USA > Indiana > Carroll County > History of Carroll County, Indiana : With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 5
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
Ty the spring of 1827, Dr. D. F. Vandeventer brought a small stock of goods to Carroll County, and Mr. Banm built a log storehouse for him in his yard. This was the first stock of goods
106
HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY
ever brought to Carroll County. About the same time, though later in the season, Mr. Isaac Griffith, late of this county. brought another stock of good, and located his store south of Halsey & Griffith's mill. Before this time, all articles of merchandise and groceries had to be procured at Crawfordsville and other points south on the river, which had been longer settled. Nor was there, up to this time, any post office in the county for the accommoda- tion of the people, and the fact very often subjected them to great inconvenience, because it was necessary that they should go to Montgomery County for their mail matter. All legal business was transacted in Montgomery and Tippecanoe Counties, but the set- tlers, being well disposed toward each other, and little inclined to litigation seldom had occasion to resort to law to settle the small matters of difference between neighbors: consequently, the amount of judicial business transacted from causes arising in Carroll County among its own citizens was extremely small.
Early this season, a number of the citizens of the county were called upon to go out into the country on the Tippecanoe River, near where Rochester, in Fulton County. now stands. to assist in building the " Indian Mills."
RATTLESNAKES.
When the weather became warm in the spring, the country was infested with rattlesnakes in such numbers that it was a source of great annoyance to the settlers. They were so common among the weeds and undergrowth that great caution was neces- sary to be observed in order to avoid being bitten by them. Several persons were bitten before the fact of their great num- bers in the county became fully known. John Carey was bitten by one of these reptiles iu the vicinity of the Wilson farm, which, from the number of them discovered and killed -near by, about the same time, led to the discovery of their den in the bluff not far from the old still-house. Many fears were entertained by the settlers lest they should crawl into their cabins unobserved, as they sometimes did, and bite the inmates, particularly the children, who were little aware of the danger to be anticipated from their presence. As soon as their appearance was general, it was sup- posed that a den of them must be in the neighborhood. and all hands turned out to hunt it. The circumstances of John Carey being bitten, and the numbers discovered close by there, induced the men to search more diligently in that particular place. They succeeded in finding the den as above indicated. There were sev- eral entrances to the den, resembling the holes made by ground- hogs, which emitted a most offensive stench. After that, of warm days, snake-hunting was one of the avocations of the settlers; and the result was that, in eight or ten years succeeding, hundreds of them were killed. Several incidents are related of persons being bitten by them, but few, if any, of them resulted fatally. The Indians who frequented the neighborhood at the time of the early settlements were proverbial for their possession of many antidotes for the bites of these reptiles, and often relieved those who had been bitten, to their great professional satisfaction as "medicine men."
A young hunter named Alexander, who had encamped on the ground where Logansport now stands, was bitten one night. and would have died but for some Indians encamped near him, who, hearing his hallooing, went to his assistance, took him to their lodge, cured him up sound and well, and sent him off on his way rejoicing, accompanied by their injunction that he should not get wet, and that if he did, he would die. Let this suffice, however, for the history of rattlesnakes in Carroll County.
In April of this year, Dr. John M. Ewing, the first physician
and surgeon in the county, settled here and became a permanent practitioner. At this time, there were but forty families in what now forms Carroll, Cass and White Counties. Where Delphi now stands was a thicket of bazel and blackberry bushes, and the place where Logansport is situated was in a state of nature, except a trading house at the " Point." occupied by the late Hugh B. Mc- Keen. What is now the city of La Fayette had then but six log cabins and one two-story log house occupied as a tavern. There were no roads except the one opened by Mr. Robinson when he moved here, and the travel was generally along Indian traces and (leer paths. At that time, also, nettles grew thrifty, and yielded an excellent crop, frequently covering the ground like flax, and about the same height on the upland, but on the bottom's they grew as high as a man would be, seated upon his horse. At the time when the settlers were in want of clothing and other neces- saries, in order to equal the necessities of the times, Mrs. David Lucas, as did some other of the stirring women of those days. in the absence of hemp and flax out of which to manufacture arti- cles of summer apparel, gathered of these nettles, which have a fine, flax-like fiber, rotted, broke, dressed and spun them, and, from the material thus prepared, manufactured cloth, out of which garments of a good, substantial quality were made, and worn with as much satisfaction as the more rare and costly articles of the present day.
