USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families > Part 11
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A. L. Kuhlman was a major of the Third, or One Hundred and Fifty- seventh, and Clyde L. Hine was a sergeant-major.
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DEKALB COUNTY, INDIANA.
PERIOD OF SERVICE.
The One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, arrived at Camp Mount, Indianapolis, on April 26, 1898, under orders from the governor, for the purpose of being mustered into the service of the United States. Companies of this regiment came from Knox, Fort Wayne, Goshen, North Manchester, Elkhart, South Bend, Angola, Waterloo, Auburn, Ligonier, and Plymouth. The work of preparing for muster was necessarily slow, as all officers and men had to pass a physical examination, and be accepted by the surgeons, before they would be accepted by the United States officers.
The regiment was mustered into the volunteer service on May 10, 1898, and left for Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, Georgia, on Sunday, May 15th, and on arriving there on May 17th went into camp; left Camp Thomas June Ist, for Port Tampa City, Florida, and arrived there on June 3d; left Port Tampa City, July 29th, for Fernandina, Florida, arriving there on July 30th; remained at Fernandina until August 30th, when it was ordered to Indianapolis, for muster out of service, where it arrived on September 2d, was furloughed for thirty days on September 10th, and was finally mustered out and discharged November 1, 1898.
CHAPTER VI.
REMINISCENCES.
WESLEY PARK'S TALE.
For the readers of this history there is preserved the personal narrative of Wesley Park, the first settler and founder of the city of Auburn, the present county seat. His account runs as follows :
"In the fall of 1835 George Stone, Hiram Johnston and myself left Licking county, Ohio, in a two-horse buggy to seek a home in what was then called the West. We went by way of Columbus, Sandusky, Maumee, De- fiance, Fish Creek and Lima, to South Bend. We then returned to Lima, where Johnston and Stone settled and started a tannery. I returned to Fish Creek and entered land adjoining John Houlton's. I then returned to Ohio and stayed until February, 1836. Started to Indiana then with a drove of cattle and load of dried fruits, got to Lima, sold out and started, in company with John D. Howe, Esq., to the center of the new county, afterward called DeKalb, to locate a site for a county seat.
"We got to Pigeon river, and the same canoe upsetting, I swam over the stream. Howe came over in the canoe, swimming his horse alongside. Stayed all night at Glover's. Started in the morning on our journey and that night reached section 13, township 34 north, range 13 east (Union town- ship now), and lay out in the woods. The snow was four inches deep. We kindled a fire and I peeled bark to lie down on, but Howe, being tired or lazy, or both, laid down on the snow. In the morning he had melted his whole length in the snow and was wet, but I was dry. I lay all night with my rifle by my side to be prepared for the wolves that howled around continually. After hunting a day for the best site, decided on the piece of land where Auburn now is. Entered the land, and laid out the town. I then put up a shanty, ten by twelve feet and cut a road through to Pleasant Lake; brought through a cart load of goods with a yoke of oxen and a milk cow. After- ward Joseph Miller and I started from William Miller's, I with my cart and
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oxen and he with me to help cut the road, being nothing but a trace with the logs still in and too narrow for a cart, as will be hereafter noticed.
"My object was to get through by the way of Blair's mill to Fort Wayne for a load of provisions. It was afternoon before we started, and night over- took us near the little creek that crosses the Fort Wayne road near Mr. John Grube's. We had no provisions along, as we expected to get through to Blair's. The cow, however, that I brought through from Pleasant Lake, being used to following the team, was fortunately with us, and I milked her and told Miller that milk was good enough for me. Miller did not like to drink the new milk, but there was no alternative, so he took a good draught. It did not lie well on his stomach, and he soon threw it up. The next morn- ing, after lying out through the night, we cut through to the mill and I went on to Fort Wayne and Miller returned to get his breakfast, no doubt with a good appetite.
"Getting back with my provisions, I set up tavern in my shanty. I did my own cooking, and was crowded with travelers and land hunters, who came to have me show them land to enter. One night I kept fifteen men who very nearly filled my hotel. Some lay on a shelf, and the rest on the ground under it, so that there was plenty of bed room. After eating up the first load of provisions. I went to Fort Wayne for another. On my return, the Little Cedar was so high that I had to swim my oxen and carry the load and cart by pieces over the creek on a log, as I had adopted as my motto: 'Go ahead.' Got back again finally to the hotel.
ARRIVED AT THE SITE OF AUBURN.
