USA > Indiana > Carroll County > History of Carroll County Indiana, its people, industries and institutions > Part 5
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The Soldiers and Sailors' Orphans' Home at Knightstown, is main- tained for the care and education of the orphan children of Union soldiers and sailors. The state educates and keeps them until they are sixteen years of age if they have not been given homes in families before they reach that age. Institutions for the education of the blind and also the deaf and dumb are located at Indianapolis. The state educates all children so afflicted and teaches them some useful trade which will enable them to make their own way in the world. The School for Feeble Minded at Fort Wayne has had more than one thousand children in attendance annually for several years. Within the past few years an epileptic village has been established at New Castle, Indiana, for the care of those so afflicted. A prison is located at Michigan City for the incarceration of male criminals convicted by any of the courts of the state of treason, murder in the first or second degree, and of all persons convicted of any felony who at the time of conviction are thirty years of age and over. The Reformatory at Jeffersonville takes care of male criminals between the ages of sixteen and thirty, who are guilty of crimes other than those just mentioned. The female criminals from the ages of fifteen upwards are kept in the women's prison at Indianapolis. A school for incorrigible boys is maintained at Plainfield. It receives boys be- tween the ages of seven and eighteen, although no boy can be kept after he reaches the age of twenty-one. Each county provides for its own poor and practically every county in the state has a poor farm and many of them have homes for orphaned or indigent children. Each county in the state also maintains a correctional institution known as the jail, in which prisoners are committed while waiting for trial or as punishment for convicted crime.
But Indiana is great not alone in its material prosperity, but also in those things which make for a better appreciation of life. Within the limits of our state have been born men who were destined to become known through- out the nation. Statesmen, ministers, diplomats, educators, artists and literary men of Hoosier birth have given the state a reputation which is envied by our sister states. Indiana has furnished Presidents and Vice- Presidents, distinguished members of the cabinet and diplomats of world wide fame; her literary .men have spread the fame of Indiana from coast to coast. Who has not heard of Wallace, Thompson, Nicholson, Tarking- ton, Mccutcheon, Bolton, Ade, Major, Stratton-Porter, Riley and hundreds of others who have courted the muses?
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CHAPTER II.
ABORIGINAL TITLE-INDIANA TERRITORY-LAND SURVEYS-PIONEER HISTORY -- GEOLOGICAL FORMATION-PIONEER PERIODS-RED MAN'S DOMINIONS -- FROM WHENCE CAME THE PIONEERS-ORDINANCE OF 1787.
ABORIGINAL TITLE.
Indiana Territory was occupied by certain tribes of Indians whose title to the lands was extinguished by treaties made by them with the general government at various dates. The title to the lands along the Wabash river, being obtained by the government, with certain reservations from the Indian tribes, is the source from which all titles thereto rests. A treaty held at Greenville, in August, 1795, by General Wayne, Little Turtle, of the Miami tribe, gave the following review of his tribe's history: "It is well known by all my brothers present that my forefathers kindled the first fire at Detroit, from there he extended his lines to the head waters of the Scioto; from there to its mouth; from there down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash; and from there to Chicago, on Lake Michigan."
This statement is corroborated by the general history of the tribe. Their villages were found on the St. Joseph, of Lake Michigan, at Ft. Wayne, and on the Wea Plains, near Lafayette. Charlevoix says: "These villages were established as early as 1670." This tribe. about the year 1700, formed an alliance with the French, who were traders. French missionaries visited these villages and established forts. The vast dominions of this tribe, and its power and influence, brought it into relationship with other tribes, which is termed in general history, as the "Miami Confederacy." In 1765. the warriors consisted of two hundred and fifty Twightwees: three hundred Ouiatenons, three hundred Piankeshawes and two hundred Shockeys.
