USA > Indiana > Gibson County > History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 33
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Thirteen hundred and fifty people now compose the town of Owens- ville, the third largest in the county. The town has had a rapid growth and ranks high among towns of similar size in this portion of the state. The officers at present are: Grant Teel, A. W. Thompson and F. A. Strehl, trustees ; Charles N. Emerson, clerk ; E. H. Summers, treasurer, and Sylvester Selby, marshal. A town hall was built in 1911 and cost three thousand four hundred and twenty-five dollars. There is at present about one thousand five hundred dollars in the city treasury.
Water is supplied the town by the Owensville Water, Light, Power and Heat Company. An ordinance was granted the National Company of South Bend on February 7, 1912, and on the 15th another ordinance was passed issuing bonds to the total of ten thousand dollars for the purpose of buying
GATHERING CANTELOUPES-SCENE IN MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP.
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one hundred and ninety-seven shares of stock in this same company. The Owensville Light Company is a private concern, owned and operated by James A. Walker. This company was installed in 1905 by an Evansville corporation, then became the firm of Smith & Walker, and now is owned ex- clusively by Walker. A Metallic Batten Company has just been organized in Owensville and is capitalized at ten thousand dollars.
The business interests of 1913 are as follows: Drugs, H. L. Strick- land; tailor, Fred Johnson; furniture, W. F. Short; jeweler, J. N. Hurst; blacksmith, F. M. Thompson; baker, N. O. Basford; insurance and real estate. Frank W. Boren; plumbing and heating, S. A. Parker; contractor, Rufus T. Murnahan ; poultry, Strupe & Fravel ; garage, John G. Embree ; meat market, Kight & Boren; hardware, Marvel & Montgomery; meats, Schmittler & Murphy ; department store, Abe Massey ; livery, John Montgomery; Thomp- son Hardware Company ; wagons, J. W. Ray; lumber, Shepler & Grimwood; restaurant, S. J. Knowles; barber, H. R. Kennett ; department store, George R. Welborn; groceries, Wetter & Harris, Arthur Emerson; hotels, Owens- ville Hotel. L. P. Hobgood, Central Hotel, Mrs. Della Phillips; stock dealers, John Montgomery, Massey & Mauck. The physicians in Owensville are G. B. Beresford, J. N. Williams, K. S. Strickland, T. L. Lockhart, M. A. Mont- gomery, James R. Montgomery. J. D. Emerson. Otto Bixler, and Dr. Brumfield are the dentists. The town of Owensville has two papers, the Owensville Star-Echo, a weekly, and The Messenger, a religious paper.
The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad through Owensville was built in 1879. The first train over this road was run in September, 1879, and was a combination passenger and freight, a passenger excursion, run free of charge to all Montgomery township rseidents who wished to go to Princeton. The line extends between Fort Branch and Mt. Vernon, and at present runs four trains a day.
Montgomery township is one of the finest in Indiana. There is very rich land for agriculture throughout, and the value is greatly enhanced by the long stretches of hard-packed rock roads, about thirty miles of macadam, which lead into Owensville.
The First National Bank of Owensville was organized on May 17, 1900, and chartered the same year. The first officers were: C. B. Smith, presi- dent; L. F. Weldon, vice-president; Alex. Emerson. cashier. The first and present capital stock is $25,000. The surplus now is $25,000 and the de- posits $120,000. The present officers are the same as the first, with the ex- ception of cashier, now Charles N. Emerson. The bank building was erected in 1900, and cost $4,000.
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The Owensville Banking Company was organized on May 14, 1900, and chartered also in that year. The first officers were: R. P. McGinnis, presi- dent; Grant Teel, cashier. The present officers are: George T. Keneipp, president; John W. Emerson, vice-president; Grant Teel, cashier. The first and present capital stock is $28,000; the surplus is $26,500, and the deposits $100,000. The bank building cost $3,500 and was erected in 1889.
CHAPTER XXV.
JOHNSON TOWNSHIP.
