History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions, Part 47

Author: Harding, Lewis Albert, 1880- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1378

USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 47

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

503

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

wire cloth for window screens is manufactured. During the year 1914 six- teen million square feet of screening was made in the local factory. The seventy employees of the plant are paid a total of three thousand dollars a month. The local manager is E. M. Beck.

THE GARLAND MILLING COMPANY.

Foreign as well as domestic demand is supplied by the Garland Milling Company, whose flour-mill ranks eighth in capacity among Indiana mills. This company sells all over the Southeast and through the New England states and has a growing market in the British isles, Norway and Holland.

The company was organized and incorporated in 1898 by R. P. Moore, of Princeton, Indiana. Its original capital stock was thirty thousand dollars. An old mill built by John Emmert in 1869 was purchased and business was started on a modest scale. Since then the plant has been greatly enlarged. It now has an elevator, with a capacity of one hundred thousand bushels, a cooper shop, which turns out thirty thousand barrels a year, and a flour-mill with a daily capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels.

Twenty-five men are employed in the mill and five in the cooper shop. The mill is equipped with the best of modern machinery and its product has found favor wherever it has come into use. In 1909, in order to care for increased business, the company was reorganized and the capital stock increased to fifty thousand dollars. The present officers of the company are : John F. Russell, president ; G. D. Ayres, vice-president, and George P. Shoemaker, secretary-treasurer.

Wheat is purchased in the open market and is brought to Greensburg from all parts of the county. On account of the excellent shipping facilities, distribution is readily secured, and the flour can be shipped to the eastern seaboard by three different routes.

CHAPTER XXIII.

SIDELIGHTS ON DECATUR COUNTY HISTORY.

DECATUR COUNTY THE SCENE OF "TIIE HOOSIER SCHOOLMASTER."

There have been several stories and novels written whose scenes are laid in Indiana, but it is safe to say that no one novel of Indiana life has created such a universal interest as "The Hoosier Schoolmaster," published by Edward Eggleston in 1871. There has been much controversy as to where the scene of the novel was laid, and every county in Indiana through which flows a cliffy creek has persisted in claiming to be the scene of the novel. Before his death in 1902, Mr. Eggleston was questioned concerning the location of the plot and he replied without hesitation that Decatur county furnished the background and that the territory immediately sur- rounding Clifty in Clay township was the one and only place where the scene could have been laid. Moreover, several characters in the novel were taken from well-known people who lived in or near Clifty.

It should be mentioned that Eggleston came with his widowed mother to live in Clifty, Decatur county, when he was nine years old. Born at Vevay, Indiana, December 10, 1839, he had lived there until his father's death and had then gone with his mother to Decatur county, where she had several relatives, among them the Lowrey, Craig and Welsh families. Two years later (1850) Mrs. Eggleston became the wife of Rev. Williamson Terrell, a noted Methodist minister of southern Indiana. In this commun- ity in Clay township, Decatur county, young Eggleston grew to manhood, and in the same township lie taught his first term of school. The location of this school house is still pointed out to tourists who make annual pil- grimages to this county to visit the scene of the "Hoosier Schoolmaster." Eggleston learned to intimately know the people whom he later incorporated in his novel and there can be no question of the identity of many of his characters with persons who actually lived in Clay township in the middle of the last century. This section was then populated with an uncouth, un- cultured and, in many cases, a lawless band of people. Bands of robbers and highwaymen were known to exist in this part of the county and it is

212

EDWARD EGGLESTON HOME AT MILFORD.

J.MON.

PASCHAL T. LAMBERT CABIN, BUILT IN 1832.

505

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIAN.I.

an actual robbery, noted in the records of Decatur county, which furnished Eggleston with the background of his story.

The framework of the "Hoosier Schoolmaster" was taken from a robbery committed on Caleb Stark, who figures in the novel as "Jack Means," and on another man, a German, who in real life was John Dronberger. In the novel the Dutchman appears as "Schroeder." However, in order to bring both robberies into the novel in the form of one, the author combined the incidents of both robberies into a robbery committed on the Dutchman,. Schroeder. The brains of the trio of robbers was Dr. Henry B. Smalley .. a physician, who appears in the novel as Doctor Small. His compatriots in crime were Walter Johnson, a student in his office, who is the "Greenwood Harrison" of the novel, and David Ricketts, the "Pete Jones" of the story. Doctor Smalley lived about two miles south of Adams on Caleb Stark's farm in a house which stood near the present residence of Oliver Deem, while Caleb Stark lived opposite him across the road.