"I kept travelers, showed land, and erected a cabin eighteen by twenty feet, one and a half stories high, with a roof of rafters and clapboards. It stood on the lot close to the old water saw-mill. I then returned to Ohio and brought out my wife, Sophia, and my son, Amos, then a child. Launcelot Jugman and family also came with me. We all arrived at Auburn on the sixth day of August, 1836. We laid down a few puncheons, and went to housekeeping. A few days' work completed our cabin.
"In the winter of 1836 the act passed the Legislature to organize DeKalb county. Littlefield, of Lagrange, Gilmore, of Steuben, and Robert Work, of Allen, were appointed commissioners to locate the county seat. I was ap- pointed by the governor, sheriff of the new county, with authority to appoint the place for the elections in the few precincts in the county, and to receive and forward the returns. The result of the election is stated elsewhere.
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"After the organization of the county my house served as court house, jail, hotel, church, cooking room, sleeping apartment, etc.
"As sheriff appointed, and afterward elected, I had no jail but the upper chamber of my cabin. I used to put prisoners up and then take away the ladder and tell them to stay there, and they always did so.
"The lower chamber was the court house. During the sitting of court it had to suspend until dinner was cooked. . This gave the judge time for a nap, which was very desirable, as he was generally fatigued and sometimes rather boozy. Charles Ewing was the president judge. He was a brother to the celebrated fur traders, W. G. and G. W. Ewing. Judge Yates has been spoken of as an odd genus of a backwoodsman. One day he got 'tight,' and sentenced Jo. Bashford to receive a whipping and swore that as he was the court and had passed sentence, he would inflict the penalty. As the judge was making toward the criminal with this avowed intention, I seized him and gave him a whirl, told him plainly that if the court persisted in inflicting the penalty threatened, the sheriff would put the court 'up the ladder.' Upon this, the court acknowledged the authority of the sheriff, and adjourned peace- fully.
TRYING TIMES.
"Will you allow me now to go back to the winter of 1836 and 1837 and relate some instances of that hard winter? There were now about thirty families in the county and many of them suffered severely, having to bring all of their provisions from Fort Wayne or the northern prairies, with scarce- ly anything that could be called roads. At one time our corn cost us three dollars per bushel. I saw teams that had to travel seventy-five miles for pro- visions. I never drove more than sixty miles for corn, beyond Fort Wayne up the St. Mary's river. It was a trying time for me and my wife, but she was always cheerful. I took the rheumaitsm and lay several weeks. In De- cember the snow fell two feet deep.
"Emigrants were still coming in. A man, woman and child left Pleasant Lake with a wagon and a yoke of cattle to go ten miles south of Auburn. One of their oxen mired down in Smithfield township, eight miles north of Auburn. There was then no house between Steubenville and Auburn. The mired ox died, and they turned the other loose and started for Auburn afoot. carrying the child. The waters were then high, and they had to wade the small streams. About nine o'clock at night they reached our cabin, with clothes frozen above the waist. We gave them dry clothes and a warm supper and kept them until the roads were broken.
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"A few moments after the arrival of these sufferers, a traveler came in and told us that a man and a boy were out in the trail about six miles in a suffering condition, not being able to strike a fire, and the man so frozen as to be unable to travel. On receiving this information, Wesley White and William Palmer got up the pony and started for the sufferers. They found the man on section 9, township 34, range 13. (We always counted by sec- tions as the trail was very crooked). They got him on the pony and brought him in about midnight, frozen to the knees; yet he contended that he was not cold. We got his legs into a tub of spring water, and thus drew out the frost. But the boy must be saved. The old man offered us fifty cents to bring him in, which led me to administer him a severe rebuke.
"I told him if the boy was not worth more than fifty cents, he was not worth bringing in. He was then ten miles out, in snow two feet deep, among swamps filled with water and swollen streams.
"No money, however, was needed to induce us to go to his rescue. He had kept traveling and was thus saved from freezing.
"They proved to be Mr. Graden and son, of Noble county. They left home in pursuit of cattle. The snow commenced falling, and they traveled on through Fairfield township and until they struck the trace and knew not which way to turn. They were well provided for at the cabin and in a few weeks were able to return home.
"Wesley White, who was so active in the above rescue, was a good man. He had come down from Lima to stake out some lots.
"He afterward went to Sparta, Noble county. He was deputy clerk for Isaac Spencer, and afterward clerk of Noble county.
