History of Greene and Sullivan Counties, State of Indiana, Part 77

Author: Goodspeed Bros. & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 901

USA > Indiana > Greene County > History of Greene and Sullivan Counties, State of Indiana > Part 77
USA > Indiana > Sullivan County > History of Greene and Sullivan Counties, State of Indiana > Part 77

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).

The Christian denomination, by some termed New Light and by others confounded with the Campbellite Church, established a church in 1854, through the labors of E. W. Humphreys, James Mckinney and David Hays. These ministers held their first meetings at the residence of Dr. Halstead, on what is now called the Wider farm. The members of this first organization were Elizabeth Duffer, J. N. Halstead, Mary Jane Halstead, Amanda Davis, Hannah Medsker, Elizabeth Beard, Cath- erine Cushman, Eunice Baker, Margaret Halstead, Melinda Simmes, James H. Campbell, Leanna Harrington, Mehaley Grant, Charles Cade, John Medsker, Sarah Bridwell, Joannah Medsker, Nancy Bridwell and Louisa Wolverton.

From that time on, services were held in private houses, groves and the schoolhouse, until a year after, when a log house was built in which to hold services. When this house was no longer fit for use, the church resorted again to the schoolhouse. In 1868, the church built a neat frame house of worship at the Big Spring at a cost of $600. T. C. Smith preached the dedicatory sermon. The succession of Christian pastors of the Big Spring Church is as follows: E. W. Humphreys,

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Leonard Shoemaker, P. Spade, John Phillips, T. C. Smith, John Whit- aker, Rev. Acres, John T. Phillips, T. C. Smith and D. J. Evans, C. L. Jackson and G. W. Shepherd.

The average salary of these ministers is $200 per year. Present membership of church is about forty. At several different times, inter- esting revivals have been held at the Big Spring Church. There have been many generons donations given by each one of the denomination. These were occasions for having a good social time, and for expressing good will toward the pastor. The Sunday schools of this region date back to 1837, when Rev. Balch organized a Sabbath school in connection with his other work. In summer, the Sunday school met in the grove, and in winter, on pleasant Sabbaths, it met at private houses. In 1839 also, Mies Warren, a school teacher from the East, not content with her work as school teacher, established a Sunday school. It was a pleasure to both old and young to attend, although the only book in the school was a Bible and perhaps a hymn book. The only officer was Superin- tendent. At present there are Sunday schools at the Methodist and Christian Churches. Officers consist of Superintendent, Secretary, Treasurer and Librarian. The schools are made interesting by the ju- dicious use of papers and books, and the study of the Bible is supple- mented with lesson leaves and charts.

CEMETERIES.

Some of the old cemeteries have been sold with adjoining land to strangers, and as time has passed on the exact spot they occupied is for- gotten. The traveler who visits the Hawkins Graveyard, will not soon forget what a wild and desolate spot it is. The cemeteries most in ure now are the Mann and Presbyterian.

MURBIL THE ROBBER.

Turman Township has been remarkably free from epidemics, financial panics, and crime. Only one man is known to have been murdered within its limits. Three horses were known to have been stolen, and the nearest acquaintance with thieves was the finding of the name of the notorious John A. Murril carved upon a tree. The credulous believed the robber himself was near them. The skeptical thought some idle hunter had carved the terrible name upon the tree to see what the effect would be upon others.

There are members of Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities, but they meet with lodges in other towns. At two or three times when the sub- ject of temperance was agitated the Good Templars had lodges, but the interest would die away and the lodges disband. The people are for temperance, however, and it is highly complimentary to their moral sen- timent that they have never tolerated a saloon.

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STATISTICS.

In 1850, there were 119 voters in Turman Township, and in 1882 there were 338. The social growth of this people has kept pace with other improvements. Facilities for transportation have developed the country's resources, and the people now find a market for whatever there is to sell. Money will buy a greater variety of the comforts of life than formerly. Instead of the farmer and his family leading lives of drudg- ery, they are able to live in comfort, and to surround themselves with whatever makes life desirable. Their homes are supplied with books, magazines, papers, pictures and music. Their schools and their teach- ers are of as good a grade as can be found in the county. Their churches are as well attended and their ministers as able as one finds anywhere. The population of Turman Township in 1806 was one, in 1884 was 2,047.

CHAPTER XVII.

BY J. E. NORRIS.

