History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 9

Author: John F. Haines
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051

USA > Indiana > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions > Part 9

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).

After this first home, which housed the whole party, was completed, they turned their attention to getting in the crops. As much of the land had to be cleared some undertook that work. Others split rails for fences, while others plowed and planted in the small clearings; thus in an incredibly short time was the first crop planted in this rich virgin soil. But these early farm- ers had no time to sit and watch Nature do her part. There were other cabins to build, other fields to clear, other tasks to do before the summer was over, in order that the men who had come here, leaving their families at home, could have homes ready for their loved ones before another winter was upon them. When these new cabins were to be erected, all the men in the neighborhood lent a willing hand and the work was accomplished as speedily and well as on the first occasion. As soon as possible, the families were brought to the new homes that now formed the settlement.

The settlers had brought with them sufficient meal to last till their crops could be harvested in the fall. But by ill fortune they found their meal had all spoiled by the last of June or first of July. They bought a few bushels of corn from Mr. Conner, but there was no mill in which to grind it. But the men were equal to the occasion. They secured a log about three feet long and two feet across. This they stood on end, cut a hole in the other end, burned it out smooth and then cleaned it thoroughly and into this hole they shelled some corn. They then procured a piece of timber about three feet long, shaped it into a pestle and then pounded the corn as fine as pos- sible in this mill of their own manufacture. The corn, thus treated, was run through a seive, the finer part being used for bread and the croarser part being cooked and eaten with milk. Later in the summer Mr. Bush, tired of pound- ing the meal in this fashion, contrived a grinder of two large stones fitted

Digitized by Google

100

HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

together with holes through the center of each and which were rigged up in such a manner as to grind their corn into meal.

The settlers contrived to live in this manner till some time in the fall, when John Finch, a brother of Solomon Finch, came with his family to live in the settlement. John Finch was an excellent mechanic and a good black- smith. After his family had been properly housed, he, with the help of some others, built a horse mill, making the burrs himself out of stones, known as "nigger heads." This famous mill, built of logs, soon became the "corn meal hope" of the whole country thirty miles down White river. Com- pared to the commodious, well-equipped mills of today, this was, indeed, a very rude affair, but it served the purpose for which it was intended. The settlers for miles around came there with their corn. The mill was run by horse power and each customer was required to furnish his own power and pay six cents a bushel toll to have his corn ground. But there was never any complaint, this being a very reasonable charge for the accommodation.

Until late in the summer of 1819, all went well with the settlers. Good health, excellent spirits and keen appetites for food and work made life seem well worth living in spite of hardships and misfortunes. But in August the settlers, one and all, men, women and children, were attacked with chills and fever. They thought at that time it was caused by the stagnant water and undrained land all about them, but science has lately proven it was the mosquito infesting these swamps that caused all the trouble. With the dis- appearance of the stagnant water and marshes has gone the mosquito, so also has gone the old chills and fever of those early days. The unfortunate vic- tims of those early maladies cared not whence came their trouble, they only knew too well that it had them in its grip. It was a serious time, indeed, for the brave company. No physician or medicine to be had within sixty miles, no one well enough to procure any even if the distance had not been so great, no one well enough to wait on the others. It was a trying experi- ence through which they were passing.

Some one has said that in every region of the world to which a sickness is peculiar, if we but knew what herbs and roots to choose, we should find a panacea for that particular ailment in the region where it is found. There was some such knowledge among these early pioneers and herbs and roots were made into teas and broths which seemed to be efficacious in bring- ing them back to health. Whatever the cause, the chills and fever abated by cold weather. While the sufferers were convalescing it was difficult to pro- cure suitable food. Sick people do not relish and cannot eat common food and no palatable dainties were at hand. Nothing but garden vegetables, corn