Stark, "Jack Means," who appears so prominently in the story, was no less prominent in the early history of Decatur county, as a successful farmer, than as a strong supporter of schools. He was one of the three men who supervised the erection of the present court house and to this day may be seen the name "Caleb Stark" carved on a stone slab above the west entrance of the court house. He owned a large farm on which he had several tenants. His wife, Anna Boone, was a cousin of the famous old frontiersman, Daniel Boone. One of his sons, Willet Stark, later flattered himself that he was "Bud Means," but Eggleston wrote at one time that Bud Means never existed in any one person, but that his traits were taken from several of the young men whom he knew around Clifty.

The actual incidents of the real robbery in Clay township were as fol- low: Doctor Smalley in some way had learned that Stark had a large sum of money concealed in his house. Accordingly he laid plans whereby he hoped to rob the honest old farmer of some of his hard-earned posses- sions. With this idea in view, the crafty doctor went to Stark to borrow a bunch of keys, one of which, so he told Stark, would open his (Smalley's) trunk, the key to which he pretended he had lost. Up to this time Smalley had borne an unblemished reputation and there was no one who thought he had any connection with the band of robbers who had been operating in the vicinity. Smalley secured the keys from Stark without any diffi- culty, returned them in a short time, but while he had them in his possession he took an impression of one which unlocked a certain door of Stark's house. With a key made from this impression, Smalley was now able to

506

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

gain entrance to Stark's house and at once planned to execute the robbery. He and his two partners in crime, Harrison ("Johnson") and Ricketts ("Pete Jones") decided upon the night when the robbery should take place. On the appointed night Harrison held the horses a short distance from the house and Smalley remained in the yard, while Ricketts went into the house and got the money without disturbing anyone in the family. Once on the outside the men had no difficulty in getting away and at once left the com- munity. The robbery was discovered the next day and Col. Merritt C. Welsh, the constable and the keeper of a store in Clifty, was sent in search of the robbers. By shrewd detective work he tracked the robbers over sev- eral states and, after about three months, he captured them. However, in his search for evidence against the men, Colonel Welsh broke into a trunk belonging to Smalley and Harrison without the proper warrant. Smalley immediately filed suit against him in the Bartholomew circuit court and the Colonel was fined one cent, while the costs were thrown on the plaintiff. The doctor and Ricketts were let out on bail until the trial could be held before a justice of the peace in Milford.

Before the case came to trial, however, Harrison confessed and turned state's evidence against his fellow conspirators. Harrison was kept under guard at Stark's house pending the trial and during this time was allowed to go around the farm under guard. He slept in a room in an upper story and it seems that this part of the house was the only part that had an upper story. The rest of the house, one story high, consisted of two wings ex- tending out on either side from this central portion, which stood like a turret above the rest of the building. A day or two before the trial Harri- son jumped out one night and made his way along the roof to the edge of the building and thus escaped. He left the county that night and no one in the county has ever heard of him since that night.

The case came to trial at Milford on the appointed day, but there was not sufficient evidence given to convict the robbers, and the case was dis- missed. Smalley then filed suit against Stark for false imprisonment, but nothing could be proved, so the case was dropped.

Apropos of this case, the following document, taken from the Decatur county records, is very interesting :

"In vacation : State of Indiana, "Decatur County.

"We, Henry Smalley. Reuben R. Cobb, James Morgan, Payton H. Barclay and Robert Smith, owe the state of Indiana two thousand dollars

507

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

to be levied on our property. The condition of the above bond is that the said Henry B. Smalley shall personally be before the Decatur circuit court on the first day of next term, there to answer to a charge of receiving and concealing stolen property, and abide the order of the court, and not to depart thence without leave. Then this recognizance to be void; else to remain in full force.

"HENRY B. SMALLEY. "REUBEN R. COBB. "JAMES MORGAN. "PEYTON H. BARCLAY. "ROBERT SMITH.

"Taken and approved before me this 29th day of August, 1853. "JOHN IMLAY, Sheriff."

In the records of the circuit court at Greensburg is found a similar bond for Greenwood Harrison, filed August 30, 1853, signed by Greenwood Harrison, M. C. Welsh, William Armington, Willet H. Stark, Elijah Mark- land, John Dronberger, J. Q. A. Garrison, Thomas Harwood, James Cory and Robert Smith.

