History of Cass County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement to the present time; with Biographical Sketches and Reference to Biographies, Volume I, Part 88

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 88


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Elvira Rebekah Lodge, No. 66, was organized about 1893, and has been in operation for twenty years. At present the officers are: Ida M. Crim, N. G .; Jesse Somsel, V. G., and the membership is seventy.


About 1903 a Knights of Pythias lodge was organized in Walton, but in 1911 they surrendered their charter and transferred their mem- bership to Logansport.


The Knights of Honor, Knights of the Maccabees, Chosen Friends and some other orders have been in operation, but all have been dis- banded, except the Modern Woodmen of America, which is in active operation, with W. E. Umbarger as secretary.


The Walton Enterprise, a weekly newspaper, was published in Wal- ton about 1870 by John Pinkerton, but soon suspended-a notice of which is made elsewhere.


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TEMPERANCE


For many years Walton was cursed with saloons, but under recent state laws the township remonstrated the saloons out of existence, and later under the township local option law an election was held and the majority of the good people of the township declared against the saloon, greatly to the advantage of the financial, moral and spiritual interests of the town and township.


ONWARD


Onward, a thriving little town located ten miles southeast of Logansport on the Bradford division, of the Pan Handle Railroad, was laid out May 24, 1869, by Ambrose Surface.


The original plat consisted of seventeen lots, to which additions have been added by Mary A. Blinn, Thomas Little and Daniel C. Mullendore.


In the past, several names have been applied to this place. Dow was the name of the postoffice when an office was first established at this point. Before the coming of railroads in Cass county, in the early fifties, Dow postoffice was kept by John Rine a mile north of the present town of Onward, on a farm now owned by Mr. Little.


The mail was carried on horseback from Marion to Logansport, and Dow was on this route. Later it was moved to Pipe Creek, and when the station of Onward was established the office was moved to that place and called Dow, and the name of the station was Onward, and when the Onward postoffice at Pipe Creek was discontinued that name was applied to the postoffice at Dow, and the latter name dropped, and the name of the postoffice and station became one, that of Onward, by which it is known by railroad and postoffice officials.


There is, however, a local nickname, "Plug," by which this place is designated and known, especially among the older residents, from the fact that Ambrose Surface, who laid out the original town wore a pe- culiarly shaped plug hat, and from that fact the name Plug was face- tiously applied to the present town of Onward.


The first merchants in Onward were D. K. Smith and his son, Mahlon Smith. The latter was the first postmaster, and the firm operated the first elevator and shipped grain.


Rev. Noah Zerfis, now living near Onward, was the second postmaster. He also married the first couple in the new town and preached the first funeral sermon in Onward, and Samuel Panabaker, Jr., now resid- ing in Kokomo, taught the first school.


The country around Onward was originally heavily timbered and the sawmill business was carried on extensively at different times by John Hall, Thomas Little and Vaughn & Rice, but the timber is about all gone and now there is only a small steam sawmill run intermittently by John Wissinger. A large tile mill was also operated here for many years, but the farmers are supplied with that article and the mill has been closed for years.


The present businesses are represented by the following firms:


Three general stores kept by James Dennison, William Morris and Edward H. Shank; two barber shops operated by Daniel Mullendore, and a shop and restaurant by Lee Mullendore; a blacksmith and repair shop is conducted by Peter Smith.


A large elevator is operated by N. E. Walker & Co., who handle one hundred and twenty-five thousand bushels of grain annually, be- sides a large amount of live stock. They also handle coal, fencing, etc.


The present postmaster is Marion E. Reed, and one rural route, No. 18, supplies the farmers with a daily mail.


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LODGES


Onward Lodge, No. 455, I. O. O. F., was organized in 1874 with twelve charter members, and in 1876 a commodious hall was erected and dedicated June 19, 1876, which is still occupied. The present member- ship is forty-five, officered as follows :


Harry T. Johns, N. G .; Allen Day, V. G .; Earl Eikenberry, secretary. The Knights of Honor organized a lodge here about 1888, and erected a large hall and occupied it until about 1900, when the lodge disbanded and the hall was sold and is now owned by W. T. Shafer.


The Knights of the Maccabees, Onward Tent, No. 104, was organ- ized about 1893 with twenty members. The present membership is sixty.


Onward has two churches and the largest and best high school build- ing in the township, the latter erected in 1907.


