History of Cass County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement to the present time; with Biographical Sketches and Reference to Biographies, Volume I, Part 68

Author: Powell, Jehu Z., 1848- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago and New York. The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 763


USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement to the present time; with Biographical Sketches and Reference to Biographies, Volume I > Part 68


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when he sold to William Neff and moved to Lafayette when that town was only a village. While little is known of Mr. Newman, yet he is said to be a man of strict integrity and generous impulses, possessing habits of industry and energy, and although he was fighting the "Wabash shakes" (fever and ague) during the acclimating process, yet the amount of clearing he made in the forest proved him to be a man of thrift and energy. Christian Simons continued to improve his lands and soon had a productive farm, which he occupied for many years and until his death in recent times, an honored and respected citizen, who in later years could relate the trials and hardships of fron- tier life among wild Indians and wilder beasts that infested the forests. Christian Rodabaugh was probably the third white man to make a home in Clinton, locating on the northeast quarter of section 31, on the south bank of the Wabash, October 3, 1828, and cleared out a farm and con- tinued to enjoy the fruits of his early toil until his death, a period of more than forty-five years.


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In 1829 Wm. Lewis settled in the southeast quarter of section 10 N., R. 1 E., and erected a cabin and began the usual routine of pioneer life. Hugh Woods settled in the southeast quarter of section 33, T. 27 N., R. 1 east, during the year 1829, and the following year Joseph Cly- mer settled in the northeast quarter of section 32; Daniel Neff on frac- tional section 29; Jacob Neff on west half of section 34; Jonathan Neff on the northeast quarter of section 3, T. 26, R. 1 east; Andrew Young on section 3; Elias Shideler on south part of section 33; George Shide- ler in section 9, where his grandson, Asa Shideler, now lives; Thomas Chambers in section 9; John P. Miller in the northwest quarter of sec- tion 4; John Dodds in section 10; John Fitzer in section 1; Joseph Fitzer in section 7, and John Hynes on section 15, in west part of the township. The next three or four years the following pioneers settled in different parts of the township: William Neff, John Williams, Hi- ram Calvert, James Chambers, John Myers, John Shuey, William Reed, Joseph Oliver, Henry Klepinger, David Stumbaugh, William Gable, Peter and John Redd, Robert Edwards, Isaac Martin, Levi Stephens, Christian Best, Daniel Hankee, John Mummey, and Henry Wipper- man. In 1835 Richard Tyner purchased land in sections 5 and 32, Henry Helm in section 6, Hewit L. Thomas in section 6, Thomas Dil- Jard in the northwest quarter of section 4, and soon after came William Porter, James Justice and James Sax. The majority of these first set- tlers became permanent residents and were instrumental in felling the forests, clearing the land and making Clinton township one of the most prosperous agricultural townships in the county, and their names are . familiar household words in all that region. Many of their descendants are still honored residents of the township, although the primitive set- tlers have all passed to their reward.


ORGANIZATION


This township received its name from DeWitt Clinton of Revolution- ary fame, and was organized March 4, 1834, and soon after an election was held at the cabin of John P. Miller to select township officers, with the following result : Trustee, John P. Miller; justice of the peace, Wm. Gable, and Thomas Chambers, constable.


FIRST MARRIAGE


The first marriage ceremony in this township united Joseph Oliver and Rachel Neff in the year 1833.


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FIRST BIRTH


First child born in Clinton township was George, son of Elias Shide- ler, 1831. His parents and several sisters moved to Iowa and died there, but George was reared in the township that gave him birth, married Mary Clymer, daughter of Wm. Clymer, a pioneer of this township, studied mechanics, became a millwright, moved to Logansport in 1875, and died there in 1895, leaving several daughters who became high grade school teachers, three of whom, with the aged widow, now reside at 1426 North street.


FIRST DEATH


Probably the first death among the pioneers of this township was Lydia, wife of Wm. Neff, who died in 1829. Soon after died Mary, wife of Isaac Martin, and in 1830 Hugh Woods, brother of Joseph Woods.


