USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families > Part 13
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OLD TIME EXTRADITION.
During the years 1850 to 1854, W. K. Streight served as sheriff of DeKalb county. One of the incidents related in regard to his term was of the time he went hunting in the creek bottoms while court was in session. He stayed out all day, and in the evening, toward sundown, brought in a nice deer. He was informed, immediately upon his return, that the prisoner had escaped while he, the sheriff, was wading through creek bottoms. Streight saddled his horse and rode to a notorious "hang-out" some distance in the woods, run by Old Sile Doty. There he found his prisoner, in company with seven other men. The sheriff collared his man and calmly rode back to town without molestation.
Another time he wanted a man who had escaped and had taken refuge near Hicksville, Ohio. Streight journeyed to that place and called on the sheriff there, A. P. Edgerton.
"I want a man who is hiding near here," Streight said.
"Well," replied Edgerton, "go and take him then."
"But this is in Ohio," suggested Streight.
"Never mind the state line," Edgerton instructed," just bend it east till it gets beyond the man you want, then take him, and after you are gone, I'll bend the line back again for you."
Streight got his man.
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THE LAST DEER.
The last deer in DeKalb county was seen in March, 1893. He was full grown buck, having horns of four or five prongs. The deer was not cap- tured, and it is supposed that he escaped from a nearby circus.
FROM THE MANUSCRIPT OF J. R. SKILLING.
My father, Michael Skilling, moved with his family from Richland county, Ohio, to DeKalb county, Indiana, in November, 1846, and settled in Richland township, three quarters of a mile west of the present town of Sedan, on a piece of land which he purchased from the government in 1843. They were sixteen days on their journey in a covered wagon which was motored by a team of oxen and one horse in the lead. The wagon furnished the family lodging at night, and shelter from rain. The cooking was done by camp fires and the fire was kindled from a spark that was produced by striking a flint stone on a piece of steel over a tinder box provided for that purpose. I remember well the modes and customs of the pioneers of DeKalb county. The primitive condition of this county was a wild forest of various species of timber of excellent quality, consisting of black and white walnut, yellow and white poplar, white and red oak, white ash, blue ash and black ash, wild cherry, red elm, hickory elm and swamp elm, red and white beach, sugar and maple, and linden which was designated by the early settlers as "bas- wood."
SWAMPS AND ANIMALS.
This was a very swampy country in early days, containing many tama- rack swamps, densely covered with beautiful tall straight tamarack or "hack- matack" trees. Many of the swamps abounded with huckleberries and cran- berries in abundance, for which there was no market, but the new settlers had the pleasure of harvesting all they required for their own consumption. The woods and swamps were well stocked with venomous rattlesnakes and the people were always in fear of coming in contact with these dreaded rep- tiles, although they invariably give warning by the sound of their rattles when approached. Although there were quite a number of people who were victims to the stroke of the fangs of these poisonous serpents, we never heard of a case that proved fatal as the people were educated in the treatment of such cases and were provided with antidotes to give treatment to all patients who required immediate attention. The first pioneer settled in DeKalb .
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county in 1835 and others soon followed. They found the forest well stocked with game, such as wild turkeys, deer, coon, mink, opossums, squirrels, pheasants and otter. There were a few bear, but they soon disappeared as the country improved. The gray timber wolves also abounded, for which there was a diligent search made by the hunters as the county commissioners offered a premium of five dollars for the scalp of each wolf killed in the county. This premium was soon raised to seven dollars, which led to their entire extermination by 1850. The busy honey bees were here in advance of the white man, and established their hives in the trunks of trees where they had stored in abundance the product of their labor. This furnished a very lucrative luxury for the early settlers. The coon, otter, mink and opossums were hunted on account of the value of their fur for which there was a ready sale for cash, to the fur traders who traveled through the county. The deer was hunted as there was a ready sale for their hides, and the venison, which was the principal meat served on the tables of the early settlers. There was distinct evidence that the beaver had once inhabited the county, but they were exterminated in advance of the early settlers.
INDIANS.