The Indians, who, up to the period of their treaties, and for a limited time afterward, had continued to occupy these lands, grad- ually disappeared, and but few of them remained. There were, however, occasionally some who visited the settlements for the purpose of trading, and their number was not great, because the principal trading point was at Logansport, and they usually went to that place to transact their barter and traffic. In some re- speets-and, in fact, all-the settlers were quite willing to dispense with all the emoluments of the trade, to avoid the frequent an- noyance of their presence; for, although there was no danger to be anticipated from any manifestations of hostility, yet the petty thefts and obtrusions were sometimes of a character to render them obnoxious.
At this time, also, the location of the Michigan road was a question of some interest to the people, and was frequently dis- cussed by them. It did not, however, present inducements suffi- cient to direct their active co-operation; for the Commissioners appointed to view and locate their route actually visited the set- tlements here with a view to arrive at the facts as to the most prac- ticable route, according to the provisions and requirements of the act authorizing the same. The people did not seem to look upon the enterprise as one which demauded their exertion in its behalf, although it was the opinion of many that the road might have been located through Delphi; on as good or better ground than where it now runs. The consequence of this apathy on the part of the most interested was that the Commissioners, seeing there were few, if any, who thought the matter of sufficient conse- quence to devote a little time and pains to show them the route through this county, and set forth the advantages possessed by this over other routes, went to Cass County, where they found men willing to sacrifice the time required to gain the important ac- quisition to their county and town. The present route of the road along near the line of the eastern boundary of the county, several miles distant from the site of Delphi, now the seat of justice, through Logansport, the seat of justice of Cass County, was finally determined upon, and that great public thoroughfare was accordingly located.
107
HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
CHAPTER VI.
prarance of progress and the evidences of improvement. The efforts of the settlers being directed to the promotion of general pros- PIONEER REMINISCENCES-CONTINUED. perity. as well as their individual advancement, it was an easy WILD FRUITS-AN ABUNDANT SUPPLY-ALEXANDER CHAMBER- LAIN HAS :A. " RAISING" AT THE UPPER SETTLEMENT-BLACK- BIRDS AND THE CORN CROPS-HIGH WATERS-ABNER ROBINSON THE FIRST POSTMASTER -- ELECTION FOR PRIMARY OFFICERS -- NEW COUNTRIES AND PIONEER SETTLERS -- THEIR MANNERS . AND CUSTOMS-NATURAL. SCENERY. matter. from " the signs of the times," to gain assurance that sel fish aggrandizement was not the governing impulse of the com- munity. " There have been. I apprehend" says a late writer, "'in no country. in its carly settlement, precisely the elements in forming the public mind which are found in the Western regions of our own. The colonies that went out from Phoenicia, and that laid the TN the spring and summer seasons, during the early settlements. before apples, peaches, pears, cherries, phinns and other culti- vated fruits were grown here, wild plus, grapes, gooseberries, blackberries and crabapples, with many other fruits of the forest. spontaneous of the rich soil and genial climate of Carroll County. afforded abundant supplies of these articles, suited to the taste and adapted to the wants of the times. foundations of empire on the shores of the Mediterranean, had a homogeneousness of character, and transferred the principles and feelings of the mother country at once to the new lands where they took up their abode. The colonies that went out from Greece to occupy the maritime regions of Asia Minor. carried with them the love of the arts, of literature and of liberty which distinguished Corinth and Athens, and Ionia became merely a reflected image Some time in the summer of 1527. Alexander Chamberlain raised a two-story, double, howed-log house, on the bank of the Wabash, opposite the month of Eel River. below Logansport. and many of the settlers from this county went there to assist him in the raising of it. When there were heavy raisings like that .. ne. of what Attica and Achaia and Argolis had been. The colonists who landed on Plymonth Rock, and at Salem, and Boston. also had a homogeneousness of character. There was no intermingling of any foreign elements contemplated or allowed. They were, whou they landed. and when they laid the foundation of Harvard Uni- the people of the neighboring settlements always turned out and ! versity, and when they spread over New England. what they were helped for help again whenever similar circumstances required- and there was a mutuality of interest and purpose in all new set- tlements, particularly in those days.
