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 82
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Dr. F. O. Miller was probably the first physician to locate in Miami township. He came to Lewisburg about 1842 or 1843, and boarded with W. W. Haney. About 1846 he moved to Logansport and there married Maria Westlake, an aunt of Mrs. W. T. Wilson. He was a surgeon in the Mexican war, county physician in 1846-7, receiving the munificent sum of $35.00 for a year's salary. His wife died and about 1860 he became mentally deranged and his relatives from New York, where he was born and educated, took him there, where he soon after died.
Dr. James D. Loder was associated with Dr. Adrian from 1856 to 1867, and lived at Circleville on the south side of the Wabash opposite Lewisburg, and was a well-known practitioner in Miami township. He moved to Chili, Miami county, about 1868, and while out driving with his wife in a thunder storm was struck by lightning and killed, but his wife, who sat behind him, was unhurt. She was Mary Haines, of Lewis- burg.
Dr. Lorenzo Dow Hogle was a native of Ohio, practiced at Lewisburg from 1847 to 1865, and in the latter year moved to Tennessee, where he died. He was a surgeon in the United States army, and in 1862 had charge of the smallpox hospital at Nashville, Tennessee.
Dr. Hogle was a partner of Dr. Adrian for a time. He was married and had three sons, one of whom was killed in the battle of Stone river. Dr. Hogle was a sociable and kind-hearted man, and built up an exten- sive practice around Lewisburg.
Dr. G. W. Hubbard located at Lewisburg about 1859, and formed a partnership with Dr. Adrian. He married a daughter of John Miller, who lived east of Lewisburg, but soon left for greener fields.
Dr. William McAllister, born in Pennsylvania in 1838, graduated from Michigan University in 1862, and located at Lewisburg about 1864. On December 6, 1866, while crossing the Wabash river at Lewisburg in a skiff, he and E. G. Chidester were drowned by the boat upsetting when the river was high. Allen Bowyer and Stephen Williams were in
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the boat at the time, but swam ashore. Dr. McAllister was a brother of A. U. McAllister, a prominent machinist of Logansport, who died some years ago.
Dr. C. R. Quick, born in Virginia, 1812, settled in Waverly in 1856, and erected the second house in that town. For twenty years Dr. Quick was not only a prominent physician, but a leading citizen of New Wa- verly and was interested in the moral and spiritual welfare of the com- munity and often filled the pulpit of the Methodist church, of which he was an influential member. He was married to Miss Lucinda Sloan, of Ohio, to which union six children were born, two sons, Drs. L. L. and R. H. Quick, having taken up their father's profession.
Dr. Quick died in 1876 and lies at rest in the Odd Fellows cemetery near Waverly.
Dr. L. L. Quick, son of the above-mentioned, was born in Ohio in 1846, came to New Waverly with his parents in 1856, where he has lived ever since. He graduated from the Indiana Medical College in 1879, and has been in active practice in Waverly since that date.
He served his country during the Civil war in the Sixteenth Indiana Battery, and has been a member of the United States pension board for years. He was married in 1868 to Nancy Fox, and they have two chil- dren, only one of whom is living.
The doctor is a natural artist, and although he never took any lessons, yet he has made scores of wood carvings of portraits, animals, birds, mythological figures, mantles, etc., and is deserving of a place in the gallery of artists of Cass county.
Dr. R. H. Quick, son of Dr. C. R. Quick, is a native of Ohio, where he was born in 1852, came with his parents to New Waverly in 1856, and graduated from Indiana Medical College in 1881, and practiced in Waverly until 1906, when he moved to Peru. He was married to Leonora Loomis, of Peru, in 1879, and has one child.
Dr. Higgins lived and practiced in Lewisburg for two or three years during the fifties, then moved to Toledo, Ohio.
Dr. Helms was located in the practice of medicine at Waverly during the year 1876.
Dr. R. J. B. Peters and his son, Dr. J. B. Peters, were located in New Waverly about 1869. They were migratory physicians and were located in different places in Cass county and finally in Macy, Indiana, where the elder Peters died. Dr. J. B. Peters was born in Virginia and began practice there with his uncle, Dr. C. H. Peters, whom Governor Wise, of Virginia, appointed as one of the board of physicians at the execution of John Brown.
Dr. Ira S. Sellers was located at Lewisburg about 1840, and was en- gaged in practice for eight or ten years and moved to Iowa. He mar- ried a Miss Williams, of Miami township.
