History of Henry County, Indiana, Part 37

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago: Inter-State Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 996

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The New Castle & Muncie Railroad (a part of the old Fort Wayne and Southern route, the road-bed of which was nearly completed in 1864) was agitated in 1867. Track-laying from New Castle to Fort Wayne on the Cincinnati & Indianapolis Junction Railroad began in May, 1869, and it was proposed to have the road completed to Fort Wayne by the 1st of December, 1869. June 9, 1869, a meeting of the directors of the two lines was held, and a consolidation effected, whereby the Connersville & New Castle Junction Railroad Company, and the Fort Wayne, Muncie & Cincinnati Railroad Company became one under the latter style. In August, 1869, the road was completed to Muncie, and not long afterward the entire line was completed.

In 1879 the project (which had been discussed previously) of opening up to the Fort Wayne, Muncie & Cincinnati Railroad a through route to Louisville began to attract general attention; and two years later the work was actually accomplished by the comple- tion of two "connecting links," viz., the North Vernon, Greens- burg & Rushville, and the New Castle & Rushville Railroads . The latter was principally a local enterprise, and many citizens of Henry County were actively identified with it. The following citi- zens of New Castle were members of the Board of Directors of the N. C. & R. Railroad in 1880-'81: L. A. Jennings, Isaac Menden_ hall, T. B. Loer and J. H. Mellett. L. A. Jennings served as President of the road while it was building. Trains began running in the fall of 1881; the actual building of the road commenced the previous spring. The road is now operated by the Fort Wayne, Cincinnati & Louisville Railroad Company, successors to the Ft. W., M. & C.

The Indiana, Bloomington & Western Railroad (Springfield extension) was built through the county in 1881 and 1882. * This latest addition to the railroad system of the county has been most beneficial to the county seat, and has added much to the value of real estate in other parts of the county.

*The first passenger train between Indianapolis and New Castle ran June 20, 1882.

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

Various other railroads have been projected and surveyed through the county from time to time, both in early and later years; but as they were never built, no special mention of the projects is required.

The number of miles of railroad in Henry County in 1884 was as follows:

Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburg. 44.39

Fort Wayne, Cincinnati & Louisville. 17.79

New Castle & Rushville. 11.29

22.00

Indiana, Bloomington & Western

Total. 95.47

In addition to the above there is a total of 7.92 miles of side- track in the county.

CHAPTER X.

REMINISCENCES.

TEMPERANCE WORK IN HENRY COUNTY .- EARLY TEMPERANCE ADVO- CATES .- THE WASHINGTONIAN SOCIETY .- SONS OF TEMPERANCE .- GOOD TEMPLARS .- THE WOMAN'S CRUSADE .- MURPHY MOVE- MENT .- A HEALTHY TEMPERANCE SENTIMENT .- ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT .- EARLY ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES .- NOTABLE FLOODS AND STORMS .- REMINISCENCES OF OLD-TIME MAIL ROUTES .- MAR- TIN VAN BUREN'S VISIT TO KNIGHTSTOWN .- GENERAL GRANT IN NEW CASTLE .- FIRST EVENTS .- EARLY POSTMASTERS AND THEIR SALARIES. - THE FIRST BAND IN NEW CASTLE.

TEMPERANCE.

Quite early in the county's history a strong and healthy temper- ance sentiment was developed. In the Indiana Courier of April 9, 1842, appears an account of a meeting of " a large and respect- able portion of the citizens of the town of New Castle," for the purpose of organizing a temperance society on the Washingtonian plan. Ralph Berkshire was elected President, and J. A. McMeans, Secretary of the meeting. A committee, consisting of the follow- ing gentlemen, was selected for the purpose of drafting a constitu- tion and by-laws, for the government of the society: Edmund Johnson, J. W. Grubbs, M. L. Bundy, Dr. Joel Reed and Miles Murphey. The pledge was offered at this meeting, and thirty-nine signatures were obtained in a few minutes.

In the same paper appears a copy of the declaration of sentiments of the Knightstown Washingtonian Total Abstinence Society signed by F. L. Goble, A. Cary, Edmund Bishop, G. W. Riddell and S. McCain.

The New Castle society was still flourishing and accomplishing good work in 1847. Among its officers, in addition to those already given, the names of William Henderson, Peter Shroyer, J. G. Welch and Rotheus Scott are found, as early as 1844. On the third of April in that year it was decided to try to promote

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

temperance sentiment in different parts of the county through the agency of missionaries. The following were appointed to act in that capacity: Dr. Joel Reed, J. A. McMeans, G. W. Scott, John M. Barrett, William Henderson, H. C. Grubbs, M. S. Ward and M. L. Bundy.

