and ex. Governor Thomas A. Hendricks had been invited by the Commissioners to be present and de- liver addresses, but owing to the official duties of the former and previous engagements of the latter they were compelled to decline the honor. When it was learned that they could not be present the Commissioners, through Auditor John L. Forkner. extended an invitation to Col. James B. Maynard, at that time editor of the Indianapolis Daily Sentinel, to de- liver an oration at the laying of the corner-stone. Portions of the able and eloquent address are as follows :

It has been my good fortune to hear much of Madison county, and of Anderson, its beautiful capital city, and, still better, to know personally a number of her large-souled citi- zens, who, whether at home or abroad, in public or private life, contribute their full share in giving Madison county an enviable prominence, not only in the affairs of the State, but in the affairs of the Republic. * * * To lay the corner- stone of a school house is an event which invites thinking men to survey the educational field, to note the advancing steps of learning. the development of the mind forces of the communities of the state and of the country. The intimate relation existing between mental culture and the virtues that adorn our civilization is continually furnishing themes for thinkers, and the field broadens as the discussion proceeds. Hence we hail with expressions of pleasure and pride an an- nouncement that a corner-stone of a church edifice summons communities to a reverent thankfulness that another monu- ment to man's fidelity to God is to be created : that the voice of prayer and praise is still to be heard in the land : that an- other wayside inn is to stand with open doors and free seats,

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.

where the weary pilgrim may eat of the life, drink of the water of salvation, be refreshed and go on his way rejoicing. Thus it has been in the past. So it is now, and so it will be in the future of our great state. When a corner-stone of a benevolent institution is laid humanity expands to still grander proportions. Is it for the blind, for the deaf and dumb, for the sick, for the poor, or for the most unfortunate classes of all, the insane? It does not matter. Heart and soul and brain respond, Amen.

All the good there is within us comes to the front with expressions of approval and gratitude. Such institutions are the snug harbors found everywhere on life's storm beaten coasts, if the people who inhabit the country are governed by the precept to do unto others as they would have others do unto them.

And may we not contemplate with feelings of generous pride, the commanding position occupied by Indiana in all matters pertaining to education, religion and benevolence? What State has marched on the highways of progress with steps more stately, strides more gigantic? What land kissed by the sun in his journey, has been truer to all the demands of our boasted civilization? School houses and colleges every- where ; more churches than are filled ; houses and farms for the poor and infirm ; asylumns for the sick and unfortunate, dot all her hills and valleys and plains. To keep their machinery in motion requires money every year, with a cease- less demand for more, and yet the money comes, not grudg- ingly, but it comes with a princely liberality that gives a fresher hue to the emerald-back bill, makes the dollar of the daddies glow with the brightness of the silver moon ; or, if it comes in single, double, half or quarter eagles, adds dignity to the tax-payer, as well as nobility to the bird of Jove, our own proud bird, whose seaward flight symbolizes the march and majesty of our country.

But the occasion which calls us together is to lay the corner stone of a Court House for Madison county.

It is not her first court house, nor will it be her last. The first court house for Madison county was built more than fifty years ago, when the county was in its swaddling clothe :, when the sun of the State was scarcely above the horizon ; when as our Governor would say, "Indiana was in her down." But even then, the people of Madison county were ready to put their hands into their pockets and pay $5.700 for

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.

a court house. The people, then, as now, were law-abiding. A court house then had a significance, which, I fear, has under- gone, in some regards, serious modifications. Court houses, in early times, however rude their architecture, were re- garded as Temples of Justice, not more in name than in fact. Many of us can remember when courts where held in Indi- ana sometimes in log houses. An incident is related of the days when Hon. E. M. Huntington was circuit judge in the lower Wabash country. A log cabin had to be improvised for a court house. During the session of the court, a stalwart Hoosier driving an ox team halted directly in front of the building and became boisterous-so much so as to disturb the proceedings. The sheriff was ordered to bring the man into court. He walked in with a ten-foot sappling ox-goad in hand, and bringing it down in front of him, awaited events. The judge said to him, " You have been disturbing the court, sir, by your loud talk. What have you to say why you should not be punished for contempt?" The ox-driver replied : "Is this'a court house, judge?" " Yes, sir," said the judge. "Beg pardon, judge," replied the astonished Hoosier, " I am sorry, judge. By smacks, I thought it was a grocery." But the days of log cabin court houses in Indiana have passed away forever, and with them has gone much of the primitive sim- plicity of manners which distinguished our pioneer popula- tion, and possibly some of the reverence for law, the decis- ions of courts, and the verdicts of juries, which were grand factors in moulding society and giving direction to thought a half century ago.