This is one of the southern sub-divisions of Gibson county. Originally it took in much more territory than at present, for in 1899 the county com- missioners created a new township from the southern part of Patoka and the northern portion of Johnson township, known as Union. As now con- stituted, Johnson township is four by twelve miles in extent, running the longest way from east to west. The southwestern portion of this township is drained by Big creek. McGarry's Flat is a strip of rich black land, superior for its agricultural value. The early forests are nearly all gone and where the great trees stood a century ago now may be seen well-tilled farms. At an early day its forests were known for their wild, yet charming scenes, that changed with the passing of the four seasons. Here was found the oak, poplar, maple, beech, ash, gum, walnut, sycamore, cottonwood, elm, honey locust, cyprus, catalpa and other trees. The pioneer well remembers the pawpaw bushes, some of which were almost a foot in diameter. In the springtime the knolls and hill-tops are plumed with bouquets, brilliant with red, white and purple promises of fruitage. In the autumn the valleys are odorous with the fragrance of ripening fruits. The only rocky outputs in Johnson township are those at or near Hanbstadt where the rash coals and their companion strata lay. These are of no economic importance, as the great depth at which anything valuable can be found precludes mining.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The first history of Johnson township dates back to 1804, nine years before the county of Gibson was organized. John Hamer and his family were indisputably the first pioneers of the township. They came from the mountains of Tennessee, and cleared a plot of land in the timber of section 30. Jesse Douglas and family, John Sides, of South Carolina, Samuel Spill- man, William Mangrum, Cary Wilkinson, George Holbrook, Allen Ingram, Berry Jones, Andrew Douglas, Elisha Prettyman, Andrew Robinson were other first settlers.
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In the spring of 1811 the people of the township became alarmed at the frequent outbreaks among the Indians, and accordingly a stockade of split logs was erected at the site of the present town of Fort Branch. The old fort has long since passed from view.
Probably the first schools were 'taught in this township in 1810 by Will- iam Woods. The teacher boarded around, of course, and his pay consisted of a small sum from each family represented by a child in the school. James Johnson and James Curry were later teachers. Stephen Strickland, the "Whiskey Baptist," was probably the first man to preach in the township. Other early settlers were Samuel Adams, James Blythe, Lewis Duncan, Prettyman Montgomery, Andrew D. Ralston and Joel Yeager, and many later were Germans, who came here to escape the monarchial oppression of the fatherland.
Among the early settlers of this township, as it was known before the formation of Union township, as above indicated, were the following: Jesse Douglas and family of section 20, township 3, in the autumn of 1806. He left many descendants, who still reside in the county, mostly in Montgomery township. During early days this was a prominent family in the south part of Gibson county.
John Sides and family, who came from South Carolina, came with the Douglas family, and their cabins were built only a few hundred yards apart. Sides was a noted hunter and trapper and very fond of the sports of the chase. He was an industrious, energetic man, and after years of toil ac- cumulated a handsome fortune.
Hiram Sides was born in Gibson county in 1821, and became a well-to- do farmer and stock raiser.
Another settler of 1806 was Samuel Spillman from the mountains of Tennessee. He was by trade a tanner, and there had to earn his living under the ban of Southern aristocracy, which looked upon labor by white man as a disgrace. He sought out the wilds of this county and built him a rude cabin home near where Haubstadt now stands. Here he toiled many years and reared a family of seventeen children, all sons but four. After being here a few years he established a tannery, the first in this portion of the county. He built the first brick house in Johnson township.
Other early families were those of Mangrums, Wilkinsons, etc. Cary Wilkinson, wife and family of seven children came in from Kentucky in the autumn of 1808, settling about three miles southwest of Fort Branch. According to the best memory of Pioneer Wilkinson, sheep were first in-
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troduced by some of the settlers in the spring of 1815, but great care had to be taken that they were not killed by wolves. It was several years before they could be successfully raised. Cotton was also raised by many of the farmers in this part of the county between 1815 and 1830. Flax was in- troduced with the coming of the first settlers, and the fibers of this product made valuable tow which was woven by the good housewife and her grown daughters into a rough kind of cloth and found its way into the clothing of the family. Any boy or girl was counted fortunate if they had two suits of tow garments in a single year. These garments were made a good deal like a bag, open at each end, and a drawing string about the neck. This was for their summer outfit. Thus clad, barefooted and with a cheap hat, the boy or girl of the pioneer day was ready for school or to go to "meeting," as church was then always called. One pair of shoes for each member of the house- hold a year was considered a plenty to have. These generally came about Christmas time. After sheep became more plentiful, cloth was made of wool and cotton into what was styled linsey-woolsey (cotton chain and woolen filling). This was universally woven for many years and formed the chief clothing material for the settler and his family.