The first policeman in the town was Ben Sager. He was also railroad station agent in 1880. He would arrest "hobos" traveling along the railroad, hold moot-courts, convict them and consign them to the prison, for which he used the coal-shed. Ben acted as policeman, judge, jury and sheriff, and many a tramp he incarcerated in his coal-shed over night.


CIRCLEVILLE


Circleville may be called a paper town, and was the first town laid out in Tipton township, in January, 1850, by Adam and A. J. Surface. It lies on the south bank of the Wabash river, opposite Lewisburg. The original plat shows thirty-five lots and three streets. Two additions were subsequently made. Soon after the town was laid out Adam Sur- face and George Smith erected a small building and kept a general store for a short time, being the first and the last merchants in Circleville.


Soon after Dr. J. A. Adrian located here, purchased the town lots and had the same vacated and only farm land now occupies the site of this former would-be metropolis on the banks of the Wabash far away.


EASTON


Easton is another town that only exists on paper. On March 3, 1854, Jacob Comegys laid out this town on the south side of the Marion & Logansport Railroad, situated in the northwest corner of the west half of the southeast quarter of section 17, Tipton township. The plat con- tained twenty-three lots and four streets, Main, High, Walnut and Second.


William P. Thomas was the civil engineer of the town. Mr. Comegys expected to have a railroad station located here, but failing in that, the town never grew and the lots were vacated.


On May 26, 1869, John Castenborder laid out and recorded a few lots on Pipe creek at the mill below Pipe creek falls, and called it Onward (see Plat Book I, page 119). The sawmill, a flouring mill and two or three houses composed the town, and only the grist mill and two houses stand on this townsite today. There was a postoffice kept here for many years under different names-first, "Dow," then "On- ward" and last "Pipe Creek"-but the office was discontinued many years ago.


WALBAUM


Walbaum was a station on the Richmond division of the Pan Handle Railroad, established about 1865, about four miles northwest of Walton in the southwest quarter of section 11.


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Isaac Himmelberger at that time operated a large sawmill and shipped timber and lumber extensively from this point. A switch was put in for his accommodation and a number of small houses were con- structed for the mill hands.


About 1878 the mill was removed, the houses razed and the station discontinued.


OLD SALLY'S VILLAGE


This was an Indian village, named after an old, well-known Indian squaw, that was located on the south bank of the Wabash about two miles east of Lewisburg, opposite the David Casebeer farm. Many in- teresting reminiscences have been related by W. W. Haney, who in 1835 lived at Lewisburg, about the Indian dances at this village and the attendance of the Indians at the annual payment grounds at the falls of Pipe Creek. There was an Indian burial ground at "Old Sally's Vil- lage," and excavations made there exhumed many Indian bones with their arrows buried with them.


MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS-ACCIDENTS


The first marriage in the township was that of Calvin Conner te Miss Mary J. Wilson in 1843.


The first birth was John, son of Allen and Mary Wilson, in the year 1840.


The First Death-Winfield, son of William Scott, who died in 1844, is supposed to be the first death. His was the first burial in the Little Deer Creek cemetery.


The first postoffice established in the township was "Dow," and the first postmaster was William P. Thomas.


Hugh Morgan, one of the pioneers, committed suicide in 1853 by cutting his throat with a razor. He was intoxicated at the time.


.John Haines, a hotelkeeper at Lewisburg in the fifties, and who ran a sawmill on Pipe creek, attempted to cross the creek in a canoe when the waters were high, and was swept over the falls and was drowned.


In the year 1884 Fred Crumber of Walton was accidentally shot and killed while handling a revolver.


Jabesh Philips died from the effects of poison administered by some unknown person.


During the Civil war George Knight, a soldier, deserted his regi- ment and returned to his home in Tipton township. George and Marian Lucas were directed by the proper United States officers to arrest Knight. When they attempted to make the arrest he resisted and his brother, Byron Knight, was with him, and made a determined fight against the captors. In the struggle George Knight was killed and Byron died from the effects of injuries received. One of the Lucas brothers was severely wounded, but recovered.


Some time in the fifties George Spangler was found dead in Pipe creek. When last seen alive he was intoxicated and it was supposed he fell into the creek and was drowned. 1


Joseph Coblentz, a prominent farmer living south of Onward, was accidentally shot and killed while out hunting in 1897. About 1850 a woman by the name of Minnick, who was partially deaf, was killed by a tree falling on her that was being cut down by woodsmen near Walton.


