USA > Indiana > Dearborn County > History of Dearborn County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 12
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Samuel Morrison was wont to relate that among other things, his father was a great hunter. Isaac Mills stayed one winter with him and the two men did nothing but hunt and kill bears for their skins. They killed twenty bears, besides keeping the family in deer meat all winter. There was a deer lick not far from the mouth of Hogan creek, where the elder Morrison would go when- ever it was necessary to supply the family with meat. At one time when he went to the lick he saw a large panther crouched on a leaning tree that bent over the lick, watching also for deer. He did not see the panther until too close to risk a shot, and thought if he did not kill it, in a couple of bounds it would be upon him. He looked it in the face, slowly moving backwards until he felt himself safe in trying to scare it away without risking a shot, which he did by breaking a limb of a tree and throwing it toward the animal, where- upon the "varmint" leaped off and ran away. On the side of the hill just be- low the first brook below Aurora, Ephraim Morrison shot a bear, which fell down, kicked and at last lay still. He reloaded his gun, went up to the bear and gave it a poke with his gun, whereat the bear sprang to its feet and pursued him for some distance, presently, however, giving up the pursuit ; whereupon Mr. Morrison wheeled and gave bruin a second shot. Down tum- bled the bear, kicking and quivering as before. Thinking the animal dead this time, for certain, the huntsman punched it again, when again it sprang to its feet and gave him a much closer chase than before. Mr. Morrison was obliged to drop his gun and save himself by running over a deep ravine on a slender pole that bridged the chasm. He then succeeded in getting around to his gun and by a third shot killed the bear.
PATRIOT BEGINS OVER AGAIN.
Capt. Joseph Hayes was the fourth son of Joseph and Jean (Woodward) Hayes. He was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1732, and was mar- ried to Joanna Passmore on August 12, 1753. On August 28, 1776, he mort- gaged his lands to equip a company of cavalry, of which he was captain, and served his country during the Revolutionary War. At the close of the Revo- lution he found himself bankrupt. His property gone, his fighting days over, there seemed no longer a place for him in the land of his birth; so, hoping that the new and untried West might hold some fortune for him and his, he joined the tide of emigration that was sweeping westward. In 1791 Captain Hayes and his wife, Joanna, with their sons, Job and Joseph, Jr., and their wives and children; their daughter Priscilla and her husband, Thomas Miller,
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and his daughter, Joanna, and her husband, James Bennett, left their Penn- sylvania home and after a laborious journey reached Redstone, on the Monon- gahela. They reached North Bend the same year and after a short time they moved over to the mouth of the Miami, where they resided until 1796, at which time they moved into Dearborn county, where, on April 9, 1801, his son entered one of the first three pieces of land entered from the United States government in the state of Indiana.
From 1793 to 1795, a battalion of troops was stationed at the mouth of the Miami to protect the exposed settlements, but in spite of the garrison and troops the savage often crept in and murdered settlers and stole horses and cattle. Even the smallest child was taught to be always on the watch against the common foe. Priscilla Miller, Captain Hayes's daughter, was one day alone in her house, when a slight sound attracted her attention. The doors of those days were made of slabs of wood fastened together and a circular open- ing was left sometimes so the hand could be slipped through to lift the latch, which was on the inside. To her horror she saw an Indian's hand stealthily slipping through to raise the latch and effect an entrance. Pioneer women could not afford to be timorous or faint-hearted, so without a moment's hesi- tation she seized the axe which was always kept in the house, and struck the fingers from the latch and the Indian quickly retreated.
Captain Hayes lived to a ripe old age, dying in 1812; at the age of eighty. He and his wife were known far and wide. Their home was open to the traveler and wayfarer. He was a Methodist and was active in securing an or- ganization of that faith, frequently having the circuit preacher hold services at his house. Captain Hayes was the grandfather of Joseph, Walter and Ja- cob Hayes, prominent business men of a later generation.
THE COMING OF THE PIKES.