James Blythe came in 1812 from Giles county, Tennessee, locating on section II, township 4, range II, and after coming here married Olivia J. Mangrum.
Another pioneer character whose name must ever be handed down by each historian of Gibson county, for its true interest and unique qualities, was Stephen Mead, who came from York state to Gibson county in 1815, and married Mary, daughter of John Pritchett, a Revolutionary soldier, a native of Tennessee, and an early settler of Montgomery township, this coun- ty. This young couple located in what is now Gibson county, in Johnson town- ship, where they reared a family of twelve sons and two daughters. By industry and frugality they managed to get on well in the affairs of this world, and later years made up for the trials and hardships of those early times. Then, it is related, they had no plates upon which to eat, so they made a long table of puncheon and on the top surface of these puncheon they dug out sixteen holes the shape of a bowl, and thus each member of the family had their own dish out of which to eat-a stationary wooden plate! At one of the Gibson county fairs this entire family was present and all were robust, well-cared-for persons and each rode a fine gray horse. John S., one of these twelve sons, was later county commissioner and had to do with the building of the present court house, a monument to him so long as it stands.
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As has already been observed, Tennessee furnished many of the early settlers in Johnson township. Among others from that state was Joshua Duncan in 1821. He had, however, when a boy, moved with his parents to Kentucky and thence to Indiana. At Evansville he became acquainted with Sarah L. Logan and they were married in 1821 at old Stringtown, which hamlet is now embraced within the limits of the city of Evansville. Soon after their marriage Mr. Duncan and his young bride moved to Gibson county and settled in the dense forest about three miles southwest of Fort Branch and by toil and industry cleared a small patch of ground and by the aid of his neighbors raised a log cabin. It was made of round logs and with a mud-and-stick chimney. Mrs. Duncan says that during the first two years they lived on hominy, corn meal and game. That locality was then infested with wolves and bears and a few of the small animals of prey. Deer and wild turkey also abounded in great numbers, which furnished the tables of pioneers with good meat. The wife of Mr. Duncan was a native of North Carolina. They had born to them ten children. Mr. Duncan became a pros- perous, rich farmer and for many years was a justice of the peace. A few years after coming here he built a two-story house which was the best in his section of the county. It had a shingled roof and was weather boarded with poplar siding. The floors were of white ash. He also had a large barn and Esquire Duncan's place was regarded as among the finest in Johnson town- ship. He died in 1861. His widow survived him and later resided at Prince- ton with a daughter.
Lewis Duncan and family were also early settlers. He was a brother of the above and was a member of the Baptist church and occasionally preached at the settlers' houses. Mrs. Lyda Duncan, a widow, and her family moved here and located on a timber land tract about five miles west of Haubstadt in 1818. She was a noted midwife of that section and was frequently called to minister to the afflicted for miles around. She was an excellent horsewoman and on her trips generally rode a fleet and powerful stable horse and while on her missions of mercy to the sick, whether it be night or day, always carried with her a loaded pistol. Among the old resi- dents of the township was Stephen Harris, who came with his parents from South Carolina in 1810, and settled in what is now Posey county, where Stephen married Polly Emerson and in 1824, with his young wife, settled on section 8, township 4, range II, where Mrs. Harris died in 1869. They reared a large family of children.
Prettyman Montgomery, a descendant of one of the old and historic
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families of this county, was born in this county in 1815. He became a well- to-do farmer and stockman. John N. Mangrum was born in 1827 and was in after years a county commissioner. Another of the respected families of this township were the Yeagers, whose ancestor, Joel Yeager, a native of Virginia, emigrated to Kentucky and there married and in 1826 came to In- diana, locating in Posey county, near Cynthiana, and died there. His son, Absalom, came to Gibson county in 1841 and located in the timber in John- son township. He was the father of seven children and among them was Henry A. Yeager, an attorney in Princeton.
From 1838 to 1841 there was a large influx of emmigration from Ger- many, on account of the tyranny of the ruler of that country, and this town- ship received her full share of this German element, among whom may be recalled such noble characters as Dr. V. H. Marchland; John Sipp, who became county treasurer; Larentz Ziliak and Dr. Peter Ottmann. Many of them were Roman Catholic in religious faith. Later, they established schools and churches at Haubstadt and St. James.
Since the creation of Union township, which took much of the original territory from Johnson, it leaves Johnson with only one town, Haubstadt.
HAUBSTADT.
