History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 21

Author: Reifel, August J
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1648

USA > Indiana > Franklin County > History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 21

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1 BROOKVILLE POSTOFFICE.

A postoffice was established at Brookville in April, 1813-one hundred and two years ago. Just where it was kept for the first decade and more is not known, but long before the Civil War it was kept at the old "White Corner," on South Main street, where now stands the Franklin County Bank building. Before that it was in the McCrady block, from which place it was removed to the John King building, and from there, in 1877, it was moved to its present quarters in the city building, or town hall.

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It is now a second-class postoffice, its receipts being in excess of eight . thousand dollars. The change from third to second-class was made (the last time) in 1914. It was among the early money-order points in the state, and was made a savings deposit office September 1, 1911. Its deposits have run as high as two thousand five hundred dollars, but at present (April, 1915), are one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two dollars. There are now eight rural free deliveries routes running to outlying districts and villages. The business of the office for the last fiscal year, outside of money-order transactions, amounted to eight thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars. One of the postmasters of this place, T. J. Tyner, was a relative of Post- master-General Tyner, once a resident of Brookville.

The following have served as postmasters since the establishment of the office in 1813, such list being supplied by the postoffice department at Wash- ington : William H. Eads, April 13, 1813; N. D. Gallion, July 5, 1816; J. S. Powers, April 18, 1831; W. B. Davis, May 20, 1833; George Berry, April 29, 1835; Jeremiah Woods, June II, 1841; B. H. Burton, March 22, 1843; Herman Linck, September 17, 1849; John King, May 13, 1853; C. B. Bentley, March 27, 1855; J. O. West, August 20, 1860; H. C. Gallion, May II, 1861 ; N. D. Gallion, June 7, 1864; Samuel Gallion, September 7, 1865; T. J. Tyner, January 12, 1869; J. B. Tyner, March 15, 1881 ; R. D. Temple- ton, December 7, 1885; R. J. Cain, April 12, 1890: George Ritze, April 5, 1894: L. L. Burke, March 16, 1898: A. H. Rockafellar, May 26, 1899; George E. Mullin, February 20, 1905; John H. Kimble, March 3, 1909; A. J. Shriner, May 22, 1913.

BROOKVILLE COMMERCIAL CLUB.

Originally, this club was known as the Brookville Business Men's Asso- ciation. It was organized January 17, 1889, and its objects were set forth at that date as follows, in part : "To develop the resources of Brookville and vicinity ; to encourage the establishment of factories, and to agitate the mat- ter of abandoning all the toll roads leading into the town, making all public highways free to the traveling public."

The association started out with eighty-nine members and had as its officers : President, Albert H. Kaiser ; secretary, James B. Kidney ; treasurer, Isaac A. Popper ; vice-president, Z. T. Hutchinson.

The association did much good work and saw many results. On April 5, 1912, by a vote, the name was changed to "The Brookville Commercial Club." When the electric roads were being agitated, the association and

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club did all in their power to bring such a line through the county, but so far the work has been in vain. When the great flood of March, 1913, cast gloom . and sorrow throughout the community, the members of the club worked day and night to relieve the unfortunate sufferers and had charge of the relief fund. When the new court house was dedicated they took charge of many of the things connected therewith. They backed the establishment of the Chautauqua system, now so much enjoyed in the town. They took money from their treasury and had made several hundred comfortable seats which are annually used within the mammoth tent that is furnished by the Chautau- qua company. The club is now in a flourishing condition and has ample funds on hand. The members pay a stipulated amount as yearly dues to maintain the organization.

The present officers of the Brookville Commercial Club are: I. M. Bridgman, president: J. C. Shirk, vice-president ; Will M. Baker, secretary ; George E. Dennett, treasurer ; directors, W. D. Bradt, F. L. Hornung, George Dickson, A. J. Shriner, H. B. Smith, James B. Kidney, John C. Shirk, M. P. Hubbard and Will M. Baker.

PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Brookville is indeed fortunate in possessing a good public library. Of its foundation, the first mention in print is the organization of the Brookville reading room, September 1, 1895. There were kept for free public reading such papers and magazines as could be obtained by members of the society and friends of the enterprise. The president of that organization was Mrs. W. H. Bracken and the secretary was Mrs. S. S. Harrell. This ran quite satisfactorily for a time, but "what was everyone's business was no one's," and it went down.

