History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 49

Author: Barrows, Frederic Irving, 1873-1949
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1326

USA > Indiana > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 49

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

In the Observer of February, 1830, J. M. Ray, as agent, advertised that On May 26 would be offered for sale Conner's grist-mill, saw-mill, distillery and mill farm adjoining Connersville, the farm below town, the tavern- and store-stands opposite the court house in said town and some out-lots in the vicinity. Mill farm about eighty acres cleared land under good fence. The mills and distillery are in fine operation, and the tavern-stand occupied by Captain Sample, and the store room by Messrs. Hankins and Mount. The whole property is now under rent at $600 per annum, cash.

"REGIMENTAL ORDERS."

On March 1, 1830, the following notice, under the title of "Regimental Orders," was issued :

Captains commanding companies in the Eleventh Regiment of the Indiana Militia, are hereby ordered to attend the following musters with subaltern officers, first sergeants and musicians at the following time and places, to wit: Drill muster, at the town of Connersville, on the 26th and 27th of May next; battalion muster, at the house of N. MeClure, on the 28th day of May next; at the house of Amos G. Pumphrey, on the 29th of May next, and regimental muster at Connersville, on the 2d day of October next,

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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIAN.A.

armed and equipped as the law directs, at 9 o'clock on each day. Court of Assessment in Connersville on the first Monday of November, and Court of Appeals on the first Monday of next December, at the house of Archibald Reid.

WILLIAM CALDWELL, Colonel, Commanding Eleventh Regiment, I. M.

SOME NOTABLE CONNERSVILLE. MEN.

The preceding pages, in a general way, give a summary of the condi- tions up to 1830, and before returning to the beginning of the decade, when it may be said that Connersville began to grow, the point may be made that its first step towards development and prosperity, which have followed it for almost a century, was coincident with its selection as the county seat. A brief reference to some of the men who pioneered the development, is worthy of record. Among them were Joshua Harlan. Arthur Dixon, Newton Clay -. pool, John Sample, Jonathan. McCarty, James M. Ray, Oliver H. Smith, William W. Wick, Jonathan John, Samuel C. Sample, George Frybarger. A. B. Conwell, and later, Marks Crume, Martin M. Ray, Samuel W. Parker, Caleb B. Smith and Daniel Hankins-future legislators, judges, members of Congress, a United States senator, a cabinet officer, and business men of great capacity. In the hands of such men it is no wonder that the village became progressive and interesting. An anecdote will serve to illustrate the peculiar talents of the taverns heretofore referred to. An old Englishman by the name of John Knipe was asked by a traveler who kept the best hotel. "We'el, hif thee wants good grub, go to Samples ; hif thee wants thy 'oss well cared, go to Claypool's, and hif thee wants gude whisky, thee will better stop at 'Arlan's."

It will not be amiss here to chronicle a few particulars of the early men who figured conspicuously in the greater business interests of Connersville, and whose advent into her business circles marked an era in her history. Of the men referred to, Newton Claypool was native of Virginia, where he was born in 1795, though at an early day with his father removed to Ohio, and in 1817 settled in Connersville. In 1818 he returned temporarily to Ohio and was married to Mary Kerns, of Ross county. Claypool was a tavern- keeper until 1836, when he purchased and removed to the farm just north of the city limits, where his son, Austin B. Claypool, later resided. Newton Claypool was elected to the Legislature first in 1825, and to the Senate first in 1828, and subsequently served a number of years in each branch. Oliver H. Smith writes of him in this connection : "He was one of the most efficient men in the Legislature for many years. His greatest forte was in his prac-

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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.

tical knowledge applied to the subject by his strong common sense. For many years he was closely identified with the banking business of this community." Another writer thus alludes to him: "Luck was not one of Newton Clay- pool's words ; it was not in his lexicon. He did but little on faith, either- had his own philosophy, both of church and state. He fought all of his enemies with the same weapon. He was a consistent enemy of the Demo- cratic party, through a life longer than is usually allotted to a man. It can be said of him that he was eminently successful as a financier, in earlier life as an economist and producer, and in after life as a banker. In this latter capacity his reputation was brilliant and enviable throughout the state." Claypool died at Indianapolis on May 14, 1866.

HONESTY PERSONIFIED.