CLYMERS


This is the only town in Clinton township and located about six miles southwest of Logansport in the center of a good agricultural country. George Clymer started a sawmill here in 1856, about the time the Wabash Railroad was built through, and around this the town grew. George Clymer, the founder of the town, moved to Iowa, where he died, but his brother, Wm. Clymer, and his son, D. H. Clymer, and others, ran the mill for many years and until the timber in that locality was nearly all cut. David H. Clymer laid out the town May 8, 1869, Julius C. Kloenne surveyor, and October 5, 1912, Lottie A. Slagle laid out an addition to the town. About 1870 the present Vandalia Railroad passed through Clymers, crossing the Wabash Railroad at that place, and in 1908 the interurban line was extended through Clymers to La- fayette, thus giving the town unusual shipping facilities.


David Stoddard was the first merchant in the town, opening a gen- eral store early in the sixties, and about the same time a postoffice was established, which was named Montez, but later changed to the town name, Clymers, by which it has been known for many years. John R. Rea is said to have been the first postmaster. The sawmill run by the Clymers, and later by Josephus Atkinson, was the first and principal industry.


The first blacksmith shop was operated by John Salor. For many years, H. F. Laudry was the principal merchant, but he has retired at a ripe old age. At present there is a large elevator, erected in 1903 by Reed Bros. (Harry G. and Bruce Reed), and with the unexcelled ship- ping facilities, gives the farmers as ready a market as Logansport, which is a great convenience to them to have a good market for their products at their door. The Reed Bros. also handle coal, fencing, and other farmers' supplies. There are three general stores kept by Bruce Reed, W. H. Musselman and Holloway & Berry; the latter firm also own and operate a livery stable. Ray Whipple is the village black- smith, Elmer Detrich is the tonsorial artist, and May Green can fit up the hobble skirt "secundum artem."


The postoffice is run by Bruce Reed, and one rural mail route car- ries daily mail to the surrounding farmers. A modern church (Metho- dist) was erected a few years ago and a substantial brick schoolhouse, with three assembly rooms, and a non-commissioned high school give ample and convenient religious and educational advantages.


The town is improving, has cement sidewalks and a population of 150.


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INCIDENTS


John Stoddard, the first merchant in Clymers, was a jovial and even-tempered man, but possessed marked characteristics. When under the influence, however, of "red eye," he was anything but amiable in disposition, but would engage in a war of words with anyone who would listen to him and would often endeavor to execute or put his words into effect by actual physical demonstration. On one occasion, after taking on a heavy load of "tangle foot," he started to clean up the town, and believing that charity should begin at home, started in with his own family, and was going to make a mop stick of his son, but the latter objected, ran up stairs, in opposition to the parental com- mand, but finally came down upon the promise of the father not to use him in the cleaning up process, but when the boy came down the parent forgot his promise, and started after his hopeful, but the latter gave "leg bail," with the lord of the household in pursuit, who thought to aid his running by the toe of his boot, but in attempting to do so, fell back and sat down in a mud hole that decorated the streets of the vil- lage, which somewhat cooled his ardor. It was with difficulty that he extricated himself, and while struggling in the mud, the boy called: "Father, come here and I will help you up," to the amusement of the entire town, who had by this time been attracted to the streets by the commotion in the Stoddard home. This mud bath had a permanent beneficial result, and Clymers has since recommended mud baths for diseases due to fire-water and allied affections.


SNAKE STORY


The first settlers of Cass county had many things to contend with, among others snakes were plentiful and often a menace to the pioneers, as is illustrated by the following tale, giving Benjamin Porter's expe- rience with a rattlesnake. He says that on the 20th of May, 1831, he and his brother were prospecting for land with a view of purchasing a home. They walked from Lockport, Carroll county, to section 4, Clin- ton township. "Here we began to take observations. We separated, each taking a circuit to observe the land and kind of timber on this section. We each carried a stout stick as an aid in walking and also for defense. On the borders of a prairie or open place a rattlesnake of the yellow species disputed my further passage along the route. He had given his customary signal and measured half his length in darting from his coil toward me, thrusting much too near me to insure perfect steadiness of nerves. Recovering from the sudden shock, I struck the snake with my stick, stunning him for a moment, but it soon recovered and seized the end of the stick with his teeth, making it difficult to re- lieve it from his grasp, leaving deep prints of his teeth on, the end of the stick, showing the immense power of his jaws. I gave him several blows and supposed he was dead. I approached the reptile's carcass with a view to remove the rattles, to be retained as a trophy of my first encounter in the wilds of Clinton township. When I, took hold of the rattler, although his head was in a pulp, he darted at me and coiled his almost headless body around my leg and compressed it so tightly as to almost paralyze it, and with great difficulty I disengaged myself. When this was done and the rattles removed, a mist rose up before me and I was overcome with a sick and faint feeling which lasted for half an hour. Upon recovering I hung up the snake and found he measured over five feet in length and nearly as many inches in diameter, having sixteen rattles.