By the treaty of 1818, at St. Mary's, Ohio, nine hundred and thirty thousand acres of land were ceded to the United States. The western line of the ceded territory ran on the west boundary line of Howard county, Indiana. By the treaty of October 23, 1826, held at Paradise Springs, the Miami chiefs, in council with Gen. Lewis Cass, James B. Ray and John Tipton, as commissioners on the part of the United States, conducted a treaty
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ceding "all their claims to lands in the state of Indiana, north and west of the Wabash and west of the Miami rivers." In 1834 the government pur- chased of this tribe one hundred and seventy-seven thousand acres, includ- ing a strip seven miles wide off the west side of the reserve, in what is .now Cass, Howard and Clinton counties, which was transferred to the state of Indiana to be used in construction of the Wabash and Erie canal; from the mouth of the Tippecanoe river, a strip of five miles wide along the Wabash had been previously appropriated for canal purposes. Hence the records showing certain lands as canal lands.
Further concessions were made at the treaty of 1838, and the last in 1840. This tribe relinquished all rights remaining, excepting certain reserva- tions, for which a specific sum of five hundred and fifty thousand dollars was paid. The government records show that the government had received six million eight hundred and fifty-three thousand acres of land and given in exchange forty-four thousand six hundred and forty acres, of the value of fifty-five thousand eight hundred dollars; the aggregate consideration, paid for the ceded lands in money and goods was one million two hundred and five thousand nine hundred and seven dollars and the total consideration paid was one million two hundred sixty-one thousand seven hundred and seven dollars.
Carroll county had in its territory five of these specific reservations, known as follow: A. Burnett Reserve; the Cicott Reserve; the Connors Reserve; the Bondee Reserve; and the second A. Burnett Reserve. The lands obtained by the general government by the treaty of October 23, 1826, held at Paradise Springs-that portion of which was within the borders of the state-were transferred to the state, coupled with conditions relating to the Wabash canal, the Michigan road, and reservations of certain sections for school purposes. All present landowners in this part of the country trace their titles to this government ownership.
INDIANA TERRITORY.
The Indiana territory was a part of the Northwest territory, obtained by the United States from the state of Virginia, under an ordinance of July 13, 1787, by which it was stipulated that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude should exist, except in the punishment of crime.
Indiana, upon its formation as a state, was a free state. Gen. William H. Harrison was the first territorial governor, May 13, 1800. The popula- tion was estimated at four thousand eight hundred seventy-five white people.
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Vincennes was the territorial seat of government. General Harrison issued a proclamation to the people of the territory, fixing December 11, 1802, to hold an election to select delegates to meet at Vincennes to consider the expediency of repealing or suspending the proviso in the ordinance of 1787. prohibiting the holding of slaves. A memorial to this effect was sent to Congress. Mr. Randolph, of Virginia, opposed the proposition, and Con- gress refused to suspend the provision. January 3, 1805, was fixed as the time for holding an election in the several counties for the organization of the territorial Legislature. By that election ten residents were selected, from whom five were to be selected by the President to constitute the Legislative council. President Jefferson conferred upon General Harrison the privilege to make the selection, requesting that "land-jobbers, dishonest men and those who, though honest, might suffer themselves to be warped by party prejudices," should not be selected.
About this time Indiana had its boundaries fixed as they are now. The first General Assembly assembled on July 29, 1805, and Benjamin Parke was selected as territorial delegate to Congress. A census had been taken of the population of the territory, and on the 28th of December, 1815, the General Assembly adopted a memorial for statehood which was presented to the Congress, showing that the white population numbered sixty-three thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven. The Enabling Act was passed on January 5, 1816.
An election was held on May 13, 1816, at which delegates were elected to the first convention to formulate a state Constitution. There were then thirteen organized counties. The convention met at Corydon, then the seat of government, on the 10th of June, 1816, and Gen. Samuel Milroy, of Washington county, was a delegate.
The state of Indiana was admitted into the Union by a joint resolution on December 11, 1816. James Noble and Walter Taylor were elected by the General Assembly to the United States Senate. Jonathan Jennings was elected first governor. The territorial government of Indiana was superseded by a state government on the 7th of November, 1816.