Many years ago Joshua Sensenbaugh shot and killed himself; cause unknown.


In the fall of 1897 Mrs. Annita Schmitt became involved in a quarrel


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with her tenant, George Walton, about his poultry eating her corn. In closing the door against her, Mr. Walton fell forward toward her, when she shot him in the head with a revolver she carried and he died in- stantly. Mrs. Schmitt was sent to the Women's Reformatory for life, where she has since died. The shooting took place in the north part of Jackson township.


About 1897 the widow Stough was killed in Walton by an explosion of natural gas which blew up her house. Several others were seriously injured at the same time.


REFERENCE BIOGRAPHIES


Biographical sketches of the following persons may be found in Helm's History, published in 1886:


Samuel T. Bebee, b. 1824, d. 1907; John Bechdol, b. 1813, d. 1895; Joshua Bechdol, b. 1822, d. - ; John Booher b. 1800, d. 1890; James Brockman, b. 1823, d. 1895; William R. Buffington, b. 1844, still living; Isaac Bumgarner, b. 1822, d. about 1905; Robert Burkit, b. 1849, d. 1900; Joseph Carey, b. 1841, still living; John Costenborder, b. 1822, d. -; A. F. Curtis, b. 1844, still living; James Doran, b. 1812, d. 1888; George P. Dykeman, b. 1836, d. 1912; David Engler, b. 1816, d. 1910; Owen Engler, b. 1851, still living; David B. Enyart, b. 1837, still living; Nathaniel Fawber, b. 1844, still living; A. P. Flynn, b. 1858, d. 1889; Samuel S. Helvie, b. 1852, still living; Franklin Hopper, b. 1823, d. 1898; Owen Hurd, b. 1830, d. 1906; Oliver Kessling, b. 1836, still living; Martin Kessling, b. 1842, still living; Perry Kessling, b. 1846, d. 1910; Joel Kessling, b. 1852, still living; William R. Lewis, b. 1824, d. 1896; William P. Louthain, b. 1818, d. 1893; Dudley Madden, b. 1817, d. 1900; Herman E. Martin, b. 1859, still living; John S. Mays, b. 1830, d. 1887; Harrison McVetty, b. 1838, still living; John E. Morgan, b. 1850, d. 1893; Samuel Panabaker, Jr., b. 1847, still living; Henry Pu- terbaugh, b. 1820, d. -; Mrs. Elizabeth A. Philips, b. 1825, d. 1913; Abraham Rinehart, b. 1823, still living; Henry Schmalm, b. 1828, 'd. 1908; Jacob H. Shaffer, b. 1824, d. -; Samuel Philips, b. 1821, d. -; Daniel A. Smith, b. 1853, d. 1903; William P. Thomas, b. 1817, d. 1890; Samuel G. Thomas, b. 1850, still living; Charles E. Tilley, b. 1841, still living; Andrew Wilson, b. 1812, d. -; Stephen Younglove, b. 1847, still living.


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CHAPTER LIII WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP


LOCATION-DRAINAGE SOIL-EARLY SETTLERS-ORGANIZATION-INDUS- TRIES-TRANSPORTATION AND ROADS-SCHOOLS-CHURCHES-CEME- TERIES-CUBA-HERMAN CITY-ANOKA-PHYSICIANS-MISCELLANE- OUS ITEMS-BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.


Washington township lies immediately south of the city of Logans- port and the Wabash river, in congressional townships 26 and 27 north, ranges 1 and 2 east. It is bounded on the north by the city of Logans- port and the Wabash river, on the east by Tipton township, on the south by Deer Creek township, and on the west by Carroll county and Clinton township and embraces an area of about thirty-seven square miles.


The central and southern portions of the township are drained by Big Rock Creek, the north and south fork of the same and subsidiary branches, which flow in a westerly course and empty into Deer Creek in Carroll county. Prairie branch in the northwest corner and Minnow creek in the northeast part, drain those sections into the Wabash river, but all of these water-courses are of small size and not as large as the creeks in other townships, and not of sufficient size to afford water power for the operation of mills, although one or two mills were built on Minnow creek in early times.


The northern part of the township is rolling and somewhat hilly, and in the northwest corner near the city, lime stone outcrops and has been used for commercial purposes.


The central and southern sections of the township are quite level and flat, so much so that water would stand over large areas after heavy rains. This wet land, however, has been ditched and tiled until it is the most productive part of the township.