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"When I found my brother waiting for me at the section corner, and related my experience, he said to me: 'Ben, if that is the kind , of snakes that dwell here, we don't want this land.'" Notwithstanding the snakes, and other trials and hardships, Benjamin Porter became one of the most influential and respected pioneers of this township.


DEAD MAN IN CHURCH


On April 6, 1913, when the janitor of Pleasant Hill church opened the doors, he was horrified to find. the body of a dead man lying on one of the benches. From indications it had been lying there for nearly two weeks, and proved to be George E. Huff, an escaped inmate of Long- cliff. He evidently was religiously inclined and opened a church win- dow and entered its sacred portals thinking it an ideal place to make his demise, and test the realities of the future life.


INDIAN CAPTIVE


Martha McDonald, wife of Joshua Porter, Sr., and grandmother of Wm., Jerome and Frank Justice, the latter now residents of Cass county, was captured near the Natural Bridge, Virginia, about 1785, when about eight years old. Her sister, ten years old, was also taken at the same time. Their father and a brother were killed by the In- dians, and the two girls carried to northwestern Ohio and separated, each living with a different tribe, although once a year they were per- mitted to visit each other while in captivity. They were captives for twelve years, and were treated kindly by the Indians. After the treaty of peace they were returned to their old home in Virginia, where Martha married Joshua Porter, moved to Fayette county, Indiana, where Mr. Porter died, and she came to Clinton township to live with her daugh- ter, Mrs. James Justice, where she died about 1848, and lies at rest in the Porter Justice graveyard, after an exciting, interesting, yet useful life.


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LAW SUIT


Litigation that attracted more than ordinary attention, because of the well-known and influential character of the litigants and the small sum involved, was that of Joshua Porter and Charley Choen in the later seventies. The dispute arose over two pigs. The trial before the jus- tice, of the peace lasted two days, with three prominent attorneys em- ployed on each side. Choen won the pigs and at once sold them and they were shipped to Pennsylvania.


Porter appealed the case to , the circuit court and sent men east to get the pigs, which were brought back at an expense of $100 and pro- duced in court as evidence, as they were marked and easily identified, and Porter won the suit. Choen appealed the case to the supreme court, but the decision of the trial court was sustained.


In the meantime Choen sued Porter for slander and got judgment for $500. Porter appealed the case to the supreme court, where the verdict was reversed and referred back to the lower court for rehearing, but the case was dropped and never retried. The costs and attorney fees amounted to nearly $4,000, the larger part of which Mr. Choen, the losing party, had to pay, but Mr. Porter was at great expense in hunt- ing and bringing back his pigs and his expense was quite as much-all about two pigs, valued at about ten dollars. This proves the old Quaker adage, that "it is better to pay out, than to law out of a dispute." Both


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parties have long since appeared before the final judge, from whom no appeal can be taken.


GOOSE AND A PREACHER


About forty years ago, before Pleasant Hill church was erected, the Christians held meeting in the school house. Frank Porter, Sam Ben- ner and John Girton were, at that time, practical jokers on Keep's creek in the west end of Clinton township, and determined to have a little fun at the expense of, the preacher. They accordingly secreted a goose in the desk where the "sky-pilot" kept his Bible. While the congregation were singing, the minister opened the lid of the desk to get his Bible, and out jumped the goose with a squawk that sounded like the call, "Where's Isaac?" which became a by-word among the boys on Keep's creek. The preacher was terribly frightened, became pale, then red with anger, as did some of the elders, and Mr. Hynes at, once jumped up and offered $100 for the perpetrators of this sacrilegious outrage, but he was never called on to pay the reward. There was a visible grin on the countenances of the younger members of the con- gregation, and a subdued smile even among many of the older.


POISONING


Nearly twenty-five years ago a distressing case of poisoning occurred in the west end of Clinton township. While the parents were away from home, four children of Wilson Sager mistook arsenic, ,rat poison, for pulverized sugar and spread it upon their bread and butter, ate it, and all four died in a few hours and were buried in one grave in Pleasant Hill cemetery. The parents were heart-broken and the whole com- munity was shocked at the awful tragedy.


