USA > Indiana > Madison County > Historical Sketches and Reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana: A Detailed History of the. > Part 62
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 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90
The first death in the township was that of Samuel Coch- ran on September 11, 1844.
FIRST ORCHARDS.
The first orchards planted in the township were those of Thomas Casteel and Henry and Samuel Cochran. The trees were purchased of John Mills, in Pipe Creek township, and they were planted in the spring of 1843.
FIRST MILLS.
Jacob E. Waymire erected a steam sawmill near the for- mer residence of Henry Cochran, about the year 1850, which operated until 1866, when he sold to Mr. Cochran, who added some improvements in the way of new machinery and con- tinued to operate the mill until 1873, when he admitted his son Samuel to a partnership in the business and removed the machinery to Elwood.
S. and V. Worley also built a steam sawmill near the present site of schoolhouse No. 6, in 1875. This mill was afterwards purchased by William and J. B. Hollingsworth and removed to the farm of the latter.
William Hedrick also owned a large sawmill in this township.
1
717
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
SCHOOLS.
The first schoolhouse in the township was erected in 1841, on the Knott farm. It was an unhewn log structure and was subsequently removed to the present site of school- house No. 2. The second schoolhouse was constructed of hewed logs and was erected on the farm of Isaac Wann, in 1858. There were 205 school children in 1858, while the enumeration for the present year shows that there are 422 persons eligible to the privileges of the public schools. There are seven school houses in the township, and seven teachers are employed.
CHURCHES.
The pioneer Christian denomination in this township was the United Brethren. This denomination built the first church in the township, a little before or soon after it was organized, in 1852. Some time during that year Elder Samuel Purtee organized a society of eight members, who held their meetings regularly at the homes of the membership until their house of worship was completed. The building was a rude structure, and the New Light Christians afterwards co-oper- ated with the United Brethren in erecting a place of worship on the farm of W. F. Hollingsworth. At the present time there are five religious congregations or churches in the town- ship, namely : The United Brethren, the Maple Grove Meth- odist Episcopal church, the Concordia Christian church, the Harmony Christian church and the Heavenly Recruits' church. The New Lights, who had a congregation of about twenty members in 1876, have no society at the present time.
STATISTICAL MATTERS. ·
The population in 1860 was 498; in 1870 it was 789; in 1880 it was 1,110; in 1890 it was 1,325. The value of lands at the present time, as shown by the tax duplicate, is $507,720; lands and improvements, $566,636; total value of taxables, $670,645.
PROMINENT CITIZENS.
Duck Creek has been represented but twice in the admin- istration of the county government, Charlton Reed having served one term as County Surveyor (from 1874-6) and Moses D. Harmon elected Recorder in 1894. Mr. Harmon is the only Republican ever elected to this office in the county. He is both courteous and efficient and is popular with all classes.
718
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
INDEPENDENCE.
A portion of this village is in the north-east corner of the township. The village is situated in four townships Boone and Duck Creek in Madison county and Liberty and Greene townships in Grant county. It has a population at this time of about two hundred, but as it has no railway facilities but little business is done here.
KILLING OF GEORGE ADAMS.
One of the most exciting homicides that ever took place in Madison county occurred near Elwood on the 17th day of May, 1888, in which George Adams, a farmer of Duck Creek township, was killed by Charles Conway, of Henry county. George Adams, the victim, and George Melrose and Charles Conway, the perpetrator of the deed, came to Elwood on Saturday morning and met at that place. While there they visited several saloons and became very boisterous before .evening. They started toward home, George Adams in a wagon, and when near the residence of William Rybolt Adams stopped to deliver some packages' which he had pur- ·chased for Rybolt while at Elwood. Melrose and Conway were in a buckboard and overtook Adams while he was at Rybolt's house. The parties got into a conversation which resulted in a quarrel, ending in blows. Conway jumped out of the buckboard with a revolver in his hand and flourished it at Adams, when a comrade took it away from him. He then jerked out his knife and made a lunge at Adams, cutting him in the arm between the shoulder and the elbow. After this, the fighting ceased and in a few minutes Adams fainted from the loss of blood. He was carried to Rybolt's door yard and laid on the ground ; his coat was removed and it was discov- ered that he had been seriously injured. Further examination showed that an artery had been severed. Efforts were made to stop the flow of blood, which proved unsuccessful. The wounded man was taken into Rybolt's house and a messenger was dispatched for Doctor M. J. McTurnan, at Rigdon, and Doctor Daniel Sigler, of Elwood. McTurnan was the first to arrive, but Adams had suffered so much from the loss of blood that he was beyond medical aid. When Doctor Sigler arrived an effort was made to tie the artery, but it was too late to be of any benefit. Adams died about 5 o'clock the next morning. In the meantime Conway had become alarmed
1
719
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
at the serious turn that affairs had taken and started for his home in Henry county. Melrose, however, lingered at the house, and when he learned that Adams was perhaps fatally injured he went to him and asked him to testify in the pres- ence of those assembled that the wound was not received from his hands, which Adams readily agreed to.