During the fall of this year, after the small clearings had been fenced, plowed aad planted, and the corn crop had well-nigh ma .. tured, blackbirds came in large quantities and destroyed a very considerable portion of it. They were generally bad in the fall of the year, but much worse this year than usual, and required close watching to prevent total destruction to the crops. Many persons who had contemplated moving here were deterred from doing so in consequence.
In January. 1528, there was another period of high waters: all the flat country below town was covered, and the water rose so high that it ran into Mr. Baum's kitchen. One time since. when Daniel Baum, Jr., was living in the same house, the water came np about one foot higher.
On the 3d day of January, 1828, the first post office ever in this county was opened by Abner Robinson. Esq .. who was there foro the first Postmaster. This evidence of govermental favor was hailed by the people as the dawn of a new era in the progress of this infant settlement, which, taken into consideration with the question of a county organization at that time agitating the community, inspired the settlers with new life and vigor.
April 28 of this year, according to the provisions of the act of organization, passed at the session of the Legislature then recently closed, an election was held by the qualified voters of the county for the purpose of electing officers, who should, when duly com- missioned and qualified, perform the active functions devolving npon them severally, when the period should arrive. as contem- plated by the act aforesaid, for putting the wheels of government into practical operation, The number of votes cast at that time, the voters who cast their ballots, and the candidates voted for and elected, having been fully set out elsewhere, it is nn- necessary, at this point, to enter into a more elaborate narration of the facts and incidents thereof. In the month of May succeed- ing, the organization of the county, under the most favorable aus. pices, was perfected.
The increase in the population of the territory during this year was considerable, and the settlement begau to assume the ap-
in Holland and in England, with only the modifications which their new circumstances made, but with none from any foreign ad mixtures. When we turn our eyes, however, to the great West. we discern an entirely different state of things. There is no homogen- consness of character. of origin, of aim, of language. These ele- ments. already mingled and struggling For the mastery, any one of which. if alone, would have vital and expansive power enough to diffuse itself all over that great valley.
" There are different manners and customs, different modes of faith, and, as a consequence of this, a great intermingling of those minds which are likely to be most adventurous, energetic and boll. " Everything in the natural scenery is on a scale so vast and grand - the majestic rivers. the boundless prairies, the deep for est. the very immensity. almost, of the rich domain which is spread out there as if to make man vast in his schemes, gigantic in his purposes, large in his aspirations and boundless in his ambitions. "I may notice another characteristic of the Western mind. in its relation to religion: Strange as it may seem to one who looks on the heterogeneous and nnsettled mass, the result of the experi- monts there made has shown that the West is not a favorable held for planting communities destitute of all religion.
"The question, then. if these are just views is not whether there shall be any religion, or none, but whether the religion which shall prevail there shall be true or false, enlightened or ignorant: a miserable fanaticism, or a large and liberal Christian- ity; a low and driveling superstition, or principles that commeud themselves to reason and common sense: the religion of tradition. or he religion of the Bible: a religion of excitement and feeling. and variableness, or the religion of principle."
To a very considerable extent, the remarks made in the fore- going qnotation will apply to the early settlement of. Carroll County. The elements of which the community was composed. were heterogeneous in their character, so far as their former con- ditions, pursuits and purposes were concerned, yet the varieties of taste and sentiment formed among them seomed necessary to the full and perfect development of those faculties which go to make np a community, dostined by its characteristics to become pros- perous and happy, variety of taste in individual matters on the one hand; and unity of purpose in the affairs of general interest, aro
108
HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
the sure forerunners of the substantial well-being of the com- munity. Here. then, were those elements at work in this cour- munity as originally constituted; and time had uufokled the pro- pitions evidences which distinguish the present position and con- dition of society.