In 1911 a library association was organized under the state laws of Indiana, a subscription circulated by which funds were raised, and the Iot immediately north of the old Amos Butler homestead, on North Main street, was purchased. Then, after much correspondence on the part of John C. Shirk with Andrew Carnegie, the latter gentleman finally consented to donate ten thousand dollars with which to erect and furnish the present handsome red-brick public library. This building was dedicated September 18, 1912, with appropriate ceremonies, Demarchus C. Brown, state librarian, delivering the address.

This library is designed especially for Brookville township, which in- cludes the city, and both are taxed annually for its support-the last levy

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being seven mills on a dollar, in the city, and five mills in the outlying town- ship. Books are furnished for reference to students for school work in other townships in the county, free of charge. About six hundred dollars worth of books are annually added to the shelves of the library, the remainder of the tax levy going toward maintaining the library. There were on hand March 1, 1915, two thousand three hundred and ninety-seven books and fifteen regular periodicals, besides various local newspapers. One-third of the books are designed for the juvenile patrons and two-thirds for adults.

The present library officers are : John C. Shirk, president; Mrs. M. P. Hubbard, secretary; Mrs. S. S. Harrell, Frank Geis, William H. Senour, Louis Federmann, Harry Stoop and Frank Deutsch, board of trustees. The librarian is Mrs. Maye Charni, who has served ever since the opening of the library in 1912. The library is well patronized and much appreciated by old and young of the township. It stands as another monument to the good sense of the community as well as a lasting memorial to Mr. Carnegie.

CEMETERIES OF THE CITY.

Nothing speaks better for a community than to know that it cares well and tenderly for its departed dead. While it is true that some of the pioneer burying grounds in this vicinity were anything but inviting spots and have long since been almost forgotten and sadly neglected, those of modern years show due care and excellent taste in the manner in which they are kept.

According to an article written and vouched for by John C. Campbell in 1911, the first white person laid away to rest in Brookville soil was under the following circumstances : About 1804 two families, named Marshall and Henry, immigrants from Pennsylvania en route to the neighborhood of Con- nersville, arrived as far as the present site of Brookville, when the elder Marshall, the father-in-law of Mrs. Sarah Marshall, was taken ill and was unable to proceed farther. He was cared for as best they could care for one without proper remedies, but he died. The Indians who then occupied the valley had a burying ground on the bluff where the park is now situated, along the Fairfield avenue, where later the Younts and Bogart residences were built. The Indians gave permission to bury Mr. Marshall there, and stated to the sorrowing pilgrims that "this is the first pale face ever buried in this neighborhood." The travelers continued on to the north and settled near Columbia.

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The next cemetery was situated at the corner of Tenth and Mill streets, and in its center stands the old brick church erected by the Methodist people in 1822, and now occupied by the Lutherans. It is said that the first burial there was William H., the two-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan Cole- scott. This cemetery has been well filled with graves of several generations, many of the head-stones and tombs antedating the twenties.

The next Protestant cemetery was the present one, which is situated on the west side of the West fork of White Water river, about a half mile from the city. The land from which it was platted originally belonged to the last Franklin County Agricultural Society, which went down in 1880, and soon thereafter the Odd Fellows of Brookville purchased it and platted it into a cemetery. The lodge managed it for a time, when it was trans- ferred to the present Maple Grove Cemetery Association. At present the records show that something over twelve hundred bodies have been buried in this sacred enclosure. The first to be laid to rest there was Mrs. Allison Cummins, nee Angeline Woodworth, June 10, 1883. This is a well-kept cemetery, having most of the modern improvements and is cared for by a competent sexton, who spares no time and pains to make it attractive at all seasons of the year. Here one sees numerous costly and tastily-designed monuments. Recently, an addition has been made to the grounds to the southward, making in all about six acres to be used exclusively for burial purposes. The present sexton, William Rockwell, has been in charge ever since the grounds were opened, thirty-two years ago. Frank X. Seibert is the present secretary and has the records of the association in detail.

Of the Catholic cemeteries, it should be said that the first was on grounds where now stands the Catholic church, the land for which was deeded to the bishop of that church on January 23, 1845, and, according to an early writer, a Mr. Bauer was the first to be buried there, the date being either 1847 or 1848.