CASS TOWNSHIP-FIRST LAND ENTRY-PIONEER SUPPLIES-NECESSITIES OF THE TIMES-FIRST SETTLERS-FIRST BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH- IMPROVED DWELLINGS-JAMES PIGG'S WAGON-" RAISINGS"-FIRST MILL-HUNTING AND HUNTERS-A FAMOUS HUNTER-THE OLD GUN- SMITH-A POLITICAL INCIDENT-A CYCLONE AND EPIDEMIC-NATURAL RESOURCES-SEVERAL MATTERS-DUGGER, BUELL, ETC., ETC.

THIS division of the county, known as Cass Township, is the eastern of the central tier of townships, and is bounded on the north by Jackson Township; on the south by Jefferson Township; on the west by Hamilton Township; and on the east by Greene County. From north to south on the east portion, it is seven miles in extent, and from east to west on the southern portion it is the same; but from east to west on the northern portion, and from north to south on the western portion, it is about six miles in extent, a section a mile square heing chopped out of the northwest corner for the benefit of Hamilton, which section should be restored to Cass, to which it rightfully belongs. The township was formed from Jackson and Haddon Townships in 1850, and the first offi- cers were: Trustees, John Maxwell, John G. McBride and James A. Mc- Gill; Clerk, John H. Wilson; Assessor, William G. Moss.

FIRST LAND ENTRY.

The first man to enter land in Cass Township was William Pugh, who came way back-some time in the twenties. The first man, however, to open a farm here was Thomas Neeley, who came from East Tennessee,

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bringing with him his aged father, and settling about a mile from where is now located the town of Dugger.

PIONEER SUPPLIES.

At this time, about 1825, the whole face of the country was just about as it came from the hands of the Creator; everything was wild, and although there was considerable timber, the ground was covered with wild pea-vines, which afforded fine living, in connection with the plenti- ful supply of acorns, for the many hogs that ran wild through the woods. Game of course was plentiful, and all that was to be done by the settler to fill his larder with the best of venison, wild turkey and bear meat, was to take down his trusty rifle from its pegs against the cabin wall, step & few yards from his door-way, and bring down a buck or a couple of tur. keys; or, going a little farther into the brush, track a bear to his lair in the recesses of the forest, bring him to his haunches with a well directed shot, cut his throat with the keen edged hunting knife, skin him, and bear the carcass back to the cabin, where the women folks would dress the best portions of Old Bruin, for the repast, which consisted, in addi- tion of corn-dodgers, hominy and honey, a diet, by the way, not to be sneezed at in these sham times, when one does not know (especially if living in large cities) whether he is eating diseased beef or not, and when be can't tell whether his butter is made from the refuse fat of a steer or from a sick cow. Verily, if the lives of the old pioneers were full of trials and hardships, they yet had good health and appetites. Much honor should we pay to those brave, self sacrificing and manly old advance guards of the army of civilization. But for them, when would this lovely land of ours have been made to yield its treasures and blossom as the rose?

THE FIRST SETTLERS.

James Pigg came in 1828. He was from Tennessee, and was, prob- ably, the most progressive of the early settlers, for he had not only more of the " first" things to occur in his family, but had most of the " first " improvements, of which more hereafter. Mr. Pigg was well advanced in life when he reached this wilderness, for he had served in the war of 1812, and gallantly, too, coming out of that struggle without a scratch. Several others settled shortly after Pigg, and the country soon began to assume some little of the appearance of civilization. Cabins began to rise here and there on the sides of the knolls, and near the small streams that water the country.

Among those coming after Pigg, or thereabouts, we find the follow- ing, who are now dead: Joseph Neely, Elias Graves, Morgan Gambill, Phillip Usrey, Uncle Johnny Maxwell, and several others who are now forgotten; also John Y. Dodd, the Saucermans, Peter Alembaugh, Lewis Brewer, Michael Houck, the Freemans, Moores, McBrides, a man named

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Egbert (who afterward went away and joined the Mormons at Nauvoo), Jerry Pickett (who hunted through here) and others Tennessee and Kentucky furnished most of the settlers, but there were a few from Vir- ginia, Maryland and other States.

FIRST BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH.

The first birth in the township, or rather what was then known as Jackson Township, was, probably, a daughter of James Pigg. This child was born in 1831, and died the next year, she being named Martha Jane Pigg, hers being the first death. The first marriage, also, occurred in the same family, when Sanders Pigg, son of James, married Hannah Gambill, a daughter of which union is now Mrs. George W. Usrey.