LAND SURVEYS.
After the general government had acquired by treaties the lands north of the Ohio river. known as the Northwest territory, it proceeded to have surveys made to meet the demands of the people who were emigrating into
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this territory very rapidly from the Colonial states. The Congress on March 26, 1894, passed a Land Act and directed the surveyor-general to cause the survey of the public lands north of the Ohio river and east of the Mississippi river, into townships, six miles square. A subsequent Act, of 1805, provided for the division of the public domain, the marking of corners of sections and subdivisions of sections into half and quarter sections. The system was known as the "rectangular system."
A township should contain twenty-three thousand forty acres, and each section one mile square, containing six hundred forty acres. Quarter sec- tion, or half mile posts, were established by the government survey. The subdividing of quarter sections was left for the county surveyors to estab- lish the corners. The surveyed public lands were divided into districts, which were defined by boundaries. The district covering the lands along the Wabash river. of which Carroll county was a part, was known as the "Crawfordsville District." A land office established at Crawfordsville was the place to which the early pioneers went to select lands, which were sold for one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. This land office was estab- lished in 1824.
There were certain Indian reservations, made at the time of the making of the treaties, which had their boundaries fixed but were not established by the early surveyors, but were later established by government surveyors in Carroll county -- the Cicott Reservation, the two Burnett Reservations, the Connors Reservation, and the Bondee Reservation-in the years 1820, 1827 and 1835.
PIONEER HISTORY.
In this article is embraced the habits, customs, manner of living, manner of farming, social affairs, schools and churches, from the date of the first settlements to the date of the organization of Carroll county.
The first white settlers were Henry Robinson and family, Abner Robin- son, a son, and his family, and his brother, Samuel. These families came to this locality on December 31, 1824. They settled on land entered by Henry Robinson at the Crawfordsville land office. He bought the land on December 21, 1824, paying one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. At that time the dense forest had not known the woodsmen's ax, and the game, which was plentiful, had not seen a white man, unless they had run across the early surveyors. Land seekers were in evidence daily, and the first settlers' homes were their abode while they were making their selections. They came by the Indian trails, which skirted the Wabash river. The
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building of cabins was the first work. In the dead of winter this job was certainly a hard task. The descriptions given by the pioneers, which will appear elsewhere in this volume, will give the reader some idea of what they endured. They brought with them tools and provisions sufficient to last one year. Some of them were carpenters, masons, millwrights, doctors and preachers.
In 1825 the emigration increased rapidly, some forty families coming here. Among them were John Ballard, Thomas Sterling, Daniel Baum, James Odell, Sr., John Odell, John Carey, Dr. E. W. Ewing, R. Manary, W. Wilson, David Baum, Benjamin D. Angel, Aaron Merriman, Aaron Wilds and Jeremiah Ballard.
In 1826 the emigration had swelled the number to several hundred persons. Saw-mills were erected, grist-mills built. roads cut out and a log school house erected. Among those who came this year were Isam Atkin- son, James McDowell, John Kuns and Gen. Samuel Milroy.
In 1827 the population was much augmented. Two stores were built. one at the house of Daniel Baum, by D. F. Vandeventer, and one at the saw- mill, on Deer Creek, four miles east of Delphi, by Isaac Griffith, Sr. The settlers went to Lafayette or to Crawfordsville for goods and mail. In the latter part of this year the people were anxious to form a county govern- ment, and sent petitions to the General Assembly for that purpose, and were successful. The Act of the organization of Carroll county was passed on January 7, 1828.
The pioneers endured the greatest privations in the year 1827. Their supply of provisions was well nigh exhausted, and much sickness prevailed. As might have been expected, some came with scant supplies, and this forced others, who had to spare, to divide. which was done cheerfully.