The first section of the present Catholic cemetery, lying in the extreme northeast part of the city, was deeded to the church on June 10, 1869, while other parts were deeded on January 19, 1911, and January 15, 1915. It is believed the first to be buried within this hallowed ground was Annie, infant daughter of William' and Catherine Hart, August 13, 1869. The recent improvements in this cemetery show much good taste and the place is robbed of much of the gloom that usually characterizes such places.

There were possibly two other family burying grounds here at a very early date, in which a few of the pioneer citizens were buried. The records of the present-day cemeteries, both Catholic and Protestant, are kept in ex-

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cellent shape, so that, years hence, names, dates and locations of bodies can readily be ascertained, as well as the birth and death dates and the disease of which the departed died.

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION-HOME-COMING WEEK.

From August 31 to September 6, 1908, occurred the great home-com- ing centennial celebration at Brookville, the city then having reached its hun- dredth year's history. The opening day was announced in the afternoon hours by the shrill blowing of whistles and clanging of many bells. The week was full of interesting programs, including "Governor's Day," "Woman's Day," "Reminiscence Day," "Farmer's Day," and "Centennial Services" at the Methodist Episcopal church, on the Sabbath. There was a large attendance from all parts of the county and other far distant states, including speakers as follows: Hons. J. Frank Hanly, Thomas R. Marshall, John W. Kern, S. W. Haynes, candidate for governor on the Prohibition ticket, and many others of less renown.

This was a week long to be remembered by the citizens present, and their children and children's children will read of the occasion with interest and delight.

M'KINLEY MEMORIAL SERVICES.

Shortly after twelve o'clock, Friday night, September 14, 1901, the bells of Brookville commenced tolling, in consequence of the in- telligence having been received that President William Mckinley had died at Buffalo, New York, as a result of the shots fired at him by his . dastardly assassin. Early the next day flags were displayed at half mast, many of them heavily draped in black crepe. The most of the business houses in town were closed and all seemed at a standstill. Handbills were printed and freely circulated Saturday morning, announcing a joint memorial service at the Methodist Episcopal church, Sunday evening. The church was full to overflowing, many not gaining an entrance. Short, pathetic addresses were made by Messrs. J. C. Carnes, F. S. Swift, C. F. Jones, J. B. Kidney, Ed. O'Hair and Alexander McMillan.

THE FLOOD OF 1898.

Up to 1898, the greatest flood at Brookville and the White Water valley in general, was the one of March 22, that year. After many days of hard raining, the climax came on. that night, when bells rang out loudly and the

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steam whistles blew with a very alarming sound. The citizens were soon out to see what was wrong at the river. The mad waters of the East fork were raging in fearful torrents in the valley section of the town. Fifty families were obliged to abandon their homes and seek safety on higher lands among their friends. Rescues were effected by means of boats, wagons, buggies and on horseback. The only available lights were those from flickering lanterns, from one in the morning till daylight. The west end of Whitcomb bridge was weakened, letting it down to the water's edge. The next day many came as sight-seerers from the surrounding country. The Brookville canning factory was destroyed by this flood. The Standard Oil Company's tanks were floated from off their foundations and swept some distance. The public schools were dismissed, on account of the great excite- ment and disorder in the town-all wanting to see the flooded districts. There were two men drowned, Philip Schuh and Bert Osgood.

GREAT FLOOD OF MARCH 25, 1913.

The flood of March 25, 1913, was the greatest in volume of water, de- struction of property and loss of life, of any that has ever visited this part of the White Water valley. Hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of property was destroyed and fifteen lives lost. Six hundred people in Brook- ville were rendered homeless and scores of dwellings swept away and torn to pieces. This flood was the result of many days' rain, and every rivulet and creek in the valley was a roaring torrent, which went sweeping down the two branches of the White Water river. The heaviest blow was sus- tained at Brookville, where the two streams unite. Both valleys-that of East fork and West fork-were submerged in many feet of water. At the depot and paper mills the water was fully twenty feet above the tracks.

The earliest intimation of danger was soon after midnight on Monday and about two o'clock A. M. the scenes in Brookville were beyond description. The electric light plant was under water and all lights were put out, so that lanterns had to be brought into use by the hundreds of people who had been startled by the shrill steam whistles and the clanging of church bells. People in the flats were warned and as fast as possible conveyed to safe places, while their property was swept away and lost forever. When daylight came the scene was one of desolation. The only land to be seen in all the valley part of town was a narrow strip from the Christian church to the old bank build- ing. Men and women were seen perched on house-tops, waving distress signals from windows and clinging to wreckage.