The Washingtonian movement was succeeded by the Sons of Temperance, who organized in several towns of the county and for several years did not relax their interest. New Castle Division of the Sons of Temperance, No. 80, was organized July 12, 1847, with the following officers: M. S. Ward, M. L. Bundy, M. E. McMeans, S. T. Powell, Joshua Holland, William Grose, George W. Woods, J. H. Mellett, L. D. Meek, and James Comstock.

Greensboro Division, No. 118, Sons of Temperance, was or- ganized Feb. 4, 1848. The officers were: J. W. Crowley, Jacob Elliott, Ezra Foster, John T. Swain, M. L. Wickersham, Jordon Pickering, John W. Hunt, J.W. Thornburgh, Elihu Ridgway and Elisha W. Sanders.

Beginning in 1861, organizations of the Independent Order of Good Templars were made successively at Knightstown, Ogden, Mechanicsburg, Spiceland, Middletown, Dunreith, Greensboro and New Castle. Though many of the lodges were short-lived, it is to be hoped that none of them expired before accomplishing some good.

The "Crusaders," although they organized and carried forward temperance work in this county, created less excitement here than inį many communities. The woman's crusade was begun at Hillsboro, Ohio, Dec. 23, 1873, and rapidly spread through the neighboring States. In March, 1874, the excitement had reached Knightstown, where a band of some 400 women was formed. New Castle and other towns of the county soon had similar organizations. The women were successful in closing up several saloons temporarily if not permanently.

This woman's movement was followed by the organization of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in 1874. Several branches of the Union have been formed in Henry County, and much good has been accomplished thereby.

In 1877 the Murphy temperance movement, "red ribbon pledge," flourished in the county. Meetings were begun at New Castle by A. Jacquette, of the National Christian Temperance Union. Seven hundred signed the pledge in one week. Thence the movement spread until all parts of the county were influenced by it. The

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

people of New Castle early took advanced ground upon the temper- ance question. By an act of the Legislature, Feb. 2, 1848, it was declared unlawful for any person to sell any spirituous liquors or wine in Henry Township, Henry County, except licensed mer- chants or druggists, who were allowed to sell for medicinal, mechanical and sacramental purposes. Violations of this law were to be punished by fines ranging from $5 to $50. Although this law was repealed by the Constitution of 1851, New Castle had no licensed saloons until after 1870.

Judge J. T. Elliott was one of the earliest and most active temperance workers in the county. At a meeting in New Castle, March 11, 1869, he stated in a speech that there had not been a licensed grog shop in the town for twenty years. He, with many other pioneers of the Washingtonian movement, began advocating temperance when such sentiments were decidedly unpopular. There has been great improvement in the social condition of the people of the county, a result particularly gratifying to the friends of temperance. The county has been strongly in favor of every temperance movement, the best people, irrespective of party, aid- ing the work. Violators of the law have generally been dealt with rigidly. At the present time it would be hard to find a community with stronger sentiment against the whisky interest than the people of Henry County.

SENTIMENT UPON THE SLAVERY QUESTION.

Henry County, in proportion to its population, contained but few friends of the slavery system. Its Abolitionists were early in the field, and through long years of animated controversy, valiantly maintained their principles. Bnt here, as elsewhere, there was great difference of opinion with regard to the wisdom of anti- slavery agitation. In proof of this statement we give one instance. We find in the Indiana Courier an account of a meeting held at Greensboro, on Saturday, the 23d of November, 1850. The editor of the journal referred to characterized the gathering as a "run- mad abolition meeting," and bitterly denounced its action. Ed- ward Wickersham was President of the meeting, and James Pax- ton, Secretary. Business was opened by the appointment of a committee " to prepare business for a future session," and the fol- lowing gentleinen were chosen for this duty : R. Vaile, W. W. Wales, M. L. Wickersham, Dr. Hiatt, J. Bond and Jonathan Hudelson. Next, the following committee was appointed to

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

draft a petition to Congress for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law : Shubal Julian, Seth Hinshaw, James Paxton. The petition was drawn up and presented at the afternoon session, and soon received the signatures of seventy-five persons present.