The first death occurring was that of James Gilbreth. September 8, 1825. The second death was that of Benjamin D. Angel, September 16, 1825. From the first date of settlement to January 1, 1828, twelve deaths occurred. Corn bread and hominy were the staple diet, while venison, wild turkey and squirrels were served on many of the tables. Hogs run at large and were wild, and were fatted on the mast, and shot in the woods when wanted for meat, later on, wheat and flax were grown, and the flax was used for making clothing, being woven by the mothers. The new country was not adapted to sheep raising and it was not until later that wool was raised to any extent. The people were happy, contented and very sociable. Singing schools and spelling matches were frequent and greatly enjoyed. The early settlers saw very few Indians. Religious meetings were held at private
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houses. Many of the pioneers lived to a ripe old age, some were four score years and ten when they died. Out-door work, hard though it was, seemed to favor longevity.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION.
Geology is the science which treats of the structure and mineral con- stitution of the earth, the causes of its physical features and its history. Without entering into any wide range of the opinions and discoveries of geologists as they deal in rock stratifications, Carroll county is classed in the Devonian system, the soil of which is chiefly derived from the disintegration of the Devonian rocks. The soil derived from this decomposition is among the most fertile. Lands rich in fertility are not rich in mineral wealth, and this geological fact precludes this territory from coal deposits.
Limestone quarries are found here, indicating from geology as stone belonging to the Upper Silurian age. This stone is adapted to building pur- poses, possessing great strength. It is not like the oolitic limestone, which lies in mass from twenty to seventy feet thick. Limestone is found in all parts of the county. The limestone and burnt lime produced here is regarded as of a superior quality. Quarries have been worked for sixty years, and the supply seems inexhaustible. The clay in this county makes an excellent quality of brick for buildings. It is also thought that the lime in this country will in the near future be in demand for fertilizing purposes.
Gravel, which was supposed to be of very little value and scarce in this county, is well distributed and in great quantities, and is being generally used in road making. Experience shows it has no superior for that purpose. A good gravel bank is a source of profit to any one fortunate enough to have one.
The depth of the limestone formation here is from five hundred to six hundred and twenty-five feet. The elevation here above sea level is six hundred and twenty-five feet.
PIONEER PERIODS.
The first pioneer period of the settlement made in the territory now comprising Carroll county dates from December 31, 1824, to 1828. The second period dates from January 1, 1828, to 1850. The third period dates from 1850 to 1880. The fourth period dates from 1880 to 1915.
The first period relates to the people who came to this part of the country, places of settlement, their lives and industrial pursuits. It embraces
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the first land entries, the work of home construction, social habits and relig- ious tendencies.
The first white families came on the 31st of December, 1824, and settled on land previously entered. Henry Robinson and family, his son, Abner, and family. a daughter, and one or two others, who assisted them in moving. About a dozen families came during the year 1825, all locating about the same locality. -
The emigration of 1827 was much larger, and located at various points in the community. The first thing required was a cabin to live in. The next thing was to clear off as much timber as possible to plant corn and vegetables and to provide shelter for their horses. House raisings and log rollings called together all the available men in the community, and this work con- tinued many years. The next thing of importance was the construction of roads. This was hard and laborious, as the land was heavily timbered and much of it wet and marshy. The next thing necessary was the erection of saw-mills and mills to grind corn. All of these things were attended to and accomplished during the first period.
The second period embraces the time when law and order was estab- lished pursuant to an Act of the Legislature, January 7, 1828. The laying out of the county, the fixing of the seat of justice, dividing the county terri- tory into townships, ordering elections, fixing tax rates, locating roads, building public buildings, and all matters of a civil character took place in this second period.
The third period, from 1850 to 1880, was a continuation of the legal operations put into motion. The courts were in full operation, elections held regularly, as by law required, the exercises of power more manifest, public improvements adopted and carried out and new public buildings erected. During this period the Civil War occurred and Carroll county sent to the front its full quota of soldiers.
