USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families > Part 4
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The chemical analysis of DeKalb county peat is as follows: Moisture, 105°C, 17.16: volatile, air dried, 73.31 : fixed carbon, air dried, 22.53 ; coke, air dried, 26.67: ash, air dried, 4.14: nitrogen, air dried, 2.56; sulphur, oven dried, 0.74 : per cent. of PO5 in ash, 1.90; per cent. of K'O in ash, 1.56.
THIE FAUNA: PAST AND PRESENT.
If one were in doubt of the existence at one time of many different species of wild animals in DeKalb county one has but to read of the days of the pioneer and Indian, when the streams were filled with fish, eager for the bait, and animals of all descriptions roamed the forest aisles, only waiting for the trapper's bullet. The pioneers' tables were well filled with wild meats in
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those days, but now the many beasts native to this locality have disappeared, or at least are too few to be of value. The buffalo, elk and deer were the first to fall before the white man. Twenty years ago the last deer was shot. The panther and two species of the wildcat once snarled from the trees of DeKalb county and made traveling dangerous to the settler, but it has been fifty years since one of these felines has been seen. The porcupine, beaver and black bear have forsaken their haunts for even a longer period, and the minks, weasels, skunks, for whom a diligent search was once made on account of the value of their fur, have largely disappeared. The different squirrels remain so long as there are spots of forest land in the county, but with the diminishing trees they, too, go. Moles, rabbits and bats are still existent, also muskrats. Gray wolves are extinct, and also the fox family. Groundhogs, or wood- chucks, are occasionally discovered, but very rarely. Wild hogs are an ani- mal of the past, most of this valuable species being domesticated.
The absence of large lakes and streams in DeKalb county has been a force to restrict the variety of fishes. There are, however, some interesting families for the ichthyologist.
The stickleback family are great game fish. There are many species in this family, and each has a popular name, such as black bass, green or Osage bass, big black sun-fish or rock bass, goggle-eye, and the common sun-fish. These fish have diminished greatly. There are no perch in the county, al- though at one time very common. Another fish that has largely disappeared is the pike, also the pickerel and gar pikes. The suckers, buffalo, red horse, and white are fish of the past. Fish of the cat-fish family are still common, but have deteriorated, the best one weighing not over a pound and a half. Among them are the channel, blue and yellow, bull-head. There are several varieties of chubs, silver sides, and minnows in the smaller streams.
Reptiles have at one time been common to DeKalb county, some twenty- three species existing. The larger ones have been exterminated. Two species, the copperhead and massanger, are venomous. The smaller species, like toads, are useful to the country, for they prey on destroying animals like mice and moles. The lizard family is represented here by such animals as the salamander, which is a useful one, having as their prey flies and other pests. There have been eighteen species of these animals here. The largest attains a length of about eight inches, and is of a black color, with large, irregular black spots. Another species is wholly of a yellow color; and yet another is a bril- liant red and haunts cold springs. The second in size is the mud alligator, or water dog; and another has external gills for breathing in water. There are five species of frogs and five of toads. Four are tree toads. One species of
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frog is subterranean, digging backwards into the earth with its hind feet, which are shaped like a shovel. It appears on the surface of the ground in breeding time, after the thunder showers of April, and in the evening, and is recognized by the loud, discordant croak it emits.
In DeKalb county are found over two hundred and fifty different species of the bird family. The singers outnumber the others, although the really good singers are in the minority.
The thrushes are the best singing birds of the county, namely, the wood-thrush. The song of the thrush has been the inspiration of the greatest poets of the world; the thrush's song is varied and tuneful, and is unequaled by that of any other bird. The olive-backed thrush, the brown thrush, and the robin are all migratory birds, and have songs second to the wood-thrush. The hermit and olive-backed thrushes are common to the spring of the year ; the robins and cat-birds haunt the gardens and orchards, preferring civiliza- tion to the wildness of the woods, perhaps feeling more secure there from the preying birds. The brown thrush is ofttimes found in the thickets of the hazel-brush, and briers, which follow old fences and brush heaps; in the latter place the nest is generally built. The food of this family consists of grass- hoppers, beetles, snails, spiders, caterpillars and small fruits and berries.
The bluebird is the only species of that family in the county, and it stays from spring to fall, nesting in bird-houses, fence-posts, decayed trees and feeds on winged insects, worms, grasshoppers, spiders, and a few berries. It is a natural enemy to the song-birds, but is defeated by the English sparrow, which attack in droves.