Col. Zebulon Pike settled in the township in 1803 and took up a portion of section 10 and fractional sections 11 and 12, situated in Greendale, where the cemetery now is, and from there over to the Miami, as it was then around the Horseshoe Bottom. He afterwards had to give up some of it and it was re-entered by Jesse Hunt. Colonel Pike came from New Jersey, having served through the Revolutionary War with great distinction, and like many others, gave up all his property to the cause. The war over, the government was tardy in recognizing his services and claims, but a few years before his death these were settled in part. He died in 1835, honored and respected by the en-
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tire community. Colonel Pike was the father of General Pike, the discoverer of Pike's Peak, and Lieut. George Pike, both of whom lost their lives during the War of 1812. Gen. Zebulon Montgomery Pike, the son, was an officer in the regular service. He was detailed in 1805, with a detachment of twenty regular soldiers, by General Wilkinson, to make explorations in the West. He left Pittsburgh in a large keelboat about the first of August, stopping for a day, tradition says, at the home of Capt. John Brown, just across the river from where is now Pike's Station, on the Baltimore & Ohio railway, where he met the lady who was afterward to become his wife. His father lived here and he stopped here to see his parents for a day. Continuing on, he reached the falls of St. Anthony, where the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis now stand, late in the autumn of that year. He wintered there, purchasing for the government one hundred thousand acres of land and establishing Ft. Snelling. Returning to St. Louis in April, 1806, he was again detailed with twenty-three men, all told, to explore the country westward to the Rockies. He left St. Louis in July and reached what he called "a bold peak," which has since been given the name of the intrepid discoverer. He wintered where Canon City now stands. Proceeding south and west, according to his instructions, he raised the American flag on the headwaters of the Rio Grande and was sent home by the Spanish authorities at Santa Fe, via Chihuahua and Texas. He afterward married the daughter of Captain Brown and was killed at the cap- ture of York, Ontario, during the War of 1812. His daughter later married the son of William H. Harrison and their descendants still live opposite Pike's Station, in Boone county, Kentucky.
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CHAPTER VIII.
. ORGANIZATION OF DEARBORN COUNTY.
Dearborn county was created on March 7. 1803. by force of a proclama- tion issued on that date by William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, defining the boundaries of the county and announcing that its name was Dearborn, in honor of Major-General Dearborn, at that time the secretary of war under President Jefferson. On the same day that Governor Harrison issued his proclamation, he appointed the following named persons to the sev- eral offices in the county, court of common pleas, general quarter-sessions of the peace and orphans' court; Benjamin Chambers, Jabez Percival, Barnet Hulick, Samuel Brownson, Jeremiah Hunt, Richard Stevens, William Major, and James McCarty. Samuel Vance was appointed clerk of the courts, and James Dill, recorder. The commissions of these offices dated from March 7, 1803. It was necessary that the county be prepared with a military organiza- tion for defense against the Indians that were yet turbulent and disposed to give trouble, so on August 15, 1803, as governor of the territory, General Harrison issued commissions as officers of the militia to William Hall, Samuel Fulton, Daniel Lynn, Barnet Hulick and Jeremiah. Johnston, as cap- tains; William Standiford, William Spencer, William Cheek, James Hamil- ton and William Allensworth, lieutenants; Gersham Lee, Thomas Fulton, Michael Flake, William Thompson and James Buchanan, ensigns. On August 23, 1808, David Lamphere was commissioned sheriff and James Hamilton recorder, vice James Dill, resigned.
The first session of the courts is believed to have commenced on the first Monday in September, 1803. In the proclamation establishing the county the courts were directed to be held in Lawrenceburg, which had been laid out dur- ing the previous spring. Dr. Jabez Percival, one of the judges, had built a double log cabin and in it the first courts were held. The county at that time extended to the north, in a wedge-shaped form, to where the Indian boundary line from the mouth of the Kentucky river to Ft. Recovery crossed the Ohio line. Much of it to the north was a wilderness and the only settlers were along the Ohio and up the Whitewater to the neighborhood of Brookville.
