USA > Indiana > Bartholomew County > History of Bartholomew County, Indiana : From the earliest time to the present, with biographical sketches, notes, etc. : Together with a short history of the Northwest, the Indiana Territory, and the state of Indiana > Part 31
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COUNTY ORGANIZATION. 357
and Bartholomew counties to the southwest corner of Section 3, Township S, Range 4 east; thence east to the southeast corner of Section 5, Township S, along the line of Columbus and Wayne townships to the northeast corner of Section 5, Township S, Range 5 east; thence north along the section line to the northeast corner of Section 5, Township 9, Range 5 east; thence west to the place of beginning. The house of Lawson Dowel was named as the first polling place.
Clay Township, organized December 7, 1841, was bounded as follows: Beginning at the northeast corner of Section 5, Township 9, of Range 7 east, and running west to the northwest corner of Section 3, Township 9, of Range 6; thence south to the southwest corner of Section 27, Township 9, of Range 6 east; thence east to the southeast corner of Section 29, Township 9, of Range 7 east; thence north to the place of beginning. The house of William McFall was the first polling place. June 7, 1843, the west line of Clifty Township was moved one-half mile west; that is, made to divide Sections 5, 8, 17, 20, and 29, on the half section line, thus fixing the present line between Clay and Clifty.
Ohio Township, organized June 6, 1843, was formed out of Wayne with the following bounds: Beginning at the northeast cor- ner of Section 8, Township S, of Range 5 east, and running south to the Jackson County line; thence west to the Brown County line; thence north to the northwest corner of Section ro, Township 8, of Range 4 east, thence east to the place of beginning. The house of David Lock was the first polling place. This township remains as here described except the southern part now embraced in Jack- son Township.
Union Township, organized September 3, 1845, was formed out of Nineveh, Harrison and Columbus townships, with bounds as follows: Beginning where the section line dividing Sections 9 and 10, Township 9, of Range 5 east, strikes the west bank of Drift- wood River and running north with the meanders of said river to the line dividing Sections 28 and 21, Township Io, of Range 5 east; thence west to the Brown County line; thence south to the line dividing Sections 10 and 15, Township 9, of Range 4 east; thence east to the place of beginning. The first polling place was Peter Snyder's house.
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Jackson Township, organized March 6, 1847, was formed by dividing Ohio Township on the lines separating Sections 25, 26 and 27 from 34, 35, and 36, in Township 8, of Range 4 east, and Sections 29 and 30 from 31 and 32, in Township 8, Range 5 east, and giving the new name to the southern portion thus laid out. The polling places were David Lock's in Jackson, and Samuel Thompson's in Ohio.
Agricultural Socictics .- One of the most important of man's occupations is that of agriculture. It in fact forms the ground work for all other classes of labor, and no other industrial branch holds to its service a larger portion of the population. In tilling the soil, as in every other vocation, action, to result in success, must be guided by intelligence. The best results in educating the masses in any particular branch of science are brought about, and always have been, by concerted action. The needs of organization for the dissemination of useful knowledge, coming together for the ex- change of ideas and the comparison of various results obtained through different modes and processes, were early recognized by some of the more advanced citizens, and led to attempts at the for- mation of societies for the promotion of agricultural, horticultural . and industrial interests. These, however, did not-meet the degree of success deserved. It is not the purpose here to trace the rise and fall of the different granges and other organizations that have been effected among the rural populace in this county from time to time, but to refer briefly to those organizations in which all the peo- ple have been to some extent interested. As early as IS29 the General Assembly enacted laws for the organization and encour- agement of such societies. In May, 1835, the Board of Commis- sioners called a meeting of the citizens of the county to be held in Columbus for the purpose of organizing a county agricultural soci- ety, and the public was notified by notices posted at the usual voting places. Nothing permanent resulted from this meeting, and another was called at the same time in the next year. The encouragement given was not sufficient to justify organization, and the matter rested for a time, when in May, 1839, the Commissioners again deter- mined to feel the public pulse, and called a meeting of the citizens which was no more fruitful than its predecessors. After these fail-
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COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
ures, about fifteen years passed without any particular effort toward organization. February 14, I851, a law was enacted which afforded means of encouragement not contained in former laws. By its pro- visions a State Board of Agriculture was formed with Gov. Jo- seph A. Wright as President, and through the influence of this organization and that of the Governor, many district and county societies were formed.