The golden-crowned and ruby-crowned kinglets and the blue-gray gnat- snatcher are conimon during the spring and fall. The latter is often found in the winter, and the gnat-snatcher is here during the summer. The kinglets nest most often in the region of the lakes, but the gnat-snatcher nests here, usually building his nest high up in the oaks.
The white-bellied and red-bellied nuthatch are very common to this locality, being found in woodlands and orchards, their nests built in holes in the trees. Their food consists of ants, eggs of insects, and seeds.
The black-capped chickadee, or titmouse, the sole member of this fam- ily here, feeds upon insects, berries, seeds, crumbs and meat, and nests in the woods the whole year ; during the winter is found close to the house searching for sweepings.
The Carolina wren is a rare bird, which occasionally gets this far north. However, the house wren is common. The winter wren, the long-billed
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marsh wren and the short-billed marsh wren are common residents of this locality. They feed on insects alone.
The horned lark is a winter resident, sometimes breeding here. Barren and gravelly fields are the abiding place of this bird, and it lives on insects and seeds. When the ground is hidden in snow these birds may be found feed- ing on the droppings of stock about the farm. The titlark is also a bird with similar habits to the above.
The warblers are very numerous in this county. The black and white creeper resides here in the summer, nesting on the ground, preferably beside a fallen log. The blue yellow-backed warbler, a rare migratory bird, is some- times found in the tree-tops of the forest. . The blue-winged yellow warbler is very uncommon, also the orange-crowned warbler. The blue golden- winged warbler is common, and the Nashville and Tennessee variety. The yellow, the black-throated green, the black-throated blue, the blue, the yellow- rumped, the blackburnian, the black-poll, the yellow red-poll, and the chest- nut-sided warblers are all common-some of them abundant; and all of them are migratory birds. The bay-breasted, the Cape May, the prairie, the yellow- throated and Kirtland's warblers are rare. The golden-crowned thrush is rare, but uses this locality as a breeding ground. The Connecticut warbler, a good singer, is rare here. The Maryland yellow-throat is occasionally seen, and the black-capped fly-catching warbler is common during the spring and fall. The Canada fly-catching warbler and the red start are very common.
The scarlet tanager is common, but the summer red-bird is not so fre- quently seen. This is a large family, but little represented in this part of the country.
The swallow is a very common bird in the county. There are several species, namely : the barn, cliff or cave, white-bellied, and the bank or sand swallow. The purple martin, a member of this family, has been driven out by the sparrow. The swallows feed exclusively on winged insects.
The shrikes or butcher-birds are represented here. The great Northern shrike is rare, but the logger-head shrike is common. They are a very quarrelsome bird, particularly among themselves. Their food consists of large insects, mice and small birds and snakes. One habit of theirs is to impale their prey on thorns or twigs and leave it there for future visits.
The finch and sparrow family are very numerous. Among the species are pine grosbeak, purple finch, white-winged and red cross-bills, red-poll linnet, pine linnet, goldfinch, or yellow bird, snow-bunting, Laplong long- spur, Savannah sparrow, bay-winged bunting, yellow-winged, Henslow's and Lincoln's sparrows, swamp and song sparrows, snow-bird, mountain sparrow,
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chipping and field sparrows, white-throated and white-crowned sparrows, English sparrow, fox sparrow, black-throated bunting, rose-breasted grosbeak, indigo bird, towhee bunting or chewink. Except during the breeding season, birds of this family feed upon seeds, and those which are residents during the entire year eat very little during the breeding season, and feed their young almost entirely on insects. The rose-breasted grosbeak is the only bird known to feed on the potato bug and the white-crowned sparrow feeds on the grape-vine flea-beetle. The common yellow bird prefers the seeds of the thistle and lettuce. The chewee, or chewink, and the fox sparrow scratch for the hibernating insects and snails. The cross-bills feed on the seeds in the pine cones, and the English sparrow extracts the seeds contained in the droppings of animals.
The blackbird family is represented by the following species: the bobo- link, a songster; the cow-bird, or cow black-bird, which frequents old pas- ture lands and wood edges in summer; this cow-bird builds no nest of its own, but invades the nests of smaller birds and there deposits its eggs. There is the red-winged blackbird, common in summer; meadow lark; or- chard and Baltimore orioles ; rusty blackbird, or grackle, is common for a few weeks in the spring; and the crow blackbird. Insects and grains constitute the food of these birds. The cow birds destroy the eggs and young of other birds, and the orioles feed on hairy caterpillars and some of the small fruits.