Indiana is now taking front rank for the beauty of her architecture, as displayed in her court houses and other public buildings. I have seen court houses in a number of states, east. and west, and south. I remember nowhere to have seen the equal of the Madison county court house for beauty of de- sign. And it is remarked by those who are familiar with public affairs in Indiana that the counties are vieing with each other in building public edifices, including court houses, to an extent indicative, not only of wealth and liberality, but of an exact appreciation of architectural elegance, and in this regard I am warranted in saying that Madison county. when the court house is completed, the corner-stone laid to-day. will be able to point to it with great complacency as an edifice which in the highest degree illustrates the culture and the high ap- preciation of the beautiful which distinguish her citizens-a

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.

building which will stand as a monument to the commission- ers whose comprehensive minds were abreast of the demands of the age, and who grasp with equal facility the wants of the future. There are men here to-day, doubtless, whose lives in- clude the whole history of Madison county ; men who have known it from the days of its wilderness to its present wealth of farm and field, orchard and meadow ; from the days of its cabins to the present of palatial mansions ; from the day when the corner stone of the old court house was laid in 1831, till to-day, when the corner-stone is laid of a more pretentious building to be dedicated to law and justice. Within the per- iods named wonderful changes have occurred. The march of events is a fitting theme for orators and poets. Imagination could scarcely exceed the realities, nor fancy with the freest rein, eclipse by its freaks the magnificence of prosaic facts. The wilderness blooms; the waste places are fruitful; the Indian trail has given place to the macadamized highways. The iron rail has taken the place of the corduroy road. The bridge is where the ford used to be. The old stage coach is superceded by the palace car. The lightning is man's errand boy, and the conversations by telephone are as free and easy as they were in the olden time at a quilting, an apple bee, or a corn shucking. How grandly old things are passing away ! * * *

Indiana is a proud commonwealth. She now has 2,000,000 of people, and may have, before the noble structure the peo- ple of Madison county contemplate building here, shall give place to another still more stately, 10,000,000 of inhab. itants. * * *

For the old court house of Madison county, though I never saw it, I shall always cherish pleasant recollections. From one of its rafters, owing to the kindness of a valued friend, a staff was made and I am its fortunate possessor. When the new court house, so soon to be completed, fulfills its mission and takes its place among the things that were, no rafter from its roof will be carved into a walking stick for me or for you. We shall require no staff to help our infirmities. We shall have passed on to a country where corner stones are not laid and where the buildings never decay. We read of judge and judgments, of rewards and penal- ties in that seemingly far away land. We read, too, of infinite wisdom which never errs, and of decisions from which there is no appeals say what we may, we have all got to

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.

stand trial. I would not mar the felicities of this occasion by a surmise that any one in this audience will lose his case. I prefer rather to blend with these ceremonies the devout wish that the foundation upon which we have built our hopes is the rock which withstands the storms and floods, so that when the corner-stones of court houses, and of the solid earth itself. give way, we shall find that in our cases justice has been so glorified by mercy that the fruitions of pardon have forever obliterated recollections of error, and that we shall walk out of court realizing that the costs have all been paid by our Elder Brother.

OTHER INTERESTING MATTERS.

The corner-stone is of Berea sand-stone and was taken from the quarries near Cleveland, Ohio. Its dimensions are 6 ft. 3₺ in. x 3 ft. 11 in. x 2 ft. 6 in. The face of the stone is neatly dressed and carved. the mouldings forming a panel on which is inscribed :

A. D. 1882. LAID BY BRUCE CARR.

G. M. of F. and A. M.

B. F. AIMEN, J. BRONNENBERG, . Commissioners.

J. F. THURSTON, )

J. L. FORKNER, MCCORMACK & SWEENEY,

Auditor. Contractors.

J. E. REDMOND,

G. W. BUNTING. Architect. Superintendent.

N. C. MCCULLOUGH, Local Sup't.

In each corner of the panel is artistically carved a cluster of fruit or grain.