Digitized by Google

IOI

HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

bread and such game as any were able to obtain in their weakened condition. But in some manner they all lived through the experience and doubtless had their land better drained before another year and, while chills and fever were often prevalent in that early time, we have no further record of where every one was sick at the same time. The three years immediately following, 1820, 1821 and 1822, were attended with more general and fatal sickness than has ever been experienced either before or since in the west. In the southern part of the state some towns were almost depopulated. During that time in most neighborhoods there were but few who escaped without one or more severe attacks of fever. A sort of bilious fever was prevalent in the southern portion of the state, differing very little from yellow fever. Fortunately, in Hamilton county the sickness largely took the form of ague, which is not considered so serious except by the person attacked. To the one so afflicted it is no laughing matter, but sometimes it was the occasion of merriment to others. Some were accused of being "too lazy to shake," others were said to have "the slows" or the "spring fever lasted the whole year." When the sickness first appeared, those who drank whiskey mostly escaped and it was a matter boasted of that they kept "above fever heat." Later, however, they were attacked more seriously than the temperate, so the laugh was turned. As medicine was often ineffective even when obtained, it was better to be merry over their ills.

This first year the settlers had a fair crop of corn, but were unable for some reason to harvest it, so it stood in the fields all winter except what they used in the neighborhood or sold to their neighbors, for which they received fifty cents a bushel. Quite a trade was carried on with the Indians this first winter. They were all friendly and sold the settlers venison and dressed deer skin, the latter being used to make moccasins for all the settlers "both great and small," the former sometimes being cured and kept for meat for some months. Some of the settlers not owning sheep, used deer skin for making leather breeches. Woolen clothes were now furnished by the loom and spinning wheel for those owning sheep, but most of the men wore buck- skin breeches and jackets of the same serviceable material.

George Shirts became expert in dressing deer skin and he taught the other settlers the art. The deer skins just from the animals, with all the flesh removed, were placed in a weak lye solution at intervals till the hair would slip off easily. The hair was then removed. A quantity of brains of ani- mals was then soaked in water till it formed a liquid similar to extract of oak bark. The skins were soaked in this liquid in large troughs used for that purpose. From time to time they were removed from the liquid and rubbed

Digitized by Google

102

HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

almost dry. Again and again this process was repeated till the skins were soft and pliable and ready to be used for clothing for the settler and his family. In winter the pioneer was clothed in homespun wool and deer skin, but such clothing was not suitable for summer wear. There was no flax raised yet and, of course, cotton was as much out of their reach as velvets and satins. Necessity was then, as ever, "the mother of invention," so these resourceful men and women discovered that nettles grew in abundance along the river and creek bottoms and that the lint on them could be utilized in making cloth the same as hemp and flax. So they gathered and cured the nettles in the same manner flax is cured. It was hackled, broken and cleaned . in the same way. The spinning and weaving followed by the mother or daughter of the house. By this means there was no lack of summer apparel till flax was planted and brought to the perfection of summer clothing. There was no rivalry in dress. Clothes were worn till they were passed wear- ing and they never became old-fashioned even after several seasons' wear. No woman missed attending church or a festivity, no girl remained away from a dance, no young man failed in his social obligation because his or her wardrobe was insufficient, out of date or unsuited to the occasion. Therein they were much better off than their descendants of this generation, for the clothing of that early time was suitable and stylish for every occasion. Well it was that they were content with these simple wardrobe furnishings. In more thickly settled parts of the state many luxuries for that time formed a considerable part of the trade with the outside world. Coffee, tea, sugar and tobacco were great luxuries of the time and fabulous in price. Not many people in Indiana were rich enough to indulge in these expensive habits. Silks, satins, broadcloths and other materials for men's and women's apparel were almost fabulous in price, while farm products, the principal production in Indiana, were very low in the market. For example a yard of silk cost as much as eighty bushels of corn would sell for. Calico sold at the rate of eight bushels of corn per yard, while good broadcloth commanded one hun- dred bushels. Was it any wonder the women were spinners and weavers? As for the early settler in Hamilton county, he bothered not about the lux- uries. If he had the necessities of food and clothing and a home, however rude, to call his own, he was happy. His life was one of usefulness and devotion to homely toil, much more profitable to his country than if it had been frittered away with unnecessary luxuries and ease.