The Pottawatomie Indians still inhabited the forests of DeKalb county when the first white settlers located here, but in 1842 they were piloted west of the Mississippi river by a French Indian agent of South Bend, Indiana, by the name of Coquillard. He was named and recognized by the Indians as "Cuttieaw." We have good evidence that DeKalb county was inhabited by a prehistoric race of people, prior to the Indians. We will make a few brief statements on this subject from our own personal observations.
BEAVER DAMS.
This country abounded with water barriers or dams which had been con- structed on the small streams and they were designated by the early settlers as beaver dams. In many places there were two or three in succession on the same stream at such a distance between that the water would be blocked up to the next dam above. These dams were all constructed in the form of a segment of a circle, bracing against the current. The earth used in the con- structing of these dams, in every case had been obtained up the stream, above the structure, which was indicated by caverns in the banks from which the earth had been moved, and perhaps conveyed on rafts to where it was de-
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posited. This could not have been done by the beaver. Large trees had grown on the summit and sides of these supposed beaver dams that showed evidence of age, perhaps a thousand years. An opening had been cut through these embankments and the water let out, when, and by whom, it is not known.
PREHISTORIC EVIDENCES.
DeKalb county has another witness of this prehistoric race of people in the form of an old fort which we visited in 1865. This is located in Smith- field township about two miles south of the town of Ashley, and about three quarters of a mile west of the Auburn and Ashley public road. It consisted of an embankment of earth about four feet high and perhaps twelve or fifteen feet wide, in a true circle, encompassing over an acre. There was a trench on the outside of the embankment about three or four feet deep, and about twelve feet wide, produced by the excavation of the earth in construct- ing the bank. When we visited this relic in 1865 it was in a dense wood and large trees had grown on the embankment and also in the trench, the same as on the dams above described. It is quite evident that this work had all been done about the same period and by the same class of laborers. There was no opening in the embankment. It had ben conceded on good authority that such structures were not built for forts but for a place of worship by the "Mound Builders." Another evidence that a prehistoric race of people in- habited this county is furnished by the stone implements which are found all over the county, as the land is being cultivated, such as arrow heads, spear heads and what is designated by our people as "stone sledges" and "skinning stones." These names are only conjectures as it is not known when or where, or by whom, or for what purpose they were made. In various parts of Europe the same kinds of stone implements are found and of the same quality of stone as those found in DeKalb county. This we see demonstrated in our academies of natural science. We make this statement to refute the presumptive and delusive theory that we so often hear advocated that these stone implements are the product of the Indians. The more we try to in- vestigate this subject, the further we become perplexed.
LUMBER AND ASHERIES.
I personally remember when the very best grades of black walnut and poplar lumber could be bought for five and six dollars per thousand feet, and there was short sale for it at that price. There was no market for the timber
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so in order to redeem the land, trees were cut down and the logs rolled together and burned, regardless of quality. The ashes were gathered and sold at the asheries for six cents per bushel. Here the ashes were leached in large vats and the lye thus obtained was manufactured into potash. There were quite a number of asheries in the county, owned and operated by parties who owned a store, with such goods as were in demand by the settlers. De- Kalb county at present, contains beautiful and valuable farms, but if the original timber that once covered these farms could be replaced, it would command a price in the market today, at the least estimate, to four times the present value of the land.
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.
In 1842 the Erie and Wabash Canal was opened for navigation to Fort Wayne. This enterprise gave DeKalb county the first encouragement for eastern transportation. All the exports and imports were hauled with teams on mud roads and over swamps on corduroy bridges which were formed of logs laid side by side. The exports consisted of wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, potash, maple sugar, cranberries, deer hides and furs. The imports were dry goods, tea, coffee, leather, hardware and whiskey, an indispensable necessity with the hardy pioneers. The early settlers made all the soap they required and their shoes were made by the local shoemaker.
MILLS.
Charcoal was the only coal that could be obtained by the blacksmiths, which was manufactured by burning wood in charcoal pits. The first steam sawmill in the county was built in 1851 in Richland township, at Green's Corners, half a mile south of Sedan, by Fisher & Brown. This was the first steam power in the county, but prior to this date there had been fifteen water saw-mills built in the county. In early days Mr. C. Work built a water saw- mill about half a mile south of the present Auburn Junction. He had a pair of small mill stones set in this mill to grind corn and buckwheat. Here the first grain was ground in DeKalb county. The first flour mill to grind wheat in the county was a water mill built in 1850 by a Mr. Fansler on Cedar creek, about seven miles north of Auburn on the present Ashley public road.