Enough has been said to settle forever the question as to the location of the scene of the "Hoosier Schoolmaster." Many places in the story can be found from the descriptions given by the author and old residents of the little village of Clifty (Milford) point out with pardonable pride where Eggleston lived in the town. The novel created a distinct impression when it came out in the fall of 1871 and to this day it finds a ready sale among the reading public. It has been translated into French, German and Danish and received with popular favor in all those countries. Clifty enjoys the unique distinction of being the only village of Indiana whose beauties and early incidents may be read in four languages. Eggleston has immortalized a period in Indiana life and given it such a flavor that the lives of the people of that period, their manners and customs, will be preserved for all genera- tions to come.

DECATUR COUNTY TAX PAYERS IN 1862.

It will be interesting to the people of Decatur county in 1915 to note the list of taxpayers of 1862, who paid more than one hundred dollars in taxes. The complete list follows :

Greensburg-David Lovett, $356.36; Judge Davidson, $305.00; Greensburg Bank, $268.52; J. S. Scobey, $232.39; D. and J. Stewart,

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DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

$189.05: Ezra Lathrop, $185.43; A. R. Forsythe, $178.70; J. P. Hittle, $157.85; G. Woodfill, $155.8 ; E. and L. P. Lathrop, $132.50; H. H. Tal- bott, $150.79; Smith & McDougle, $146.40; W. S. Woodfill, $127.49.

Washington Township-George W. Sidener, $286.72; R. M. Hamilton, $264.87; J. E. Hamilton, $238.15: Nath Patton, $220.84; J. B. Foley, $209.45: J. E. Robbins, $209.31; T. M. White, $205.91; AAdam R. Meek, $191.26; T. M. Hamilton, $177.64; M. D. Ross, $170.92; R. A. Hamilton, $170.16.

Fugit Township-Luther A. Donnell, $205.50; Samuel A. Donnell, $176.40; John Kincaid, $142.81; John C. Donnell, $131.39; Thomas Meek, $124.95: John Carroll, $124.50.

Clinton Township-William Sefton, $292.68; George Mclaughlin, $239.85; Warder Hamilton, $216.75: Jacob Sandusky, $191.48; T. G. Hamilton, $156.16; John Meek, $143.25; Nathan Swails, $135.54.

Adams Township-Manly Kimble, $183.26; Joseph D. Pleak, $166.84; W. J. Robinson, $131.92; Charles Miller, $131.82; Hiram Jewett, $128.52; David Jewett, $126.78.

Clay Township-Richard Williams, $182.31; J. J. Pavey, $172.90; Walter Braden, $154.99; Caleb Stark, $123.95; Thomas C. Miers, $123.23: S. M. Edward, $122.76.

Jackson Township-R. and D. Gibson, $117.10.

Sand Creek Township-Robert Armstrong, $130.33.

Marion Township-Charles Hazelrigg, $151.61; B. Hardebeck, $100.20.

POPULATION STATISTICS OF DECATUR COUNTY.

1910

1900

1890

Adams township

1,85I

1,867

1,942

Clay township, including Milford town

1,508

1,503

1,68I

Milford town

169

2II

231

Clinton township

641

699

Fugit township

1,328

1,538

1,605

1.369

1,477

1,562

Jackson township, including Forest Hill town_ Forest Hill town

III

152

124

Marion township, including Millhousen town Millhousen town

1.670

1,794 -

2,030

2II

265

224

Salt Creek township, including Newpoint town

1,228

1,532

1,733

Newpoint town

341

45I

509

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

Sand Creek township, including Westport town

2,370

2,562

2,499

Westport town

675

614

452

Washington township, including Greensburg

city

6,828

6.604

5,518

Greensburg city

5,420

5.034

3.596

Total

18,793

19,518

19.277

THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN DECATUR COUNTY.

A perusal of newspaper and contemporary documents discloses the fact that the temperance question has been before the county from almost the date of its organization. It is to be remembered that our American pioneers counted whiskey as »ne of the necessities of life and such orders here given from the commissioners' records were of daily occurrence and caused no comment : "May term, 1823. Ordered by the board that the county agent give Thomas Hendricks a credit for the sum of two dollars being a part of an order made him for thirty dollars, forty and a fourth cents for his services in surveying the town of Greensburgh and for Whiskey furnished the Agent on the day of the sale of lots. Received of Samuel Huston, Agent for the county of Decatur, ninety-three and three-fourths cents for one gallon and a half of whiskey got for the use of said county, August 14, 1823. Sam T. Cross *

* Silas Stewart, Agent Decatur county, Cr. : To amount paid for crying off the carpenter work of the court house, 35 cents; for whiskey 377/2 cents."

Probably the first of the temperance advocates of the county was Levi Wooden, who, according to well-authenticated traditions, was the first in Clay township, and perhaps the county, to refuse to serve whiskey at a log rolling.