George Frybarger came to Connersville from Dayton, Ohio, in 1821 and opened a dry-goods store. A writer speaks of him thus: "Like most of the early settlers he was fearless and self-reliant, and entered upon the duties of his calling with decided purposes of usefulness and accumulation. His indus- try and energy gave him success, and for many years he ranked among the foremost merchants and traders of the White Water valley. It has been said that, perhaps, there never was a man in Connersville who knew the business as well as Frybarger, none at least who did so much business as he. There can be no doubt but the ruling trait and the carefully guarded ambition of George Frybarger was honesty. Even to the minutest details of ever raging trade throughout a long life of successful mercantile pursuits, he adhered in theory and practice to his passion-honesty. The charity of Frybarger was in business, that is, he was charitable to those that deserved it. He loaned to the unfortunate honest; he gave, too, and encouraged with his advice and credit and means, stimulating them to all the demands of success. He had an unbounded credit at home and abroad. He always kept safely stored in his vaults coin to put against his credit. He is said to have been the first man in the West in a crisis, well remembered in the commercial world, to promptly pay his Eastern debts with coin stored for the purpose of adver- sity." An inscription on his tombstone indicates that he was born in 1797 and died in 1853.

A. B. Conwell was born in Delaware in 1796, and at the age of fifteen was apprenticed to a tanner, with whom he served five years. In 1817 he, with a brother, walked from Washington, D. C., to Pittsburgh, where they separated, A. B. going to Kentucky, and in 1821 he located in Connersville,

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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.

and began his successful career on an acre of ground which he purchased of John Conner. Here he put in operation a tannery, which business he subse- quently abandoned and engaged in mercantile pursuits. For many years he was engaged in the milling business, and erected and carried on one of the most extensive flouring-mills in this section of the state. The large mill on what is now north Eastern avenue, was a monument to his enterprise. Pork- packing for a number of years claimed his attention, and this business he successfully conducted on a large scale. He was a man of much natural intellect and judgment, and had ever been known for his wise forecast of cvents, as well as for his sustained success in his business ventures and spec- ulations.

Daniel Hankins settled in Connersville in 1827-six years later than Fry- barger and Conwell, yet he figured in the latter years of that decade. Colonel Hankins, as for some unexplained reason he was known, was a native of New Jersey state, born in 1795 and died in 1860. He began as a dry-goods merch- ant in Connersville and so continued throughout his business career. He was possessed of great activity and energy. A writer has given as his chief qualities, "untiring industry, coupled with worthy ambition ; a restless, eager spirit, he was a fretful business man. Dull times only conquered him." He engaged extensively in speculation, pork and grain receiving his attention in large investments. His influence is said to have been great, because his trade was great. In 1830 he, with Marks Crume, represented the county in the Legislature. In writing of his death the Connersville Times said: "He ac- cumulated a vast property ; he had a farm of fourteen hundred acres north of Connersville, which he superintended, though his attention was largely engrossed with the extensive mercantile trade and speculations in pork and flour. Perhaps no man of one county has ever managed as much business, and managed it as correctly and successfully, as has Colonel Hankins."

CONNERSVILLE IN 1833.

The "Indiana Gazetteer" of 1833 gives the village of Connersville as having a population of five hundred inhabitants. In that year the village comprised seven mercantile stores, one drug store, four taverns, four physi- cians, four lawyers and two printing offices, besides mechanics engaged in various occupations.

C. B. Smith and M. R. Hull, editors of the Indiana Sentinel, published the following on April 20, 1833:

This place is truly in a flourishing condition. The citizens are quite as industrious

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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.

as any others in the great West, and complete marks of their persevering habits are displayed on every street. New houses are in successive building, and the hum and buzz of business are made to resound in the distant valley, and to the approaching traveler bespeaks the industry of mechanics. Our merchauts are daily receiving thousands of dollars worth of goods. The spring sales progress with much vigor, which makes the active salesman skip the counter with a business-like spirit. Our physicians (poor fel- lows) have but little to do; they droop their heads beneath the influence of general good health. Our streets present a lively picture of enterprise and industry. While other presses are falling out with their subscribers and placing their names on the "black list," the Sentinel still holds an undiminished patronage, and its conductors continue, daily, to place good names on their "white list." All this prosperity we owe, in a great measure, to the farmers of Indiana-"the staff of life." But a few years of such prosperity and Connersville will become the most flourishing village in the Western country.

THE SUCCEEDING DECADE, 1833-43.

Connersville kept on in the even tenor of its way during the following ten years, making no notable advance in the way of industries, yet increasing gradually in numbers and business and quietly laying the foundation upon which was to be built the city that now occupies a prominent place in the sis- terhood of eastern Indiana cities.