Dr. Frank T. Jackson and Dr. Cal. Conner, his brother-in-law, located in Hooverville about 1866, and remained two years only. Dr. Jackson moved to eastern Indiana, where he was killed by the railroad a few years later.
Dr. James C. Orr, about 1870, came to Hooverville, where he re- mained for three or four years. In 1888 he moved to California. His wife was Laura B. Campbell.
Dr. Andrew Black studied medicine with Dr. J. C. Waite, but never attended lectures. He practiced in Hooverville about 1875-6. The law of 1881 cut him out and he engaged in other pursuits and is now in Bay City, Michigan.
Dr. J. D. Gross, another migratory doctor, located in Hooverville about 1865. He evidently was of the weary Willie kind and soon sought greener pastures.
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Dr. Arthur E. Graves has been in active practice in New Waverly since 1886. He was born in Bunker Hill, Indiana, in 1856, graduated from Rush Medical College in 1884. He served as trustee of Miami township from 1900 to 1904. He was united in marriage to Almira Adkins, January 7, 1885, and they have three children.
Dr. Paul Burk, it is reported, many years ago started out to practice medicine, being located in section 20, Miami township. He had one case, which did not terminate to his liking, and he quit the profession before he began.
Dr. J. A. Adrian, born in New York in 1824, moved to Lewisburg in 1851, received the degree of M. D. from Bellevue Medical College in 1866, practiced in Lewisburg until 1873, when he moved to Logansport, was county commissioner in 1870, and died in a hospital in New York City in 1886, and is buried in Mt. Hope cemetery. Dr. Adrian was tall, of commanding appearance, and a ready speaker. He was a bachelor.
CASSVILLE
This town was located on the north bank of the Wabash river, a short distance west of Lewisburg. It was laid out August 29, 1835, by William G. Vandorn, with Abner E. Van Ness as civil engineer. The original plat consisted of forty-two lots with six streets, Main and Bridge streets running east and west, Mill, Market, Walnut and Washington streets north and south.
Mr. Vandorn erected the first and about the only building ever con- structed in Cassville. This was quite a large frame structure, where he kept a small stock of general merchandise to accommodate the hands that were digging the canal, and also opened a "tavern" to entertain occasional travelers or prospectors. At one time there were several small shanties in the town occupied by the canal hands. With the growth of Lewisburg, a short distance to the east, Cassville fell into decay, the townsite was converted into a field, and nothing remains to- day to mark this would-be city.
The only event of importance connected with this town is that the once noted Irish-American orator, lawyer and soldier, Barney Daley, was born in Cassville.
LEWISBURG
Lewisburg was a town laid out on the old Wabash and Erie canal, on the north bank of the Wabash river nine miles east of Logansport. It derives its name from Lewis Bowyer, who platted the town, laying out twenty-four lots in the northeast quarter of section 32, Miami town- ship, September, 1835. When the canal was completed in 1838 Lewis- burg became an important trading point, and the pioneers for miles around brought their grain and other farm products here to exchange for goods shipped in on the canal from Toledo. The first merchant in the village was Alpheus Cole, who kept a miscellaneous stock of goods. About the time the canal was opened W. W. Haney, father of W. E. Haney, now of Logansport, opened a general store, and a warehouse, and bought and shipped grain.
Later Peter Chidester engaged in the mercantile business, and Daniel Miller erected a warehouse which was operated under different man- agements.
Byrd Chestnut was the first cooper in the town, followed by Benjamin Williams. William Meeks was the first cabinetmaker, and Jonathan Pauley and John Wilson the first blacksmiths, and Dr. Sellers (men- tioned above) was the first physician, about 1840.
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The first hotel in the village was kept by John Kelsey, followed in succession by Hugh Pennel, John Haines and Samuel Smoot.
Lewisburg continued to flourish until the Wabash Railroad was con- structed and the canal declined, and when the latter ceased operations Lewisburg fell rapidly into decay, and only a few dilapidated buildings mark the place of this once flourishing town on the raging canal. Since the building of the interurban line through the place, however, there are some signs of recuperation and renewed life. The old covered bridge across the Wabash at Lewisburg was built in 1871, and carried out by the great flood of March 25, 1913. The county has recently made an appropriation to rebuild this bridge, which will doubtless be done within the next year.
A postoffice was early established at Lewisburg, but was discontinued about 1856 or 1857, when the New Waverly office was established on the railroad. The postmasters were W. W. Haney, Jonathan Pauley, Hugh Pennel and Peter Chidester. The latter was postmaster for many years prior to its discontinuance.
