USA > Indiana > Huntington County > History of Huntington County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 14
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At least four other families settled in Salamonie in the year 1833. Fleming Mitchell came not long after Mr. Jones, and, like him, had vis- ited the county the spring before and selected land. He built his cabin about a mile above Jones, on the Salamonie River and not far from the line of the Fort Wayne and Indianapolis state road. A little later James Morrison settled near Mitchell, and Noah McGrew settled about three miles down the Salamonie from Warren. Late in the year Lewis Rich- ards came with his family and lived in the house with Fleming Mitchell until he could erect a cabin of his own.
In 1834 L. W. Purviance, Ezekiel Fleming, Leander Morrison, Ezra C. Thompson, Andrew Beard and Peter Wire located within the limits of Salamonie. Mr. Wire was a survivor of General St. Clair's defeat. After a short residence he removed to Jefferson Township. Not more than a dozen log cabins had been erected prior to the erection of the township by the county commissioners in February, 1835, but after that the settle- ment was more rapid. Ezekiel Jones, Abel Irwin, William Coolman, Peter Rittenhouse, Simeon Swain, G. O. Blair, John Baker and one or two others settled in the township during the year 1835.
The next two years witnessed a marked increase in the population. Among those who came during this period were George Beard, Abner Leonard, Enoch Jones, Michael Reveal, John Frazier, Aaron Back, Wil- liam Gill, Thomas McIlwain, John Dillon, Jacob Zent, James Lynn, John and George Thompson, Daniel Stroup and the Roberts and Eubanks
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families. Close behind them came the Priddys, Gepharts, Bilbees, Fousts, Wrights, Coffields, Hamiltons, Smiths, Johnsons, Beckers and Suttons, and a number of others, so that by 1840 there was quite a populous settlement in the southeast corner of the county.
Samuel Jones' first neighbors were Miami Indians, a number of whom lived along the Salamonie River. They were friendly, however, and gave him no trouble, except through their disposition to beg for small favors. As the white population increased, the Indians retired to their reservations, the sound of the woodman's ax became more and more fre- quently heard, log-rollings were greatly facilitated, and within ten years after the first pioneer came, there were a number of fairly well improved farms in Salamonie Township. In addition to this development, the Town of Warren had been laid out by Samuel Jones and had become a trading point of some consequence.
MILL AT MCCOY'S DAM ON SALAMONIE RIVER, WARREN
Early Events-On April 5, 1834, Mary Jane, daughter of Noah and Elizabeth McGrew, was born, the first white child born in the township. The first marriage occurred on February 26, 1835, the contracting parties having been Leander Morrison and Matilda Jones. Michael Reveal was the first of the settlers to die, his death occurring on January 20, 1835, and his remains were the first to be interred in what was afterward known as the "Jones Cemetery." The first school teacher was John McGrew, who was employed in 1833 by Samuel Jones as a private tutor for the junior members of his family. The first schoolhouse was built a little later, near the mounds south of Warren. The first religious services were
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held in 1838, at the house of Samuel Jones, by a Baptist minister named Jacob Layman. Later in the same year services were held in James Mor- rison's barn by Rev. Elza Lank, a Methodist minister from Wayne County. The first regular church was organized at Warren in 1841 by the Baptists. Fleming Mitchell built the first sawmill soon after settling in the township. It was located near his residence, about a mile above Warren, and in 1835 he put in a set of buhrs for grinding corn. John Reid soon after purchased the property and in 1837 added bolting machinery for making wheat flour. This mill'continued in successful operation for a number of years. The first frame house and barn were built by Samuel Jones, and the first brick dwelling was erected by Jona- than Foust, on the southeast quarter of Section 35, not far from the Wells County line.
As an illustration of some of the hardships the pioneers of Salamonie were compelled to undergo, it may be mentioned that salt was very hard to obtain, and as it was considered a necessity the frontier settler would make almost any sacrifice to obtain it. In the fall of 1839 Jonathan Foust and Simeon Swaim hit upon the following plan to obtain a supply. Foust furnished the team and wagon and Swaim's son acted as driver on a trip to Huntington for salt. Upon arriving there young Swaim found but two barrels for sale in the town, and for these the dealer, a man named Gant, asked $14.00 each. There was nothing else to be done, so the salt was bought and the next day the young man returned home. Besides the $28.00 actual money paid for the salt, the trip consumed two days with a man and team. No roads were yet opened through that part of the county and the young man had to pick his way among the trees as best he could. It is safe to say that the salt was not wasted under such circumstances.