This was formerly known as Haub's Station, an old stage stand on the state road from Evansville to Vincennes. It is ten miles south of Princeton. The town was laid out in the fall of 1855, by James H. Oliver, who had before bought the land. Henry Haub, after whom the town is named, kept the stage stand and a general store. August Gelser was another early mer- chant, also L. Ziliak. Casper Keasel was the first blacksmith.
The present town of Haubstadt numbers about six hundred people. The election for incorporation was held on July 29, 1913, and shortly after- ward officers were chosen. They were: W. W. Sipp, George Stiefel and Jacob Pfeiffer, trustees; Matthew Halbig, secretary and treasurer, and Jos- eph Gruebel, marshal. The town is composed almost exclusively of Ger- mans and is a very flourishing and growing community. Good schools, pro- gressive business interests and a well ordered town government are elements which contribute to the upbuilding of the place.
The following compose the business interests of 1913: Ziliak & Schae- fer Milling Company; George D. Seitz, lumber dealer; general stores, the Henry W. Luhring Company, A. M. Schultheis Company, Heldt & Riffert. Company and Stunkel & Halbig; hardware, George S. Trible; grain dealers,
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Theodore A. Stunkel, Ballard & Busing; implements, F. D. Luhring; drugs, Peter J. Emmert; saloons, William Hughes, Jacob Shultheis; blacksmith and wagon shop, Schiff & Pfeiffer; hotel, Margaret Singer; barbers, Anslinger brothers; restaurants, O. E. Padellar, Albert J. Singer ; millinery, Henry W. Luhring, Helton & Riffert. V. H. Marchand is the resident physician.
The Haubstadt Bank was organized in 1904, chartered on June 4, 1904, and started September 2d of the same year. The first officers were: Alois Ziliak, president; Henry W. Luhring, vice-president, and Thebes Ferthing, cashier. The present officers are: W. W. Sipp, president; George D. Seitz, vice-president; A. J. Lynn, cashier. The capital stock is $25,000, surplus, $10,000, and deposits, $140,000. The bank building was erected in 1904, at a cost of $6,500.
CHAPTER XXVI.
UNION TOWNSHIP.
Union is the last civil township to be formed in Gibson county. Until 1890 it was a part of Johnson and Patoka townships, but at the commis- sioners' meeting in May, 1890, the separation took place, and since then it has been a separate sub-division of the county. For a detailed description of the act forming this township, with its boundaries, the reader is referred to the chapter on County Government, in this volume.
Its history from the pioneer settlement to the year 1890 has been treated and fully covered in the township history of Johnson township, hence will not here be gone over, at any length. Suffice to say that it contains about fifty-one sections, with the town of Fort Branch about in its geographical center. It is surrounded by the townships of Johnson, Montgomery, Patoka, Center and Barton.
In 1900 Union township had a population of two thousand one hundred and forty-nine and in the census taken in 1910 it showed a population of two thousand five hundred and seven.
Its surface is somewhat broken, but contains the average number of excellent farms and prosperous agriculturists. The valleys are rich and very productive and the native timber is still found sufficient for all present needs.
The schools and churches in this portion of Gibson county have already been noted under separate chapter heads. The only town within the terri- tory is Fort Branch, a place of more than ordinary early historic interest. This shows that the first settlement in this part of Gibson county was ef- fected in what is now Union township, and its details have been narrated somewhat in the history of that township, which contained a portion of Union.
FORT BRANCH.
Seven and a half miles south of Princeton is located the town of Fort Branch. The railroad was put through in 1852, and since that time the growth of the place has been steady. The town originally, when the railroad was built, was named LaGrange, in honor of Aaron LaGrange, who owned
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the land. The postoffice was moved from Little York, which had been a mile north. As there was another town of that name in the state, the name was afterward changed to Fort Branch, after the fort built during the Indian troubles.
Among the early merchants were James Strain, T. M. Strain and Charles Harrington. The first school house was built in 1861.
Fort Branch was built in 1811 and was constructed within an enclosure or stockade, located across a small branch in order to obtain a water supply furnished by Pigeon creek, a little north of the present town, on an eminence, the highest point for miles around. The site of this old fort is now under cultivation.