DEPOSITED IN THE STONE.

The following are the contents of the copper box that was placed in the stone :

History of Anderson chapter, R. A. M., No. 52. with roll of officers : Mt. Moriah lodge, No. 77, F. & A. M., and roll of members ; Ovid lodge, No. 164, F. & A. M. ; Madison lodge, No. 41. F. & A. M .: Independence lodge, No. 281, F. & A. M. ; Alexandria lodge, No. 235, F. & A. M. ; Pendleton chapter 51. F. & A. M.

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.

Proceedings sixth annual meeting of Grand Lodge, F. & A. M., Indiana, 1882.

Proceedings Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Indi- ana, 1881.

Forty-fifth semi-annual communication of Grand Lodge, I. O. O. F., Indiana, 1882.

Proceedings ninth annual meeting Supreme Lodge, Knights of Honor, Baltimore, 1882.

History Quincy Lodge, No. 230, F. & A. M. ; Anderson Lodge, No. 131, I. O. O. F. ; Ononga Tribe, No. 50, I. O. R. M .; Welcome Lodge, No. 116, K. of H. ; roll of membership Madison Council, 334, Royal Arcanum.

Names and addresses of officers Grand Lodge, Indiana F. & A. M. ; same of the Grand Chapter, Indiana R. A. M.

Samples of wheat, corn, oats and rye raised in Madison county, Indiana.

Copies, each, of the Herald, Review and Democrat, of the issue of August 11, 1882.

The Woman's Journal, May 13, 1882.

"Our l'union," July, 1882.

Minutes of the Woman's National Christian Temperance Union, held at Washington, D. C., October 26, 1882.

Bar docket, June term, 1882, Madison Circuit court.

History of Madison county schools with statistics, com- piled by W. M. Croan.

Third annual report, Bureau of Statistics.

School laws, Indiana, 1881.

Names of county officials past and present, also of city of Anderson past and present.

Sketches and history of old and new county buildings.

Map of each township in Madison county, with names of owners of lands.

Condensed history of church organizations in .Anderson, Indiana. .

Hardin's History of Madison County, Indiana.

Ilistory of Madison County Medical Society, with sketches of present members.

Copies of the Cincinnati papers of August 16, 1882- Gazette, Enquirer, Commercial; Indianapolis papers-four. nal. Sentinel, News and Chicago Times.

Indiana railway guide, July 1882.

State agricultural report, 1880.

A Madison county 1865 war bond-cancelled.

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.

Tenth annual report Indiana Reformatory Institution for women and girls.

Photograph of Colonel Ninevah Berry.

Photographic group of members of Board of County Com- missioners.

Address of Thomas B. Orr.

Address prepared by Miss Violette Swearinger.

Manuscript history of Star Encampment No. 84, I. O. O. F.

Specifications of the court house.

Roll of names of contractors, superintendents and em- ployes, and list of public works constructed by McCormack & Sweeney, contractors.

Photograph and Masonic record of William Roach, Esq .. the oldest Mason in Madison county.

Picture of old court house destroyed by fire December 10, 1880.

Printed programmes of the day's exercises.

List of women paying taxes in Madison county.

Photographic group of eighty-one of the old settlers of Madison county, taken in 1877.

Railroad map of the United States for 1882.

THE STRUCTURE COMPLETED.

The work on the court house was prosecuted without serious interference or delay notwithstanding certain objections raised by the local superintendent, Mr. Mccullough, who could not agree with the contractors as to certain details in the plans and specifications. His objections to the manner in which the building was being erected were not given the con- sideration by the Commissioners which in his judgment their importance demanded, and he resigned. He was succeeded by John W. Pence, Esq., who was appointed local superintendent on the Bd of May, 1883. It appears of record that Mr. Pence, also, could not agree with the contractors upon many matters contained in the specifications and filed his objections with the Commissioners, but the record is silent as to the action taken by the Board. It was not until 1885 that the building was ready for occupancy, and then only a portion of it as is indi- cated by the following order made at a special session of the Board of Commissioners in February of that year :

" By agreement with McCormack & Sweeney, con- tractors for the court house, the Commissioners are to take

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.

possession of such rooms and parts of the court house as they may desire, and such possession is not to be an acceptance of the building or work thereon. And the Board orders that the Madison Circuit Court hold its sessions in the new court house and that the Auditor, Clerk, Treasurer, Recorder and Sheriff be instructed to remove their offices and all records and papers thereto belonging into the proper rooms in said court house by Saturday evening, February 21, 1885."