The business committee then reported declarations and resolu- tions, which, after preliminary remarks from Dr. Hiatt and others, were unanimously adopted. The first paragraph of these resolu- tions reads :

"We, a portion of the citizens of the State of Indiana, in a public meeting assembled to consider our duty in respect to the Fugitive Slave Law recently enacted by Congress, do hereby declare that we view the provisions of that law as a direct and daring assault upon human rights ; as odious, tyrannical and oppressive ; as a flagrant violation of the higher law written by the finger of God Almighty upon the human heart, revealed by his word, and transcribed into our Declaration of Independence, which declares that the laws of God for the government of man are inalienable, and necessarily set aside all human statutes which attempt to subvert them; and therefore we feel ourselves called upon to make immediate, public and persevering resistance (in a peaceable manner)," etc.

The Courier, which probably reflected the sentiments of many of the citizens, reviewed the above utterance thus:

"The community will put the proper estimate upon such folly, fanaticism and madness; and the lawless and anarchical spirit manifested by this handful of restless malcontents will be properly rebuked by our citizens, the masses of whom, however much they may dislike the Fugitive Slave Bill, are yet devotedly attached to the Union and the supremacy of the law as the only safeguards of life, liberty and property, and without which the country must give way to the rule of faction, resulting in anarchy, civil feud, blood- shed, and all the accumulated horrors of war."

Before the Greensboro meeting adjourned notice was given of a meeting to be held at the court-house, in New Castle, on Saturday, Dec. 5, 1850. Contrary to expectation, the so-called Unionists were in the majority at this meeting, and the assemblage was by no means harmonious. Amidst considerable excitement resolu- tions were passed deprecating the evils of slavery, but admitting the right of a master to pursue and capture a fugitive slave in a State which did not tolerate slavery-in short, approving the Fugitive Slave Law. A minority report of the committee on reso-

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

lutions was also brought in, and the meeting finally adjourned, the Unionists elated at their success.

The two opinions above outlined are fairly expressive of popular sentiment in the county during the anti-bellum period, and thus for years the dispute was kept up between the friends of the com- promise and the unyielding Abolitionists.

But when the crisis came, and the lives, liberties and happiness of the Nation were threatened by the monster Secession, the patri- otism of the people of Henry County, roused to magnificent enthusiasm, carried all differences before it, and gave hearty and magnanimous aid to the work of preserving the Union.

THE FLOOD OF 1843.

On Sunday, June 4, 1843, the county was visited by a heavy flood, which did great damage to crops all along the principal streams. The rain fell steadily for twelve hours, raising the water of Blue River the highest ever known. The bridge on the National road at Knightstown was carried away, and other property destroyed.

STORMS OF 1877.

The month of June, 1877, was memorable for two violent storms by which great damage was done in Henry County. On Monday, June 25, 1877, a rain-storm, accompanied by heavy wind, passed across the northern part of the county, from west to east, leaving its mark all the way. Beginning near Middletown, houses were unroofed, trees uprooted, and much damage done to growing crops and other kinds of property. On Saturday, June 30, another storm, even more violent and destructive, visited the county, injuring much property in Henry Township and elsewhere.

A CYCLONE IN 1884.

On the 1st of April, 1884, there was great damage by a heavy storm in various parts of Indiana and Ohio. The village of Oak- ville, Delaware County, was destroyed and several lives lost. In Henry County much damage was done near Middletown. James Sanders was killed by a falling building. Several buildings were torn down and others unroofed.

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

OLD-TIME STAR ROUTES. *

In the year 1838, and for several years prior, William Silver resided and kept a store, in a house which formerly stood on what is known as the "Shroyer Corner," in New Castle, and during that year he removed to Pendleton, where he still resides, at an advanced age. He was the contractor for carrying the United States mails, once a week, on horseback from Centreville via Jacksonburg, Nettle Creek, Boyd, New Castle, Middletown, Chesterfield, Anderson and Pendleton to Noblesville, and for the year 1835 he employed me to perform the service at $5 per month. It was not, in fact, possi- ble to carry the mails in any other way than on horseback, because the streams were not bridged, and the roads were impassable for vehicles of any kind; but it is perhaps needless to say the mails never failed to reach their destination during my administration, though often the rivers were crossed by swimming them.

In the summer time and when the weather was pleasant, the trip-which occupied five days of each week-was one of unal- loyed pleasure, because there was ample time and opportunity for sport and amusement on White River at Anderson and Nobles- ville, and on Fall Creek at Middletown and Pendleton, or on White- water at Centreville, and I look back to the year spent in that occupation with satisfaction.