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DEARBORN COUNTY COURT HOUSE
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COURT HOUSES AND JAILS.
The first court house stood just where the present house stands, and was built in 1810. It was a two-story brick building, the court room being on the ground floor, with the jury room above. This building was destroyed by fire on March 5, 1826. The second building was constructed on the same foundation, and with the same walls as the first, the interior of the building having been all that burned. In May, 1827, the county board of supervisors appointed Jesse Hunt, James W. Hunter and George H. Dunn commissioners to superintend the construction of the building, which was not finished for occupancy until the late fall of 1828. The county seat was moved from Lawrenceburg to Wilmington in 1835, and a court house was erected in that village by its citizens and the people of that vicinity, which cost about four thousand dollars, with the jail. The county seat was moved back to Law- renceburg in 1843, and the old buildings were again put into service. The present building was commenced in 1870. The cornerstone was laid on April 13, 1871, and the building was completed in 1873, at a cost of about one hundred thousand dollars. While the second court house was in use the county erected two one-story brick buildings, between the court house and Mary street, for the use of the county clerk, sheriff, treasurer, recorder and auditor.
The first jail was erected in 1804, and was built of logs. In 1806 Will- iam Cook was jailer and resided in the jail building. The second jail was supposed to have been built in 1810, at the time the first court house was erected. It is referred to as a stone jail and was two stories high, having been built on the site of the present jail. The third jail was erected at Wilmington by the citizens of the village and vicinity when the court house was located there. It was shortly afterward destroyed by fire and a second jail was built. on the public square in that village. This second jail was built under contract with the county by Timothy Kimball, and cost one thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine dollars and seventy-seven cents. The fifth jail was erected on the public square in Lawrenceburg, in 1848, the contract having been let to Tim- othy Kimball, and cost two thousand six hundred dollars, with two hundred and ten dollars for extra cost in building the foundation above the flood of 1832. The sixth and present jail was erected in 1858-59, at a cost of eight thousand six hundred dollars.
QUESTION OF COUNTY DIVISION.
The county seat of Dearborn county has been at Lawrenceburg ever since the county was organized with the exception of the short time it was located at Wilmington, from September 26, 1836. to January 4. 1844, when the ast
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removing the seat of justice from Wilmington to Lawrenceburg was signed by the governor of Indiana.
When the county was first organized the question of division was agi- tated. Franklin was laid off to the north in 1809, and the matter of estab- lishing a county south of Laughery creek, with Rising Sun as its county seat, commenced to be talked of soon afterward. As early as 1817, before the state had hardly become organized, Col. Abel C. Pepper, of Rising Sun, it is claimed, went to Corydon, the capital at that time, with the avowed intention of securing an act of the Legislature organizing a new county with Rising Sun as its seat of justice. But at that time there was less business and the journey was unsuccessful. The residents of the county living south of Laugh- ery creek, however, were dissatisfied, claiming that the creek was a serious impediment to their reaching court on account of floods and the consequent danger in fording that stream. The friends of a division of the county, how- ever, not being able to secure a division, resorted to a strategy and secured the removal of the county seat to what they claimed was a more central location, which was done in 1836. Lawrenceburg, having lost the county seat, was no longer opposed to the formation of a new county south of Laughery creek, and accordingly an alliance was made between the friends of organizing a new county and those who were in favor of relocating the county seat at Lawrence- burg, and in 1843 the issue during the election for members of the Legisla- ture was the question of the relocation of the county seat at Lawrenceburg and the organization of a new county south of Laughery creek.
George P. Buell, of Lawrenceburg township, and Charles Dashiell, of Sparta township, the former for relocating and division, and the latter against, were the candidates for the state Senate. Buell carried the day by a large vote and the changes were made as above. After Buell's election there seemed to be some fear among the more ardent friends of relocation that he would be influenced against the act and the following is a letter to Mr. Buell from the pen of James H. Lane, urging him to be firm to the pledge he made to his constituents during the campaign :
"Lawrenceburg, Dec. 15th, 1843.