Melrose immediately went to Elwood and gave himself up to the officers, and was taken before 'Squire Ward L. Roach for a preliminary hearing and was bound over to the court as an accessory to the crime. He was taken to Ander- son, placed in jail and held to await the action of the Grand Jury. Conway, in the meantime, had driven to Windfall and taken the train there for his home, not knowing of the fatal consequences of the stab he had inflicted on Adams until the following Sunday evening, when he was arrested by the Sheriff of Henry county on a warrant issued from Madison county. He was brought to Anderson on the following Mon- day and taken before the Mayor of the city, but waived an examination. He was placed in jail and made no effort to give bond. Conway was accompanied by his father, who was a highly respected citizen of Henry county, and also by James Brown, an attorney of New Castle. Conway justified him- self in the act by stating that Melrose and Adams had become engaged in a quarrel, and that Adams struck Melrose with a club. He stated that all the parties, including himself, had been drinking, and that while Adams was fighting Melrose with a club, he from his seat in the buckboard ordered Adams to stop when Adams turned to him and started to assault him. He grabbed him by the collar and jerked him over the seat and while handling him had struck him, and that he, Con- way, during the melee, had drawn a revolver from his pocket and attempted to defend himself, but was frustrated by a com- panion, who knocked it from his hands. Conway strenuously denied having cut Adams, and stated that the only knife that he saw in the crowd was one in the hands of Melrose.
Adams was a tenant living on the farm of Gustave Kra- mer, about six miles from Elwood. He was an industrious man, and always bore a good reputation. He had removed from Franklin county about two years prior to the occurrence.
Young Conway was about twenty-four years of age and lived near Moreland, in Henry county, and had been visiting his uncle, who resided near the scene of the tragedy. He had been subjected from early life to epilepsy and had been petted
720
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
by his parents on account of the infirmity, and was a badly spoiled boy. He was very peevish and of an irritable dispo- sition. On former occasions he had made demonstrations of viciousness several times, and had used his knife, but with no fatal result. George Melrose was acquitted of any criminal action in this matter. Conway was brought into the Circuit Court in Anderson for trial after an indictment had been found against him by the Grand Jury, but took a change of venue to Delaware county. On the 9th day of August, 1888, he was there found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in the penitentiary. Goodykoontz & Bal- lard defended Melrose, and were credited with handling the case judiciously, and thereby gaining for him his freedom.
.
.
CHAPTER LXIX.
FALL CREEK TOWNSHIP.
Fall Creek township derives its name from its principal stream and natural falls. The history of no township in the county possesses greater interest, perhaps, for the "old- timers " and their descendants than that of Fall Creek. It was here that the settlement of the county was begun and the first of all the interesting happenings incident thereto occur- red. The township contains forty-two square miles and is- bounded as follows : On the north by Anderson and Stony Creek townships ; on the east by Adams township; on the- south by Hancock county and on the west by Greene township ..
As stated in a previous chapter, John Rogers, an Irish- man, was unquestionably the first white man to locate in the. county. He left a record written by himself in a book which: indicates that he came to Fall Creek township December 29,. 1818. It is doubtless true that others visited the vicinity of the falls earlier than this date, but as they did not locate, their names are not known. Mr. Rogers located at a point east of the present site of Pendleton, on what has been known. for many years as the " Vernon farm."