HOOVERVILLE
This little village, now generally known as Adamsboro, its rival on the other side of Eel river, was named from John Hoover, at one time the proprietor of the mill which has been located here since pioneer days. In early times this mill was known far and wide as Union or Martin's Mill, and guideboards at crossroads would indicate so many miles to Martin's Mill and the mill was the potent factor in the develop- ment of the village, which was never regularly platted or laid out. These mills have been noticed elsewhere.
The' village, in addition to the mill, which is now abandoned as such, consists of a few scattered houses, a schoolhouse and two churches.
The first merchant in the town was Parker A. Fair, who started a small country store in 1863, and, encouraged by his success, he later erected a two-story building and carried a larger stock and continued the business for some years, when he sold out his stock, but is still an honored resident of the village. The business has been carried on by N. B. Scott, I. J. Berry, J. S. Dubois, Harmon & Wilson, J. M. Max- well, Samuel McCoy, E. Loser, Amos Fortney, T. J. Herring and others. The present grocer is J. G. Rhodes. M. J. Morgan operated the store for some years, but when the Eel River Railroad was built he moved, in 1890, to Adamsboro, Clay township, on the opposite side of Eel river.
The Hooverville postoffice was usually kept by the village store- keeper, until the office was abandoned and Adamsboro postoffice estab- lished about 1890. This office was discontinued in 1903, and the village is now served by rural route No. 11, from Logansport.
The village blacksmith and repair shop has been conducted at dif- ferent times by Joshua Reed, Jacob Sherer, Samuel McCoy, Peter Ar- mentrout, George Friend, Mr. Woods, Charles Douglass, W. H. Bennett and Mr. Akerly.
NEW WAVERLY
. This flourishing village, located in the eastern part of Miami town- ship on the Wabash Railroad, was laid out in December, 1855, by John A. Forgy. The original plat consisted of seventy-one lots on the north side of the railroad. Soon after the laying out of the town, Mr. Forgy erected the first building and opened the first store in the town, and Dr. C. R. Quick built the second residence. A few years later Mr. Forgy
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erected a large two-story building, carried on an extensive business and conducted a hotel. This building was completely destroyed by fire in 1867, together with several adjoining structures.
After the death of John A. Forgy his stepsons, C. P. and R. J. Forgy, carried on the business until recent years. R. J. Forgy moved to Logansport, where he died in 1909, and C. P. Forgy, owing to in- firmities of age, has retired from business, but is still an honored resi- dent of the town in which he has been a prominent figure for more than a half century. Among others who have engaged in business from time to time may be mentioned George Arnott, Wilson Reed, Hugh Pennel, J. B. Wallick, Hiram Parsons, Eaton Forgy, Samuel McCoy, James Wilson, R. N. Floyd, D. C. Jenkins.
The first physician in the town was Dr. C. R. Quick, in 1856.
The first blacksmith was Johnson Reed; first shoemaker, I. S. Smith; first carpenter, William Murphy ; first wagonmaker, R. M. P. Sutton.
The first industry in the town was a steam sawmill erected by George Bennett and this mill has been operated by different parties, the last of whom was W. L. Fernald, but it is now closed for want of material, there being little or no timber left in the surrounding country.
The first school in the town was held in the Forgy hotel in the winter of 1856, taught by Mr. McSherry, and the first schoolhouse was erected in 1857, which was replaced by a brick structure in 1872, and the present high school was erected in 1899.
The present business is represented by two general stores conducted by Fred D. Barnett and A. L. Williams and Black Bros.
The elevator is operated by E. P. McFadden, who annually handles sixty thousand bushels of grain. He also deals in lumber, cement and all kinds of building materials, and coal. Meat market kept by A. L. Williams; barber shops by Willard Anderson, Alfred Nipple and Conrad Bros .; blacksmith and repair shop by Peter W. Castle and son.
Mr. Castle was one of the pioneers of Harrison township, coming to Cass county in 1837, and to Waverly in 1863. He is a brother of Thomas and Noah Castle, deceased, and is now eighty-four years of age, but able to hammer iron as of yore.
The New Waverly postoffice was established in 1857 and Hugh Pennel was the first postmaster. Fred D. Barnett, son of Dr. Barnett, of Lincoln, is the present postmaster, and one rural route, No. 19, estab- lished in 1903, carries daily mail to the farmers of the community.
TELEPHONES
The Home Telephone Company of Logansport has an exchange in Waverly, established in 1903, and the majority of the farmers, as well as the business and professional men of the town, are connected by tele- phone with Logansport and the entire county.
