USA > Indiana > Hancock County > History of Hancock County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement by the "pale face," in 1818, down to 1882 > Part 5
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ADAM ALLEN'S PIONEER LIFE.
Adam Allen, with his family, came to Blue-river town-
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
ship, Hancock county, Indiana, in December, 1827. He moved into a small log cabin covered with clapboards ; half of the floor was of rough slabs ; the front and other half was simply the earth made smooth and pounded firm. The fire-place and chimney were very rude, made of rock. mud and sticks. It would admit a back log of six or seven feet in length. The loft was made of rough boards.
There was not then a public road in the township ; only a path " blazed" through the woods to a distant neigh- bor's cabin. He had but one neighbor within less than a mile, and that was James Wilson, who had settled two years before on the farm now occupied by Augustus Dennis.
About 1830, while a man moving into the township was crossing the small stream that flows south, asked the name of the creek. Being told that it had none, he said : " It is a . nameless creek ;'" which name it still retains.
When the Allens came, almost the whole surface of the earth was covered with undergrowth, which consisted of spice brush, pea vines, and coarse grass. Cattle and horses subsisted on it nearly the whole year. Hogs fat- tened on the mast almost entirely, and were penned only for a few days before killing time, and then that they might be fed a little corn to harden the lard. There was an abundance of wild gooseberries, plums and ginseng. " The latter I have often gathered," says Thompson Allen, his son, " and dried for market, which sold at about twen- ty-five cents per pound." There were wolves, wild cats, turkeys, and white and black squirrels in great numbers ; and in the summer and fall, when the corn was ripening, the daily employment of the boys was to scare the squir- rels away from the corn field.
Mr. Allen's plow was of the old wooden mold-board kind. He cut his wheat with a sickle, and either carried or hauled it on a sled ; then threshed it out with a flail on a dirt floor. If the wind was blowing, he would clean it by standing and slowly pouring the wheat to the ground in a small stream, letting the wind blow the chaff away.
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If there was no wind, then two persons with a sheet would fan while a third poured the wheat.
For several years he had no cook stove; all the cook- ing was done by the fire. The johnny-cake board was as common then as a tea-kettle is now.
They had no apples, peaches, or tame fruits, but sub- stituted pumpkins, and, of course, were very familiar with pumpkin pies. Dried pumpkins were laid up in the fall. which served for dessert when they had company or on Sunday mornings for breakfast. On one occasion Mr. Allen went out to a mill on Flat Rock, and on his return brought home with him about half a bushel of apples, the first ever seen by the children. The mother gave each of them an apple, and put the rest away in the loft, telling them that, as she now had some flour, they must not touch the apples, and she would make some pies. That night Thompson Allen woke up, and hearing the boards rattle, looked in the direction of the apples, and presently saw something white descending, which proved to be one of his brothers, who could not refrain from the unfrequent temptation of satisfying a keen appetite superinduced by that one apple.
The first school-house in the north part of the township was built on the southern part of Noble Warrum's farm. in section six, township fifteen. It was made of logs, and had five corners. It was not chinked and daubed ; had no windows and but one door. A man by the name of San- ford taught the first school therein. The second school was taught by Mr. McPherson. One day a boy had done something contrary to the "rules," and the teacher. to punish him, made him go outdoors and climb up in a dog- wood sapling ; he then detailed another boy to stand at the foot of the bush and keep him up there.
" In 1844," says Thompson Allen, "I commenced teaching school. The price then was about thirty dollars per term of sixty-five days, about ten dollars of it being . public money. The law required teachers to have cer- titicates, but the examinations were not very rigid. Once
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I went to Greenfield to get license. I told the examiner what I wanted. He said: . How long will you be in town? Call before you go home, and I will have them ready. I am busy now.' I called, gave him fifty cents. his fee, and received my license, without being asked a single question.
The first man that preached in the northern part of the township was Father McClain, the father-in-law of Wes- ley Williams, of Jackson township.
Adam Allen was a strong, robust, honest and honora- ble man-a good representive of the majority of the early settlers of the country.
[We are indebted to Thompson Allen, Esquire, and James K. Allen, teacher, son and grandson of the above, for most of the foregoing facts.]