A noteworthy event of the decade was the passage of the great Internal Improvement bill for the state of Indiana, at the head of which stood the White Water Valley Canal bill, and it was this canal that was to mark an era in the history of all villages and towns along its proposed path. The bill was passed on January 16, 1836, and the news was received at Connersville on the 18th. When twilight came on the houses and buildings in the village, with few exceptions, were in a brilliant blaze of illumination. The court house was lighted up from the basement to the steeple. About sundown the one cannon of the village was hauled out to the canal line and six guns fired -one in honor of the governor, one to the senator and one to each of the representatives of the county in the General Assembly and one to the White Water Valley canal.

In the evening a meeting was held at the court house, which was addressed by Oliver H. Smith and Samuel W. Parker. A number of toasts were drunk, after which the whole assembly repaired to the river bank east of the village, which was still brilliantly lighted up with a number of bon- fires, and under the illumination of the buildings. A sad accident, resulting in one death, occurred during the progress of the celebration, owing to the premature explosion of a piece of artillery by which four young men were maimed and wounded. Alexander Saxon had one arm torn off and the other so badly injured that both were amputated above the elbow. His eyes

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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.

were blown completely out of his head and his death resulted next morning. Joseph Clark had his right arm blown off, and Abiather Williams and Will- iam Worster were severely burned.

The canal was completed to Connersville in June, 1845, and the first boat to reach the village was the "Patriot," commanded by Captain Gayle Ford, which arrived in the fall of the year. The imports and exports on the canal for the week ending November 20, 1845, ( from the village) were as follow :

Exports. Imports.

Wheat, number of bushels

1,506

Cider, barrels

Industries, pounds

6,010

8,993

Merchandise, pounds

8,189

Salt and castings, pounds

I50

Lumber, feet

700

The canal ceased to be used for through traffic in 1849, but was operated between local points up to 1862. The last boat to pass over it was the "Union," owned by David McCarty. Subsequently the railroad company (now the Big Four ) purchased the undertaking and laid their rail lines over the towpath.

CONNERSVILLE DIRECTORY IN 1858-59.

Fortunately there has been preserved a complete directory of all the busi- ness and professional interests of Connersville in 1858-59. Many of the older citizens of the city living in 1917 will recognize many of the men below listed, a large number of whom were in business for many years after the Civil War. Since this directory is not generally accessible to the people of the county at the present time it is given in this connection as it was published in 1859:

Apert, A., wagon-maker; Applegate, W. P. & A., carriage manufactur- ers; Bailey, J. L., dry goods ; Barnard & Hall, carpenters and joiners; Bate- man & Gates, staple and fancy dry goods ; Beck & Brothers, merchant tailors; Brown, J., clothier ; Bunnell, J., livery stable ; Bunnell, W., livery stable ; Burk, N. H., dry goods and grocery ; Burton, T., merchant tailor ; Durham, R., pro- prietor Bates House ; Conwell, A. B. & Sons, proprietors Conwell mills ; Clark, J. H., town officer ; Campbell, G. W. merchant tailor ; Cassady, J., saddler and harness maker (town officer) ; Claypool, A. J. & Company, dry goods, etc .; Claypool, B. F., attorney ; Collins, E., dentist ; Compton, Lizzie, milliner ; Daw- son, D. H., county coroner; Cooley, cabinet warerooms; Erwin, -, civil engineer; Edwards, C., county clerk; Fearis, G. L., saddler and harness-

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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.