The Bartholomew County Agricultural Society was among the first of these, organized early in 1852, with forty-four members, Thomas Lawton being President, S. H. Kindelbaugh, Secretary, and W. H. H. Terrell, Treasurer. Its first annual fair was held Oc- tober 14, 1852, on the ground near where, in later years, the public school building stood, a small plot being fenced in with rails for the purpose. Small cash premiums were given and diplomas awarded. With becoming zeal and public spirit the citizens of the county pushed forward their work in aid of the society and it advanced with rapid strides. The building of the railroad had developed agricultural interests wonderfully. The era of flat boating was gone; there was a ready cash demand for all surplus grain and live stock. The people were becoming enlightened as to the dignity and importance of agricultural pursuits properly followed.
In 1854 the drouth was excessive, and much suffering resulted, but the hay, oat and wheat crops were excellent, though corn and garden vegetables turned out poorly. A creditable display in all departments of the fair was, however, made. The receipts were over $600, and premiums were offered to twenty-two classes of exhibits, including all sorts of live stock, fowls, dogs, products of the field, garden and orchard, pickles, preserves, butter, etc., agricul- tural implements, mechanical productions, machine woolen goods, domestic manufactures, needlework, plowing, horsemanship, plans for farm house, farm barn, cottage, model farm of 160 acres, essays on farming generally, hog raising, etc., etc. In the class " Dogs," diplomas were offered for the best farm dog for general purposes, best house and yard watch dog, best rat hunter, best fox hunter, best coon hunter, best «possum" hunter, best bird dog, best Newfoundland dog, and best children's play dog. Owners were required to have chains to their dogs and to keep them fastened. 6
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In the following year a great variety of silverware and other use- ful articles were offered as premiums for the best of every conceiv- able thing that might be exhibited, from the finest and best of horses and cattle to a pair of socks or a "petty-coat." Only the exhibitors of dogs were to be rewarded with nothing more substan- tial than diplomas. However, the "best collection of all sorts of dogs " was this year added to the list, and the successful contestant was to receive one dog collar. To the lady over sixteen years of age who could best manage her horse, ride most gracefully and ladylike was to be given a beautiful silver goblet valued at $10, and to the second best a gold thimble worth $5. To the young Miss under sixteen who possessed these accomplishments in the most marked degree was to be given $7 worth of silver spoons, and to the second best under that age a silver sugar shovel worth $3. At all of these early fairs speeches were made by learned men upon agricultural subjects and the topics of the times.
The fair grounds were early permanently located one mile north of the city of Columbus where the fairs were held until 1860, when, through the influential work of William McEwen, a new site was obtained about one mile southeast of the city. For many years an annual appropriation, small in amount, was made for the use of this society out of the county funds. Much substantial good was accomplished through its agency by the scattering of useful knowledge among the people, by directing their energies to a more telling activity and by pricking their ambitions. In many a house- hold its annual meeting, held when " the frost was on the pumpkin and the fodder in the shock," was looked forward to as the social event of the year, and what things were there heard and seen fur- nished themes for conversation on long winter evenings to many a family gathering about a wide-mouthed, cheerful fire place. Dur- ing the early part of the war the fair grounds were used as a camp of rendezvous for a company of volunteers under Isham Keith, commander, and later, by Col. Stansifer, Provost Marshal, for . recruits and drafted men. The property was badly damaged in consequence and no fairs were held for several years. The society . led a checkered career and its ending was unworthy the high ob- jects of its creation. The story of its downfall is told by Gen.
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Terrell in bis reminiscences as follows: " In 1875, strong and ener- getic effort was made to get up a county fair on a larger scale than had ever before been attempted. The proprietors of the Republican, with commendable enterprise, issued a small daily commencing on Tuesday and ending with Saturday, under the title of Daily Fair Bulletin. The misfortune with this publication was that it con- tained very little about the fair beyond a pretty free description of the grounds and arrangement, the principal feature being a wordy wrangle with the editor of the rival newspaper, the Democrat, about Jeff. Davis. That notorious individual had been engaged by the Board of Directors to deliver an address at the fair, the object be- ing not to dignify him or endorse his course in the rebellion of which he was the head, but to ' draw a crowd' and thus add to the financial success of the exposition. He was engaged just as Bar- num would have engaged a giant, a fat woman, a six-legged calf, or any other monstrosity for his big show, solely as an attraction. This move, however, was very ill-timed and unfortunate, and the indignation of the people became so great and outspoken the Directors were forced to cancel Mr. Davis' engagement. The news- papers, whose editors had both been soldiers in the late war, -but on different sides - kept up a fight about the matter through their respective columns for several weeks and contributed much toward inflaming the public mind, and engendering a bitter party feeling in regard to the management of the fair. This feeling continued so strong that it was found impracticable to hold a fair in 1876. Meanwhile a mortgage which had been given on the grounds of the society, matured, was foreclosed, and in January, 1877, the property was sold by the Sheriff to pay the debt, which by prudent and conciliatory management, could have been prevented."