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FIRST PUBLIC UTILITIES.
The first electric light plant in the county was established in Garrett in 1886 by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. The first opera house in the county was erected in Garrett in 1889 by J. William Wagner. The first water works in the county was established by the city of Garrett in 1896 to supply the city with water, which is furnished from eight-inch driven wells, two hundred and fifty feet deep.
CHAPTER VII.
TOWNSHIP HISTORIES.
WILMINGTON TOWNSHIP.
The township of Wilmington lies in the east central portion of the county, and is bounded as follows: On the north by Franklin township, on the east by Stafford, on the south by Concord, and on the west by Grant and Union. S. B. Ward, a pioneer minister, thus described the township: "It is a second rate township in quality of soil, taking it together, yet it has some first rate land in it, especially along 'Big Run,' a considerable stream running across the north side of the township. For fine oak timber, there is no town- ship in the county that surpasses it." The timber, except the second growth, is largely cleared away now, and the land has developed into very fair agricul- tural ground. The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Vandalia of the Pennsylvania system, and the Wabash railroads all cross the township, meet- ing at Butler, in the northeast corner.
ORGANIZATION.
Wilmington township was organized on September 5, 1837, at the first regular meeting of the board of commissioners. The board then consisted of Peter Fair, Samuel Widney and A. F. Beecher, who "ordered that the con- gressional township 34 north, range 14 east, be and it is hereby, organized as a civil township, to be known by the name of Wilmington Township." They also directed "that Byron Bunnel be appointed supervisor for the road district No. I, comprising the whole of Wilmington township, and all the lands resid- ing in the said township shall be allotted to the same district." In March, 1838, fractional township 34 north, range 15 east (now Stafford), was added to Wilmington for judicial and civil purposes, and a new election was ordered the first Monday in April following, at the house of Ira Allen, with Milton A. Hull as inspector.
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EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Wilmington township was not settled in the year 1835, no white man yet having seen fit to throw up a cabin there. The year 1836 saw the building of the first log cabin by Byron Bunnel; Mr. Lonsberry's house was the next, and George Egnew's next. In 1837 these cabins were in the portion allotted to Wilmington when the county was organized and township lines established. Two of these cabins were situated on the Newville and Auburn road, and one was called at an early date the Bunnel place.
The first resident settler of the township was undoubtedly Ira Allen, who came in the very early months of 1837 and pitched a cloth tent on an oak hill on the east side of the township. In that tent he remained several weeks, until he constructed a commodious house, composed of oak logs hewed square and notched down closely. His hardships in clearing his land and building a home for himself made him a broken man. As an instance of these hardships that ruined his health, the following is quoted verbatim from "Pioneer Sketches :"
"Some time in October, 1837, Mr. Allen went out to hunt his cattle, of which he had a number, and after finding them far out in the apparently interminable woods and swamps to the north and west, he started home with them. On the way one of his work oxen mired down. After laboring hard in the mud and water for some time,-the other cattle in the meantime getting scattered in the woods again-he started for his tent, but failed in reaching it, and lay out through the night, cold and frosty as it was, and wet and muddy as he was. The next day John N. Miller, an early settler of the same town- ship, while making his way through the wilderness to the land he had entered, heard someone hail him away out where he was not looking for a human being, and on going where the voice came from, he found Mr. Allen and his boys laboring to get the ox out of the mire, it having lain there all night and until the afternoon of the next day. They had forgotten to bring an ax, and had to cut a pry by bending down a sapling and cutting it off with a pocket knife, while the fibers of the wood were thus strained. Getting this pry under the beast they finally raised him from his sunken condition, but had to roll him several times over before he could find firm footing."
The large block house erected by Mr. Allen was long used as a meeting- house as well as a dwelling, and here in an early day was held many a prayer meeting or Sunday worship.
Other settlers who came in 1837' were: Lot B. Coe, William P. Means,
HC
HARRISON HOTEL
WEST SIDE OF BROADWAY
BUTLER IND.