The stockade was built of split logs, set upright in the ground, and the blockhouse was made of logs two stories in height. There were port-holes in both stories and this enabled the pioneers to shoot in any direction at the enemy. Two blockhouses, each thirty by forty feet in size. were situated on the line at opposite sides of the stockade. A few weeks after the fort was finished and ready for any emergency, a rumor got out that the Indians were going to attack the settlement. Residents of the neighborhood gathered their families and sought safety in the fort. The Indians failed to show up, and it is not on record that the fort was ever used as a defense against the intruders.
When Fort Branch was laid out it was partly in Patoka township. A half mile south of the village L. T. Mead and Littleton Lowe formed a partnership, erected a building and started a general store, the object being to start a town in opposition to Fort Branch. but the undertaking was a dismal failure. The first preaching in Fort Branch was done by Rev. T. M. Strain.
In 1913 Fort Branch had about one thousand two hundred inhabitants. The community was incorporated as a town in May, 1902. The present officers are: Trustees, Clarence Sides, Charles Scales and Henry Hickrod; the clerk and treasurer is Frank Homan, and the marshal is John Peck.
The business interests of 1913 are below listed: Restaurants, Henry Slinger, O. Ramsey; barbers, Mckinney & English, Simmons & Brokaw; tin shop, W. I. Stone; general stores, George T. Ford, A. Rodeman, E. Richey ; J. L. Bryant, J. V. Delong & Son ; hardware and implements, J. M. McCarty, F. P. Lawton, W. L. Woods: restaurant, Henry Lowe ; veterinary, V. B. Reynolds ; jeweler, J. A. Carson; lumber, branch of the Greer-Wilkin- son firm; foundries, Lintz Brothers; meat market, Peter Emge & Sons: job printer, J. F. Hoffman; furniture, W. L. Mellinger, S. T. Wheeler & Son:
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grain, A. Waller, Fort Branch Milling Company; hotel, Joseph Bird; har- ness, L. W. Woods, J. M. McCarty; blacksmiths, Wright & Weeks, R. H. Bidlemann. J. J. Stone, Stephen Lockwood: bakery, L. Herr ; drugs, C. B. Runcie, W. G. Gram; dray, Roy Wallace; poultry and eggs, Toops & Com- pany. W. G. Hopkins, W. F. Morris, H. L. Bass and W. W. French are the physicians, and B. G. Cox, the dentist. The newspaper is the Fort Branch Times.
The water supply of Fort Branch is obtained from excellent artesian wells. Electric lights are furnished by the Electric Light Company of Fort Branch, an organization incorporated in September, 1913. A well-equipped mill is maintained by the Fort Branch Milling Company, and they have one of the first concrete wheat storage vats of this part of the state. A short distance from Fort Branch is the coal mine operated by the Fort Branch Coal Mining Company. The mine gives employment to about fifty men, and coal is shipped to various points of the country. The coal is bituminous. The fire department of the town is made up of volunteers.
BANKING INTERESTS.
The Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Fort Branch was started as a private banking concern in 1896, was incorporated as a state bank in 1900 and chartered as a national bank in 1908. The first officers were W. L. West, J. A. West and S. H. West, holding the respective offices of presi- dent, vice-president and cashier. The first capital was $9,000. The present officers are: S. H. West, president : Gerhard Sollman, vice-president ; Her- man C. Graper, cashier. The bank now has a capital of $25,000; surplus of $10,000, and deposits in September, 1913, of $160,000. It built its own banking building in 1900.
The First National Bank of Fort Branch was organized March 18, 1908, with the following as officers: W. G. Stiefel. . president : Charles B. Runcie, vice-president ; L. S. Bryant, cashier; Miss Nellie Clark, assistant cashier. The first capital was $25.000; the same capital is carried today, and the present surplus is $1,650, with deposits amounting to $85.000. . \ good bank building was erected in 1909. The officers in 1914 were: W. G. Stiefel, president; Walter S. Hoffman, vice-president ; L. S. Bryant. cashier ; John Vickery, assistant cashier.
CHAPTER XXVII.
BARTON TOWNSHIP.
Barton township is located in the southeast corner of Gibson county. It is bounded on the north by Center and Columbia townships, east by Pike and Warrick counties, south by Warrick county, west by Johnson and Patoka townships. This township was organized in August, 1843, but afterward the boundary lines then fixed were changed. The township was formed by request of many of its later citizens who drew up a petition.
The land surface of this township is typical of the county, undulating and hilly in places and in others, low and rich. Smith's fork, Pigeon creek and their tributaries drain and water the soil. Mccullough's pond is also located in the southwestern part.
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