The early nation-wide temperance agitation, known as the Washing- tonian movement, hit Decatur county in 1840 and, from the point of view of numbers, was undoubtedly the strongest of the early temperance societies. More than two hundred men joined this society and took the pledge of total abstinence, but, five years later, less than half a dozen had held fast to the oath and the organization died in Greensburg. The Washingtonians had organizations in other parts of the county also and the society at St. Omer continued for many years. This society held a large rally in 1845, at which Joseph Robinson, Thomas Hendricks, I. T. Gibson, the Rev. J. Presley, W. F. Ferguson and J. Cable, made stirring addresses on the evils of strong

510

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

drink. The climax of the Washingtonian agitation was reached when the county board of commissioners, on December 4, 1843, as a result of the numerous petitions, refused to grant any liquor licenses for a period of five years.

Decatur county first voted on the liquor question in 1847. At that time the license fee was one hundred dollars and was known as a grocery license fee. The "wets" won in six townships, Washington and Fugit townships voting dry. The vote was as follows :

Wet.

Dry.

Washington township

154

304

Fugit township

153

Clinton township

Adams township

175

Clay township

1.40

Jackson township

Sandcreek township

IOI

Marion township

Total

835

868

I I

1 I

About this same time the township in which Columbus, Indiana, is located voted "wet" by a majority of twenty-six, while the majority at Brook- ville, Indiana, was thirty-six. The relative standing of the "wets" and "drys" did not change at Greensburg during the next sixty years.

In 1858, Carrie D. Filkins, a well-known temperance lecturer of the day, spoke in Greensburg on the evils of the liquor traffic. She advocated, among other things, that the sale of intoxicants be placed exclusively in the hands of women and that a law be passed making it illegal to sell alcoholic liquors for beverage purposes. As a result of her visit, the Ark of Safety was organized. The Greensburg Standard of the following week comment- ing upon the situation says, "There are at the present time no less than ten whiskey shops in the moral, as some folks term it, town of Greensburg. In the southern part of town, known as Ireland, we are told that almost every house has witliin its walls a barrel of whiskey. What is our beautiful village coming to?"

The temperance wave again struck Greensburg in June, 1877, when a number of meetings were held in Alumni hall. The Red Ribbon Club was organized and gave a social in the city hall. On June 15, several inveterate drinkers signed the pledge and organized a "Dare-to-do-Right" club.

5II

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

FIRST LOCAL OPTION ELECTION IN DECATUR COUNTY.

The first local option election in Decatur county was held on January 26, 1909, and resulted in a "dry" majority of 1,679. As will be seen from the appended table, eight of the nine townships voted to abolish the saloon, Marion township alone returning a "wet" majority of 63. There is no way to tell exactly how the city of Greensburg voted, as its vote was included in Washington township, but it was estimated at the time that there were four hundred votes outside the city. It is fair to presume that the country vote was not materially different from the city vote and on this basis the city vote was 1,035 for the "drys" and 513 for the "wets." The entire county, except a small strip in the southeastern part, voted by more than two to one to. eliminate the saloon. The vote by townships was as follows:

Dry.

IVet.

Maj.

Washington

1,237

61I

626

Fugit

239

IO5

I34

Clinton

106

Adams

339

150

189

Clay

274

103

171

Jackson

259

I71

Sand Creek

480

II5

365

Salt Creek

160

148

Marion

178

241

Totals

-3,273

1,594

1,741

The city of Greensburg voted "wet" by 137 majority in 1911 and three- years later voted "dry" by a majority of 80. Millhousen and Newpoint are the only towns in the county now ( 1915) having saloons. There are two saloons in St. Paul on the Shelby county side of the town.

THE WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.

The Greensburg Woman's Christian Temperance Union was organized on December 9, 1883, by Mrs. M. L. Wells, of Greencastle, who was at that time president of the state organization. Mrs. Dr. Johnson was chosen presi- dent of the local group, with Mrs. L. S. Meal as. corresponding secretary, Mrs. Anna Thomson as recording secretary and Mrs. Charles Kemble as treasurer. Mrs. Thomson resigned as recording secretary and Mrs. Larrie Lathrop was

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DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

elected. Vice-presidents were appointed from the following churches : Mrs. Louise M. Thomson, from the Presbyterian : Mrs. Johnston, from the Baptist ; Miss Spreaker, from the Centenary Methodist Episcopal ; Mrs. Birdsell, from the Christian; Mrs. Dr. Bracken, from the First Methodist Episcopal, and Mrs. Thurman, from the African Methodist Episcopal.