The soil is a black loam of great fertility, and was originally covered with a heavy growth of timber composed of the usual varieties found in other townships south of the rivers.


EARLY SETTLERS


The first settlement of the county was made in Washington township, but now a part of the city of Logansport. Alexander Chamberlain, on December 23, 1824, purchased the west half of fractional section 35, and on May 25, 1825, bought the east half of the same section, located on the south bank of the Wabash river. On the east half of this purchase, oppo- site the mouth of Eel river, he erected a cabin in the summer of 1826, being the first permanent settler not only in Washington township, but also the first in Cass county.


In 1828 he sold this cabin home to Gen. John Tipton, and built a similar double-hewed log house on the west half of his purchase, where Heppe's soap factory is now located. In the later thirties Mr. Cham-


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berlain moved to Rochester, Indiana, where he kept a hotel for many years and died there.


General Tipton was the second white man to locate in this township in the spring of 1828. He was an Indian agent at that time, and erected a small office near the south bank of the Wabash river in front of his log house that he purchased from Mr. Chamberlain, but in a few years moved over into the town of Logansport.


In 1829 William Lewis settled in the south part of section 35, just west of Shultz Town.


On October 7, 1830, Andrew Johnson built a cabin on the southeast quarter of section 2, a short distance south of Logansport, and became permanent resident and one of the most influential citizens of the town- ship. Capt. Cyrus Vigus came in 1831 and erected his cabin just south of the city and was a leading character in the township and county for over fifty years. Soon after came Francis Murphy, Jacob Sine, Samuel and Thomas Kinneman, Jesse Julian and William C. Richardson, all familiar names in pioneer days.


Washington township was a part of the great Miami Indian reserva- tion, and was not opened to land purchasers until 1838 or later, except a small section near the Wabash.


In that year the government purchased of the Indians a part of the township, but it was not until 1843 that the Indians relinquished their rights to the entire township and agreed to move west of the Mississippi. After this, however, the township was rapidly settled. David Ripley set- tled near Anoka and Henry Wipperman came in an early day.


About 1840 John Morgan located near the steep hill that bears his name. In 1842 Henry Ramer settled in section 22, and Major Long in the same neighborhood, where both became leading citizens in the devel- opment of the township. The same year Josiah Butler settled in section 4 and John Leffel in the same locality. About 1843 John Guy and his sons, Joseph, Hiram, Alfred and James Guy, located in section 34, and became prominent in the affairs of the township.


In 1849 Peter Martin and his sons, Francis and Jesse Martin, located in the eastern part of the township, where they were active in the mate- rial and religious development of the township, and where their de- scendants are still honored citizens.


Other early settlers who became actively identified with the progress of the township were: Barton R. Keep, Charles and Almond Lyons, James Carney, William Sturgeon, Josiah Jones, Benjamin Spader, Mi- chael Ward, William Delford, Alexander Smith, John Spitznagle, Daniel Small, Michael Bruner, David Burkit, Daniel Brown, Gideon Vernon, Pickering Vernon, John Cotterman, Painter West, Thomas Neal; Wil- lard White, A. B. Knowlton, Robert Belew, James Helton, W. J. Sages- ser, James Hanna, Conrad Mench, Jacob Myers, John Neff, Leonard Simons, Robert Rhea, Matthew Jack, Christian Foglesong.


ORGANIZATION


Washington township was formally organized September 7, 1842, and named in honor of the father of our country, and an election was ordered to be held at the residence of Barton R. Keep, October 8, 1842, and Josiah Butler was appointed inspector. Jesse Julian was elected the first justice of the peace.


INDUSTRIES AND MILLS


Washington township has no large streams, hence the milling indus- tries were not extensive, especially before the days of railroads and


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steam mills, yet we find the pioneers utilizing what little water power the small streams afforded.


The first mill in Washington township was built by David Ripley in 1843 on upper Minnow creek in section 3, northwest of Anoka, who operated it in a small way for five or six years.


In 1853 William Nelson erected a sawmill on lower Minnow creek and ran it for several years.


Joseph Uhl, in 1855, erected quite a large two-story flouring mill on Minnow creek in the northwest quarter of section 4 and did an extensive business for several years. He sold to Mr. Mitchell in the early sixties. It then fell into the hands of Dr. J. A. Taylor, and in September, 1872, William Like purchased the mill and operated it a number of years, but the water supply becoming inadequate, it was closed and in 1908 was finally torn down and the last water power mill in Washington town- ship has passed into history.