The common crow is a migratory bird, flying to the southward at the first approach of winter. The birds of this family are omnivorous.
Of the fly-catcher family, the king-bird is frequently seen in the sum- mer in orchards and in the edges of the woods. The great-crested fly-catcher is abundant in the forest, and uses snake-skins in the construction of its nest. The pewee, the wood pewee, the least fly-catcher, yellow-bellied fly catcher, are others of this family common to DeKalb county. They subsist on the winged insects.
Other birds common to this locality, and of different families, are: The whippoorwill and night hawk, nocturnal birds ; chimney swallow ; humming- birds ; king-fishers ; black-billed cuckoos, or rain-crows; hairy, downy, yellow- bellied, red-bellied, red-headed and golden-winged wood-peckers; great horned, mottled, screetch, long-eared, short-eared, barn, owls; hawks, in- cluding the marsh, sharp shinned, Cooper's sparrow, red-tailed, red shoulder- ed, broad-winged, rough-legged or black and fish. The white-tailed kite, the goshawk, the pigeon hawk, Swainson's hawk and the bald eagle are more rare. The turkey buzzard, pigeon family, wild turkey, grouse, plovers, sandpipers, herons, cranes, rails, gulls, loons, grebes are seen in this county. Ducks are
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represented here by the mallard type, the black, big black head, little black head, ring-necked, red-head, golden-eye, butter-ball, ruddy and fish ducks, brant and Canada geese, widgeon, golden-winged and blue-winged teal and the hooded merganser. The pintail, gadwall, shoveler, wood duck, canvas- back, long-tailed and red-breasted merganser are very rare.
GAME PRESERVE.
The game preserve in DeKalb county contains five thousand seven hun- dred and ninety-four acres of rolling and level land, lying in the southwestern part of Smithfield township and extending into Grant township. One-tenth of the preserve is woodland and there is much copse and young wood through- out the remainder. The water supply consists of Cedar Lake and Cedar creek, with its tributaries.
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CHAPTER III.
EARLY SETTLEMENT OF COUNTY.
Pioneer history, at its best, is an elusive subject. Records in the days when our fathers hewed their homes from the wilderness were not preserved, and consequently the few sources of information in regard to the faraway days are treasures which must be guarded zealously by the future men and women of the county, lest the tales and deeds of the sturdy settlers be lost from view. Pioneer history grows with the telling; there is glamour and interest centering around the hardships and hard-fought battles of the early day which will bear the retelling numberless times. What if bits of imagina- tion are introduced in the retelling? Any life is prosaic in the stern reality, and narrative beauty is added by the coloration of the pure facts ; of course, adherence to the facts is a prime requisite.
Settlements were miles apart in the early nineteenth century, and social intercourse was difficult. Log rollings, husking bees, barbecues, cabin build- ings, and other pioneer entertainments afforded the only opportunities for the people to congregate together, and these periods were generally months apart. So the pioneer lived alone with his family, in the silent and mighty forest, sallying out before dawn to shoot the game for the day's food sup- ply or to cast a line in the stream nearby. The clothes were manufactured by the woman who sat for days before the loom; linsey-woolsey and home- spun, adorned with skins of small animals, were the popular weaves. A hardiness of soul and body was the result of this life, and men were steel- cast. Today's civilization is deteriorating, but the effects of money and luxuries are too near to us to merit discussion in a work such as this volume. It is to the first men of the county and their influence upon the building up of the county, that this chapter must serve.
FIRST SETTLERS.
The first settler known to have entered the bounds of DeKalb county to make a permanent settlement was John Houlton. He was born in Highland county, Ohio, on September 21, 1804. He built the first house in the county here on section 1, Franklin township, where he resided until his death, June
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2, 1875. Having married Miss Sarah Fee on February 5, 1833, Houlton, in September of the same year, took three hired men, a yoke of oxen, a cross- cut saw and a fro, came on to forty acres which he had entered and in four days had cut the logs for, and raised and covered a house. Settlers prior to 1840 were presented with canes made from the timbers of this first cabin.