In 1820 a man by the name of Baxter came to Hamilton county. He built his cabin south of the road running east and west from the old mill.

Digitized by Google

IO3

HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

This man sowed the first field of wheat ever sowed by white people in this county.

The first school was taught by Sarah Finch in a log cabin built for the purpose at Horseshoe Prairie. There a few children of the settlers learned the three R's. In this same house about the same time was organized the first Sunday school. It was taught by Curtis Mallory, a Presbyterian. In the same year (1820) the first religious services in which a sermon was preached were held at the home of John Finch. Other meetings were held at long intervals as long as the settlement was in this condition. The Baptists were the first to preach salvation to the inhabitants along White river. The first to receive baptism into the church were immersed in White river, the sub- jects being Margaret and Sallie Finch. But the names of these early itinerant Baptist ministers seem to be forgotten and buried with the past, with the exception of Elder Martin. In the interest of Methodism, Rev. James Scott, a famous circuit rider, "held forth among the denizens of the wilderness in these parts." Doubtless many interesting stories of self-sacrifice, danger and daring might be told of these unselfish men of God. Unless filled with holy zeal no man would undertake to travel from place to place through the then unbroken forest, facing danger, privation and perhaps death on every journey, that he might preach the gospel to men in the untrodden paths, re- ceiving almost no remuneration for his services save the hospitality of the settlers. The spirit of these grand old itinerant ministers often carried with it the power of the day of Pentecost as they visited the humble homes and told the simple story of the Cross with the eloquence of primitive sincerity.

This second summer in the settlement was one of content and prosperity. The crops were good and they received fair prices for what surplus they had to sell. The Fourth of July was celebrated in a suitable manner this year. The Declaration of Independence was read and patriotic speeches made to order for the great day. Then old and young joined their lusty voices and made the welkin ring to the tunes of good old patriotic songs. As a final climax to the great day, a dance was proposed and the announcement re- ceived with enthusiasm. Every one worked with a will, making a bower of leaves and bushes and clearing the ground under the bower of all obstruc- tions where the old and young alike might "trip the light fantastic toe." Our authority does not state by whom the music was furnished. Perhaps the fifer, Amasa Chapman, was called into service again or perhaps they but kept step with the music in their hearts. At any rate we are informed "the dance was enjoyed by all." The settlers did not believe in "all work and no play."

The first marriage ceremony in Noblesville was performed by Squire Cogswell, the happy contracting parties being Mr. Coe and Miss Garrett.

Digitized by Google

104

HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

William Conner's Indian wife and children left him in 1820 to go with the rest of the tribe. She was said to be the daughter of the chief and when she left was beautifully attired and owned and took with her sixty ponies. There was evidently some business arrangement between them, concerning the separation and disposition of the property, for a record is made of over six hundred acres being entered by William Conner and his Indian wife and their two sons. Years afterwards, William Conner's two Indian sons visited him and they were said to be fine looking men. However badly William Conner may have grieved over the departure of his first love, it is very evi- dent he was soon consoled, for he took unto himself within the year another wife, Eliza Chapman. There was no ceremony, only a marriage settlement and this was the first marriage of white people in Hamilton county. It oc- curred in December, 1820.

Up to 1821 the population of the settlement had not increased very fast. People were waiting for the land to come upon the market. While the ma- terial things in the way of food had improved the settlers now depending upon corn for bread, wild game and fish for meat, milk, butter and garden vegetables, yet some of them were still wearing their moccasions and others their buckskin breeches. Such articles of clothing as underwear or night- gowns were a luxury comparable still to silks and satins and quite as unattain- able. About this time the first leather was made in Hamilton county by the oak bark process; cow hides and hog skins were tanned. Mr. Shirts says, "This was done by securing a large trough, bark was stripped from oak trees, water put into the trough, skins soaked, hair taken off, and the skins then laid in water with a layer of bark pounded as fine as it could be between each piece of hide. This bark was replaced by fresh bark at intervals of about four weeks until the hides were tanned. This changing process, how- ever, never occurred in the winter season."