The first colony to settle in the township was composed' of Elias Hollingsworth, William Curtis, Moses Corwin,. Thomas McCartney, Manly Richards, William McCarty, Saul Shaul and Israel Cox. They were all heads of families excepting Moses Corwin. They came from the vicinity of Springfield, Ohio, and after selecting their respective tracts of land returned home for their families. The journey back to the Falls was accomplished by the aid of an ox team and wagon and four pack horses. There being no roads west of New Castle their journey from that place to their new home was beset by many difficulties and trials. Uncle Jimmy Hol- lingsworth, who is still living in Anderson, at the ripe old age of eighty-one years, was a member of the party, and still re- members trudging along behind the ox wagon, as well as many other little incidents connected with the journey.
This colony was joined by Conrad Crossley, Isaac Jones, 46
722
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
William Neal, William, Isaac and Henry Seybert, Adam Dob- son, Palmer Patrick, Nathaniel Richmond, Judge Holliday, Adam Winsell, Jacob Shaul, Thomas and William Silver, Kilbourn Morley and Dr. Hiday. It is claimed by good authority that Judge Stanfield and a man of the name of Burras, were living on the prairie north-east of Pendleton about the time of the arrival of the Ohio colony in 1820.
Saul Shaul was the first of the early settlers to enter a tract of land in the county, a portion of Section 30, which he cleared, improved and cultivated. This farm is situated about two and a-half miles south-west of Pendleton and upon it was planted the first orchard probably in the county. Nathaniel Richmond, John Rogers, John Gunse and Adam Winsell, also set out orchards about this time-1823 4. The trees were brought from Henry county by John Berry. The first nur- sery in the county was planted by William Williams, three miles east of Pendleton in the '30s. Mr. Williams died in 1847.
Adam Winsell started the first blacksmith-shop in the township on his farm, two miles east of where Pendleton is now situated. It is probable that this was the first blacksmith- shop in the county. He was one of the first Associate Judges elected in the county and notwithstanding he was uneducated, filled the office creditably to himself and acceptably to the people. He was one of the Judges who presided at the famous trial of the Bridges, Sawyer and Hudson for the murder of the friendly Indians on Fall Creek in 1824, a full account of which will be found in another chapter.
OTHER PIONEERS.
Besides the pioneers already mentioned there came to the township at an early day : Thomas M. Pendleton, in whose honor the town of Pendleton was named, F. M. Richmond. Dr. Lewis Bordwell, Thomas and James Scott, Enos Adam- son, Martin Chapman, Thomas and Isaac Busby, Moses White- cotton, James Irish, Absalom Ulen. Jesse Boston, Thomas Sny- der, Joseph Carter, Jacob Mingle, George Nicholson, Thomas Bell, J. T. Swain, and B. F. Gregory. Dr. Bordwell was the first physician in the township and enjoyed the confidence and and esteem of all who knew him. These early pioneers have all passed from earth, but many of their descendants are still living in the township and are universally esteemed.
723
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
THE FIRST MARRIAGE.
The first marriage in the county occurred in Fall Creek township. This social event took place sometime during the year 1821, Stephen Corwin and Miss Hannah Ellsworth being the contracting parties. Their marriage was consummated under difficulties. The county at that time was not organized and Mr. Corwin was compelled to go to Connersville on horse- back to procure a marriage license. The incidents relating to the marriage are meagre, but the descendants of the early set- tlers still remember some of the circumstances as related by those who were present on that occasion. It is said that there was no table upon which to spread the marriage feast and that a door was lifted from its wooden hinges and utilized for that purpose.
THE FIRST WHITE CHILD.
The first white child born in the county was E. P. Holl- ingsworth, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elias Hollingsworth and brother of James Hollingsworth, of Anderson. Mr. Hollings- worth was born in Fall Creek township, November 7, 1820. While he has the distinction of being the first child of civilized parentage born in the county it is shared to some extent, if not fully, by Electa Shaul, who came into the world on the same night. Mr. Hollingsworth is still living.
THE FIRST DEATH.
Sometime in the fall of 1823 a man of the name of Martin and his wife were stricken with fever and both died, it was supposed about the same time. The fact that they were sick was not known to the settlers and they died unattended. They were not discovered for several days after their demise. They were buried in the same grave on the west side of the present site of Pendleton.