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The water continued to rise until it reached its climax on Tuesday morning at nine o'clock, when it reached a point ten feet higher than any previous flood record.

The work of rescue went forward all day under a heavy down-pour of rain, and some had not been rescued when nightfall came on. A relief committee was appointed and went to work at once. A kitchen was set up in the basement of the town hall, where food was served.

Reports soon came in and confirmed what had been rumored earlier- that the greatest loss to property in the county was its bridges. The railroad bridges at Laurel and Brookville, the one over Salt creek, the one over Duck creek, at Metamora, the paper mill bridge at Brookville, the old Stringer Ford bridge, the "Old White bridge," and the new concrete bridge. Also the bridge at New Trenton, and those over the White Water and Big Cedar rivers in the southern portion of the county were swept from their abutments.

After the flood had gone down and the survey could be carefully made, it was found the loss to be much greater than at first believed. The loss sustained by the railroad company, the paper mills and other local factories and mills in Brookville was great. The farmers in the county also came in for their share of loss, in way of washed-away fences, barns, outbuildings, grain, hay and stock.

The list of dead and missing was as follows: John A. Fries, Mrs. J. A. Fries, John Fries, Jr., Paul Fries, Margaret Fries, Hedwig Seiwert, Mrs. Margaret Bunz, Mrs. Sophia Buckingham, Isaac Osgood, Mrs. Margaret Fries, Margaret Colebank, Mrs. Elizabeth Seiwert, John Stearns, John Schuster, John Houston (New Trenton).

This was the county's greatest calamity. The many homes broken up, the furniture, clothing, money and rare keepsakes of so many scores of families dwelling on the lower portions of Brookville were all swept away and the pretty gardens and comfortable homes of a happy, contented populous section. in one short night were ruined and the hearts of the men and women to whom they belonged were all but broken. Now, after two years, the traces of this awful flood are still to be seen.

Perhaps the saddest incident connected with this flood was the drown- ing of the entire John A. Fries family and the inmates of Mr. Fries' mother's home, which stood close by her son's, both being in Stavetown, on the flats to the south of the town. This is the old brick and tile district, where for so many years these families had lived in two old land-marks, both of which were swept away. The hours at which these houses were washed away is not known, but sometime after midnight. In these two homes all eight of

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the occupants were drowned, including members of three generations-the grandmother, eighty years old, the son, and the granddaughter, Margaret, a prattling babe of six months. The funerals were held at 'St. Michael's Cath- olic church on Monday following the flood. All business places were closed during this sad ceremony. Four hearses conveyed the remains to the Cath- olic cemetery. The body of grandmother Fries was never found.

The report of the relief committee shows the following facts: The flood of March 25, 1913, affected residences in the town of Brookville which furnished homes for eight hundred and seventy people, or two-fifths of all in the town. Fifteen lives were lost, all bodies but one being recovered. Eleven residences were washed away or totally wrecked. Twenty-four other residences were badly damaged. A large number of outbuildings, hen houses, barns, storage houses, smoke-houses, etc., were washed away or totally ruined. Ninety-eight of such buildings were subsequently restored to their original places and repaired.

The state of Indiana, under Governor Ralston, gave assistance in the amount of five thousand dollars in cash and five hundred dollars in supplies sent. The relief committee in their report, which is published in a beautiful booklet form, profusely illustrated, gives due credit to many of the noble citizens who rendered personal service in rescuing the lives of their neigh- bors, special mention being made of I. N. McCarty, Charles F. Winscott, Dr. C. E. Case, Aloysius Seibel, Harry Chambers, Joseph Strunk, Thomas Feltz, and Jacob Helmer, who all risked their lives and by their skilful manipulation of the boats which were hastily constructed for their use, effected the rescue of those marooned in their homes. Father Schaff and Rev. F. L. Priest, with scores of others, are specially named. There was a total of $39,996.16 subscribed and paid through the relief committee. Of this large amount, $19,550 was furnished by the American Red Cross Society ; $5,500 by the Indiana relief fund; eight $500 donations were given ; seventeen hundred-dollar subscriptions; and others ranging from one hun- dred down to one dollar. This is a record of which the state, county and Brookville should be proud.