"After thus saving the life of others, he was drowned in Elkhart river, west of Albion. William Palmer was a rather mischievous old bachelor, and loved to play pranks on the Indians, who used to annoy us considerably, although they furnished us with venison, bear meat, turkeys, cranberries, etc., for money or such things as we had to exchange.
"They were honest, and some of them religious, before the whites gave them fire water and stole their ponies and blankets.
"Thy used frequently to apply to me to take away 'bad Indian' when- ever any of their number misbehaved. After the whites had created in them the unnatural appetite, they were very fond of whiskey. One day a poor squaw came to my house and begged hard for whiskey. Palmer took the pepper-sauce bottle and handed it to her; she took a very hearty drink, but as soon as she had removed the bottle from her lips, she began to spit, sputter, salaver and holler 'pizen ! pizen!' while Bill Palmer, the perpetrator
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of the joke, rolled and laughed to his hearts content. After her sufferings were over, I and my good Sophia took a good laugh at her, and she never troubled us again.
INDIAN CUSTOMS.
"The Pottawatomies and Miamis were the principal tribes in DeKalb county. Their manner of burying the dead was to dig a grave eighteen inches deep, put in the dead, cover with leaves, and then build a tight pen of poles over the grave. Sometimes they cut down a tree, split off a piece from the top of the log, dug out a trough, put in the body, and then covered it up closely with poles. They burnt the leaves around these burying places every fall, to keep the fire in the woods from getting to them. They dis- liked very much to have their dead interfered with, yet it was done by un- principled whites. It was not uncommon to see their graves opened, the bones scattered around, and the skull of an Indian set out in the log in full sight.
"The spring of 1837 was very gladly hailed by the settlers, after stem- ming the storms and suffering the privations of a hard winter. During this season emigrants began to come in more plentifully and several cabins went up in Auburn. I had given one-third of the lots to the county, receiving no compensation but the assurance that it would be permanently the county seat. In most cases, too, I gave a lot to every settler building thereon. This year, 1837, I and Mr. Ogden built the saw mill. The town continued steadily to improve, and has been blessed with good inhabitants with few exceptions. Much of the land in the county was taken up by speculators. This hindered its settlement to a considerable degree for some years. The crash of banks in 1837-8 was severely felt and many suffered for want of food and raiment. The years 1836-7 were healthy seasons; 1838 was more sickly; 1839 still more so, and from that time until 1850, there was more or less of bilious complaints every season. Since 1850 both town and country have been gen- erally healthy."
FROM MANUSCRIPT OF S. W. WIDNEY.
From a pamphlet published about sixty years ago by Rev. S. W. Wid- ney, entitled "Pioneer Sketches," the following is quoted: "Many of the settlers had never seen an Indian before coming here; but they had heard and read much of their savage barbarity. During the years 1835-6-7-8, many of these red men still lingered in their native forests, generally in large companies or camps. They were an object of terror to many of the settlers,
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especially to the women and children, as singly or in caravans, they passed from one camp to another. To add to the terror at first, the screams of a great owl unknown in the east, but abounding in the western woods, were taken for the whoops of savages.
"Well do I remember a night in the fall of 1837, spent in terror of Indians. I had been in the county six months, but as yet had seen very few of them. My widowed mother, with six children younger than myself, (and I not yet seventeen years of age), bought and settled on a farm. Here an Indian trail crossed the river, and on the other side was a house where liquor was sold. Soon after nightfall, the real whoops were heard away in the south woods. The sound grew continually nearer, and increased in volume, till fears pictured a whole army of savages coming to murder us. We put out the lights, fastened the doors, and concealed ourselves in different parts of the house. Soon the Indians were tramping around the house, and their torches gleaming through the windows. We almost held our breath with fear. Soon, however, they passed by, down to the river, and taking our canoes crossed over, and their whoops died away, drowned in the Indian's favorite beverage, good old rye. But our rest was spoiled for the night, as we continually dreaded their return.
"Afterward, however, we became better acquainted with the poor Indian, as a camp of some forty men, squaws and papooses spent four or five weeks in their tents within twenty rods of the house, visiting us, or we them, daily. The men spent their time hunting, dressing their game, gambling, or lying around the fire like dogs. The women chopped the wood, made the fires, and waited on their lords and masters while the children shot birds with their bows and arrows. Joe Richardville, son of the celebrated chief, was in the camp, dressed partly like an Indian and partly in the European costume. His college education failed to make anything out of him but an Indian."
FLOOD WATERS.