After the introduction of the free school system, the township was divided into districts, in accordance with the provisions of the law, and the first schoolhouse erected by public funds was located on the north- east corner of Section 33. The first brick schoolhouse was built at War- ren in 1866. In 1914 there were eight schools in the township, exclusive of those in the incorporated Town of Warren, and the eight teachers received in salaries the sum of $3,386.60. The school property was then valued at $19,000, but the county superintendent informed the writer that a movement was on foot to replace some of the old schoolhouses with new ones. Eighteen students were graduated at the close of the school year of 1913-14.
From the time of the first settlement in 1833 to the present time Sala- monie has gone steadily forward and now stands second in population and third in the value of taxable property. According to the United
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States census for 1910 the number of inhabitants was then 2,665, and the tax duplicate for 1913 shows $1,487,880 worth of taxable property, being exceeded in the latter respect only by the townships of Huntington and Union. If the value of taxable property in the Town of Warren should be added, Salamonie would be exceeded only by the Township of Hunting- ton. During the closing years of the nineteenth and opening years of the present century, Salamonie Township enjoyed quite an era of prosperity through the discovery of oil. A number of producing wells were drilled in the township, and in 1900 the census showed the greatest population at any time in history, the number of inhabitants then being 3,152. With the decline of the oil industry many men engaged in this line of activity sought other fields of endeavor, which caused a decrease of about five hun- dred during the following decade.
The Clover Leaf Railroad crosses the township from east to west a little south of the center, passing through the Town of Warren. East of Warren are two small stations called Buckeye and Boehmer, and on the northern boundary is the little hamlet of Plum Tree. These are the only villages in the township. The railroad was built late in the '70s and has added to the township's prosperity. In 1906 an electric line, called the Marion, Bluffton & Eastern, was built through Huntington County parallel to the Clover Leaf, and these two roads furnish the people of Salamonie Township with reasonably good shipping and trans- portation facilities. And as the entire township is traversed by a network of good gravel roads, the farmers experience little difficulty in getting their products to market.
UNION TOWNSHIP
When this township was first erected by order of the county commis- sioners, at the September term in 1842, it was designated by the name of Monroe, in honor of James Monroe, President of the United States from 1817 to 1825. In June, 1845, for reasons not set forth in the records, it was reorganized and given the name of "Union."
The township is six miles square, embracing Congressional Township 28, of Range 10 east, and contains 23,040 acres of exceedingly fertile land, with the exception of small tracts along the streams, where the surface is somewhat broken. Originally the southern part was wet, sev- eral sections near the southwest corner being considered "too marshy for any use." But by means of artificial drainage all these swamp lands have been reclaimed and are now under successful cultivation. The Wabash River flows through this portion of the township, affording a good natural outlet for the ditches, and the Little Wabash flows in a
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southwesterly direction across the northwest corner. A little stream called Mud Run rises near the center and flows northwest into the Little River.
In common with other sections of the county, Union Township was covered with a heavy forest. growth when the first settlers came, and these pioneers, when not engaged in the work of raising their crops, derived a considerable income by cutting and rafting timber to the saw- mills along the Little and Wabash rivers.
In the spring of 1835 John Lewis, who had made a tour of the Wabash Valley the year before, entered a large tract of land in the northwest corner of the township and built there a comfortable log cabin in Section 5. He then returned East for his family and brought them to his new possessions in the fall. Mr. Lewis had formerly been engaged in busi- ness in New York City, but had met with some reverses and decided to try rebuilding his fortunes in the West. He was the first white settler in Union, but after a residence there of several years removed to Hunt- ington, where he was prominently identified for a number of years with the city's active business men. When he came to Huntington County he was accompanied by his son, William H. Lewis, who for some time was an active factor in shaping the destinies of Union Township. His closing years were passed as a retired citizen of the City of Huntington.