FRANKLIN COUNTY FARMERS INSURANCE COMPANY.

This company was organized March 16, 1900, with the following officers : John S Martin, president ; Clem Conn, vice-president ; John C. Shirk, secre- tary-treasurer. These officials, with the addition of L. J. Wilson, W. J. Templeton, S. S. Harrell and Edward Goff, constituted the first board of

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directors. The same officials have been re-elected annually for the past fifteen years. Three of the other directors, L. J. Wilson, S. S. Harrell, and Edward Goff. are deceased, their places being now held by M. P. Hubbard, William Simonson and I. W. Whitney.

It was decided to issue no policies until one hundred thousand dollars worth of stock had been subscribed, and when this was done, September 8, 1900, the first policy in the new company was written. The company was incorporated as a mutual fire insurance company to do business within Franklin, Fayette and Union counties. The object in taking in adjoining counties was to accomodate farmers who might hold property in more than one county.

The remarkable success of the company is shown by the fact that it now has over $3,500,000 in fire and cyclone policies. At the annual meeting in September, 1914, there were reported fire policies to the amount of $2,989,22I and cyclone policies to the amount of $596,261. In 1914 the company paid $6,081.45 fire losses and $137.54 cyclone losses. At that time there were 3,826 fire policies and 519 cyclone policies in force. Undoubtedly the suc- cess of the company has been due to the low rate which it has been able to maintain, which, in 1914, was $1.50 a thousand on fire policies and ten cents a thousand on cyclone policies. It is safe to say that a large percentage of all the insurance carried on the property of farmers of the county is held by one of the local companies, with the Franklin County Farmers Insur- ance Company handling by far the largest amount of business.

CHAPTER VII.

THE COURTS OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.

The history of court procedure in Indiana shows that there have been marked changes in court practice from the territorial days down to the pres- ent time. There were no less than three kinds of courts from 1805 to 1816 and the complexity of the legal machinery in those early days was astonishing when it is taken into consideration that so many of the early lawyers had a very limited knowledge of their profession. In the early history of the state the old lawyers delighted in using long Latin expressions and the more cumbersome phraseology they could invent the better they seemed to be pleased. In fact, there were so many Latin phrases that the Legislature ordered the revised statutes of 1828 to have a glossary at the end explaining them. In this Latin dictionary the embryo lawyer could find out what "quare clausum freget" meant, as well as simple classical expressions like "jury de meietate lingua."

When Franklin county began its independent career in the spring of ISII it had three courts to take care of its business. A county court, a com- mon pleas court, or nisi prius (oyer and terminer), as it was called, and a cir- cuit court. In addition there were a multiplicity of justice of the peace courts. The county court was composed of the associate judges, the auditor and sheriff, and performed practically the same functions as the commissioners' court of today. It went out of existence when the state was admitted to the Union in 1816.

THE FIRST COUNTY COURT.

The first county court in Franklin county met on February 18, 18II, with/ Benjamin McCarty, John Templeton and Thomas Brown present' These men were judges also of the common pleas court. It should be ex- plained here that these same judges really composed both the county court and the common pleas court, being known as a county court when transacting such business as is now in the hands of the county commissioners. As a county court they fixed the tax levy, created townships, laid out roads, or

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"cartways" as they called them, issued tavern licenses, appointed road super- visors, fence viewers, listers, overseers of the poor, election officials, pound keepers and all other appointive officers. They also were empowered to establish the prices which the tavern keeper could charge. For instance, the county court issued a schedule of prices for tavern keepers which allowed them to charge only twenty-five cents for a meal, twelve and a half cents for a half pint of whiskey or brandy, a similar amount for a quart of cider, a quart of beer, a pint of wine, a gallon of corn or gallon of oats. The tavern keeper was allowed to charge only six and a fourth cents for lodging. This schedule of prices was set forth in the county court record of 1811, and is ample proof that the high cost of living did not worry the people of that day. It is safe to say that more than half of the volumes containing the records of the county court are taken up with petitions for "cartways through the plantations" of the settlers of the county. The use of the word "plantation" is indicative of the southern origin of the settlers. The last session of the county court was held February 5, 1817, and was recorded in book D, page 146. The associate judges at that time were John Whitworth and William H. Eads.

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History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions, Part 21

Author: Reifel, August J Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1648

Author: Reifel, August J
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1648