Houlton hauled out and buried twenty bushels of potatoes, and left them until he moved on a month later, and the Indians, then numerous, left the vegetables undisturbed. Here, then, in 1833, we find the log cabin of John Houlton alone in the wilderness, its occupants ten miles from Denmark, the nearest settlement. Grain was brought from the prairies, ground at White Pidgeon, and then with many struggles in mire-holes, creeks and sloughs, this heroic pioneer journeyed homeward. Night after night passed at the little cabin, where devoted wife and sister and daughter awaited his return, the howling of the wolves and the half-human scream of the panther awak- ing their solicitude for the dear one absent.
In 1834, John Fee entered land to the amount of over five hundred acres, partly in DeKalb and partly in Steuben. He was followed by Charles Boyer and later by Luther Keep, Charles Crain, and Peter Boyer. During the year 1834, eight pioneers moved into the county by way of Fort Wayne. Their names are : Peter Fair, and his sons Abram and Charles; Charles F. Crouse, George Delong, and Andrus, Jacob and John Surface. On October Ist, they entered Butler township, with a four-horse team and a wagon. They cut their road from Squire Caswell's in Allen county, beyond Huntertown, five miles to the place where they settled, and also a good share of the way from Fort Wayne, as the track was too narrow and crooked for a four-horse teanı. Our plan, said Abram Fair, was to come out, build cabins, make a beginning, and then return to winter in our old homes in Montgomery county, Ohio, and bring on the families in the spring. Provisions for the trip were brought along, excepting meat which was expected to be obtained by killing deer, but deer were found quite scarce that season, and there was a consequent disappointment. One day Andrew Surface found a hollow tree on Black Creek; a bear had gnawed a hole and helped himself to the store of honey, but upon chopping into the tree six gallons of honey were obtained. Bee trees were soon found afterwards, and a supply obtained to last the entire party twenty days, and on their return to Ohio, they took along twenty-one gallons of strained honey. The honey-bee is seen to have preceded the settlement of the county, and bee hunters were successful. Then the bee-moth threat- ened to exterminate the insect, but later S. Rogers and I. Diehl had large apiaries, and made bee culture a success. During the following year, settlers
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entered land in different parts of the county, and soon the work of brush burning, log rolling, rail splitting, and cabin raising was under headway. Clearings were met with at wide intervals, and the dense forest of the county re-echoed to the stroke of the ax, as trees came crashing and thundering down.
In the early part of the year 1836 comparatively few settlers were located within the bounds of what is now DeKalb county. Homer Blake, below Spencerville; David Butler; Samuel Wasson; John Mathews; Mr. Yates, near Spencerville ; Mr. Rhodes and sons; Jeremiah Rhodes; Mr. Brandt and Cran- nel Rood, also near Spencerville; William Mathews; George and David Mathews ; Mr. Lytle and Jared Ball, near Orangeville ; Washington Robinson, on the present site of Newville; and William Rodgers and Jacob Platter, near Newville; were those who resided here before the year 1836, most of them in the southern part of the present area known as DeKalb county. This was before the formal organization of the county of DeKalb. A portion of the territory was attached to Lagrange and a portion to Allen county.
Early in the year 1836, John Blair settled on a farm, on which place he lived his entire life. Charles Wilber, near Orangeville; William Burley, in the same locality ; Joseph Ludwig; Judge Walden and Ariel Rood, farther up the river. Toward the end of the year Judge Samuel Widney located on the farm where he spent the rest of his days, and John P. Widney on the farm owned now by A. I. Richmond; Benjamin Alton on the farm which was later the Dr. Herrington place; Dr. Babcock on another farm; and Asher Coburn and relatives, in the Coburn settlement. During the same season Wesley Park settled on the site of Auburn, and laid out the town.
EARLY LIFE.
The pioneer, in his journey to the county, met with many reverses, in one form or another. He traveled through untrodden forests, poled and rowed his boat along swollen streams, and often was delayed for days by accidents. Roads had to be cut through the forest and improvised bridges constructed over the larger streams. A good illustration of the method of pioneer travel is the experience of Judge Widney, from central Pennsylvania.