When the emigration from the East, South and North directed its course hither. the country had been but recently the abode of the red man. His companions, the wolf, the bear and cata- mount, still held dominion over the forest wilds and disputed the right of the civilized pioneer to make a home in the midst of their domains. Wolves were abundant, and often made the night hid- eons with their howlings-with frogs that inhabited the flat, wet . lands of the county and sounded the full notes in chorus, they chanted the requiem of passing time .. No person was ever at a loss for musical entertainments of that character. Civilization, however, soon brought with it birds and animals such as are always found on its trace; the aspect of nature. eveu, seemed to be changed, as the massive forest, thick and uubroken before, yield- ing to the woodman's ax, became transformed into open fields of waving grain.
CHAPTER VIL. PIONEER REMINISCENCES-CONTINUED.
ADVENT OF HENRY M. GRAHAM INTO CARROLL COUNTY-PORTA- BLE MILL FOR GRINDING CORN, ETC .- MAKING "HOMINY" IN PIONEER STYLE-SITUATION PRIOR TO ORGANIZATION -THE FIRST MARRIAGES AND THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO THEM- SOME ROADS PROVIDED FOR-AARON GREGG ARRIVES-ENOCH STANSEL'S EXPERIENCE - MR. GREGG'S TRAVELING EXPERI- ENCE, ETC.
N the midst of transpiring incidents and circumstances before I enumerated, it must not be forgotten that new adventurers from abroad -- from the East, from the North and from the South -were coming in to find homes for themselves and families in . this fertile region, giving countenance and impulse to the ad- vancing tide of improvement and prosperity.
In January, 1528, Henry M. Graham, next to the oldest of eight brothers, came to this county in company with liis father and family. Upou coming into the county, they made a halt at the family mansion of Gen. Samuel Milroy, and, for want of a more suitable or convenient place of abode, moved into a stable on the premises, and remained there until they got a cabin up on the site marked out for their home. Their cabin not being pro- vided with a chimney. they cut a hole in the roof to permit the smoke to escape. 'In a few days they got into their cabin. and, the first night after, it commenced to snow, and continued with little intermission for the next six weeks. The family were all barefooted at the time, except Henry and his father -- and, as ap- pendatory to the situation, notwithstanding his shoes, Henry had his feet badly frozen during the winter. ; Although the weather was : rough and disagreeable, Mr. Grahamn, to get things in tolerably good living order in and about. the house; began cutting down trees that stood in reach of their dwelling, not hav- ing had time to make a clearing worth while, The spring being so far spent when he got into his house, under the, circumstances, he got some cleared ground from Mr. Odell. to put in corn and "truck," which gave him some advantage in the way of clearing ground for the next season. Mr. Graham erected in his house . a portable mill, in which he frequently prepared the meal for their bread. It consisted of a log about eighteen inches in diam-
eter and four feet long, with a funnel-shaped hollow burned to the depth of twelve or fifteen inches, and then scraped out smooth. This section of a log, prepared as: above, was set on end, hollow upward, adjacent to some crack in the wall between logs, into which a spring pole was sometimes adjusted, and a "pestle," con- sisting of a stick of suitable dimensions, attached to it-split at oue end to admit an iron wedge, secured in its place by a ring. With this formidable array of machinery. sometimes omitting the "spring-pole," much of the grinding for the family, and some- times the neighbors, was done in the carly settlement of the country. The apparatus was familiarly known as a "hominy mortar.".