THE FIRST SUICIDE.
The first suicide in the township occurred in 1838 on the farm owned at the present time by John Goul. An old man named Jacob Fox entered an untenanted cabin and hung him- self. The cause of the suicide was not known.
AN INCIDENT OF EARLY TIMES.
There were no social cliques or classes among the early pioneers, the interest of one being the concern of all, and the consequence was that many acts of neighborly kindness were
724
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
performed by them that are worthy of remembrance. A case in point is that of the generosity and good will displayed by Conrad Crossley on one occasion. In 1822 Mrs. Elias Hol- lingsworth was stricken with a fever and was very ill. She conceived the idea that if she had some imported tea she would not only get better, but would soon recover. There was no tea in the settlement and the nearest point at which it was thought the commodity could be obtained was New Castle. Conrad Crossley heard of Mrs. Hollingsworth's de- sire for a drink of the beverage and at once volunteered his services to procure it. He immediately set out on horseback for New Castle, but on arriving at that place found that there was no tea in the village. Nothing daunted, he remounted his horse and rode to Richmond, where he was again disappointed, the merchants of that place having no tea in stock. He once more rode forward and at Eaton, O., found what he had gone so far to obtain. He returned to the settle- ment on Fall Creek after an absence of several days and the craving of his sick neighbor was fully satisfied. Such an ex- hibition of self-sacrifice is seldom heard of in these times. The journey was fraught not only with great inconvenience, but danger, matters that did not deter the big-hearted back- woodsman in his willingness to assist a friend in distress.
THE FIRST CORN-CRACKER.
The first settlers on Fall Creek experienced many diffi- culties in securing breadstuff for their families, there being no mill in the county, until the latter part of 1821, when one was built by Thomas McCartney. Previous to that they were compelled to go to Connersville for their meal and flour. In 1820 corn was very scarce in the settlement, and Elias Hol- lingsworth, Samuel Shaul and William Curtis went to Straw- town, Hamilton county, where they purchased two canoe loads of that cereal. They pushed or " poled " the canoe up White river to the present site of Anderson, when the corn was loaded into an ox wagon belonging to Mr. Hollings- worth and hauled to the Falls. It was afterward taken to Connersville and ground into meal. Monday morning was the usual time for starting to mill and very often the trip would consume a week.
The mill built by Mr. McCartney was situated on the south side of Fall creek at the Falls. The work of construct- ing the mill, dressing the stone and arranging the machinery
725
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
was done principally by himself. Mr. McCartney also had a little store at the Falls which he kept in connection with his mill. Besides the pioneers, he did considerable business with the Delaware Indians, who had not yet left the county. He kept a small stock of beads, brooches and other trinkets which he disposed of to the red men in exchange for furs and other peltries. Mr. McCartney was among the first merchants in the county, if not the first.
THE FIRST ROAD.
The first road surveyed in the township was known as the New Castle and LaFayette State Road. By an act of the Legislature Morgan Shortridge and Zenas Beckwith were ap- pointed to locate this road, and on the 13th of December, 1828, they reported to the Board of Justices of each county through which it passed, that the line of the road had been surveyed. The road passed through Pendleton, and a portion of it is yet known as the Pendleton and New Castle pike.
THE FIRST POTTERY WORKS.
Among the first industries established in Fall Creek town- ship was a factory for the manufacture of potteryware, such as crocks, jugs, etc. The factory was erected by James Perkins at a point on what is now Tariff street, on the east side of the Big Four railroad, in Pendleton. Mr. Perkins manufactured potteryware at this place for some time, when he sold out to Lewis, better known in his day as "Potter " Johnson. The product of this industry was in great demand at one time and it flourished for a number of years.
THE FIRST TANNERY.
It was in 1827 that Thomas McCartney built the first tan- nery in the township. It was located in the north-west part of the town of Pendleton, on out-lot No. 2, and was operated with more or less success until 1863, when it was abandoned. Among others who owned this tannery in its day were Aaron Shaul, Charles Mitchell, H. Neal, A. M. Ulin, A. E. Russell, James Thomas, Neal and J. O. Hardy.
THE FIRST CAMP-MEETING.