HISTORY OF SHILOH CHURCH.
On the fifth Saturday in May. 1841, a number of Bap- tists met at the house of Richard Hackleman, in the south- western part of the township, to consider the propriety of organizing a church. After some consultation, they agreed to call a council of brethren, to meet at the house of Solo- mon Tyner on the fourth Saturday of the next month. At this council there were thirteen persons present, and they organized by choosing Elder McQuary as moderator and J. T. Price as clerk. After some deliberation the council proceeded to adopt a constitution. The names of the constituent members were as follows, to-wit: Solo- mon Tyner. John H. Caldwell, John M. Duncan, Jemima Tyner, Nancy Duncan, Caroline Randall, and Rosanna Caldwell ; being seven members in all, which was increased to fifteen at their next meeting. Elder McQuary was their first pastor. He was one of Indiana's pioneers ; a man of unusual energy and piety, and his preaching was consid- ered powerful and impressive. His hallowed influence still survives in the hearts of many of the brethren.
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The following are the pastors in order, and the time each served :
From IS41 to 1852, Elder McQuary.
From 1852 to 1853, Elder Wm. Baker.
From 1853 to 1854, Elder Elias Boston.
From 1854 to 1857, Elder Wilson Thompson.
From 1857 to 1864, Elder J. G. Jackson.
From 1864 to 1868, Elders J. S. Weaver and D. Caudel.
From 186S to 1872, Elders G. S. Weaver and A. B. May. From 1872 to 1876, Elders A. B. May and Harvey Wright. From 1876 to 1879, Elders Harvey Wright and D. Caudel. From 1879 to ISSI, Elders D. Caudel and J. F. Weaver.
The church continued to hold her meetings from house to house until the year 1854; she then erected a frame building. 30x40 feet, at a cost of $800. The house is on the pike, just north of Tyner's old store, on the south-east corner of section 26, township fifteen north, range seven east. This house is still her place of worship.
Shiloh first asked admission, and was received, into the Lebanon Association ; but afterward withdrew, and, for convenience, joined the White Water Association. It would be well to state here that Baptist churches are not under the control of a superior organization, but each church is independent. The association is merely an annual meeting for mutual correspondence. One session of the Lebanon Association and three sessions of the White Water Association have been held with this church. It was here that the Lebanon Association was held in August, 1846, at which time the great question of " Means and anti-Means" was discussed. Some churches had already divided, each party sending messengers, whose seats were contested. It was an exciting time, and party spirit ran high. Those of the means party claimed that " God quickens, regenerates and makes alive dead sin- ners by his spirit through the written and preached word. That God has proposed salvation in the Gospel to the world of mankind. That Jesus did not die as man, but as God." The anti-means party claimed that " God quick-
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
ens the sinner by the power of his spirit without the aid or instrumentality of human power. That the written and preached word is for the instruction and comfort of God's people after they have been quickened by his power. That God has not proposed salvation to any one, but has secured the salvation of all saints by the blood of Christ ; and that repentance and remission of sins is a gift of God, and not the act of the creature by the free volition of his will." They also held that "Christ died as man and not as God." Other points were discussed, but the foregoing are the main ones.
This church is anti-means, and though at present num- bering but thirty members, it is at peace with mankind. and enjoying a reasonable degree of prosperity.
[We are indebted to W. N. Tharp, a teacher and the church clerk, for most of the above facts.]
JAMES L. BINFORD
was born October 10, 1787, in Prince George county, N. C., and came to Hancock county in 1826, and was one of the first settlers of Blue-river township. He was married to Mary Ladd in 1817, by whom he had five children, viz. : Robert, Ann, Joseph, Benjamin, and William L. Mr. B. was married a second time to Jane Binford, to whom were born one child. In politics, Mr. B. was a staunch whig ; and, notwithstanding his father had owned and worked slaves, he was bitterly opposed to the accursed traffic, and never hesitated to denounce it in the strongest terms consistent with his Christian profession. When in health he was regular in attendance at the place of wor- ship with the Society of Friends, the church of his choice, twice or more per week.