The first meeting was held in the First Methodist church on December 12, 1883. with twelve members present. At this time all the meetings were held in the various churches. At this first meeting. following devotional exer- cises-which, as always afterward, came first on the program-it was proposed to take up some of the different departments of work and, later, superintend- ents were appointed. Mrs. Charles Kemble and Mrs. Ben Swem were appointed superintendents of jail and prison work and Mrs. Louise M. Thom- son was made evangelistic and gospel superintendent. Other departments were added at various intervals.

During the first year, meetings were held weekly. During this year a reading room was opened, a mission school started, under the supervision of Mesdames Bonner and Styers, a dining hall managed and public lectures and sermons arranged for. For the latter, the opera house was secured. At the meeting of December 26, 1883, in the Presbyterian church. in Greensburg, the devotional exercises were a period of spiritual interest and profit to all.

In November, 1885, after two prosperous years, the list of members included the following: Mesdames Johnston, Kemble, Wheatley, Thomson, Copper, Hittle, Styers, Doctor Johnson, Colonel Scobey, Collet, Drake. Wooden, Pool, B. D. Swem, Gavin, S. A. Bonner, Laura M. Thomson, L. S. Meal and the Misses Isabella Hamilton, Stalla Hamilton. Smiley, Davidson. Falconbury and Henika.

The fourth district convention met at the First Methodist Episcopal church, March 27 and 28, 1884, with the state secretary presiding in the absence of the state president. Mrs. Louise M. Thomson was chosen district president, with Mrs. Chester Hamilton as secretary and Miss Lizzie Lathrop as treasurer. . A short time afterward the old district organization was dropped and each county was organized. The present county officers are : Mary Gray, of Greensburg, president ; Mrs. Emma D. Shaffer, of Westport, secretary, and Mrs. Eva Stephenson, of Greensburg. treasurer.

At the present time the roll contains the names of one hundred and eight of the most prominent women of Greensburg, and the names of fourteen men who are honorary members. There are now twelve departments, each with its superintendent. Regular meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, with special meetings occasionally. For the year

HION. WILL CUMBACK.

513

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

1915 an excellent program was prepared containing the declaration of prin- ciples, list of members and the program of each meeting.

The officers and superintendents of departments for the present year (1915) are: President, Versie B. Owens; vice-president, Ella Adams; recording secretary, Rosalie Kercheval; corresponding secretary, Josephine Moody; treasurer, Nannie Gray. Superintendents of departments : Flower mission, Etta Woods, Lessie Gray ; mothers' meetings, Josephine Moody, Arlie Gray ; scientific temperance, Laura M. Thomson, Carrie Clark ; medical tem- perance, Minerva Galbraith; Sunday school work, Emily Brown; press, Ella Adams : temperance literature, Julia Montgomery; Sabbath observance, Sarah Hunter : franchise, Ella F. Smith, Ella Mckay ; medal contest, Louisa Cory, Anna Kennedy ; evangelistic and visiting committee, Mary Gray, Mary Eward, Elizabeth Bennett ; music, Hattie Morrison, Ethel Watson, Esther Wood.

DECATUR COUNTY PEOPLE WHO HAVE RISEN TO DISTINCTION.

Every county in the state of Indiana has produced a few people who have gained reputations for themselves which have extended beyond the limits of their own county, and Decatur county is no exception. In this brief sum- mary of notable persons from this county, only those are given who are not mentioned elsewhere in this volume. The county is proud to honor such men as Congressmen Cumback and Foley, men who have probably carried the name and fame of Decatur county farther than any other man. As an orator, as a scholar, as a lyceum lecturer, as a statesman and as a public-spirited man of affairs, it is not too much to say that Will Cumback was the county's most distinguished citizen. Foley's claim to inclusion among the leaders in his county lies in his service to the state while a member of Congress, and his subsequent career as a successful lawyer.

Two men from the county have been in the consular service of the United States, Richard H. Belt and John Goodnow. Belt was born in Balti- more and was a merchant at Westport when he was appointed consul by President Tyler in 1843. He was stationed at Matamoras, Mexico, but died there a year later of the yellow fever. Ile came to Decatur county from his native city in company with his brother, Thomas. There are no descendants of the family now living in the county. John Goodnow was born in Greens- burg in 1856, the same year his father moved here from Vernon, Indiana, to open a flour-mill. He was appointed consul to Shanghai, China, by President McKinley in 1897.

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History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions, Part 47

Author: Harding, Lewis Albert, 1880- [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1378

Author: Harding, Lewis Albert, 1880- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1378