The first camp-meeting in the county was held in 1832, about three miles south-west of Pendleton on the Samuel Hund- ley farm, now owned by John Hickey, Esq., of Anderson.
.
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
he meeting was held under the auspices of the Methodists nd was conducted by Rev. James Havens and others. Camp- neetings were held at this place every summer or in the early fall for many years, and were always largely attended by the early settlers. The scenes of religious fervor witnessed at these annual meetings were peculiar to the times and people and are seldom, if ever, seen at the camp-meetings of to-day. People who had religious convictions were not ashamed to shout in those days. They were not afraid of criticism. They became happy when the old-time Christian songs were sung and gave expression to their feelings in loud but honest, heart- felt hosannas. Their descendants are Christians, too, but not demonstrative. They are "conservative." The old-fashioned religion and the old-fashioned songs that the pioneer ministers of the Gospel used to preach and sing are not "popular " in this age of " progress." They are too rude and boisterous to suit "society " as constituted to-day. Still, it is no doubt true that society, as constituted to-day, does a great many things that would have been quite as shocking to the early Christians as their old-fashioned singing and praise-offerings are to the modern Christian. The modern Christian, it may be said, is not always a Christian, except by profession.
THE FALLS OF FALL CREEK.
Much has been said and written about this historic spot and its picturesque surroundings, yet few, comparatively, of the younger class of people living in the central and northern parts of the county know anything about its beauties or its history. This freak of nature is not surpassed in the State for romantic beauty, and much of the interest attaching to the early history of the county arises out of the many incidents that have occurred in its immediate vicinity. It would be a matter of more interest than importance, perhaps, to know the name of the first white man who gazed upon the pellucid waters of the stream as they dashed over the solid rock, a dis- tance of ten feet, to the eddying pool below. As stated else- where in these pages, the Falls had no doubt been visited by explorers and home-seekers before John Rogers located in the vicinity, but who they were or whence they came is not known. The quarter section on which the Falls are located, says Helm, is a part of the sixteenth section set apart by Congress in each township for school purposes. The proximity of the Falls made it a desirable point. Here there was a natural mill-
727
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
site-a dam constructed by nature, and settlers were attracted to it regardless of the fact that the land was not in the mar- ket. No one took the matter in hand until the year 1850. By that time the peaceable possession of twenty years was about to expire. It was then suggested that measures be in- stituted to restore the land to the school fund, which, it was claimed, could then be done at a trifling expense ; but the · matter was neglected until it was too late.
The Falls property and surroundings have undergone many changes. The corn-mill erected by Thomas McCart- ney on the south side of the creek at the Falls gave way to a large grist-mill built by Thomas Bell which did a flour- ishing business for years. This mill, as well as the Falls property, was afterwards owned by James M. Irish, one of the early settlers of the township, who purchased the land of the County Treasurer at a sale of school lands. He transferred his interest in the property sometime during the '80s to his son Samuel D. Irish, and removed to Texas where he remained until 1848, when he returned and remained until 1859. During that year he removed to Texas again and died there. Mr. Irish was a man of progressve ideas and on account of his dark complexion was given the sobriquet of "Black Hawk " by the pioneers. Andrew Jackson, who afterward became one of the most prominent men in the county, had built a woolen or carding mill, in the vicinity of the present site of the Universalist church at Pen- dleton, and as Mr. Irish wanted to erect a woolen-mill on his Falls property he purchased Mr. Jackson's factory and saw- mill on the north side of the creek opposite the grist-mill. These mills were operated very successfully for many years by Samuel D. Irish and attracted a great deal of business to Pen- dleton. It is said that this saw-mill supplied the lumber for the first court house built at Indianapolis. In 1850 the woolen- mill was enlarged and provided with improved machinery ; trade increased with the development of the country and a large business was done in woolen fabrics and textiles up to the death of Mr. Irish in 1864. Soon after his death the prop- erty was sold at a Commissioner's sale by George R. Boram to a syndicate composed of J. W. Bomgardner, J. N. Zeublin, J. E. French and Dr. Madison G. Walker. This company, with Bomgardner as manager, constructed a system of stone work across the creek just above the falls for the purpose of augmenting the water power. The work was arranged in
728
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA.
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.