"Dear Sir :- Your letter came to hand today-I am pleased to hear our local question is in a train for final settlement-In reference to this a great change has taken place in the minds of the people of the county since the elec- tion .- You recollect a few prominent men such as David Tibbetts, Hubbs. etc. insisted on having the county seat relocated by a direct vote of the people at
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the ballot box. Since they have ascertained that the Kelso and Logan Demo- crats signed our petition a change has come over the spirit of their dreams and they now admit the question settled. The court interests have given to us the tract. They expect the county seat removed and if removed they will not be disappointed-Your course seems to me a plain one-You was nominated and elected as a Lawrenceburg man-Openly avowed that you would place Division and relocation on your ticket .- You also pledged yourself to carry out the instructions of the Wilmington convention,-That convention in- structed to support relocation by a direct vote of the people at the ballot box .- You were elected-Your Democratic friends in Logan, Kelso, York, Miller, Lawrenceburg and Jackson whose firm adherence to you decided your vote in the convention-Now instruct you to vote for relocation directly to Law- renceburg. On that petition you will find the names of your true friends. The only question then is will this instructions by petition relieve you from the former pledge .- I say without hesitation it will-The people have the right to instruct their representative-They have so done at public meetings and by petition. The petition was gotten up purposely to relieve you .- Our opponents started their remonstrance, they failed-we succeeded. Will you now disap- point your friends ?- as well as your enemies, who expect you to obey our instructions and they (your enemies)' expect to lose the county seat. Let us suppose hereafter if you are a candidate that you are charged with violating your pledge on this subject. Such a charge could certainly not injure you with the Whigs .- and certainly not with the Democrats, for a majority of them in the county are on the petition .- Supposing that James Milliken should ever attempt to use this against you .- You could produce the instructions of that township as expressed at that meeting when resolutions were passed in- structing our senator and representative to support a bill for relocating the county seat directly to this place .- You have a majority of all the votes in all the upper townships. Then how in the name of common sense can it affect you .- My dear sir-I would not for all the county seats in the world make a suggestion which I supposed would affect your popularity .- I know however as well as I know I am living that if the law passes with your warm and zeal- ous support. nothing will be said, for everyone expects it, both friend and enemy. The Wilmington Boys will abuse the Lawrenceburgers for getting up the instructions and it will pass off. But the other course would be fatal and deadly. Your friends have nominated you. They elected you. They have instructed you .- Place the county seat at Lawrenceburg and you are in two short years a Congressman .- Pursue a lukewarm course or oppose the bill and
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you are prostrate forever .- Let me assure you if the bill becomes the law you will have all the credit .- If it fails you will be held responsible. My dear sir : Let me here state that a relocation of the county seat by a direct vote of the people will forever rob Lawrenceburg of it .- Of this there is no mistake. I would rather by all means that you would oppose the law entirely than to sup- port such a one. I have purchased pork this week from all parts of the county above: Laughery .- All of the settlers talk about coming here to court in the Spring as a matter settled .- Mr. Buell: I have scribbled more than I ex- pected when I commenced and must stop by saying that you are now senator from this county. You were placed there by the promises of your friends in Lawrenceburg with Logan and Kelso yours and the giving of Jackson .- You stand footloose in a situation to serve us and at the same time strengthen your- self in the course I am confident you will pursue.
"Yours respectfully,
"J. H. LANE."
"N. B. Buell: Remember I labored here for you and all I have in the world is in Lawrenceburg and I say relocate by a direct vote is a thousand times worse than leaving the county seat at Wilmington. Go against it. Enter and defeat it for the present or else support it with all your might and strength and pass it, but for God's sake no direct vote.
"Remember to have the relocation to the old place specified in the law So that there can be no mistake. J. H. L."
BILL WAS IN NO DANGER.
From the vote in the Legislature on the bill there was no real danger of its defeat, for it passed the House by a vote of sixty-two to twenty-three, and the Senate by a good majority. and became a law at once. The following is the bill in its most important sections :
"An act to organize a new county out of the county of Dearborn, and relocate the county seat thereof. Approved January 4, 1844.