Two physicians, Drs. L. L. Quick and A. E. Graves, look after the physical health of the town, and two churches with two resident preach- ers (Revs. Parker and McCoy) administer to the spiritual health of the community.
The Methodist church was built in 1866 and the Christian in 1894.
LODGES AND ORDERS
Masons-The New Waverly Lodge, No. 484, was instituted May 26, 1874.
The first officers were:
Dr. J. A. Adrian, W. M .; Abram Ellis, S. W .; R. E. Dean, J. W .; John W. Chidester, secretary.
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The present membership is fifty-six and the officers are:
J. K. Castle, W. M .; A. N. Nipple, S. W .; John Frailing, J. W .; Dr. L. L. Quick, secretary.
ODD FELLOWS
New Waverly Lodge, No. 434, I. O. O. F., was organized in 1873 by Gillis McBane and Lindol Smith.
The present membership is thirty-two, officered as follows:
Willard Paul, N. G .; A. J. McFadden, V. G .; A. L. Wallick, secre- tary ; A. L. Williams, treasurer.
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
New Waverly Post, No. 19, G. A. R., was organized about 1880, and at one time had a membership of sixty-five, but the old soldiers have nearly all answered their last tattoo, and not enough remain to officer the post, and they disbanded in 1908.
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS OF INTEREST
The first store in the township was kept by David Miller, in a little log house that stood a short distance east of Cass station, near the Wabash Railroad. The house was a double log cabin and the store was kept in one side and the other occupied as a residence.
The first frame house in the township was erected by Peter Berry on his farm in section 24.
The first death in the township was Mrs. William G. Vandorn, about 1833.
'T'he first automobile in the township was purchased by Dr. L. L. Quick, in 1903. Three other machines were purchased at the same time by other parties.
ACCIDENTAL AND TRAGIC DEATHS
About 1850 a son of John Haines, of Lewisburg, while skating on the canal broke through the ice and was drowned. About this time a young man by the name of Sidney, while skating fell and struck his head on the ice and died of concussion of the brain. A few years later John Haines, named above, while crossing Pipe creek in a skiff during high water, was swept over the falls and drowned. In June, 1868, Fielding Miller, while crossing the Wabash in a canoe during high water, fell into the river and was drowned.
On December 6, 1866, Dr. William McAllister and Erasmus G. Chi- dester were drowned while crossing the Wabash river in a canoe when the water was high. Allen Bowyer and Stephen Williams were in the boat with them, but they clung to the boat and were rescued some dis- tance down the river by Augustus Snyder. Several years prior to the above event a man by the name of Miller was accidentally drowned in the Wabash.
Sol. D. Brandt, a prominent citizen of Logansport, while engaged on Cedar island, which he then owned, was drowned in the spring of 1904, and his body was found down the river near Georgetown. He was alone and no one knows the circumstances surrounding his death, but the water was high and it was supposed his boat became unman- ageable and was swept down by the angry current.
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The accidental death many years ago of Samuel Smoot, caused by his falling backward from a wagon, cast a shadow of gloom over the entire community.
RAILROAD ACCIDENTS
Some years ago a strange man was run over and killed by a train on the Wabash Railroad near the Burnett farm. In June, 1902, the night passenger train on the Wabash Railroad was wrecked by the washout of a culvert in the west part of the township, and the entire train was ditched, killing one trainman and about thirteen Italian immi- grants, and seriously injuring many more.
About 1888 George D. Bush, in a temporary aberration of mind, hung and shot himself while running the mill at Hooverville.'
About the same time W. C. Gallahan, a prosperous farmer in the northeast part of the township, in a state of mental depression com- mitted suicide by hanging himself to a tree. On May 14, 1913, Judson Reed, son of Rev. Madison Reed, living near Hooverville, having been in poor health and melancholic, shot himself in the head with a revolver and died instantly. He was an estimable man and left a wife and one child.