I do not know why the mails started from Centreville, unless it was because the great lawyers and politicians of the Whitewater Valley nearly all resided there, and there was a weekly newspaper published at that place, by Samuel C. Meredith, who still lives, at an advanced age, in Indianapolis. Jacksonburg was then a place of some importance, but Hagerstown had no existence, and the postoffice was called Nettle Creek. Anderson was a village which might have contained 100 inhabitants, and had shortly before become the county seat. The site on which it stood was a vast hazel thicket, where one might easily hide to elude pursuit, and the so-called streets were merely openings cut through the thicket. R. N. Williams held all the county offices, Clerk, Re- corder and Postmaster, and I question if all of them yielded an annual income of $300; and the same may be said of General Stevenson, who held all the offices of Hamilton County, with a like income, and was also Postmaster. But what shall I

* This article, originally contributed to the New Castle Courier, by Hon. M. L. Bundy, contains so much that is interesting and valuable, that we have thought best to copy it entire .- ED.

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

say of Middletown? Henry Peirce kept a store in a small log hut, composed of round logs, mostly buckeye, which would sprout in the spring of the year, for the logs had great vitality, and he was also the Postmaster, and it was here that Jack Fessler and the other Virginians from Rockingham and elsewhere had to call for their mail. My venerable friend Chauncy H. Burr, who lived there, and was engaged in business at the time, can verify what I say. Whisky was abundant and cheap at all the towns I have named, and was freely used by the inhabitants, probably for the same purpose that Andy Johnson recommended it to the people of West Tennessee, as "an antidote for the ague."

The people gathered at the postoffices on mail days to hear the news, and the carrier, who was supposed to know the contents of the bag he carried, was plied with questions. Very few people took newspapers, but depended on others for their news. Having been partly raised among the Quakers, [who never neglect educa- tion, I was counted a good reader; and to gratify them, when time permitted, I would put my hand into the mail-bag and take out General Stevenson's Philadelphia paper, and read it to them, and this might be repeated half a dozen times each week, but the paper always reached its owner, at Noblesville, safely.

As to New Castle, it was rather larger than Anderson and better improved, but that terrible scourge, the cholera, had two years before swept away one-tenth of the population, and there was little to encourage improvement. The streets were in a deplorable con- dition, and wagons frequently mired down opposite the public square, and were compelled to use the jackscrew for relief; and as to stage coaches, such things never visited that locality.

I carried the Centreville paper to many farmers along my route, who would put up a box to receive it by the roadside, and gladly pay me a small remuneration. I can name a number of them : Judge Jacob Thorp, the bell-maker; Moses Robertson, Jesse Forkner, Dr. Buchanan and Ezekiel Leavell, who have all passed away, but Michael Shively, one of my customers, is still an active man. The men I have named all lived in Liberty Township and were among the foremost citizens of the county.

At the time I name there was no such thing in existence in this country as an express company, and the only way parcels could be conveyed was by a messenger sent for the purpose. Cen- treville contained a number of large dry-goods stores, and not unfre- quently gentlemen residing on my route would desire me to buy

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dresses for their wives, which I did, and my selections I am glad to know always pleased the ladies so well that their lords cheer- fully handed me a quarter for my services, which placed me in funds so amply that my companions in our amusements never failed to call on my purse for aid, to which it cheerfully responded.

I have already alluded to Centreville as a place of great impor- tance, and so it was. I often had time to go to the court-house where Judge Charles H. Test was holding court, the first man I ever saw occupying a judicial position, and often heard him order the lawyers to take their seats, and give opinions. I wondered if there ever was as great a man as Judge Test. He had a circuit extending from the Ohio River to the State of Michigan, and he held the courts twice a year and traveled the circuit on horseback, the only practicable way, and his annual salary was precisely $700 for such a service. This sum would barely command the services of a good laywer at this day, but possibly the honor then was taken in part pay. I confess to some admiration for heroes and the heroic in history, but I fear the early and faithful services of such public servants amounted to a heroism not sufficiently ap- preciated by those whom they served. If we consider age, qualifi- cation and responsibility, the pay of Judge Test was hardly equal to my own as carrier of mails. He still lives at the age of eighty- four, in the vicinity of Chicago, and is understood to be in straightened financial circumstances. He was nearly a man when the State of Indiana was admitted to the Union, and I have heard him say that he helped survey the lots in Indianapolis when it was laid off. His name appears among the lawyers first admitted to practice in Henry County, March, 1821, and he bids fair to live out the century.

WAR OF 1812 SOLDIERS.