Mr. B. was a very plain-spoken man, yet kind-hearted. and ever ready to help the worthy poor. He was also very conscientious, and although he loaned a great deal of money for his time, he was never known to accept more than six per cent. interest, nor usury in any form. By industry, strict economy, and the avoidance of all vicious
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and luxurious habits, he succeeded in amassing a neat for- tune, and was thereby enabled to do much for charitable purposes, and to give each of his five children a quarter of a section of good land, and as much more in ready cash. He died August 19, 1863, aged seventy-five years, eleven months and eighteen days, and was buried according to the simple custom of the Friends at the Walnut Ridge burying-grounds, in Rush county, Indiana. His first wife died in 1822, and was buried in North Carolina, and his second December 14, 1867, at the age of seventy- nine years and nine months, and was buried beside her husband.
ELIHU COFFIN, SEN.
The subject of this sketch is a native of Clinton county, Ohio. Date of nativity, March 31, 1807. He was prin- cipally raised in North Carolina ; came to Milton, Indiana, in 1828 and remained till 1831, when he came to Hancock county, and shared with the few settlers the privations and hardships of frontier life. The roads were to make, the forests were to clear, the wild animals to exterminate, and the physical man to provide with food, clothing and shel- ter. The first winter Mr. Coffin was in the county he, in common with many others, did without bread for weeks at a time, owing to the mills being frozen up so that they could not grind, there being no steam mills in those days. They lived on potatoes, pumpkins, and wild game.
Mr. Coffin has traveled quite a good deal, has a reten- tive memory, and takes great pleasure in telling of the sights. From 1850 to 1852 he lived in Iowa ; thence he wended his way across the plains to the gold regions of California, where, for two years, he had an experience brighter in imagination than in reality. From California Mr. C. returned to Iowa, by way of Panama, New York and Chicago. But still not contented with any point vet visited between the Atlantic and Pacific, save on the fertile, salubrious soil of old Hancock, he determined to retrace his steps, and accordingly. in 1865, permanently
.
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
located in Blue-river township; where, with the wife of his bosom and the companion of his travels, he is enjoy- ing a peaceful old age ; and would, doubtless, take pleas- ure in telling the reader a hundred fold more than we have recorded.
Mr. C. is a square-built, muscular man, a good Mason, a republican, and an orthodox Friend.
PERSONAL SKETCH OF AUGUSTUS DENNIS.
Mr. Dennis was born in Virginia in June, 1827 : came to Hancock county in 1844 ; was married to Miss Jemima C. Tyner in October, 1847. Mr. D. was bred on a farm, and has given that branch of industry his whole attention. He came to the county a poor boy, with only twelve and one-half cents in his pocket, and worked at eight dollars per month. He now has a good farm in fine state of cul- tivation.
Mr. D. is an uncompromising democrat, yet he accords to others what he asks for himself-liberty to think and act for himself. He has ever since early manhood been identified with some religious society, connecting himself first with the Methodists, and later becoming a member of the Friends Society, as it best suited his opinions and con- venience, without the sacrifice of any vital principle taught by the church of his first choice.
Mr. D. was elected county commissioner for the first commissioner's district in 1878 over Elisha Earles, a wor- thy opponent, by 3,000 majority.
He has always taken a decided stand on the side of temperance, both by example and precept, and even hesi- tated to qualify as commissioner, owing to the relation of the office with the licensing of the traffic.
SKETCH OF THE PIONEER LIFE OF HAARMON WARRUM.
( Furnished by his son, Honorable Noble Warrum.)
Harmon Warrum was a Kentuckian by birth. the son of an Englishman who went to Kentucky from Pennsyl-
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vania in an early day, and who was recognized as an expert with the rifle, and also a proficient backwoodsman, being constantly employed as scout and trailer. He died when the subject of the above sketch was quite a child, leaving him in the care of an uncle, whose name was Thomas Consley, on whom fell the duty of educating him for the stern realities of frontier life which he was destined to experience. After arriving at majority, he became a rather cool, self-possessed man, endowed with great cour- age and physical ability. He was quick to resent a wrong and never forgot a kindness. He was an active, strong man, having fought, wrestled and run with both whites and reds, but never vanquished.