The fourth period, from 1880 to 1915, is an expansion over the periods stated, the laws being extended over the rights and franchises of corpora- tions, public utilities being under supervision of state commissions, and drastic legislation enacted to protect the elective franchise. During this period agricultural conditions advanced to high attainments, attention was given to upbreeding of stock and the installing of new industries, the intro- duction of motor vehicles and protection from contagious and transmissible. diseases. During this period the telephone, electric system and traction roads have been established, and the mail delivered to the doors of the people
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throughout the country. The various periods mentioned merged into each other gradually, and development will so continue throughout all time.
RED MAN'S DOMINION.
Before the white man took possession of this vast country, it was held by the red man, and while under his dominion, the wild game was only taken for his subsistence. That accounts for the large number and great variety of game that was found here by the first settlers. The fate of the game was no better than the fate of red man-the white man demanded possession and got it.
War upon Indians and wild game was waged, the red man ceded his rights away, and quit the premises, while the wild game was destroyed event- ually. Some incredible things were done by our government, and were done on the theory that the ends justified the means. Among the extinct animals we mention the beaver, which was a most remarkable animal. His fur was of the rarest. He had a tail resembling a trowel, and used much like a mason. He built dams across water courses, causing great territory to be flooded. It is supposed that the object was protection from its animal foes. They would with their teeth hew down trees a foot or more in diameter.
The destruction of the forests, as well as the game, have forced upon the government and state problems of how to replenish the waste places and how to re-establish game as food for man. The work of destruction has been going on for fifty years, and the re-establishment of the forest or re-gaming the country can never be accomplished as it was by nature.
FROM WHENCE CAME THE PIONEERS.
The people who came to the Wabash valley to make homes for their families were from various states, chiefly from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. There were representatives from other eastern states. Many of them had been pioneers in their previous locations. Some of them were men who had been in the Revolutionary War, and in the War of 1812. They were schooled to hardships, skilled in handling firearms, robust and firm of purpose. Many of them traced their ancestry to England, Scotland, Germany and Ireland. Living on the borders of the then civilization, they were watching the development of the great Northwest. They knew that the Indians occupying the western territory were hostile, and they depended on the government for protection. The emigration drifted to the southern part
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of the territory, knowing that Gen. W. H. Harrison was stationed at Vin- cennes with a military force. Many of the first emigrants had been massa- cred. The depredations of the Indians became so bad that General Harrison, in 1811, with a large military force, went across the country, to the Wabash, and the memorable battle of Tippecanoe took place on November 7, 1811.
The savages fled and dispersed, and from that time on the early settlers lived in comparative security. Emigration began to pour in from the east- ern states, public lands were bought, counties were organized, a territorial Legislature assembled at Corydon, and the machinery of law was set into operation. The people complying with the provisions of the organic Act, Indiana territory was admitted as a state in 1816. The sparsely settled counties along the Wabash were about ten years without county government. When the population was sufficient the Legislature made the necessary pro- visions for their organization. The class of people who came to this part of the Wabash were people of high religious views, some of them fairly educated, and all industrious and law abiding. Their children were sent to the log school houses and the best-qualified men and women were selected to instruct them in the elementary branches. These pioneers "builded better than they knew." They left their children and their children's children a splendid civilization.
May all know from whence came the pioneers.
ORDINANCE OF 1787. :
At one time the state of Virginia possessed all that territory embraced in the states of Ohio,' Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. The Ordin- ance of 1787 ceded to the United States all that portion of the Northwest territory embraced in the above named states, which was accepted by the United States. The ordinance contained a provision that "slavery or invol- untary servitude should not exist in said territory, except for crime." An attempt was made before the state was admitted into the Union to have Con- gress repeal or suspend this provision, so that it would be possible for slavery to be established when the state was received into the Union.
There were many people from the southern states in the territory, who were desirous to retain that institution. It was known that President Thomas Jefferson was opposed to the proposition, as being in direct violation of the ordinance, and would be an act of bad faith. Mr. Randolph. one of the most able and eloquent men of Virginia, opposed the proposition, and Congress refused to accept the proposition. The title held by the Indian tribes had to
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