In 1833, Joseph Neely, father of Thomas Neely, died. He was an old man when he came to this county, and had been a soldier in the Rev- olutionary army. He was looked up to by all the settlers as one worthy the respect of his fellow-man, as he had risked his all in the grand old war for liberty. His remains were deposited in the graveyard at Antioch Church, and they were followed to their last home by nearly all the set- tlers.

IMPORTANT EVENTS.

An event occurred about this time, somewhere along in the thirties, which was the event of that primitive age: James Pigg conceived the idea of improving on the old round-log cabin, and commenced the con- struction of a hewed log house, which he duly finished in time, and that house was the admiration and wonder for miles around, for some time to come, or at least till others attained to the same good fortune. Mr. Pigg also had built for him the first wagon that ever rolled across a farm in this section. Peter Alembaugh did the blacksmith work, and Boatman and Pigg did the wood work. How the old settlers daily watched the rise and progress of that four wheeled vehicle is beyond our knowledge now, but they did so evidently with as much interest as Holmes Deacon did the building of the "wonderful one horse shay." They pronounced her a beauty when finished, and the way the neighbors borrowed that wagon was simply wonderful, but in those early times, so dependent was one upon the other, that it was not thought unreasonable. The commu- nity felt as one person when their interests were at stake. The first " check line " was brought into use in this section about this time, when Mr. Pigg got his neighbors to help him break the horses into that new- fangled mode of horse-tailoring.

BUILDING THE CABINS.

The settlers had their fun and frolic, for "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," as the old saying goes; so when a cabin raising

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was to take place they would collect from all quarters on the morning of the "raise," and even the night before, camping out by bright fires, singing.many songs, telling hunting stories and passing the old jug around quite freely. In the morning, however, all hands would go to work with a will, and before night set in the cabin would be up from will to topmost log, roof on, and floor of split logs, almost ready for the Brussels carpet. The chimney was where the pioneer artist exhibited his best skill, and the care that was taken to give it the best shape for conducting away the smoke was worthy the most advanced architect of to-day. Whisky was used quite freely at these raisings, and it used to be maid, as it has been said later, that a house could not be raised nor a harvest gathered without the inspiring " bug-juice." Time, we are happy to state, has given the lie to all such theories. The whisky was not obtained in Cass, we are also assured, for there never was a distillery in the township.

THE FIRST MILL

The first mill was built by Peter Alembaugh, on Buttermilk Creek. It was a horse mill, one of that old pioneer sort, with a long lever, tied to the end of which was a horse, who went round circus fashion, and which, like the mills of the gods, " ground slowly." Still those mills were almost indispensable, and the meal they furnished was, doubtless, exceedingly toothsome, if it was not so fine as that of the patent " decor- ticated " variety now almost a necessity to the "advanced " housewife. If the old "one-horse " inill on the Buttermilk was an institution, what could have been thought of the pretentious water mill, erected some time after on the Busseron, near Caledonia? To this mill the settlers would bring their grists long distances from their homes, after making a three days' trip-one day to go, one to have it ground, and one in which to return. They would often come in parties and camp out together. Caledonia, by the way. where this mill was located, was the principal trading point for all this region. Here flat-boats were built, loaded with the products of the country, and floated down the rivers as far, often, 88 New Orleans. It was at this point where Gen. De Pauw, a man of great business energy and force of character, settled, and where he did a large business. His son, Washington De Pauw, is now one of the wealthiest men of the State, and resides at New Albany. The name, Buttermilk, of the creek referred to above, was derived in the following manner: Some soldiers were passing through this country in the early times, and stop- ping at a house on this small stream, asked for something to eat. The good woman, whose husband was off hunting at the time, told them that all she had was a little venison and " a plenty of buttermilk." They accepted the fare, and drank so much buttermilk that they all got sick, which made such an impression that the stream has been called But- termilk Creek ever since.

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HUNTING AND HUNTERS.