From his home in the last mentioned state, Judge Widney came by canal to the Allegheny mountains, over the mountains by steam road, then again by canal to Dayton, Ohio, thence by wagons through the black swamp to Fort Wayne, Indiana. On horseback he and his wife came up the Indian trail along the St. Joseph river, while his family, in care of John P. Widney and wife, came in the pirogue of Judge Walden and Thomas Gorrell, who had
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come down for provisions. The pirogue was "poled" along the river, and everything went well until they reached a ripple near David Butler's home, when the boat, having turned broadside against the current, was capsized, precipitating the occupants in the stream. The goods floated down stream and the people floundered around in the water which was, at that point, three or four feet deep. Some of the larger children succeeded in getting ashore, while the wife of John P. Widney grasped a five-year-old child (afterward Mr. Widney's second wife) and helped her to the bank. The men scattered down the river to retain the luggage which had floated down. One trunk containing a considerable sum of money. was recovered fully a mile from the scene of the accident.
Joseph Miller, the first surveyor of DeKalb county, and his father trans- ported their goods by way of Fort Wayne to Shryock's mill, and from thence to the farm about a mile below Auburn. They were forced to cut their path through the dense forest. They left the most of their goods and their families on the Maumee, and penetrated the woods, going east, by means of a small pocket compass, to the St. Joseph, circling the worst and impassable swamps. They cut a road back, a distance of twelve miles, in order that their wagons might pass, and also had to bridge a tamarack swamp on the route. This road was afterward known as "Miller's trace," and served as a highway for many emigrants. It was located where the road now runs westward from the St. Joseph river, at the place of Judge Widney's.
The closest mill and market to the DeKalb county settlement was at Fort Wayne, about twenty-six miles from the center of the river colony by land, and nearly as far by the meandering river. There were no wagon-roads then, consequently the river was mostly utilized as a highway. Pirogues-large canoes hollowed from a tree trunk, preferably the poplar-were used as vehicles of navigation. They were generally three or four feet wide, and seventy to eighty feet long, thus would carry quite an amount of merchandise and provisions. Poles and paddles furnished the motive power. The task of poling these cumbersome boats up the river, especially when the water was too high for the poles to touch bottom, can easily be imagined.
Mr. Rhodes, of Newville, and Samuel Wasson, of Spencerville, were at one time compelled to pole, or pull, a loaded pirogue all the way from Fort Wayne to Spencerville by holding to the willows and other bushes along the river bank. It took them a full week to make the journey. Late in Novem- ber, 1836, John P. Widney and a party came up with a load of provisions. The river was swollen from the fall rains, and the "slush ice" was running. Whenever the men drew their poles from the water the water turned to ice
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on the poles, and these had to be handled with bare hands, as gloves or mittens could not be used. This journey also required a full week.
Provisions at Fort Wayne at this time were not very plentiful. Flour sold for fourteen dollars per barrel, and was of an inferior grade at that. Corn in the ear was one dollar and fifty cents per bushel, and salt was two dollars and twenty-five cents per bushel. Other necessities were correspond- ingly high in value.
Thus, the early settlers of DeKalb county were frequently in a predica- ment in regard to their necessary provisions. The distance was great and the prices almost prohibitive. In fact, many families went hungry, with no means to supply themselves with adequate provisions. Potatoes were used for everything at times, even for bread, and then, some families considered themselves fortunate to get a few potatoes. Other families lived on wild vegetables gathered from the surrounding forest, and cooked as greens, with milk and beech bark. Fever and ague often visited one of these homes, and the utmost energy and strategy was required to prevent a complete loss of the home.
THE LOG HOME.
The log cabin of the early settler has practically disappeared from the state. It is interesting to note how these primitive homes were built, and the material used in their construction. The average cabin was about sixteen by eighteen feet in size, and just high enough for the joists below the first rib. The logs are cut one day and hauled to the site of the proposed cabin, where they are laid out. The next day the neighbors from miles around come in and assist in the work of throwing up the logs. Puncheons are split for the floors, one side being dressed off even with the axe, altogether about two inches thick. The heavy ribs are fastened to the logs, and clapboards put on the top, overlapping a third over each other. Heavy weight poles are laid along these clapboards to keep them in place. Butting poles are placed on the eave-bearer, projecting some two feet from the wall line of the cabin. A back wall is built of clay in the end of the cabin in which the owner intends to have his fireplace. The chimney, supported by sapling uprights, is built of alternate layers of mud and sticks. The windows are cut from the logs, and greased paper fastened over the aperture to permit light to enter. This con- stitutes the structure of the cabin itself, but there still remains the problem of furnishing the interior. Puncheons are used to make the tables, rough chairs, benches and beds.
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