SCHOOLS


Clinton, being early settled, we find the first schools, outside of Logansport, were opened in this township. The first school was taught in a round log cabin built in 1828 or 1829, on the Simons farm, in section 33. The house was not built for school purposes, but was an abandoned settler's cabin, constructed of round logs, the cracks filled with ""chincks" and mud, with puncheon floor, clapboard roof and door, fire place, with stick and mud chimney, seats made of rough hewn slabs, and oil paper windows. In this primitive structure, surrounded by dense forests, infested with wild animals, chased by Indians with bow and arrow, the first school was opened by John Martin in the fall of 1830. He received the munificent sum of $8.00 per month. This was a "subscription" school with fifteen pupils. The next teacher to wield the birch in the township was Wm. Fuller. Nothing is known of the characteristics or later history of these early teachers.


About 1835 or 1836 a school was taught in a round log cabin situ- ated on the Fitzer place in Section 7. Probably the first house con- structed for school purposes was about 1836, on the east half of Sec- tion 33. This was a primitive round log building, as previously de- scribed.


The first substantial hewed log school house was erected about 1837 on the Hewit L. Thomas farm in section 6, and Mr. Thomas was the first teacher, who afterwards moved to Galveston, Indiana. About the same year a hewed log house was built, known as the George Shidler schoolhouse, on the latter's farm in section 3.


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About 1837 or 1838 a hewed log school house was constructed in section 11, known as the Hynes schoolhouse, and was used until about 1856, when it was replaced by the present No. 3 school.


In 1836 or 1837 there was a round log school house west of Clymers a half mile, where the cemetery is now located, where religious meetings were also held, and in the early forties a hewed log building replaced the old, and was used both as church and school house.


About 1846 a round log schoolhouse was built in the southeast quar- ter of section 15, on the county line west of the Michigan road, now the Burlington pike, and John T. Gordon was the first teacher. He later moved to Bethlehem township, where he died many years ago. When the new school law, under the revised constitution of 1852, took effect, Clinton township had four log school houses. Soon after, how- ever, frame, brick and stone began to replace the old log houses until there were six substantial school buildings in the township. In recent years, however (1906), there has been a tendency to concentrate the schools and one house, No. 6, was abandoned and its pupils hauled to No. 3, at an expense of $2.50 per day, and is reported to be giving per- fect satisfaction, giving better results with less expense. The township now has five schoolhouses: No. 1, situated on the southwest quarter of section 33; No. 2, northwest quarter of section 6; No. 3, southwest quarter of section 11; No. 5, southwest quarter of section 10, and No. 4, in the town of Clymers. The latter is a substantial brick struc- ture with three assembly rooms, erected in 1910 to replace the old frame house that was burned down the year previous. After the new building was erected a high school was established. It is not yet com- missioned, however. There are twelve high school students at this time, with a competent teacher and two other instructors in the common branches in high school building at Clymers.


Clinton township now has five substantial brick school houses, in- cluding the high school building, which has three separate rooms. The total value of school property is estimated at. $25,000. Seven teachers are employed at salaries ranging from $60 to $100 per month, the latter wage being paid the professor, L. L. Fenton, of the high school. The school enumeration for 1912 was 224 pupils. This showing is quite a contrast from the first school in 1830, when John Martin taught the three R's, "Reading, Riting and Rithmetic" in the old round log cabin with its fire place and oiled paper windows.


The following is a list of trustees of Clinton township, with dates of election :


First trustee, John P. Miller, elected 1834, from this date to 1864 not reported; Andrew Young, 1865; D. H. Clymer, 1866; Chas. G. Choen, 1868; Chas. Parks, 1870; Robert R. Reed, 1876; Benjamin Por- ter, 1880; Jesse Adams, 1884; Geo. K. Marshall, 1888; J. Frank Porter, 1890; N. V. Martin, 1894; D. J. Mahony, 1900; Willard Briggs, 1904; Harry E. Amoss, 1908, present incumbent.


LONGCLIFF ASYLUM


The Northern Hospital for the Insane is located in the northeast corner of Clinton township, and consists of a number of splendid build- ings, beautifully situated on a rocky cliff overlooking the Wabash river, where the state of Indiana has expended hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to make a comfortable home where a thousand of our unfortunate people are tenderly cared for. This institution, how- ever, is described elsewhere, and is simply mentioned here as being located in the township.