Among the settlers of Henry County were many soldiers of 1812, several of whom secured land warrants on the score of their ser- vices. Of course there is no means of obtaining a complete list of such. The following are known to have been soldiers or widows of soldiers of 1812. With possibly a few exceptions all settled in Henry County :

Henry Fitch, Anson Ballard, David Phillips, Samuel Marshall, Rebecca Reed, Samuel Templeton, Joseph Cowgill, Elizabeth Chunk, David Landis, Alexander Winders, George Rinard, Jacob Jones, John Collinsworth, David Porter, Peter Spencer, James

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

Walters, John Jacoby, Jacob Elliott, Sr., William Riadon, Mary E. Hedrick, Enoch Hoglin, Israel Jackson, John Moore, Martin Oder, John Hayes, John Engle, Mary Bowers, Thomas Allen, Rebecca Fadeley, John Mc Cormack, Humphrey Sutton, Samuel Beavers, Moses Robertson, Reuben Mc Connell, Jacob Chrestner, John Judge, Mary Cain, George Howk, Asahel Woodward.

MARTIN VAN BUREN'S VISIT.

The citizens of Knightstown had the honor of entertaining ex- President Van Buren in 1844. Judge Bundy, who was among those who paid their respects to him, relates the following incident: "When our party reached the hotel where the ex-President was a guest a large number of people had collected in and about the house, but they all seemed disinclined to approach very near him. Elisha Scovell, his warm political friend, appeared to be acting as master of ceremonies by common consent, and Mr. Van Buren was in the center of the hotel office, standing erect on a raised seat, willing to shake hands with such as desired that ceremony, and accordingly we walked up and were presented to him. He had a courteous word for each of us, and his cordiality impressed us as one of the foremost gentlemen of the age in which he lived, as in fact he was. Though we had broken the ice the people still ap- peared rather shy of the great man, when Scovell led up his son and namesake, then a boy, and said: 'Mr. Van Buren, allow me to present my son, Martin Van Buren Scovell.' Then the ex-Pres- ident grasped the boy by the hand and expressed his satisfaction at meeting him in the most pleasing manner of a cultured gentleman. This ceremony pleased the people, and yet they did not rush up to shake hands, and I thought he felt a little annoyed at their backwardness. Mr. Scovell then proclaimed in a loud voice so all could hear him: 'Walk up, gentlemen, and shake hands; he won't bite.' At this Van Buren smiled and the people came up with greater freedom and took his hand. This man had occupied the White House four years, had been a Senator from New York and Minister to England, in all of which places he had been accustomed to see the greatest deference paid to him by the most polished so- ciety, still he was willing to mix with our Hoosier society and travel our mud roads that he might have a longer lease of power."

A PRESIDENTIAL VISIT.

President Grant and family passed through New Castle, en route for Chicago, Sept. 25, 1871. There was a large concourse of peo-

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

ple at the depot to see the distinguished party, and the Gen- eral was tendered an informal reception. He had not then learned to make speeches. The Courier of that week represents "Grant's Speech" by leaving a half-column blank.

FIRST EVENTS.

It is believed that the first birth of a white child in Henry County was that of a son born to Mr. and Mrs. Whitinger, in 1819. The Whitingers were among the first settlers of Henry Township, where, however, they remained but a short time before moving away. Dr. T. B. Woodward, son of Asahel Woodward, was the sec- ond white child born in the county. He was born Dec. 23, 1819, on the Woodward homestead. He died in 1863. Captain Pyrrhus Woodward was born Aug. 1, 1822, on the farm where he now lives, and is among the oldest of the natives of the county now living.

The first marriage on record in the County Clerk's office is that of Francis Crum and Sarah David. This couple were united in marriage on the 23d of April, 1823, by James Johnson, Justice of the Peace.

The first will admitted to probate was that of Thomas Cox, proven before Rene Julian, Clerk, Sept. 23, 1822.

The first sewing machine in the town of New Castle, as well as the first in the county, was bought by Judge Bundy in 1858. A lady came all the way from Cincinnati to instruct his wife in the use of it. Many articles, now deemed, indispensable in every household, were unknown to the early settlers; or if known, looked upon as luxuries that only the wealthiest could have. According to the recollection of Captain Woodward, the first cook-stove brought to New Castle was purchased by Thad Owen, one of the early tavern keepers. The whole village turned out to see it, and many were the opinions expressed as to its merits and demerits.

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History of Henry County, Indiana, Part 37

Author: Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago: Inter-State Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 996

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago: Inter-State Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 996