Again quoting from Rev. Widney: "I remember far back beyond the flood. Many of the first settlers along the river built their cabins on the bottoms on account of the rich, deep soil, so inviting for corn and potatoes. Now it happened that St. Joe, notwithstanding his saintship, had a mighty trick of 'getting high' occasionally, and on such occasions, took a regular spree, transcending all bounds of propriety, and scattering and destroying things in general. It was in the winter of 1838, about the first of January, when we were dwelling securely in the neighborhood of this mild looking
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saint, that he unexpectedly 'imbibed' too largely, and advanced upon us, raging and foaming terribly, without any provocation whatever. The river rose until it overflowed its banks and surrounded the house. This alarmed us some, but it seemed to be nearly at a stand, and we hoped that it would soon retreat. But instead of falling, it continued to rise until the loose floor began to float. We then raised the floor about six inches, being sure that the water would rise no more. We were doomed, however, to be again disappointed. The water still rose. Being midwinter, we had all of our fire wood to 'boat' in with our canoe, which we kept cabled at the cabin, and we managed still to keep a fire above the water.
"The night after raising the floor we retired to rest, and the next morn- ing found the floor all afloat again, so we concluded to embark for safe quarters. Running the canoe into the water, we took the passengers from the bed, and, packing everything which the water could injure, above its reach, we crossed the raging river to sojourn with friends until after the flood. The water rose until it was two and a half feet deep in the cabin, and then began to subside. Just then a severe freeze set in, leaving the entire bottoms covered with a sheet of thin ice. When the river got within its banks again, we returned throughout the ice, and took up our residence in the cabin. Other settlers besides us suffered from this saintly freak, but we have not the particulars."
FROM THE MANUSCRIPT OF W. H. DILLS.
"We can very well remember seeing these early settlers and their families with their white-covered wagons, the wife or daughter driving, the father and boys following and driving, with the aid of a dog, a cow or two, some- times a few sheep, all wending their way toward the setting sun, or plunging into the forest, and hauling up or stopping upon a tract of land, upon which not a tree had been cut, and where for ages the rays of the orb of day had not penetrated, amidst the chorus of the feathered songsters of the grove and the silence of the night, disturbed only by the hootings of the owl, or the indescribable howlings of hungry wolves. There you, or the fathers of you, who came in early times, halted their wagons, which contained all they had on earth; and there today you will find comfort, luxury and ease.
"Before reaching that final resting place weeks and months had passed in reaching the goal, following Indian trails scarcely wide enough to admit of the passage of a wagon, no bridges, dangers to be encompassed on every side, the early settler was of necessity his own sentinel, and upon himself
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relied for protection and safety. The trails would sometimes seem to run out-come to an end. Sometimes they would divide and create doubt as to the course that should be pursued. He had no compass and could not tell the cardinal points, but by an examination of trees he could tell the north side of them by the heaviest growth of moss or bark, and thereby determine his course. When night came ere he reached his destination, by the side of the trail, where water and grass were sufficient, he would build a fire, without the aid of matches, by the side of some huge log, and there prepare their meal, his wife and little ones retiring to sleep in the wagon, and he, wrapped in a blanket, on the leaves under it. with his faithful dog on one side and his trusty rifle on the other, there seek repose and rest, with as much confidence of safety and exemption from injury as you upon your downy couches, within bolted doors.
"After reaching his land, purchased of the government at $1.25 per acre, or from some speculator for $2.00, $3.00 or $4.00 per acre, the pioneer finds for a time that his neighbors are few and far between. With difficulty he at last succeeds in building his rude little cabin and in clearing off a few acres, by cutting down all the trees eighteen inches or less in diameter, and girdling all the others, which will give him a short supply of corn and vege- tables.
"The privations of the early settler were great, but often their perils were still greater. Diseases, indigenous to a new country, of which he had previously no knowledge or experience, and generally malarial in their char- acter, were certain to overtake him and his family. The massive foliage of the giant trees through which the sun scarcely penetrated, and the black soil vegetation, and the decayed vegetable matter everywhere abounding, generated vast columns of miasma. No physician or drug store was prob- ably within twenty miles, and himself and family were racked almost to death with the shakes, or scorched with raging fevers. Until acclimated by a resi- dence of from two to five years, and sometimes longer, the early settler was yearly visited with attacks of fever and ague, and felt thankful, indeed, if in the fall seasons he did not have an attack of bilious or intermittent fever. Snake bites, broken or cut limbs, and rheumatism from his frequent ex- posure were of frequent occurrence, and no medical aid at hand.