After the organization of the county, in May, 1828, the social as well as.the civil relations of the settlers became more circum- seribed as to, limits in which they were consununated. Before that period, the settlements inade here, and the movements toward independence in the enjoyment of the peculiar privileges of a sep- arate community, were embarrassed by the fact that this territory formed a part of the jurisdiction of other and distant counties, re- quiring, therefore, that all authority for the completion of busi- ness arrangements, so far as their binding force depended upon a legal recognition, should and could only be derived from those distinct seats of justice, from which radiated these several requi- site plenary powers. For a considerable time after the settlement of the county, in 1824-25, Crawfordsville occupied the position of a general legal dispensary for a vast extent of territory, includ- ing the present limits of Carroll County. There justice, in vari- ous and modified forms, was administered, sometimes speedily and without delay, at other times tardily, depending upon the circumstances which surrounded the case. , Marriage licenses had to he obtained at that point, or at La Fayette, which. afterward assumed the prerogatives of the position. So far as this particu- lar county was concerned, the occasions which demanded the resort to those distant localities for the purpose of procuring the consent of " the powers . that be" to exercise the rights of a free people were not frequent, yet it was occasionally necessary. ...:
Marriages were not very common here during the earlier pe- riods of which I have been writing, partially owing to the fact, at first, that those who contemplated a removal to this county us- nally settled preliminaries before leaving the old homestead, and did not set out " prospecting " for a new home until the question of consummation was no longer controvertible-so that, when the home had been secured in the Western wilds, it was only neces- sary to go back and claim the prize. Consequently, weddings were of somewhat rare occurrence until Carroll County had a dis- tinet organization, vesting the people with the necessary powers and immunities to grant the authority upon which marriages might be solemnized. The first imarriage license issued in Car- roll County was on the 1st day'of June, 1828, the record of which, together with the certificate of solemnization, is as follows, viz. :
Be it known, that on the 1st day of June, A. D. 1828, a marriage lisense issued to John Bozarth and Lathey Mitchell, both of said county; the con- sent of John Bozarth, Sr ... father of the said John (who is under age), being now given-she being of lawful age. ' And that they were legally married is thus certified on the back of the.license, viz .; I, the undersigned, one of the Associate. Judges in and for the county of Carroll, do hereby certify that I joined in the holy "onds of matrimony, the within named couple; ou Sunday the 1st day of June, A. D. 1828.
. CHRISTOPHER MCCOMBS, Associate Judge.
The second license was issued on the 4th day of July; 1828, to John Morrow, of Parke County, Ind., and Isabella Hamilton, of this county, who were both of lawful age. Their marriage
1
:
109
HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
was solemnized on the same day. Christopher MeCombs. Judge, officiating.
The third was issued on the 4th day of September, 1528, to Jeremiah Ballard and Susannah Baum, both of this county, and of lawful age. They were married on the same day, by Isam Adkinson, Justice of the Peace.
The fourth was issued on the 25th day of December, 1828. to Charles Polke and Louisa R. Smith, both of this county, aud of lawful age. They were married Jannary 1, 1829, by Rev. James Crawford, at the residence of Maj. Bell, in Logansport.
The fifth was issued on the 29th day of December. 1828, to William Scott and Otilda Lockhart, both of Carroll County, and of lawful age. They were married on the Ist day of Jannary, by Rev. James Crawford, at the same time and place as the last.
The sixth was issued December 31. 1528, to John Swalls and Polly Marsh, both residents of Carroll County, and of lawful age. This marriage also was solemnized January 1, 1829, by Isam Ad- kinson, Justice of the Peace. Thus it will be seen that January 1 was a propitious day for Carroll County, the first day of the year 1529, being siguified by these evidences of union.
located on the most practicable route from La Fayette to the line dividing Tippecanoe and Carroll Counties, in the direction of Delphi, to intersect a road that day established and located from the point last named to the public square in Delphi. Provisions were made, also, for the location of roads, one from the public square aforesaid to the point where the meridian line crosses Deer Creek: another from the same point to Elisha Brown's. on Bachelor's Run. These several rontes were necessary in order to establish outlets from the settlements to the points with which they corresponded, for purposes of trade and inter-communication.
In the month of October, 1828, Aaron Gregg, his wife and brother, left Warren County, Ohio, and started on their journey to this county with a view to settlement here. But before this, however, in 1825 or 1826, Mr. Gregg, in company with Enoch Stansel, had visited the Wabash Valley for the purpose of select- ing eligible locations for new homes in the West. While they were here looking at the country, Mr. Gregg's father was of the party. After having traversed most of the county, and satisfied themselves as to the quality of the land. as well as the prospects presented for the future, in the evening, when on their return to Crawfordsville --- through which route they had arrived-they came to a halt on a bluff near the bank of Rock Creek, where. night coming upon them, they laid out, with no other shelter than the trees, until morning. Next morning, they continued their journey for Crawfordsville, where the land office was situated, and, upon their arrival at that place, made their entries of such lands as they had selected during their travel through this county.
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.