BROADWAY, BUTLER
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Charles Handy, Dr. Sawyer and several more. The pioneers began to get within striking distance of each other, as it were, and means of social inter- course were established, thus making the nights something more than dark, gloomy spaces of time, with the mingled howls of the wind and prowling wolves. Charles Handy was the first blacksmith in the township, and settled at what was later called Handy's Corners. Amos Lonsberry was the first white child born in the township. At the close of 1837 twenty-two families were settled within the boundaries of Wilmington township. The first mar- riage was that of Dan Coats and Mary Allen. Washington Robinson per- formed the ceremony in January, 1836.
A HARD WINTER.
From the pen of Rev. S. B. Ward the following is taken :
"The winter of 1842-3 will long be remembered by the early settlers of the county, and especially those of Wilmington township. In 1841 and 1842 quite a number of settlers of small means came in, and they had raised but little to live on when the 'hard winter' set in. The fall had been fine, but about the first of November a light snow fell, which mostly went off soon after. On the 17th of the month it set in cold, with high winds and some snow. The snow continued to increase from time to time, until it was nearly two feet deep on the level, with occasional showers and hard freezes, so that it was almost impossible to get about. It snowed a little every day but one through February, and March came in with the severity almost of a polar winter. By this time most of the hay and grain was consumed, and hogs and cattle were daily dying all over the country from stravation. Some settlers lost all their hogs and most of their cattle before feed came in the spring. Very many had to depend on the browse of the tree tops as feed for their cattle for the last two months of cold weather. For the last few days of March, however, even this provison of nature was cut off. When all were anxiously looking for the opening of spring, heart-sick in view of the suffer- ings of the poor dumb animals, the sleeper in his lone cabin in the midst of the forest was awakened on the night of the 27th of March by the continual crashing of the tree tops, which did not cease until day dawned, when to the dispirited immigrant was revealed the cause of all the commotion of the night.
"It had been raining-freezing as it fell-until the tree tops were broken under their load of ice. That day and for several days it seemed that the cat- tle must all die ; for when the trees were cut down for browse, the small twigs,
(10)
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encased in a hard coat of ice, would break off, with the ice adhering, and mingle with the snow. Besides this, the crust on the snow was so thick and hard that the cattle could hardly get about. The wild animals also suffered almost as much, seemingly, as the domestic ones. It was nothing unusual to see squirrels so reduced as to be easily caught by hand. On election day (first Monday in April) snow was one foot deep in the thick woods, and it was good sleighing on most of the roads. That week, however, sent the snow in another form to Lake Erie or the Gulf of Mexico, and in a few weeks herbage began to appear, and hope sprang up again in the settler's heart."
FIRST OFFICERS.
The first election was held at Ira Allen's, on the farm afterwards owned by William Crooks. Says a pioneer : "As our township was in limited cir- cumstances as to population, and most of them had the ague, and it took two of them to make a shadow and even then they could not go to the polls, we had to apply to Stafford township to help us fill up the board, and both town- ships held elections together at the above place and elected the several officers. Among them were William P. Means, for county assessor, and Mr. Lons- berry, for school commissioner. I don't recollect the balance of the officers that were elected in those days; we had not much use for squires nor con- stables, but I think Ariel Walden was elected associate judge for the court of this county. The first justice of the peace elected was a Mr. Pearsons."
Early justices of the peace were : Charles D. Handy, Moses L. Pierson, Daniel B. Mead, P. B. Nimmons, John Moore, Dr. Madden, Ezra Dickinson, Richard Worth, L. A. Benedict and H. C. Colgrove. Constables were : Daniel Coats, H. N. Mathews, Jesse Wood, William K. Streight, William Mathews, William Campbell, Edsall Cherry, Noble Cherry, Peter Kester, A. F. Packer, Hiram Freeman, N. W. Delano, Isaac Eakright, W. D. Armstrong, Joseph Norris and John Weaver. Trustees prior to 1860 were: John Helwig, M. L. Pierson, Collins Roberts, Joseph Nodine, Joseph Totten, Asa Sawyer, S. B. Ward, Thomas Fosdick, E. W. Fosdick, Edgar Treman, William Maxwell, Nelson Smurr, Andrew Smith, William H. Thomas, Dr. Madden, Lot B. Coe, N. G. Sewall, G. Maxwell, W. K. Streight. P. B. Nimmons, W. D. Arm- strong and A. Cochran.