STOLEN CHILD
Joseph, the five-year-old son of Thomas Black, of Miami township, in March, 1837, was stolen by a band of Pottawottamie Indians and taken west and brought up by them and trained in their methods of doctoring. Nothing was ever heard from the boy, although diligent search was made, until about 1866, when he returned to his people in Miami town- ship and remained there for several months and practiced his methods of Indian doctoring. There was some doubt about him being the son of Thomas Black that was stolen, yet he claimed to have proof that he was stolen from Miami township, and his relatives have recently told the writer that they believed that he was the lost boy. After some months' sojourn with his people he became dissatisfied and returned to his Indian friends in the West, preferring the wild, roving life of the Indians, which seemed so natural to him, instead of civilized life of his own people, showing how habit and environment shape our destiny. While discussing the merits of this stolen child with a relative, a strange coin- cidence of dates and death of a cousin of the stolen child was related as follows: Ner Black, a cousin of Joseph Black, the stolen child, who now resides in Peru, Indiana, but formerly lived in Miami township, was seventy-six years old on March 6, 1913. His son was forty-six on that day, and died on this the anniversary of his own and his father's birth- day, thus coupling the numbers 6-46-76 in a unique manner.
"SHOOT THE 'RED EYE' ""
C. P. Forgy relates a funny incident in connection with the saloon business in the early history of New Waverly. About 1857 one Azro Smith, over the protest of the citizens of the village, was arranging to open a saloon and had shipped a barrel of whiskey to the little town, but the temperance forces were on the lookout for wet goods, and one day the long-expected barrel of "red eye" was unloaded at the station, only a short distance from the Forgy residence. R. J. Forgy, now de- ceased, being a good marksman, quietly proceeded to the upper story of his house with rifle in hand, and through an open window shot a hole into the whiskey barrel and the "fire water" escaped, and for many
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moons the mystery was unsolved-the cause of the escape of that "red eye."
The remedy was effectual and the saloon was not opened, and ever after when the boys wanted a drink they would ask for a "shot of red eye.'
BATTLE OF BLOODY HOLLOW
In 1791 General Wilkinson, with a detachment of five hundred and twenty-five United States troops, passed through Miami township on his way to Old Town Indian village, on the north bank of Eel river, men- tion of which is elsewhere made.
A detachment of Wilkinson's troops are supposed to have camped on "Bald Hill" west of Lewisburg, and were attacked by the Indians, but they were beaten back into the ravine and several of them killed, hence the name "Bloody Hollow." This was the only battle, if it could be called a battle, that ever occurred in the township, and the second in the county.
There was evidently artillery carried by these troops, for a six- pound cannon-ball was plowed up in this hollow some years ago and presented to the Cass County Historical Society by C. P. Forgy.
Another story is related to account for the name "Bloody Hollow." One Pat Shinn kept a grocery about the year 1837, a mile west of Lewis- burg, sold whiskey and kept a rowdy house. During the excavation for the construction of the Wabash Railroad human skulls were found and it was said that Pat Shinn had murdered people for their money and buried his victims in this ravine, hence the name "Bloody Hollow."
Hezekiah Harvey was an interesting octogenarian, yes, a nono- genarian, who died in Waverly in 1912, aged 96 years. He was born in Ohio, but when a young man came to the wilds of the Wabash and has seen the gradual development of Cass county and the Wabash val- ley from its primitive state, when the Indian and wild animals held undisputed sway of the virgin forests, through the various stages up to the present state of perfection.
Before the days of the old canal, and before roads were fully opened, he carried the United States mail from Fort Wayne to Lafayette on horseback, and many exciting tales he relates of his experiences with the Indians and wild beasts on his trips up and down the Wabash. He worked on the construction of the old canal and when it was completed he became "chief engineer" to a canal boat and guided the motive power, a trio of mules on the tow-path of the "raging canal." For some years prior to his death he made his home with his daughter who is still living in Waverly. His remains repose in Williams cemetery.
POLITICS
In politics Miami has always been a "doubtful state" the parties being so evenly divided. In 1848 this township furnished two candidates for county commissioner in the persons of Thomas Craighead, Whig, and Moses Barnett, Democrat, the latter being elected. In 1848 Cyrus McPherson of Miami township was elected county treasurer defeating Capt. A. M. Higgins of Logansport. Many years later John H. Berry was elected to the office of county assessor.
REFERENCE BIOGRAPHIES
Biographical sketches of the following persons may be found in Helm's History, published in 1886, and will not be reproduced here :
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Casebeer, Joseph, born 1810, d. 1867. Cox, Charles G., b. 1827, d - -. Forgy, C, P., b. 1835, still living. Forgy, D. J., b. 1841, d. 1909. Gallahan, W. C., b. 1830, d.
Moore, Sebastian C., b. 1834, d. Moore, Peter.
Pearson, William, b. 1814, d. 1889.
Pennel, Samuel, b. 1840, d. 1898.
Rudolph, John W., b. 1835, still living.
Voorhis, Henry M., b. 1816, d. -
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