The purchasers at this sale were, however, desirous of continu- ing the good work of the old institution and united with other citi- zens in the organization, in 1881, of the second Bartholomew County Agricultural Society. This organization was not long continued, and in 1883, gave way to the Bartholomew County Agricultural and Industrial Association, with Simeon Boaz as President; W. O. Hogue, Vice President; S. M. Glick, Secretary; John D. Crump, Treasurer; Joel S. Davis, General Superintendent. This Associa-
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tion holds annual meetings, but as the years advance, proportion- ately less attention is paid to agricultural and mechanical features, the attention of the management being mainly directed to the turf. The present officers are: William Brockman, President; J. G. Schwartzkopf, Vice President; Richard Thomas, Secretary, and Joseph R. Gent, General Manager.
Mcdical Society .- Of the early history of the profession but little can be said. There were no early organizations, and conse- quently there exists no records now containing data. Dr. S. M. Linton is probably the oldest of the physicians, and his physical afflictions are such that he is no longer in the practice. Among the early and more prominent physicians were: Drs. A. W. Davidson, John Baxter, Joseph A. Baxter, R. M. McClure, and later Drs. Jackson, Crary, Collier, Fenley and Grove. The only organization among the physicians now is the Bartholomew County Medical Society, which was organized July 23, ISSI, with the following offi- cers: Dr. M. N. Elrod, of Hartsville, President; Dr. C. H. But- ler, of Clifford, Vice President; Dr. W. H. Lopp, of Columbus, Secretary; Dr. J. S. Arwine, of Columbus, Treasurer. The pres- ent officers of the Association are: Dr. Eugene G. Regannas, of Hope, President; Dr. J. S. Clark, Vice President; Dr. J. S. Ar- wine, Secretary, and Dr. Fred Falk, Treasurer. The present members are: G. O. Cosby, N. S. Winterrowd (now of Leaven- worth, Kas.), A. J. McLeod, E. G. Regannas, J. B. Roesgen, J. S. Arwine, F. D. Norton, G. T. McCoy, I. T. Clark, A. J. Banker, T. E. Smith, S. M. Voris, F. Falk, C. H. Butler and K. D. Hawley.
Those physicians who have obtained license to practice in the county under the provisions of the acts of the Legislature of 1885, are as follows: John S. Arwine, David S. Armer, William H. Allen, John W. Arnold, Thomas E. Allen, William H. Butler, S. W. Biddinger, A. J. Banker, Wilson T. Banker, W. H. Beck, Charles S. Boynton, Stinson J. Barrett, Charles H. Butler, William H. Banks, George W. Bernard, A. B. Barker, John A. Bland, William T. Carmichael, Joseph B. Crisler, George O. Cosby, Isaac S. Clark, George E. Clark, Henry M. Connelly, J. W. Dixon, Joseph H. Davis, Frederick Dickman, Moses N. Elrod, Erastus Eads, Frederick Falk, Edward T. Francis, Walter M.
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COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
Ford, Elias T. Fogle, C. E. Galloway, James B. Hudson, Orwin E. Howe, Willard M. Hart, Z. H. Hauser, K. D. Hawley, Rich- ard E. Holder, Mary L. Guy IIood, Thomas S. Jones, Simpson F. Kincaid, Cornelius V. Kent, J. B. Kirkpatrick, Samuel A. Ken- nedy, J. Y. Kennedy, William H. Lopp, William M. Lawrence, Samuel M. Linton, John Walter Lopp, IIenry C. Lester, Jesse H. Lanam, T. J. Martin, Charles A. Moore, Overton H. Mennett, Samuel H. Morris, J. W. Mulvey, A. J. McLeod, George T. McCoy, Fletcher D. Norton, W. T. Newton, Robert N. Pfeiffer, Samuel Pagin, David A. Pettigrew, Samuel T. Quick, Alfred Rice, R. H. Roope, J. J. Riley, Franklin B. Richards, E. G. Regennas, John P. Roesgen, William P. Rush, Thomas A. Shane, J. K. Smalley, Simeon Stapp, James M. Summers, Josephus J. Sadler, Theophilus E. Smith, R. Trowbridge, David A. Thompson, John M. Tobias, Samuel M. Voris, J. Wisenberg, N. S. Winter- rowd, John B. Williams, A. F. Wright, John F. Wright, James W. Wood, Samuel C. Wilson, Hardy Wray, Charles E. Whitesides.