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CHURCHES


William Neff, locating in Clinton township in 1830, brought Wes- leyanism with him, and planted the seeds of Methodism on the Wabash. The first religious services in the township were held by the Methodists in 1831 at the cabin of Wm. Neff, who then lived in the northeast quarter of section 33, on the south bank of the Wabash river, a mile west of Longcliff.


Soon after the Presbyterians, under the guidance of Rev. M. M. Post, held meetings in the same neighborhood. These meetings were held at private residences at first, but later in the Shideler log school house, situated in section 3.


About 1839 or 1840, the Dunkards began to hold quarterly meetings at Kleppinger's and Geo. Shideler's residences, and the Shideler log school house.


About 1841 or 1842 the Baptists commenced a series of meetings in the schoolhouse, conducted by the Logansport church. A little later, the Christians, both the Disciples and the New Lights, held irregular services in the southwest part of the township. While religious ser- vices were thus held by various denominations at an early period, with some regularity, yet they continued to hold their meetings at pri- vate residences or school houses for many years.


CLYMERS METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.


The beginning of this church dates back to the early thirties, when the itinerant preacher first held religious meetings in the cabins of the pioneers of this neighborhood, but there are no records of these early meetings and the memory of the oldest inhabitants fail to go so far back into the dim past, and all is beclouded by age.


We are, however, reliably informed that some kind of an organiza- tion was made about 1835 or 1837 on the Fitzer farm, about a mile west of Clymers, and some of, the early members were Wm. and Martha Clymer, members of the Fitzer, Adams, Rea, Patterson, Wilkinson, and Amoss families. The first meetings were held in a round log house used both for school and church purposes, situated on the Atkinson farm, but then in the woods, north of the road leading west from Clymers, and less than a mile from that station.


Here, in the round log cabin, with no windows but oiled paper, no stove, but a big fireplace that extended across the whole end of the cabin, with split or hewn slabs for seats, resting on a puncheon floor, the room lighted by coon oil lamps-here were sown the seeds of Meth- odism by the brave, courageous Christian pioneers. This room was occupied by this little band of determined Christian workers until about 1844 to 1847, when a hewed log church was erected on the south- east corner of the southwest quarter of section 7, about one mile west of Clymers. The land was donated by Joseph Fitzer. The build- ing was used jointly for a school house and church. Although this ground was occupied for many years for school and church purposes, no deed was executed until January 15, 1855, when Joseph Fitzer con- veyed one-half acre of land to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church, to wit: Henry Smith, Joseph Fitzer, Tobias Strock, Elias Wil- kinson and John Fitzer, for a church and burial ground. About 1854 or 1855 the old log church was sold and moved to the McElrath farm, now owned by Emanuel Brannaman, and converted into a dwelling and a new frame church was erected in its place. This building served the congregation as a house of worship for nearly fifty years, when in 1904 a new, modern, frame church edifice was erected in the town of Cly-


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mers and the old building abandoned except it was occasionally used as a chapel for funeral services, to accommodate the people in inclement weather; later we understand it was razed and nothing marks the site of the first church built in Clinton township except the burial ground, which the congregation maintains.


A Sunday school was organized many years ago and is still main- tained, as is also a Ladies' Aid Society and Epworth League.


The present membership of the church is about seventy-five. Trus- tees are Levi Paul, Geo. Watson, Thomas Moore, William Amoss and Hugh M. Laudry; secretary, George Watson; treasurer, Ruth Reed; superintendent of Sunday school, Retta Knickerbocker; president of Epworth League, Charles Watson; present pastor, Rev. W. W. Clouse. Some of the early pastors were Rev. Burrows Westlake, Rev. Samuel Godfrey, Rev. Joyce.


EBENEZER ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH.


This church society came into being largely through the untiring efforts of Rev. John L. Guard, who did missionary work in the neigh- borhood, and held meetings in the Yost school house and perfected an organization January 1, 1876, with a charter membership of twenty- nine, among whom were Henry P. Wipperman, Jacob Slaybaugh and wife, Michael Reed and wife, Oliver Reed and wife, Sarah E. Reed, Rachel A. Reed, Jacob Hanke and wife, and Charles W. Wipperman and wife. During the summer of 1876 a substantial brick church was erected on the northwest quarter of section 10, on land purchased of Matthew Dodds. For the sum of $50 he conveys one-half acre of ground to the trustees of the church February 12, 1876.




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