NOTES.
In 1880 the population of Wilmington township was one thousand five hundred and twenty-nine; in 1890, three thousand eight hundred and sixty-
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eight; in 1900, three thousand two hundred and ninety-seven; and in 1910, three thousand.
During the war for the Union, Wilmington was very loyal, being one of the first to respond to the call for three months' men, and every call that was made by the government was met by her quota. The draft was never resorted to in this township.
In 1856 the township was "boomed" considerably by the construction of the air line of the Michigan Southern railroad, and the consequent growth of Butler, at first called Norristown. A market was opened for surplus agricul- tural products, prices went up, and there was a consequent improvement of the lands and equipment of the farmers. The construction of the second rail- road in 1872, and the Wabash in 1892, gave a clinch to the prosperity, and this progressive township has continued to grow ever since.
BUTLER.
The town of Butler was originally called Morristown, in honor of one of the early settlers of Wimington township, Charles Norris. It is located in the northeast corner of the township, on sections 1, 2, 11 and 12. At this town the Wabash, the Vandalia of the Pennsylvania system and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern have a junction, thus adding a great amount of value to the town as a shipping center. Access is also provided thereby to other points of the county in any direction, and to the outside world. In 1880 the population of Butler town was approximately thirteen hundred; in 1890, it had jumped to two thousand five hundred and twenty-one; in 1900, there were two thousand sixty-three inhabitants; but in 1910, the latest cen- sus, there were only one thousand eight hundred and eighteen.
As early as the year 1844 the settlers in the vicinity of the present site of Butler had their postoffice at a point two miles south of the incorporation at Oak Hill, the office being conducted by Thomas Fosdick. In 1842 Egnew, Hanes, Cherry, Morris, Tomlinson and others erected a school house on the land of George Egnew, and this proved to be the first house in Butler. There was a dwelling house built in 1844 by Mr. Brainard. In 1851 a small mer- chandise stock was sold from a log hut standing on the southwest corner of land owned by Charles Norris, and was sold by "Ladd" Thomas and Osburn Coburn. The first frame structure was raised on the later site of the Haver- stock block, in 1855. In 1870 the wooden building was totally destroyed by flames. The second frame structure was constructed by Noble & Madden and used as a general store. At this juncture the postoffice was moved to the
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village, which was given the name of Norristown, after Charles Norris, a real estate promoter of the place. Later the village was known as Jarvis, and about the time of the Civil war the name of Butler was adopted, and has existed since.
Butler's first railroad, the Air Line, was completed May 26, 1856, and in October, 1873, the Eel River road, later the Wabash, arrived. The first tavern was kept by John Shull, and on July 4, 1857, A. A. Kennedy first opened the Waverly House. The first saw mill was erected by Messrs. Dan- forth, Carpender and a third party during the winter of 1853-4, and was destroyed by fire in 1884. The first brick building was put up by Henry Linderfer in 1856. The first death occurred in 1848, and was that of A. Robe, who lived on the later site of Dr. Madden's residence. Henry C. Cherry, born December, 1841, was the first person born in Butler, and the first mar- riage was that of Amasa Smith to Amelia Morris, the ceremony being per- formed by Elder Cherry.
INCORPORATIONS.
The town was incorporated as a town in the year 1866, with W. P. Car- pender, J. A. Campbell and Elihu Ocker as trustees, A. A. Howard as clerk, and William Thomas as marshal. Butler at present is a city of the fifth class, with a population of two thousand people. The town was incorporated as a city in May, 1903. Sam G. Stone, druggist, was the first mayor, but he re- signed before the completion of his term. The remainder of the time until the next election was filled by John Hazlett and Otto Gengnagel. Wallace Webster was the next mayor, and the present incumbent is Walter J. Mond- hank. The other officers of the city now are: F. H. Ritter, city attorney ; L. C. Buehrer, clerk; C. W. Campbell, treasurer; Frank Creager, Ora Water- man, Charles Noragon, S. M. Ramey, Eugene Oberlin, councilmen, and Will- iam Holtzberg, marshal.
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