The offices were removed to the rooms designated by the Commissioners in compliance with the above order and from that time to the present the county business has been trans- acted within the walls of ** said court house." The building was subsequently received by the Commissioners and with the exception of the raised roof which now covers it, stands to-day in its symmetrical proportions just as it did when it was accepted by the County Board. And while some portions of the work of its construction may have been slighted, it is generally conceded that it is not only ample for the needs of Madison county for years to come, but one of the most stately buildings of its class in Indiana.

CHAPTER X.

COUNTY BUSINESS IN THE PIONEER DAYS - ORGANIZATION OF COURTS - MEMBERS OF THE BAR, ETC.

The business of Madison county from the time of its for- mation in 1823 to 1825 was transacted by the associate judges, but sometime during the latter year three commissioners were elected to look after county affairs. These commissioners were succeeded by a board of justices composed of all the justices of the peace in the county, who looked after the coun- ty's business until 1829, when the law was again changed, the methods prescribed for the transaction of the public business being substantially the same as they are at the present time.

The first board of commissioner elected under the law of 1829 was composed of Thomas McCartney, Henry Sybert and John Berry, who met in special session in September of that year and proceeded to. make a tax levy for county purposes. The Board "ordered that, for the purpose of raising a county revenue for the present year, the following rate of taxation be laid, to-wit: On every hundred dollars' worth of town prop- erty, exclusive of improvements, 75 cents ; on polls, 374 cents : on work oxen, 55 cents; on horses over three years old. 50 cents; on land, at the rate of 50 cents on 100 acres of first- rate land ; 40 cents on 100 acres of second-rate land, and 30 cents on 100 acres of third-rate land."

This tax levy would not be regarded as much of a burden in this day by the tax-payers of the county. But it was suf- ficient at the time it was made to meet all the necessary ex- penses of the county.

At a session of the Board of Commissioners held in May, 1831, we find it " Ordered, by the Board, that Aaron Shaul be and he is hereby allowed the sum of $4 for assessing taxes during the year 1830, an I for taking the census." It is not known how long Mr. Shaul was engaged that year in assess- ing property and taking the census of the county, but it is evi- dent that if he had any board bills or traveling expenses to pay he did not " lay up" much of his salary. The duties of

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.

the office of assessor at that early day, however, were not very onerous ; in fact, there was but little to do in any of the of- fices, and the men who were chosen to fill them not being up in the art of taxing "constructive fees" and without educa- . tion on the beauties of "salary grabbing," seemed to be con- tented with the meagre compensation allowed them by law for their services.

In 1833, the first delinquent tax list was published, the delinquency at that time for the entire county amounting to only $5.72}. This list was " published " by being " tacked " on the court house door, there being no newspaper at that time within the limits of the county. Posting notices was the only method from the organization of the county to 1834 of calling public attention to the orders and decrees of the courts. At a term of the Board of Commissioners in 1829 it was ordered among other things that "The clerk make out and put up at the court house door of the county a fair statement of the expenses of the county for the present year." The records do not show what the expenses of the county were for the year named, but they would appear very insignificant-a mere trifle-as compared with the amount of money that is required at this time to run the county. The expense in all the departments of the county government during the '20s and '30s was very small, and even so late as 1848 the total amount of taxes levied in the entire county anounted to less than twelve thousand dollars. The tax duplicate for the past year (1895) shows that the total amount of taxables in Madi- son county amounted to $26,994,775, and the total amount of taxes $398,568.92! These enormous amounts are very signif- icant and indicate among other things the wonderful improve- ments that have been made in this county in fifty fleeting years. The early officials who administered the affairs of the county may have indulged in Utopian dreams. but their visions of Madison county's future greatness were tame in comparison with her proud position to-day.

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Historical Sketches and Reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana: A Detailed History of the., Part 5

Author: Forkner, John L. (John La Rue), 1844-1926 Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Anderson, Ind. : Forkner Number of Pages: 1055

Author: Forkner, John L. (John La Rue), 1844-1926
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Anderson, Ind. : Forkner
Number of Pages: 1055