"Even in health their privations seem almost incredible to us. Lumber was not to be had at any price ; mills were distant, and what roads there were, were almost impassable. A journey of weeks, sometimes, leaving the wife and children, was necessary to obtain the necessities of life. Families were almost driven to the verge of starvation, living for weeks on potatoes, wheat
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bran, and I have heard, on beach-bark and milk. The private history of the sufferings, privations and heroic endurance of many families in early times in this county has not been, nor will it ever be, written.
"In early days we asked not whether the new comer was a Whig or a Democrat, Jew or Gentile, Methodist or Baptist, rich or poor; all we wanted to know was that he was a neighbor and a man. Was he a good fellow, truthful, honest and charitable? If he had not these qualities, he did not stay long enough in our midst to become an old settler.
"At the risk of wearying you, I will name a few of those veterans who were the foremost men of the county in 1845, but who have gone to their long homes. Let us speak reverently of them. Their faults were human, but their good qualities and many virtues will commend them to our considera- tion. I will give them by townships in the usual order, leaving out Keyser, which was not then formed :
"Butler-The Brooks, Henry Clark and sons, George Delong, the Embrys, Abraham and Charles Fair, Nathaniel Fitch, the Greggs, the Bells,. the Hoffmans, Hogues, Holbrooks, Jacksons, Lungs, Millers, Rodenbaughs, Reeves, Shulls, Simons, Surfaces, Natts and Wellers.
"Jackson-The Bishops, Cools, Cobblers, Komeskys, Daves, Draggoos, Essigs, Georges, Hurshes, Hendersons, Hartles, Johnsons, Lawheads, Means, Moores, Mowries, Osburns, Sugars, Staffords, Squiers, Stewards, Tarneys, Watsons, Wyatts, Williams and Zimmermans.
"Concord-The Allens, Altons, Burleys, Blairs, Balls, Carrs, Culbert- sons, Coburns, Catlins, Draggoos, Dawsons, Fales, Headleys, Johnsons, Knights, McNabbs, Nichols, Owens, Robinsons, Rhodes, Sechlers, Wid- neys, Woodcoxes, Williams and Whites.
"Newville -- The Bartletts, Dodges, Delongs. Ellises, Lewises, Law- rences, Murphys, Rogers, Platters, Strongs, Steeles, Thomases, and Waldons.
"Stafford-The Barbers, Coats, Christoffels, De Forrests, Deihls, Head- leys, McDaniels, Roses, Strohls, Shoubs, Schofields, Websters and Wane- makers.
"Wilmington-The Armstrongs, Babcocks, Coes, Crooks, Eakrights, Egnews, Fosdicks, Finneys, Helwigs, Hackleys, Handys, Imhofs, Jackmans, Kreutzes, Maxwells, Mullenixes, Meeses. Morrises, Nelsons, Nodines, Pack- ers, Rutledges, Roberts, Robes, Sawyers. Tremans, Tomlinsons, Tottens, Veeleys, Widneys, Woods and Weeks.
"Union-The Ashelmans, Altenburgs, Abbotts, Bidlers, Baughmans, Browns, Cospers, Clays, Fishers, Fulks, Gingriches, Husselmans, Krums,
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Lutzes, Latsons, McEndefers, Misers, Summers, Strohs, Weavers, Weeks, Walworths, Whetsels, Parks and Ingmans.
"Richland-The Bangs, Cowleys, Clays, Calkins, Daileys, Dewitts, Feaglers, Greens, Hardys, Moodys, McMillens, Pennells, Rogers, Shulls, Showers, Treshes and Weirocks.
"Fairfield-The Chaffees, McNabbs, Powells, Storys, Gushwas and Wells.
"Smithfield-The Baxters, Boyers, Blakers, Corwins, Danks, Daniels, Hemstreets, Holmes, Krums, Kelleys, McCoshes, Smiths and Walkers.
"Franklin-The Aldriches, Balls, Bowmans, Bucks, Beards, Crains, Dirrims, Ducks, Firestones, Houltons, Holmes, Hammonds, Jones, Jackman's, Jeffords, Keeps, Lewes, Manns, McQueens, McCurdys, McAllisters, Myers, Nidigs, Nelsons, Olds, Porters, Packers, Rudes, Stambaughs, Shulls, Snooks, Thurstons, Watermans and Wilsons.
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