Water power being inadequate, steam mills began early to appear in order to dispose of the heavy timber which covered the township. As early as 1851 Thomas Neal built the first steam sawmill and operated it for many years, then sold out to Henry Herr, who continued to run it for a time, but the timber being exhausted, was closed in the nineties.


About 1851 Alexander Smith and Pickering Vernon started a saw- mill in the central southern part of the township and operated it by horse power, and while not a large mill, yet it was a great convenience to the pioneers in that vicinity.


In 1855-6 Nicholas Small built a steam sawmill in the southeast part of the township and they had a buhr for grinding corn to accommodate the farmers of the neighborhood. They continued to operate the mill until it was destroyed by fire in 1871.


Bruner & Freed, about 1865, erected a large steam sawmill in the southern part of the township and did a large business for some years.


George Burkhart operated a steam sawmill in the western part of the township for many years, but has done but little sawing in recent years, as the timber is about exhausted.


Several mills for the manufacture of drain tile were operated quite extensively at one time, but the demand was largely supplied and the mills closed.


Today there are no manufacturing industries within the township, it being pre-eminently an agricultural district, and its people are indus- trious and prosperous farmers, as a drive through the township will show fertile fields well fenced and stocked with the best breeds of horses, cattle and hogs, with many elegant modern dwellings, quite a contrast with sixty years ago, when log cabins, mud roads and ox-carts were every- where in evidence.


The transportation facilities have also been greatly changed and perfected since the pioneer began to clear the forests and cut out roads. The first road to be opened up through Washington township was the old Michigan road, about 1832, and the second was the Kokomo road, but these were simply lanes cut through the forests with no grading or graveling, but poles and brush thrown in the low places and covered with dirt, making the corduroy roads so common in the first settlement of the county.


These roads have gradually been straightened, graded, graveled or macadamized until all the important roads in the township are now im- proved with stone or gravel.


One railroad passes through the eastern part of the township, with a station, "Anoka," and the Indiana Union Traction Company's inter- urban line from Logansport to Indianapolis traverses the township, with


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stations at every crossroads, which greatly adds to the convenience of the people. These with stone roads and automobiles which are coming into general use, together with the electric telephone, practically annihilate time and space.


This generation can hardly realize the great changes in means of transportation since Josiah Butler first settled here about 1840, when he made a business trip to Cincinnati on foot, requiring over two weeks to make the journey.


SCHOOLS


As soon as a few families had settled in a neighborhood they began to take measures to open schools for the education of their children. The first school in the township was opened in the fall of 1838, in an old log cabin situated on the hill south of Logansport, on the east side of the old Michigan road, on what was then called the Johnson farm, in the southeast quarter of section 2, now owned by John M. Cantley. This was a primitive round log structure that had been erected by a "squat- ter" or hunter, and was not built for school purposes.


John I. Leyhe was the first teacher and "Billy" Keep, now living at 624 North street, went to school to Mr. Leyhe in 1841 or 1842, in a log schoolhouse, the first school building erected in the township in the southeast quarter of section 2. Mr. Leyhe was an Irishman with a fair education, and a rigid disciplinarian, who wielded the birch unsparingly. Some years later the log structure gave way to a frame building and this was replaced by the present brick schoolhouse situated on the south- east corner of section 2, and known as School No. 3, although it is the successor to the first schoolhouse built in the township.


There was a log schoolhouse built in the forties on the southeast corner of section 7 (Center schoolhouse) and was replaced in the sixties by a frame. A round log schoolhouse was erected in 1848 on the northwest quarter of section 14, a little to the north of Frank Justice's present residence; this was a typical log structure, according to J. E. Crain, with a log cut out and window-glass set in along the whole length of the building, stick and mud chimney, puncheon floor, etc.


Palmer schoolhouse No. 4 on the northeast corner of the northwest quarter of section 24 was built by James H. Crain about 1853, and Lucretia Jones was the first teacher at this school.


A hewed log house was built in the later forties on the southwest corner of section 15, known as Long's schoolhouse. This was burned down about. 1863 and replaced by a frame structure. This schoolhouse became a center of intellectual activity, debates and meetings of various kinds were held here, and the Center church was organized here.


The Burkit schoolhouse stood on the northeast corner of the south- east quarter of section 29. This was a hewed log building and was used for religious meetings before the erection of churches in that vicinity.




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