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Indi- ana: That from and after the first day of March next all that part of Dear- born county within the following bounds, to-wit: Beginning on the Ohio river. on the section line between the fractional sections number twenty-five and twenty-six. in town 4. range I west, thence west with the said line to the northwest corner of section number thirty-two: thence south to the northwest corner of section number five, two three, range I, thence west to the range line
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between range I and range 2; thence south to the line dividing Switzerland and Dearborn counties; thence with said line east to the Ohio river; thence up said river to the place of beginning shall constitute the county of Ohio.
"Section 2. That Martin R. Green, of the county of Switzerland, Joseph Bennett, of the county of Franklin, and James Myers, of the county of Ripley, be and they are hereby constituted and appointed commissioners to perma- nently locate the seat of justice of said county. The commissioners or a ma- jority of them shall convene in the town of Rising Sun, in said county of Ohio, on the second Monday in April next, or as soon thereafter as a ma- jority of them shall agree.
"Section 5. That the circuit and other courts of said county of Ohio shall be held at Rising Sun until suitable buildings can be erected at the county seat, after which the courts shall be held at the county seat of said county.
"Section 13. That from and after the first day of April next the seat of justice of the county of Dearborn shall be and the same is hereby removed and permanently located in the town of Lawrenceburg, in said county of Dearborn.
"Section 15. That all officers whose duty it shall be to keep their said offices at the seat of justice in said county of Dearborn shall be and are hereby required to remove and keep their said offices at the town of Law- renceburg on or before the said first day of April next; that from and after the said first day of April (1844) all public business which shall be required by law to be transacted at the seat of justice in said county of Dearborn shall be performed and transacted at the court house in said town of Lawrenceburg.
"Section 16. It shall be the duty of the corporation of the said town of Lawrenceburg to give bond with good and sufficient security, to be approved of by the county commissioners of said county, or any one of them, in a pen- alty of any amount one or they may require, not exceeding however the pen- alty of ten thousand dollars payable to the state of Indiana, conditioned that the corporation of said town of Lawrenceburg shall within one year from and after the said first day of April, 1844, fit up and repair the court house and jail in said town of Lawrenceburg and build a clerk's office, recorder's office and auditor's office in said town, all of which shall be equal in point of con- venience and durability to those already erected and built in the town of Wil- mington; and that said corporation will furnish suitable rooms for holding said offices in said county at the expense of the same, until said public build- ings shall be erected and refitted as aforesaid.
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"Section 17. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage."
As described above it will be seen that Ohio county in the original bill as passed by the Legislature was only a part of what is Randolph township. It actually contained less than eighteen square miles. It remained this size for a little over one year, when, by an act of the Legislature, on January 7, 1845, all of Dearborn county lying south of Laughery creek was attached to Ohio county. From that time until the present the boundaries of Dearborn county have remained intact.
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CHAPTER IX.
COUNTY OFFICERS.
Dearborn county has been, in general, very fortunate in its choice of offi- cers. Its early officials were men of integrity and rather more than average ability. Many of them had received training in the East before emigrating, and came to the county with experience in governmental affairs that was valu- able to the infant county. There were men who had been trained in military matters in the stern school of the Revolution and likewise had been invested with responsibilities in civic affairs. Others who were among the first settlers had training in wood craft and knew the habits of the Indians. The work that was done by the pioneers cannot be now estimated. Clearing a place for their cabins and getting sufficient cleared space on which to get a first crop of products to keep a family, involved labor more than we of the present day can imagine. The work of organizing the county with the petty details of law and form was no easy task either. Samuel C. Vance, the founder of Law- renceburg, was a man of ability and foresight. In many ways, perhaps, his vision was too far ahead. He was a surveyor, a military man and experienced in governmental affairs. He had been an officer in the Revolutionary War and took part in Wayne's campaign against the Indians. He was the founder of the city of Lawrenceburg, and took part for many years in the affairs of both the county and city, dying in 1828, full of honor and with the good will of the community.
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