Better farm implements and tools were now obtained by the settlers. New comers had brought iron and steel from Connersville and improvements multiplied. John and Israel Finch started a blacksmith shop and plowshares, fluke shovels, shovel plows, steel hoes, knives, hatchets, axes and many other things were made beside the ordinary business of a blacksmith shop.

Surely these early settlers were jacks-of-all-trades and masters of many!

EARLY INDUSTRIES.

As at the present time, so in the early days, farming was the principal occupation of the people of Hamilton county. In those primitive homes there were a dozen different industries carried on at the same time. Where now

Digitized by Google

105

HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

the necessaries of the home are produced each by a separate industry in fac- tory or shop. outside of the home, in those days each home was its own fac- tory and shop. Consequently the early industries were not very numerous. When one settler became proficient in one particular line he furnished his labor in exchange for some other line of work in which some other neighbor excelled. For instance, if Smith cobbled shoes better than anyone else, he in time cobbled most of the shoes for the neighborhood. Perhaps Jones ex- celled in carpentry, so his main occupation became building houses, while Smith mended shoes. So gradually sprang up these industries outside the home.

'We have seen how John Finch built the first horse mill. This mill flour- ished for years and furnished the settlers with corn meal for bread. In the early spring of 1821 a man named Foster built a mill on the north bank of Stony creek, a few rods below what is known as the Dill Mill dam. On the opposite side of the creek he built his cabin, where he lived and operated this first mill run by water power in Hamilton county. This mill, while not a pretentious one, was well patronized by people of this county, and also, being the only mill of the kind around, counted the people from Indianapolis as among its patrons. This first water mill was known by the classical name of "corn-cracker," for no provision was made for grinding and bolting wheat as there was none raised in the county at the time the mill was built.

The first wheat raised in the county was in 1821, the same year the Foster mill was built, but it was several years before it was cultivated to any extent. There were so many more difficulties to overcome before wheat was ready to be ground into flour than where corn meal was to be made, that until conditions were more favorable wheat was not raised. There were no threshing machines or fanning mills in the country, and what is today a very simple matter was in those days a very hard task. Prior to 1830 there were few barns and the settlers had no threshing floors. The large majority of farmers having wheat cleared the weeds and soft earth from a circle large enough for a threshing floor. The straw was strewn on the outer edge of this circle, with a space in the center sufficiently large for a man to stand and direct the threshing process. A boy then rode one horse and led another, tramping over and over the grain, the man in the center keeping the straw turned so all parts were equally treated ; by this process the grain was threshed out. Sometimes the grain was pounded from the head by means of a flail. Whatever threshing method was used, the next thing to be done was to clean the wheat. Some men selected a windy day for this work. Standing on a bench or something which was raised above the level of the ground, the man

Digitized by Google

106

HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

poured the grain from the vessel in such a way as to get the sweep of the wind upon the falling contents. The grain fell to the ground or into a re- ceptacle for the purpose, while the remainder was "as the chaff which the wind driveth away."

Still another method was a sort of a fanning process, the fan being a sheet so manipulated by two men as to blow the chaff away while a third poured the grain from a vessel, as in the previous method. When either of these processes was completed the wheat was ready for the mill.

Foster had no means of bolting wheat flour, so he sold his mill on Stony creek to a Mr. Betts, who added a bolting chest to his machinery and there- after ground wheat. However, there was but little wheat raised while Betts owned. the Stony Creek mill, and the bolting machine was turned by hand and there is no record of the task being so arduous as to need the aid of ma- chinery. After a time Betts died and the mill was sold to a Mr. Hare. He had the old log mill torn down and a large one was built lower down the stream. This mill was well equipped and ground both wheat and corn. Finally, a saw mill was added and a thriving business was carried on by both departments.