The incidents of the early practice are similar to those of all new countries of the West. The most troublesome of all diseases was the ague. Barring this dreadful destroyer of health and hap- piness, the county boasted of its healthfulness. No one escaped the chills and fever occasioned by the miasmi then common to all new countries in this latitude. At times entire families and settle- ments were prostrated by it. It greatly discouraged many of the new comers and drove some back to the lands they had left, while others wanted to get away from its reach but were too poor. The disease was not contagious, but all were so exposed to its causes that few escaped. The bottom lands were full of malaria which floated on every breeze and penetrated every system. The sufferer first became stupid and morose, began to turn yellow in the face and about the eyes, felt a pain in the side and an ache along the back and in the head; and then periodical shocks came, first of chill and then of fever. When having the "shake" no cover could keep him warm; his teeth chattered and he felt most woe- begone and miserable. The fever was intense and often resulted in delirium; all efforts to allay it were in vain. The treatment resorted to by physicians was heroic indeed. When quinine came
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into use it became a necessary article of diet, but before its day the practitioner resorted to the use of lobelia and sweats. Patients were steamed until limp and almost exhausted. The "steam doctors" would ask the suffering patient in the sweat box: " Do your eyelids feel limber?" If a negative response was received more lobelia was given and the steaming continued. It was be- lieved that tea made of boneset leaves stripped downward from the stalk would act as a physic, and if stripped upward as an emetic.
One day a stranger rode into the village of Columbus during the ague season and saw no one on the streets. At length he espied a solitary individual at work on the new court house, · and, riding up, asked where all the villagers were. The work- man somewhat of a wag, was John White, a bricklayer who had considerable local pride. He informed the horseman that the resi- dents of the town, all except himself, were attending a camp meeting then being held a few miles east of the town. The fact was . all were sick with the ague. This story is told by W. H. Stader, who says he has known every member of every family in the settle- ment where his father lived to be " laid flat," all at one time, by this dread disease. The black tongue, malignant dysentery, cholera and milk-sickness were maladies that added to the hardships of the pioneers. The last named disease is supposed to have prevailed at times between 1830 and 1840, but authentic cause of it was dif- ficult to discover. General Terrell has this to say concerning it:
" When an emigrant from 'Nawth Kearlina' or the mountain re- gions of Kaintucky ventured to move his family west to 'the Indiana ' or ' the Elynoy,' the first question upon entering a settle- ment north of the Ohio, was, ' Ha-ave you any milk-sick h-e-y-a-r? ' The standing answer was, 'No; but they have it over that way (pointing), about six miles from here.' 'The number of miles was regulated by the distance to the nearest adjoining county. No man probably ever lived where the terrible disease existed in his own im- mediate neighborhood, from whom an open acknowledgment of the fact could be squeezed. The question was always evaded in some way or another. In this county the disease was never acknowledged to prevail, but was always 'located' in some adjoining county. I remember, during my boyhood, however, to have met two persons
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who were afflicted with a very peculiar and unpleasant odor, which it was said resulted from this disease. No cases of it have been heard of for many years, and land hunters, who in early times were so anxious to know where it prevailed, no longer make inquiries on the subject." Milk-sickness, or morbo lacteo, was supposed to be caused [by drinking the milk or eating the meat of cattle afflicted with a disease of the same name, and though not necessarily fatal, was most disagreeable and often caused death. The first and only appearance of cholera, in Columbus, in epidemic form, was in the summer of 1849, when it was introduced by some German emi- grants, who reached here by the railroad from Madison, whither they had come from New Orleans by the river route. Some fifteen'or twenty of them died. The citizens of the county, though almost paralyzed with fear and alarm, gave the poor sufferers every possible care, and medical attendance was freely bestowed. The excitement and consternation was very great and extended through- out the county; the disease, however, did, not spread beyond the limits of the town. Some citizens removed their families to the country, and business was almost entirely suspended for about three weeks. Several citizens died, among whom were Dr. Isaac Fen- ley and a Mrs. Randolph Griffith and her child. Of late years the county has been particularly free from epidemics.