Not far behind the Lewis family came Jeremiah Barcus, who settled on a tract of land that had been entered by a Mr. Hanna of Fort Wayne. After a few years here he removed to another part of the township and entered land of his own. The farm where he first located afterward became the property of Col. Cyrus E. Briant. In 1836 John McEwen set- tled in Section 32, not far from the Wabash River, and some 'authorities give him the credit of being the first settler. The records of the land office show, however, that John Lewis entered his land more than a year before McEwen came to the township.
Other settlers who came in 1836 were Joel Seeley, Cyrus Adams and a man named Barnhart. Mr. Seeley came from Michigan and settled west of the Lewis place in Section 6. Mr. Adams received 100 acres of land from Mr. Lewis for building a barn, and Mr. Barnhart also set- tled in the northwestern part. A little later John Freel entered land and erected his cabin in Section 29, a short distance from the present railroad station of Simpson. At that time the woods were full of wolves, whose howling so frightened Mrs. Freel that the family removed to the Town of Huntington until 1837, by which time the work of clear- ing farms had scared some of the wolves away and Mr. Freel returned to his cabin. He was a resident of the township for many years.
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Rev. William Stevens settled near the Lewis place in 1837, but soon afterward, finding a better opportunity for employment as preacher and teacher near Fort Wayne, he removed to Allen County. Frederick Yahne located in Section 5, upon coming from Ohio, and purchased land from Mr. Lewis, but a little later went to Jackson Township.
Charles H. and Tomkins D. Lewis, brothers of the original pioneer,' came into Union in 1838 or 1839 and settled near their brother. Hugh, Stephen, Murray and Richard Freel also came about the same time and settled in the southern part of the township. Joseph Seibert, James and William Whitestine and Alfred Harris located in the northern part, near the Little River and the Wabash & Erie Canal. Still others who came prior to 1840 were Andrew Branstrator, James Thompson, Benja- min Brown, Rufus Sanders and the Barnes family.
About the time the Wabash & Erie Canal was built the land lying between it and the Little River was entered or purchased by speculators, and no settlements were made in that portion of the township until about 1842 or 1843. For a few years this strip was the hunting ground of the settlers. The dense, undisturbed forest proved a safe retreat for the game driven out by the clearing of farms, and when the stock of meat ran low in the household, the head of the family would take his trusty rifle and set out for the "forbidden land" to replenish the supply. But in time even this portion of the township was brought under cultivation and the game driven out. All the speculator had to do was to hold on, and as population increased the demand for good land correspondingly increased, until "the man who got there first" could ask and receive his price.
Among those who located in the township in the early '40s, some of them upon the lands mentioned in the preceding paragraph, were Aaron Hill, John and Samuel Kline, John S. Young, Daniel Feightner, Alexander Aaron, Seth and Austin T. Smith, John C. Guthrie, Jesse R. Haney, Henry Kline, Daniel M. Shank, Martin Call, John Herron, Wil- liam O. Jones, Samuel Hayes, Benjamin Hill, Atchison Smith, Jolın Silver and John Anson.
Adam Young was the first German to settle in the township. The manner in which he came to locate there reads almost like fiction. In that day the common tramp, or hobo, as he is sometimes called, was very rare, yet Mr. Young made his appearance at the kitchen door of John Lewis' dwelling one morning and asked for something to eat, promising to do enough work to pay for his breakfast. After being provided with a "good square meal," he was given a hoe and set to work in a potato patch near the house. He worked faithfully until noon, ate his dinner and returned to the potato field, evidently having no intention of quit-
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ting his task until it was finished. Mr. Lewis, noticing the careful man- ner in which the young German did his work, his persistent industry and his gentlemanly deportment, approached him along in the afternoon with a proposition to remain as a steady employee upon the farm. A bargain was struck and for seven years he worked for Mr. Lewis for $12.00 a month. He then purchased a tract of land in Section 27 and became one of the prosperous farmers of the township. Through his influence a number of Germans settled in Union, and he even sent money to friends in the Fatherland to assist them to come to America. Mr. Young never married and old settlers remember him as a somewhat eccentric, but extremely honest and harmless old bachelor, who went through life with many warm friends and no enemies.