He came to Indiana about the year .1807. and in 1809 or 1810 married a young lady of English descent, who had lately emigrated from Georgia. Her name was Edith Butler. I was born in 1819, and when about four years of age my father moved to Hancock county (then a part of Madison), and settled on Blue River, in the southern part of the county, and took a title for the land now owned and occupied by Dayton H. Gates, Esq. This was the first piece of land entered in the county ; he alse entered the last piece situated on Swamp Creek-the first on August 10. 1821, and the last on January 16, 1854.
When he first came to Blue-river it was a dense wilder- ness for miles and miles ; no sound save the rustling of the leaves, the moaning of the wind, and the angry voice of the storm cloud ; no music broke the calm stillness of the summer air save the buzzing of mosquitoes, the howling of the ravenous wolves, or the fierce vell of the prowling panther : no noisy hum of laboring factories ; no clanking hammers in dusty shops. No, the great work-house of nature, covered with the blue canopy of heaven, walled in only by the horizon, and lit up by nature's lamps, suf- ficed. Then we heard no ringing of Sabbath church bells ; no locomotive whistle. Had a train of ears passed through the country at that time, the pioneers would have declared it haunted.
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
Our nearest neighbors, about seven or eight miles dis- tant, living on Brandywine, were the families of Roberts. Montgomery and Stephenson ; but after awhile here came the Tyners and Johnses ; also, Penwells, Watts and Wilsons to our immediate neighborhood. But neighbors living then at a distance of eight or ten miles apart were more neighborly than those of to-day in adjoining lots. Well, as neighbors kept coming, cabins were being put up in every direction. Everything in a bustle, and all at work that could work. The pioneer cabin was cheaply made and easily constructed. Ours was built of round logs, notched to lay closely together ; the roof was of four-foot clapboards, weighed down by poles laid across each course of boards ; then there was what was termed the "eaves bearer," a log laying parallel with the ends of the cabin. and projecting about eighteen inches over the wall; a good splitting stick was selected, split through the center. placed on the ends of the "eaves bearer," and notched for the roof boards to butt against; this was called the ". butting pole "; a door-way was sawed out, and the logs were used as steps ; then a window was cut, a single open- ing ; we called it a window because it was the largest hole in the cabin to let in the light ; it was made by placing sticks across as a frame-work, on which a piece of greased newspaper was placed ; through this the light shone like dim moonshine through the room ; the chimney was built of sticks and mud, and was called " cat and clay chim- ney." While this rude hut was being constructed by father, mother, a hired hand from a distance, and my old- est sister, the family were living, with all of their house- hold goods, in a hollow sycamore trec.
After moving into our new house, we furnished it with a couple of one-legged bedsteads, produced by father's own hands; and he not being a professional mechanic. they were, consequently, not so stylish as those from the factories of to-day. But I rested just as easy on them as many do to-day on their seventy-five dollar bedsteads.
Then the doors were of puncheons pinned together.
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Such a thing as a nail was not to be had. The hinges were of wood, and the door-latch, a wooden catch, or trigger, which, when shut, was opened from the outside by pulling a string, one end of which was fastened to the latch, and the other, passing through a hole in the door above, hung outside, so that those who wished could enter. To lock the door, you would pull the string inside. Hence the stereotyped expression, " the latch-string hangs out."
Half the floor, which was made of puncheons lying loosely across the sleepers, was not finished for about a year after we moved into our cabin home. The hired man soon left, declaring that he would stay no longer where the air was black with gnats and mosquitoes. Said he : " If they were the size of me, I would fight them : but they are just a little too small and too many to keep com- pany with." I have seen the air darkened by flies, gnats. and mosquitoes, a number of them weighing over a pound : but I can't say that it would take a small number.
The winters passed on slowly, but we had always an excellent supply of venison on hand. Being an excellent marksman, father's table groaned under the abundant sup- ply of turkies and deer ; but it was an impossibility to pro- cure salt with which to preserve the venison. It was then necessarily taken through a process called "jerking." This operation was performed by cutting the fleshy parts of the body of the deer, cross-grained, into thin slices, which were duly placed on splits and hung inside of our " cat and clay chimney " and garret to dry, after which process it would keep from months to years. When in very great need of salt, father would make his way back to Wayne county in quest of that rare article. I remem- ber on one occasion, after his journey of riding one horse and leading the other, on whose back the salt was strap- ped, that when we had removed the bag of salt, we removed the hair also, for the brine caused by the melting of the salt had lain bare the sides of the horse.