Hunting was almost universal among the settlers, for they had to de- pend upon that source for much of their meat. It is true hogs were plentiful, but as they all ran loose through the woods, they soon became very wild, and often to procure one, he had to be shot. Many very fierce boars were among the number, and they frequently made it exceedingly dangerous to approach them in the solitude of the woods. On one oo- casion, an old hunter was in the woods laying for a large buck that usually came for water at Mud Creek. In the vicinity of where the hunter lay concealed was a drove of probably twenty or thirty hogs, in- cluding two or three large boars, with projecting tusks two or three inches in length. Finally, along came the buck, and no sooner bad he gotten in range than a bullet entered his head. He fell, and as he did so, the hogs, through some unaccountable impulse, rushed for the dying deer. The hunter, thinking he had a better right to the buck than the hogs, rushed up too, never dreaming of his danger, but he had hardly gained the side of his game, when one of the boars struck at him with his tusk, fortunately not cutting him, but knocking him over a log. All the other hogs then made for the hunter, who, quickly perceiving his danger, sprang for the nearest tree, climbed out of reach, and waited till the porkers went away, but he did not get his deer; the hogs devoured every vestige of the animal with the exception of the larger bones and antlers, which measured nearly five feet from tip to tip.

John F. Freeman was a great hunter, and his skill with the rifle was something wonderful. He seemed to love the sport more for the sport than for the bagging of the game. He always came home loaded down. Robert Moore, also, was a great huntsman. He kept a pack of hounds, and nothing seemed to please him half so well as to hear his leader in the chase, a large, long-eared, brown and white hound, strike the first note as he scented the trail of the fox or wolf, and struck off through a clearing with the balance of the dogs at his heels. Old man Pigg and the boys used to amuse themselves by catching wolves in pens, and poking sticks at the thieving "varmints " till they fairly foamed with rage. The old man was a hunter, too, and he has often hung up and dressed five or six deer in an evening. Jerry Pickett was, however, the great Nimrod of all this section. He did not live in this township, but was here so much, and hunted these woods so thoroughly, that he can almost be claimed as a resident. He was from above here somewhere. His ap- pearance was very peculiar, looking and acting so much like an Indian that no one would ever have dreamed that he was a white man if he had dressed Indian fashion. He was, nevertheless, of pure white blood. Some have thought his appearance was a " birth-mark." He not only looked like an Indian, but was just as skilled as they in all manner of woodcraft, knew all their cunning tricks of trapping and hunting, was

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up to all their devices of stratagem, and it is said that many persons be- lieved he could track game by soent, like a dog.

THE OLD GUNSMITH.

Allen McBride was a gunsmith, and for many years furnished or re- paired the firearms of the community. Hunters came from long distances to secure the services of McBride, who was extremely skillful in his call- ing. A gun made by this old artisan was said to have been as true as the best machine made, improved rifle that was ever turned out by the most famous makers of the world. It took him a 'long time to make a gun, but when it was finished it would "shoot," you can rely upon it, if the shooter had half an eye for a mark. He lived near where Bateham now is.

Among the stories of the old settlers, the following used to be popu- lar: It appears that a man named Stevens, loved to get up big wolf stories, drawing principally upon his imagination for the facts. In a crowd at one of the old raisings, he told how on one occasion he had discovered seven wolves in a small thicket; he had tracked them in the snow, which was about a foot and a half deep, and then, forgetting about the snow, related how he had "ring-fired " the thicket and picked off each of the seven wolves as they came out. The crowd laughed at the mis- take, or rather lie of Stevens, but another old hunter named Cantrell said he could beat that; so he went on to tell how he had tracked two wolves with a little bench-legged dog, and how the wolves ran up 8 tree to escape, and then how the little dog went up after the wolves, and grabbing them by the hind legs, threw them off the tree, where they were killed by the hunter. At this point, all the listeners were about to ex- claim "a wolf nor a dog can't climb a tree," when Cantrell said: "The tree was lying on the ground, and my story beats his, because it's true."

A POLITICAL INCIDENT.

In 1844, when the political excitement ran high, an incident occurred which illustrates the intensity of the feeling of the two parties, and although happening in another township, one of the participants was the wife of old Allen McBride, the gunsmith spoken of above. The Demo- crats had a big rally at Terre Haute, and delegations from all over the county were in attendance. Now when the delegation from Haddon returned to Carlisle, they found the Whigs having a big barbecue there; so Mrs. Allen McBride, who was here at the time, and Mrs. Miller, wife of the skin-dresser, called out for horses, and they being obtained, mounted them and marshalled the enthusiastic Democracy all around the old town, amidst the plaudits of the admiring citizens.

AN EARLY CYCLONE.