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CHAPTER III.
EARLY SETTLEMENT-CHARACTER OF THE PIONEERS- WILL- IAM CONNOR -FIRST. SETTLERS AND WHERE THEY LOCATED -EARLY LAND SALES-HUNTERS AND THEIR GAME-PIO- NEER DRESS - AMUSEMENTS- EARLY MARRIAGES - TRADE AND COMMERCE-POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS, ETC.
" Gather we from the shadowy past The straggling beams that linger yet, E'er o'er those flickering lights are cast The shroud that none can penetrate."- SPENCER.
HE sturdy character of the pioneer always attracts a peculiar interest; and a fascinating charm gathers about the customs and manners of his time. The sub- duers of a new and wild country are of right accorded heroic rank. Such were the pioneers of the American West. They braved the terrors, suffered the privations and dangers of life in the woods on the outskirts of civilization with determined wills and brawny arms to clear and plant for themselves and their children homes in the unbroken wil- derness. They shrank not from hunger, exposure, disease or broken attachments of old homes and ties of kindred, but with un- faltering determination launched forth to meet their destiny.
When Indiana was admitted to the sisterhood of States that por- tion now embraced in Bartholomew County, as well as a very large tract in the eastern and central parts of the State, was in the pos- session of the Delaware Indians, whose title to the lands was not extinguished until October, 1818. Prior to this time but few white men had set foot on the soil of this county. It is quite probable that the first to cross its territory were the French traders who dealt with the Delawares, and those traveling from Detroit to Vincennes by way of old Fort Valonia in Jackson County, who, it is reason- able to conclude, followed the White River and its tributaries. The first positively known to have entered the territory was William
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Connor, an Indian trader, who at that time had a trading post at the present site of Connersville. Early in 1816, he floated down Flat Rock River in a small boat filled with such goods as he might exchange with the red men for their peltries. Later he traveled along the course of Blue River, and to the bands that camped along its banks he became a welcome guest. William Connor, who is often called the father of central Indiana, was a typical frontiers- man, and being familiar with the customs and habits of the Indians, was able to render valuable service to Gen. Harrison during his struggle with the aborigines in the early part of the century. He was not, however, instrumental in the development of the country, and had no fixed habitation within the boundaries of Bartholomew County.
A few squatters had pushed their way into the Indian domains and were there as intruders without right. A tour of inspection was made by a party into the new purchase just after the Indian title was extinguished, when but two squatters' cabins, inhabited by two white men, were found in all that territory from the crossing of Sand Creek at old Geneva in Jennings County to the present site of Indianapolis; one on Clifty Creek and the other on Blue River. But no sooner had the news of the consummation of the treaty with the Delawares reached the settlements in the older parts of the State than stout-hearted, ambitious men were ready to start out for the new Eldorado. Joseph Cox, a Virginian by birth, who, at an early period had left the place of his nativity and settled in Cumber- land County, Ky., was the first settler in the county of Bartholo- mew - then part of a vast wilderness belonging to Delaware County. He came in 1819, following the Indian trail, making the first wagon road, and settling on Haw Creek above where in later years the Lewis saw mill was built; when he came he was about fifty-three years of age and had a large family, being the father of ten boys and one girl. He was a man of considerable moral worth, intelli- gent, active, and energetic. Selecting what seemed a good locality he at once set to work building a small cabin and this erected, com- menced clearing a spot, where in 1820, the first corn crop was grown. The crib that held that first crop stood for many years and was never empty. Robert Wilkerson, David Stipp and George Frank
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soon after came into the Hawpatch and settled there. Jacob Hauser and Joseph Lochenour, two young men, then unmarried, came from North Carolina in the same year following the wagon track made by Joseph Cox. They stopped at Wilkerson's, putting what few things they had in a rough shed, and went to work building a cabin. Each had an Indian blanket which constituted the whole of their possessions of that sort. During their first winter they wrapped themselves in their blankets and slept on the ground, their dreams doubtless disturbed by the never-ceasing howls of wolves.
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