Early Events-The first birth of a white child in Union Township was that of Oscar L., son of John and Miriam Lewis, August 8, 1836. Charles Prime, a colored man, who came from New York with Mr. Lewis, died in the early part of 1837, which was the first death. The first white person to die in Union Township was Christian Wolf. The first marriage was that of Cyrus Adams to Jane Seeley, some time in 1836, soon after they became residents of the township. The first public highway was the road leading from Lafayette to Fort Wayne. This route was first followed by United States troops in the War of 1812, and was afterward opened from the Tippecanoe River to Fort Meigs, on the Maumee, as a sort of military thoroughfare, several years before any attempt had been made to estab- lish a white settlement in Huntington County. John Lewis planted the first orchard in 1835, having brought the young trees with him from New York. The first hewed log house was built by Joel Seeley, and the first frame house by Andrew Branstrator, who also built the first saw- mill. It was not much of a mill, as compared with some of those of after years, but it manufactured much of the lumber used by the early settlers, and was still in operation as late as 1868. The first religious meeting was conducted by Rev. William Stevens, in 1837, in a "canal shanty," where Mr. Stevens taught the first school the same year.
About 1856 John Souers built a steam sawmill near the center of the township, where he carried on a good business for several years. It was then removed to a point near the Huntington Township line and operated by a man named Nave for some time. In later years portable sawmills were brought in and moved from place to place as their services were demanded. After the completion of the Wabash Railroad through the township, considerable lumber was shipped.
Across the northwest corner of the township run the Wabash Rail- road and the Fort Wayne & Northern Indiana traction line, while the Chicago & Erie Railroad enters near the middle of the western boundary
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and follows a 'southeasterly direction until it crosses the southern boundary near Markle. Mardenis, on the Wabash, and Simpson, on the Chicago & Erie, are the only railroad stations in the township. Both are small places, but grain, hay and live stock are shipped from them in considerable quantities. Spencer Wheeler once operated a lime kiln near Mardenis and shipped a great deal of lime from Mardenis, but in later years the business was absorbed by the Western Lime Company of Huntington. The only other business industries of any importance were the tile factories founded by George Bailey and Walker & McCoy.
Union is as well supplied with educational facilities as any town- ship in the county. After the school taught by Mr. Stevens in 1837, a schoolhouse was built in Section 32, in the southern part of the town- ship, near the Wabash River, but the name of the first teacher there has been lost. Jacob Good is credited by some authorities as having taught the first school, but his school, which was taught in a small log cabin located in Section 30, did not begin until some time after Mr. Stevens' school near the canal was opened. The free public school system was established in 1847, after which the township was divided into districts and teachers paid from the public school fund, as far as it would go, the patrons frequently making up a purse by subscription to secure a longer term. In 1914 the public school property of the township was valued at $22,000. Thirteen teachers were employed during the school year of 1912-13, three of them in the certified high school, and the amount paid in salaries was $5,378.24. Nineteen students completed the common school course and received their diplomas at the close of the school year in 1914.
In the value of taxable property Union stands second in the county, being exceeded in this particular only by the Township of Huntington. According to the tax duplicate for 1913 the property was listed for taxes at $1,679,210. Although second in wealth, the township was eighth in population in 1910, when the United States census reported the num- ber of inhabitants as being 1,314. With this showing, the per capita wealth of the township is the greatest of any in the county.
WARREN TOWNSHIP
Situated in the northwest corner of the county is Warren Township, four miles wide from east to west and six miles in extent from north to south, and containing an area of 15,360 acres. On the north it is bounded by Whitley County ; on the east by Clear Creek Township; on the south by Dallas, and on the west by the County of Wabash. The surface is generally quite level and before the introduction of artificial
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drainage a large portion of the township was too wet for successful cultivation. It is estimated that Warren Township has more tile drain than any other township in the county. The soil is a deep black loam, very fertile, and since its reclamation by drains and ditches yields large crops. Some of the finest timber in Huntington once grew in Warren, but the clearing of farms and the sawmills have about exhausted the supply. After the completion of the Chicago & