History of Elkhart County, Indiana; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history: portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 34

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, C. C. Chapman & co.
Number of Pages: 1192

USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > History of Elkhart County, Indiana; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history: portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 34

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Mr. John W. Irwin said that he came to this country the fifth day of May, 1832. He nsed to do the milling on horseback, carry- ing the grist to MeConnell's mill, on the east side of town, on the land owned now by Henry Pierce. Father Pease, who was there near him, had built it. He usually carried two bushels of grain for a grist, and it was a whole day's grinding. Wolves were plenty in those days, and premiums were offered on their scalps. One man had a large trap made out of logs, and set with triggers to catch them in, and once when he went to examine it he found some- thing wrong, stepped into it. sprung the triggers by accident and canght himself, where he must have perished had not some of his neighbors come to his relief. He had gone to school, also, where greased papers were the windows, and the whole side of the house was used as the chimney.

Dr. E. W. H. Ellis said that he was 23 years of age when he came to this country; he settled and practiced medicine in Elkhart; the conntry was infested with disease then; he had known 11 persons sick in one room 15 feet square, yet now there was no healthier country in the world. He came to Goshen in 1839, to

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

take charge of the Goshen Democrat, which had been published there for over one year by Thomas H. Bassett, a man of talent and eccentric habits. In 1841 he was a candidate for County Anditor against Charley Murray ; it was called the pony race; he outwinded Charley and was elected. He had published the Democrat 11 years, and had associated with him M. B. Hascall. After he left the concern his brother. W. R. Ellis, published it, and afterward Judge Lowry acquired a full interest in it.

The reminiscences of bygone times are made doubly interesting by being the living utterances of the pioneers. They are really historical, and the labor exercised in a search for them has been well rewarded in the quantity and quality of the matter brought to light.

CHAPTER IV. HABITS AND CUSTOMS.

Now, my co-mates, and brothers in exile. Hath not old custom made this life more sweet

Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods More free from peril than the envious court ? Here feel we but the penalty of Adam. The season's difference, as the icy fang And churlish chiding of the winter's wind,

Which, when it bites and blows upon my body, Even till I shrink with cold, I smile, and say This is no flattery ; these are counsellors, That feelingly persuade me what I am. Sweet are the uses of adversity. Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in its head; And, this our life, exempt from public haunts, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

In their own circle, within St. Joseph county, the pioneers have done much that deserves honorable mention. It is true that the fame of a Washington and the terribly earnest patriotism of a Montgomery have not been their share; but there is no reason what- ever to suppose that, did circumstances create an opportunity, those courageous men, who battled with all the obstacles which life in this Western wilderness presented, and conquered them, would not have risen to the highest grades in military affairs, and carved for themselves a name as proud and enviable as that which pertains to our greatest heroes from the period of Independence down to the present. Providence ordained another, and, perhaps, more useful, career for the pioneers. Their fathers fought the good fight for liberty, and in after years, when the old tyrant, aided by this fierce and ignorant Indian ally, attacked the integrity of the Republic, those very pioneers rushed to arms, and dismantled every position held by their unprincipled and barbarous opponents. A term of peace ensued, and in accordance with divine economy, they hung up their war accoutrements and entered upon the paths which lead to a country's greatness.

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

The late Dr. E. W. H. Ellis has, in his enjoyable prose, shown very precisely the gradual development of this district, the indus- trial characteristics of the first settlers, and the appropriate names which they bestowed upon these beautiful gardens or prairies which gave them subject for congratulation. His descriptions of those early days have been often quoted by many writers, and yet con- tinne to present to modern qnerists much information that is not only sound, but also very acceptable. An attempt to paraphrase the writings of that good man would form a subject to meet with condemnation, since the honest chronicler deems it a high point of honor to give justice where justice pointeth. Therefore, by way of introduction to the first tide of immigration, his complete rem- iniscences of the period immediately preceding the organization of Elkhart county are thus given.

Northern Indiana is celebrated for the beautiful chain of prairies which extend across the State, through the northern tier of coun- tics, and adds so much to the beauty of the country and helps to swell the statistical tables of production. For wherever is a prairie, there is a spot of land, every inch of which is under cultivation; a garden spot of wealth and loveliness. Thus we find Brushy Prairie, in Steuben county; English, Pretty and Mongoquanong, in La- grange; Elkhart Prairie, Two-Mile and Pleasant Plains, in Elkhart; Portage and Terre Coupee, in St. Joseph; Rolling and Door Prai- ries, in La Porte. The prairies have been named commonly from some circumstance connected with their appearance or history. Brushy Prairie was covered with a low brush instead of the usual green-sward, and hence its name. Pretty Prairie was thus named by reason of its exceeding loveliness, and English Prairie on account of its early settlement by a few English families. Mongoquanong was the name of an Indian town near where Lima now stands. Under this name Lagrange and Steuben counties were once attached to Elkhart county as a township, and Ephraim Seeley, of that territory, was a member of our County Board. Elkhart Prai- rie was named from the Elkhart river which skirts its southern and western lines. The origin of the name Elkhart is not certainly known, but is said to be derived from the Indian name of the island at the mouth of the river which was thought to resemble the heart of an Elk. Elk horns were frequently found in the vicinity of the river, one of which, picked up near Benton, once adorned the office of the Goshen Democrat, standing up some six feet in height. Many of our readers will also remember the tavern sign

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

which swung in the wind for many years at the " Hoosier's Rest," as Billy Wilkinson's hotel on the prairie was then termed. Its name was the " Elkhart Inn," and it was illustrated with a fat and thrifty elk, and beneath it what the painter designed for a heart, evidently copied from some ancient pasteboard used in the delect- able game of old sledge.

Two-Mile Plain, directly east of the town of Elkhart, was so called for its length up and down the St. Joseph. Pleasant Plain is that pleasant little garden spot, containing a little over a section of land immediately south of the city of Elkhart. Portage Prairie was so termed because at its eastern end was the portage, where the early French missionaries and the Indians transported or carried their canoes from the St. Joseph river to the head waters of the Kanka- kee. Terre Coupee was so named from its richness of soil, a land of plenty. Rolling Prairie is a high, rolling ground, an nnnsual feature in our chain of prairies, and therefore distingnished by this appellation. Door Prairie is only a translation of the term La Porte, and is the name given to two prairies, or a double prairie, separated by a thin belt of wood with a natural opening of a few rods in width, like a door passing from one prairie to the other. At an early day this feature was well marked, and attracted wide atten- tion.

The prairies were greedily pounced upon by the settlers, nothing being required for the opening of a farm but to turn over the green sward and plant the crops, thus preparing the way for the hardy pioneers who hewed down the old forests, and carved out by their strong arms the homes of beauty and thrift now scattered through the land. The first settlers all concur in describing the virgin prairies as spots of surpassing loveliness. The ground was covered with a thrifty growth of grass, and embellished with flowers of every hue, and of entrancing beanty. Our old " prairie chieftain," Col. John Jackson, was so captivated with the beanty of Elkhart Prairie, when in 1815, under the command of old Mad Anthony Wayne, he aided in the destruction of the Indian villages at the head of the prairie, that he selected a location for his future domi- cil, and nearly 15 years afterward came to reside upon it as one of our first settlers.

An Indian trail from Fort Wayne to St. Joseph came through the Elkhart bottom, passed along the eastern side of the prairie and through the present site of Goshen. The remains of the Indian

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

corn fields were visible at the southern and northern ends of the prairie.

Most of the early settlers of Elkhart Prairie have passed to their final resting places in the invisible land. Among those we recol- lect of 35 years ago were Col. John Jackson, still hale and vigorous, at the age of 83; Mark B. Thompson, his nearest neighbor; Elias Riggs, an old man even then; Hiram Morehouse, the second husband of Mrs. Weddell; the Widow Irwin, her nearest neighbor; William Wilkinson, mine host of the Elkhart Inn; Sam- uel Stutsman, who always came to town barefoot; James Frier, who owned the most acres on the prairie, and died in California; Christopher Myers; Elias Purl; Oliver Crane, who, coming from the vicinity of Goshen, New York, gave name to the town, and was the first county agent for sale of lots in the new county seat; Christian Shoup, the sturdy old Jackson Democrat, who, if alive, would still vote for Old Hickory; the Cripes, a remnant of whom are still with ns; Rev. Balser Hess, and a numerous family of lusty boys; Major John W. Violett, the first Recorder of Elkhart county, and his sons; Azel Sparklin, a worthy local preacher of the Metho- dist Church; Judge James Latta, one of the first Associate Judges, who aided in holding the first court in the county, and Mr. Wey- bright.

On Two-Mile Plain there were at that date one of the Comp- tons; Sterne Bronson, the well-known nursery man; Abel Randolph, his neighbor ; James Middleton ; Allen Tibbits, father-in-law of Col. Henry G. Davis, a shrewd, enterprising man ; Jacob Ellis, a worthy Presbyterian Elder, who hung ont his shingle for the enter- tainment of man and beast, and who a few years since departed for his long home, full of years and beloved by all.

On the northeast corner of Pleasant Plain, in a very humble log cabin, lived Wmn. Kinzie, whose wife was a noted fortune-teller, and was visited by lads and lasses from far and near. He was a brother of Major John H. Kinzie, the first white child born in Chicago, and the proprietor of the old Lake House. West of him was the farm and residence of Samuel Harris, who, with his rich freehold of half a section, was regarded as a king among the far- mers, and cultivated more extensively than any others in that region. He was a man of reading and observation, much respected for every good quality. He died suddenly in 1840, and was buried on the old homestead, which has since passed into the hands of the well-known financier, Levi Smith. Horace Cook lived on the south

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

side of the plain, on what was known afterward as the Coquillard farm. Several branches of the Meader family occupied tenant houses around the prairie, and one of them, David Meader, afterward became the owner of a beautiful farm on the school section.

Ah! those were the glorious old times; and happy ones, too, "if rightly we remember."

In 1828 Thomas Thomas arrived in the district. The country was wild then, and comparatively unsettled by white men. The Miamis and Pottawatomies were actually masters of the situation; but possessing a peculiar knowledge of the power of the coming race, those savages did not venture into acts of hostility. George Crawford resided at the bend of the river, near Elkhart; Chester Sage built his home on the north bank of the St. Joseph river, and John Nicolls located a short distance west of Elkhart. At this time a patriarchal man was known in the neighborhood, but like Noffsinger, to whom reference has been already made, he was a hermit, who did not associate with the settlers, nor seem to admire their advances. He, too, vanished without leaving even his name behind. Toward the close of the year 1828 and the beginning of 1829 the settlements of Elkhart met with a few additions in the persons of Major Violett, W. Chance, Thomas Smith, Mrs. Vail, Ira Jackson, J. E. Thompson, R. Rush, J. Hess, B. F. Pearman, B. Hess, S. Bunger, Mrs. E. Banta, D. Matthews, Eli Summey, Daniel Ganger, and perhaps three others whose names have escaped the memories of the representative old settlers now living. It is not too much to say that each and every one of them acted well his part and prepared a way for those who were destined to follow the trail which they had blazed or marked. In 1829 the pioneers learned that the Legislature had organized the northern portion of the State into representative districts, and annexed their territory to Allen county for judicial purposes. This ordinance of the State was prolific with good results. Though nothing of a discordant character existed among the first settlers to call for legal super- vision, the weekly additions to their numbers led them to conclude that the time had come for the introduction of a legal tribunal, and accordingly they hailed the action of the Legislature with joy. Seeing that their labors in the north were appreciated by the collective wisdom of the State and dispositions made for the regular government of their territory, those industrions harbingers of prosperity settled down to the cultivation of their farms; so that during the fall of 1829 all the beautiful characteristics of the

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

people of early days were to be witnessed and the innocency of their institutions to be admired. When we look back to those com- paratively happy days of the past, when man may be considered to have lived in the enjoyment of primeval bliss, the words of the old cynical poet, " As science advances, men decay," are brought out in relief, and tell us after all that peace and happiness are not synony- mons with science.

We will take a synopsis of the manners and customs of those early settlers. In the first instance many came with only moderate means; they had to clear the forest and ereet their log cabins; before a thought could be given to the cultivation of the land so cleared, and even afterward, when the fertile soil began to yield bountiful fruits, many deemed it wise to sell their squatter's claim to some immigrant, and push westward still through forest and prairie, oftentimes repeating a settlement followed by a sale, until one family could boast of being the first colonist in many town- ships, and perhaps in a few States. An old settler, in reviewing the earlier years of his life in Northern Indiana, speaks of the unanimity which then existed, and ascribed the happiness of the society of that period to their dependence upon one another. In regard to the manners and customs of the pioneers, he says: " As little use was then made of cattle or horses in rolling logs, it required many,men to do so; so that between log-rolling and cabin- raisings, we were together several days in each week, for a month or two in the spring of the year. There was another cause of gathering us together in the fall season. These fresh bottoms yielded such amounts of corn as the natives of older and poorer parts of the Union would have been astonished to see. I know this was the case with myself. This corn was pulled from the stalk, and it required a tall man to reach many of the ears, and if he were a low man or a boy he had to pull the stalk down to him- self. After being pulled it was hanled into large long piles, to be stripped of its husks at night; hence every night in the week except Sunday night we were at a 'husking bee' in the corn- gathering time. At these corn huskings there was much good feeling and innocent humor. Generally the corn heap was divided into two parts, by laying rails or poles across it, as nearly eqnal as conld be guessed at, and two respectable men constituted captains, who, by alternate choice, divided the men and boys into two equal companies, and then we went to work with as much earnestness as the French and allied armies at the battle of Waterloo, but with none of their

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

unkind feelings and murderous purposes. This good-natured strife would last without intermission from three to six hours; for some- times, when there was a prospect of finishing a large pile, we would work till near midnight. Another thing which made these spring. and fall gatherings most interesting and pleasant, was the number of females who attended them; not, however, to roll the logs. raise the cabins, husk the corn, but to assist in preparing the food for those who were doing the outdoor work; so that when the men and boys came in at meal time they found the long temporary table spread, and smiling women and girls to welcome them to whole- some and plain food. Although there was but little of that shyness and restraint imposed by the conventional rules of what is called refined society, yet, I must say, I fully believe there never was a greater number of truly virtnous men and women, lads and lasses, in any settlement of the same size on this green earth.

"One thing more made our fall meeting most delightful. In the early settlement of the country, the luxuriant vegetation in a state of decay and the dense fogs in August and September gave many of us the ague, which we generally permitted to take its course and leave us of its own accord. Sometimes, however, we used to take pills, made from the inner bark of the white walnut, or butternut as some call it, and drink a kind of herb tea. Did you ever have a long siege of the agne, when you could have the chill or shake in the morning, the fever about noon, and toward evening eat like a half-starved dog? If you have never had this experience, you never knew what a pleasure it is to eat fat pork, wild turkeys, venison hamns, pumpkin pies, and corn bread, after the agne has wholly gone, abont corn-husking time. It will be perceived I say nothing about harvest-gathering, and for this good reason,-we had none, or nearly none; for our lands, while fresh, though they would bring cords of straw, would not yield good wheat. The aristocratic feel- ings produced by unsanctified wealth on the one hand, and the envy and jealousy of the evil part of the indignant on the other, which make two castes in older communities, and that hateful political chasm, as decp, as wide and vile as ever intervened between the Jews and Samaritans, and which now divides the Whigs and Dem- ocrats of our day, were then unknown; so that when we met at any of our business, social or religious meetings, we met as a band of brothers and sisters. If the males could get good wool hats, good common shoes (I suppose there was not a pair of fine boots in the settlement) and home-spun clothes, we felt as contented, perhaps

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

more so, than in the richest costume of the present day. If the females could get good calico sun bonnets, or something a little in advance of these, good cotton gowns, in most cases the work of their own hands, from the picking, carding, spinning, dyeing and weaving, up to the making, and other things in keeping with these, they would have felt themselves prepared for the respectful attentions of any gentleman in these United States. Indeed, I have seen the most worthy of both sexes at meeting with moccasins on their feet. The most perfect in the symmetry of their persons, and most accom- plished in their minds,-for to some extent they had mental accom- plishments,-would have soon have thought of drowning themselves as to have cramped the free breathing of their lungs, and the healthy flow of their heart's warm blood, by the present foolish, wicked, and most suicidal practice of tight-lacing aud other kindred vices of modern times. And be it remembered they enjoyed the com- fort and utility of their wise course; for many of them, when they became mothers, could spin, weave, mend, washı, sew, and knit for large families, and be cheerful and merry at night, and vigorons and lively in the morning. When I see many poor langnid females of the present day that are mere apologies for wives and mothers, who, if they have to take care of one or two children without a nurse, and make a few calico gowns, and some of them not even these, and do a few other small matters, seem to think that they are about to die with hard times, I feel almost irrepressible emotions of indignation and pity-indignation at the injury which folly and false kindness have done them, and pity for the real sufferings of the poor, unfortunate and unhappy creatures. Let the thoughtful reflect and avoid misery by avoiding its cause; for none can do vio- lence to nature without suffering the penalty of that violence; nature will ever avenge her injured rights."

There is more truth than poetry in this vivid description of the earlier settlers; but in many respects the latter part may be con- sidered transcendental; because, though there is much to be deplored in the habits and customs of modern times, it will be found that the ladies who are treated so very severely by this old conversationalist, are actually urged to an indulgence in the evils of fashion by the men, and cannot very well cast aside their allegiance to the pet conventionalities of the times in which they live. Yet there are far too many ladies who worship the god of fashion as there are men who adore mammon. From the moment a lady begins to live under the fascinating influence of such a worship, she becomes

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

simply an animated figure out of a milliner's fashion sheet, and so by degrees her mind is alienated from the true pursuits of woman, and she is only capable of dreaming of gandy habiliments, of dis- turbing family harmony, or, as is often the case, of urging on a simple, loving husband, or kind, indulgent father to bankruptcy with all its consequent miserics and evils. The foolish woman, who at short intervals receives dress bills similar to the one sub- scribed, scarcely deserves recognition, and when she falls from her high state, as she generally docs, years of burning anguish and thoughts of parted magnificence lead her to a grave.

MATERIAL.

18 yards of silk at $3 a yard. . . . $ 54 00 | 2 yards of satin at $2 a yard .... 4 00 5 yards of velvet at $4 a yard. . 20 00 |

LININGS.

6 yards cambric.

4 sticks of whalebone. 50

2 yards silesia. .

1 ball of cord. 10

1 yard sleeve-lining.

2 yards lining silk, trimmings. 1 50

3 yards of crinoline.

10 yards passementerie.

7 50

2 yards of wiggan.

20 6 yards French lace

2 40

1 piece silk braid.

3 dozen buttons. 3 00

Sewing silk and twist

50 Making. 25 00

Total

$120.82

Fashion has proved the ruin of many. The foregoing bill becomes terribly grotesque in its varied items, but when we make a survey of some " Belle Helene " as she does the promenade, sur- rounded with all the gay trappings of a costly dress, we are led to inquire further into modern styles.

The most recent caprice, and one wliose antecedents will be easily recalled, is the nearly full skirt, simply hemmed and tucked. A cos - tume with such a skirt is made of navy blue, and is extremely stylish. The front and sides of the body portion are cut in basque shape, with its side-back skirt inclining to the coat-tail effect, and with the front skirt falling over the front and side gores, like those of an ordinary skirt. The backs, however, extend from neck to hem in princess style, and near the waste-line seam extra fullness is cut on and folded under, so as to produce the effect of two double box plaits, this disposal of the fullness in all the skirts or dresses of this description being more popular than the earlier plan of shirring at the back. Another feature in the costume is the adjustable hood, a style said to have been introduced by the celebrated English

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

beauty, Mrs. Langtry, or the " Jersey Lily," as she has been appro- priately called. A handsome cord ornament extends from the hood point to the left side-back seam. The end upon the hood is hooked in place, and a loop is made at the right side-back seam, so that when the hood is not worn the Brandenbourg or cord ornament may cross the back. The skirt of this costume is finished at the bottom with three wide tucks and a hem of the same width. To add decoration to this costume would destroy its style, and there- fore we suggest none. If personally desired, however, any trim- ming preferred may be added.

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History of Elkhart County, Indiana; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history: portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 34

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, C. C. Chapman & co. Number of Pages: 1192

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, C. C. Chapman & co.
Number of Pages: 1192