The first mill of the neighborhood was at Fall Creek Falls, afterwards called Fall Creek Mills. The distance
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being about twenty-five miles, father imagined it quite con- venient for milling. And as he was a skillful backwoods- man, and had some knowledge of the route and locality. it was agreed that h> should take his yoke of oxen and the fore wheels of his wagon, and with a " turn of corn " for himself and each of his neighbors, cut his may through to Fall Creek Mills. Preparing himself with ammunition and his gun, followed by his trusty dog, he " blazed " his way through the thick forest. And after receiving his grinding, he started upon his homeward journey : at night. " coralling " his oxen and making his bed under his cart. he made his dog lie at his feet as a protection from the wolves. One night the wolves approached where he was laying, and the poor dog kept crawling higher and higher until he lay on father's face. He awoke and frightened the wolves away. When he returned home. after being absent four or five days, he was sure to bring in some four or five pairs of venison hams, the same number of deer skins, three or four wild cats, and aboat a dozen raccoon skins. Those deer skins were very useful, as I was clothed almost entirely in buckskin, dressed by my father's hand and cut and sewed with whang, or thongs, by the hand of my mother. Father always kept on hand from six to a dozen dressed deer skins. And when my mother would treat me to a new pair of buckskin breeches, I felt very proud, and would hang on to my old ones as long as possible to save my new ones for Sunday. Occasionally I was presented with a buckskin hunting-shirt, a loose at the bottom and tight at the top arrangement similar to a sack coat, having a cape which hung over the shoulders. fringed all around by splitting the cape into threads for some two or three inches from the edges, similar to the fly- nets we cover horses with to-day. I have attended dances where all of the young men were incased in their buck- skin suits. Then the girls were neatly attired in plain dress. Little did they care for outside show. They lived for something higher than an earthly fancy. They looked not after the fashions of the day. They had pride, it is
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true, but wisdom too. Their pride was for their home and country, and they labored for its upbuilding. They were good for the sake of goodness, and truer, better wives were never known. And in a few years they became very attractive to me, especially the younger ones. It seems that it did not take as much to beautify them then as now. I thought them the most beautiful of God's creation. None of those humps and tucks and frills, nor ribbon and lace and birds tails placed on top of their heads.
Prayer-meetings were organized, to which ladies would walk a distance often of from four to five miles ; but the meetings were held almost always in the day-time. On one occasion it was announced that the Rev. James Ha- vens (father of George) would preach at the widow Smith's cabin, on a certain night. Night meetings being few, I attended, as much through curiosity as anything else, it being a rare thing to hear preaching ; it was always exhorting. Some time during service the dogs got to fighting at the door, causing considerable confusion, which soon subsided : then the Rev. Havens took time to remark that the devil and the dogs always attended night meetings.
Almost every pioneer who attended church on the Sab- bath, came with gun on his shoulder; and if a deer or wolf crossed his track, and a favorable opportunity pre- sented, he killed it. They were wide-awake and always on the lookout. And thus they were supplied with pro- visions. Father once killed three deers without, probably. moving from his tracks. The way of it was this: Father was out on a hunting expedition, walking through the forest, gun on shoulder, and I was riding a little distance behind, when we suddenly came upon three good-sized deer-one was an old one, while the others were appar- ently yearlings-grazing peacefully along, until the well- known crack of my father's rifle laid the old one low ; the fawns stood watching their mater in the agonies of death until father, twice reloading, placed a veil between them and the painful sight-one falling dead on the spot, the other running some fifty yards before falling. I was, on
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
that occasion, on horseback, a very common thing, for the purpose of carrying in the game; frequently coming loaded with a dozen turkies. Usually in cool weather we tore out the entrails from the deer, and placing the end of a pole in the body would run it up a tree, thus preventing the wolves from making a meal of it; and, if there was snow on the ground, we visited them soon, and, lashing them together with withes, hitched them to a horse and dragged them home on the snow. If there was no snow, we took them the best way possible.
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