In 1846, a terrific storm, evidently a cyclone similar to those of late

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years, devastated a belt of country lying a mile or more south of the village of Buell. It was about one mile in width, came from a southwesterly direc- tion, and created great havoc. It destroyed not only fences, but tore up by the roots great numbers of trees, and blew down houses and barns- Thousands of dollars worth of valuable timber was ruined for anything but firewood.

A TERRIBLE VISITATION.

A terrible visitation in the shape of typhoid fever fell upon the town- ship in 1852. It was so general that it reached the proportions of an epidemic. The physicians at that date were almost totally ignorant of the disease, and could scarcely cope with it in a single instance. Num- bers, both old and young, fell before the scourge, but it seemed to have peculiarly fatal effect upon the older persons, as nearly all the original settlers died from it. Quinine was used largely, and when that ran out, the doctors used boneset tea.

BOME FIRSTLINGS.

The first Justice of the Peace who administrated the law in what is now Cass, but which at that time was Jackson Township, was Esquire Adam Wilson, and the first Justice of the Peace after the organization of the township was John McBride.

The first schoolhouse erected in the township stood on the ridge nearly opposite Lewis Brewer's house, about half a mile east of Dugger, and the first school teacher who wielded the rod and taught the "young idea how to shoot," was Jesse Ruark. There are now twelve neat and substantial frame schoolhouses, with an attendance of over 600 pupils.

CHURCHES.

Antioch Christian Church was the first erected in the township, and the first minister to preach was Rev. Palmer. Antioch is located about two miles north of Dugger, and Rev. Joseph Patton is the pastor.

Zion Methodist Episcopal Church is located about four miles north of Dugger.

Hickory Methodist Episcopal Church is located about two and one- half miles south of . Buell.

Clayborne Presbyterian Church is located three miles north of Buell.

NATURAL RESOURCES.

Considerable of the land of Cass Township is broken and hilly, and, as a consequence, it is not as productive as some other sections of the county, but nature has made ample amends for her apparent slight in the matter of soil, for the township has just beneath the surface that which will make it the richest section of Sullivan, at no distant day. Coal underlies the soil to such an extent and in such abundance, that

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one can almost kick away the dirt and crary off great chunks of the black diamonds. There are four mines opened in the township: one at Dugger, owned by Dugger & Neil, which employs about forty- five men ; one at Buell, owned by John B. Lyons; another, owned by Edward Hancook; and still another which is not now in operation, in consequence of there being, literally, no facilities for carrying off the valuable pro- duct, tons of coal lying at the mines and wasting away. The day will come when the short-sighted policy of a one-horse railroad will be a thing for wonderment.

There is a flouring mill half a mile from Dugger, owned by Henry Abbey, and a grist mill for grinding corn, at Buell.

BEVERAL MATTERS.

During the late civil war, Case was pretty thoroughly Anti-war Dem- ocratic, yet she sent some brave sons to the field, who not only did good service, but who laid down their lives in defense of their country. A sad affair occurred during those sad times in the death of Enrolling Officer Fletcher Freeman, who was killed on the public highway, and around whose death much mystery collected.

The population of the township is about 1,900, and casts a vote of about 400. The present officers of the township are: Trustee, James B. Cochran, who also acts as Clerk and Treasurer; Assessor, Amos Mar. shall; Justice of the Peace, John Hawtin; Constables, B. W. Fry, T. A. Moss.

OLD SETTLERS LIVING.

As far as can be ascertained. the following comprise the old settlers at present living: Michael Houck, who is ninety-three years of age, is the oldest man in the township, and doubtless the oldest in the county; Jobn Hawtin, William Bledsoe, John Bledsoe, Thomas Neeley, George W. Usrey, Andrew J. Pigg, James B. Cochran, Perry Maxwell, Lewis Brewer, Humphrey Shepherd, and there may be one or two others.

Cass has a railroad, such as it is, and it is no fault of her citizens that she has no better, for they are ready, with their coul and other products, to give it patronage, as soon as they can be assured that the road can and will haul them off. The Springfield, Effinghamn & South- cast Railroad Company is the pretentious title of what is termed the " Narrow (rouge " by the citizens of Cass, and if the entire United States can turn out anything that is nearer not being a railroad than this, we should like to see it trotted out.

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History of Greene and Sullivan Counties, State of Indiana, Part 77

Author: Goodspeed Bros. & Co. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Number of Pages: 901

Author: Goodspeed Bros. & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 901