After Foster sold his mill on Stony creek he built a much larger one on White river, in Noblesville township, at the point where Clare is now situated. This mill became quite a center of industry and supplied the needs of the settlers for miles in all directions. To this grist mill was also added a saw mill. In addition to sawing done for the settlers in the neighborhood. who were now replacing their log cabins by more commodious houses, this mill furnished thousands of feet of lumber for Indianapolis, which was rapidly taking on the garb that became our chief city. The lumber was made into rafts and when the river was at the proper stage it was floated down to the city. This lumber trade was continued with the capital city for a number of years at a good marketable time which brought the mill-owners profitable returns for their labor.

John Conner did not long operate the mill which he had built on the river near Horseshoe prairie, for death claimed him in 1825. The mill then passed into the hands of Lemert Fallis. The dam across White river which fur- nished the power by which the mill was operated was made of brush, stone and earth. In those days there were two freshets each year, one in January and one in June. If the dam successfully withstood the January rise it was sure to be damaged by the other freshet. All the available brush, stone, etc., in the immediate vicinity of the dam was soon exhausted by the frequent repairs necessary. It became necessary to bring the repairing material from

Digitized by Google

107

HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

up the river some distance, so this required the use of a boat. This boating expedition became quite an event as the boat was manned by a very jolly set of men, who not only made the required trips to and from the mill with the necessary brush and stone, but from all accounts they made the trips one of. pleasure as well. But the dampness and exposure got the best of them, some- times, for they "contracted rheumatism and other diseases from which they never recovered." This mill does not appear to have been as successful as the other early mills of the county. Fallis operated it but a short time, when it passed into the hands of W. W. Conner, the son and heir of John Conner.

Francis B. Cogswell was the first tanner in Hamilton county. About 1825 he built a cabin in Noblesville on the corner of Sixth and Logan streets, on the east side of Sixth where the Hitch-in barn is now located. On this site was established the first tan yard. Mr. Shirts describes the method of making leather as follows: "A wooden wheel was made to turn in a circle. A sweep was attached to this wheel to which a horse was hitched to turn the wheel. A floor was laid in the circle. Upon this floor tanbark, well cured, was laid, then the wheel was started over the bark and kept going until the bark was sufficiently pulverized to use in the vats prepared for that purpose. This wheel was used for some time, but was discontinued and a cast mill used in its stead. The process of tanning has heretofore been stated except that the vat has not been described. The vat was constructed as follows: A hole was dug in the ground about three and a half feet deep, six feet long and four feet wide, with square ends. Then a bottom was laid with two-inch oak planks, closely fit, then the vat was sided up in the same manner and with the same material. One of these vats was called the lime vat. In this vat hair was loosened by the use of lime. The lime was then all worked out of the hide by scouring in clear water. Water was then placed in the vats where the hides were to be tanned, then one-half of the hides were laid in the vat and covered with ground bark, and so on until the vat was full. This tanyard was one of the most useful industries of the time. Here all the hides from animals that had died and had been killed were converted into leather : here the pioneer secured the leather to make shoes for his family; here the settler found collars for his horses, and leather out of which bridles and harness of all kinds could be made. Cogs- well sold this tan yard to Pleasant Williams."

Digitized by Google

108

HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

WHISKY DISTILLERIES.

The corn raised in the virgin soil of Hamilton county was not all ground into meal or feed for the farmer's stock, or saved for the next year's planting, but some of it was made into whisky. An early account says: "About 1826 James Casler started a distillery two miles below Noblesville." There for the small sum of twenty cents, a gallon of pure whisky could be pur- chased, or ten cents would buy a quart of the same fiery liquid. On Saturday afternoons the sporting element of the settlements gathered for a weekly round-up of fun and frolic. The program for these occasions consisted of drinking, shooting, foot-racing, wrestling and fist fighting. Turkeys, deer and coon skins were the prizes given in the shooting matches. Tickets entitled the holder to one shot per ticket, and these were sold at a certain price till the value of the turkey was equaled. Then the best shot won the turkey, the shots being at a mark about forty yards distant.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 9

Author: John F. Haines Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1051

Author: John F. Haines
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051