maker; Felton & Smith, grocery; Frybarger, W. W. & Company, staple and fancy dry goods; Gregg, V. H., physician and surgeon; Green, William H., publisher of Connersville Times; Gates, Bateman, dry goods; Greer, W. H., proprietor Scofield House ; Goodlander, H., jeweler; Huston, J. & W., millers ; Hack, Anthony, meat market; Henry, R. B., clergyman; Hawkins & Griffis, dry goods and groceries; Hall, D. D., physician and surgeon; Hall, D. H., physician and surgeon ; Johnson, -, boot and shoe dealer ; Johnson, A. H. & Company, agricultural implements ; Justice, J., druggist ; James, W. W., marble worker; Kunphlon, Augustus, merchant tailor; Lewis, Josephine, mil- liner ; Line, A. J., blacksmith ; McLain, John, justice of peace; Marks, Robert, blacksmith; Mullikin, J., town officer; Minor, A. S., saddler and harness- maker; Morrow & Mason, hat and cap dealers; McFarlan, J. B., carriage manufacturer ; Morehouse & Youse, manufacturers of wagons, buggies, etc .; Mullikin, J. & E., manufacturers of agricultural implements ; McIntosh, James C., attorney; McCleary, William, sheriff ; Morris, Harry, county surveyor ; Marshall, Joseph, attorney ; Morris, B. F., clergyman ; Newkirk, W. & Com- pany, hardware; Parry, L. D., town officer; Powell, I., auctioneer; Pelan, William, clergyman; Parker, Samuel W., attorney; Pumphrey, N. R., pro- prietor Connersville Hotel; W. J. Pepper, physician and surgeon; Rawls & Morrison, druggists ; Roots, P. H. & F. M., manufacturers of woolen goods; Rhodes, J. K., county recorder; Scott, James, livery stable; Stewart, William, clergyman ; Shumate, H., dry goods and groceries ; Smith, W. M., town officer ; Smith, J. W., paper-hanger and painter; Reid, John S., judge court common pleas ; Tate, W. A. H., justice of peace; Tate, J. F., county treasurer ; Thisle- wait, -- -, saddler and harness-maker; Thomas, S. B., furniture; Taylor, W. W., physician and surgeon; Trusler, Nelson, attorney; Vance, Elisha, attorney ; Vance, Samuel W., physician and surgeon; Victor, J., grocer ; Wal- lace, R. J., carriage-maker ; White, T. J., editor Connersville Telegraph; Wil- son & Co., grocery, bakery and confectionery; Wilson, J. S., blacksmith; Wood, John, blacksmith; Youse, J. F. & Company, stoves and tinware; Zellar, Ignatius, jeweler.

CONNERSVILLE IN 1861.

Two years after the directory of 1858-59 was issued a larger and more complete directory of the city and county was published. This second direc- tory not only gave a complete list of all the business and professional inter- ests of the city, but also preceded it with a brief historical sketch of the town. There is also a directory of Brownsville and Liberty, towns in Union county. This brochure of sixty pages is in the collection of Theodore Heinemann, of

PALACE HOTEL, CONNERSVILLE.

FE FF FF FF

FEET

McFARLAN BUILDING, CONNERSVILLE.

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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.

Connersville. It contains a two-page history of the city, a "Review of the Business of Connersville," a complete list of all the county and town officers of 1861, a list of lodges, churches, libraries (three in Connersville alone), schools (three in number-Connersville Female Institute, English and Ger- man school and Connersville Seminary), and finally, an alphabetical list of all the business interests of the town of Connersville. Not the least of the valu- able features of the 1861 directory is the assortment of advertisements scat- tered through it.

A study of the advertisements reveals some very interesting industries. Caldwell, McCollem & Company, pork packers and wholesale and retail gro- cers, state that they have a pork house with a capacity of twenty-five thousand, while they are killing on an average of one thousand hogs a day. E. Collins, dentist, says that "my operations upon the living organs shall always be the most thorough." Henry Holland conducts what he calls a "Hair Dressing and Shaving Saloon," and from the quaint cut which features his advertise- ment, it appears that he was an ordinary barber. Wilson & Company, whole- sale and retail grocers and confectioners, give notice to the public that they "have a fine oyster and eating saloon attached to our business to feed the hungry," and that "warm meals are served up at all hours." There were at this time six regular saloons: Anthony Apert, Frank Doll, John H. Fattig. John Muller, Adam Pfister and Daniel Scotton. A man of the name of Davies informs the public that he deals in "Ambrotypes and Melaineotypes" and that he gives "lessons in the art on reasonable terms," while at the bottom of his advertisement he adds : "P. S .- Pictures of sick or dead persons at a distance promptly attended to."

SUMMARY OF BUSINESS HOUSES.

It would not be profitable to give in detail a complete list of the business interests of Connersville as set forth in the directory of 1861. It may be inter- esting, however, to give the number of men or firms engaged in the various lines of activities which are listed. They follow: Agricultural implements, two; attorneys, eight; bakers and confectioners, two; banks, one (called the Branch Bank of the Bank of the State) ; barbers, two (both colored-Henry Holland and A. H. Turner) : blacksmiths, three; books and stationery, two; boots and shoes, three; brewers, one (Willman & Billau) ; butchers, two; cabinet-makers and furniture dealers, three; carpets, one; carpenters and builders, five; carriage makers, three ; clothiers, three; coopers, three; daguer-

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530.

FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.

reotypists, two ; dentists, two ; druggists, four ; dry goods, seven ; express com- pany, one (American Express Company) ; flour mills, three; foundry, one ;. general stores, eight ; grocers, seven; gunsmith, one; hardware, one; hats and caps, one ; hotels, four (Cone House, Connersville Hotel, Durnan House and Scofield House) ; iron and steel, one; livery, two; marble dealers, two; mer- chant tailors, three; milliners, four ( Miss M. A. Blake, Mrs. Brown, Miss E. Compton and Mrs. Talbert ) ; news agent, one; newspapers, two (Connersville. Telegraph, J. M. Higgs, and Connersville Weekly Times, W. H. Green) ; notaries public, five; physicians, nine (G. W. Barber, G. R. Chitwood, Joshua Chitwood, V. H. Gregg, D. D. Hall, S. W. Hughes, James M. Justice, W. J. Pepper and S. W. Vance) ; pork packers, two; saddlers, three; saloons, six; sash, doors and blinds, two; stoves and tinware, two; tailors, two; tanner, one ; undertakers, three; wagons and plows, three; watches and jewelry, four; woolen factory, one (P. H. Roots and F. M. Roots).

The brief sketch of the town's history in 1861-it was not a city until 1869-may be sunimed as follows: Population, twenty-five hundred; a sem- inary with two hundred pupils; seven churches-First Presbyterian (Old School), Second Presbyterian (New School), Methodist Episcopal, Christian, Episcopal, Colored Baptist and Catholic; no railroads, but the Junction Rail- road (now the Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Western) "is expected to be in run- ning order by the first of July, 1861"; three libraries-McClure Workingmen's Institute, Fayette county library and Connersville township library ; teachers- J. W. Stewart in Female Institute, George Held in basement of Catholic church, and W. T. Moffitt, - White, Augustus Nast, Miss Johnson, Miss Youse, Miss Millikin and Miss Talbert in the seminary; Masonic, Odd Fellow, Sons of Temperance and Good Templars lodges ; John B. Tate, postmaster.

This 1861 account of Connersville may very fittingly be concluded by adding the closing paragraph in the sketch of the town: "Thus the future prospects of Connersville are flattering. With a steady increase it will soon become a place of importance. If there be a speedy impulse given to its man- ufacturing interests by the' attraction of capital from abroad, it must event- ually become a large inland point, and if it does not surpass, it may become equal to any city in the state."

SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS.

It seems fitting to digress at this point to take a survey of the population of the city during the sixties. The population of the county in .1850 was. 10,217, which had, by 1860, increased to only 10,225. Connersville had a

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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.

population of 1.396 in 1850 and 2,119 in 1860. Doctor Mason in his invaluable volume gives some interesting statistics on Connersville as. the city stood in 1867. The table follows :

No. Ward.

Renters. Freeholders. Males.

Females.

Total.

First Ward

372

227

236

463

Second Ward

· I22

492

325

289

614

Third Ward

201

138

105

243

Fourth Ward

212

144

103

247

Fifth Ward

163

681

435

409

844

Totals

453

1,958

1,269

1,152

2,41 I

At the time the above census was compiled, in September, 1867, there. were 772 children of school age : 379 males and 393 females. The total amount of personal property and real estate placed on the tax duplicate at that time was $1,360,364.

RENAMING THE STREETS OF CONNERSVILLE.

In May, 1866, the names of the streets of Connersville were changed as follows: Main to Eastern avenue; Monroe to Central avenue; Tanner to Western avenue; Short to First; Baltimore and Boundary to Second; High, to Third: Madison to Fourth; Harrison to Fifth; Head to Sixth; Maple to Seventh ; Mill to Eighth.

CONNERSVILLE CREATED A CITY.

Hidden away in the recesses of the city clerk's office in the town hall is a musty old document, yellow with age, which is responsible for the advance- ment of the village of Connersville to the city of the same name. It is about four feet long, of the usual legal cap paper size in width, and contains the names of three hundred and eleven citizens of the village of Connersville who signed the petition which was presented to the town board asking that steps be taken to apply for a city charter. The document is headed as follows :

To the honorable board of trustees of the town of Connersville, county of Fayette, state of Indiana :

We, the undersigned city voters in said corporation, do hereby respectfully petition your honorable body to take such action as shall in your wisdom seem proper to enable said corporation to secure a city charter pursuant to the laws of said state. And for your welfare your petitioners will ever pray.

Dated this fifteenth day of May, 1869.

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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.

The first signer to this petition was Daniel Rench and the last was William Newkirk. It may be said that practically every prominent citizen of the village signed the document. The result of this petition on the part of the voters was the ordering of an election by the village council.

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History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 49

Author: Barrows, Frederic Irving, 1873-1949 Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1326

Author: Barrows, Frederic Irving, 1873-1949
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1326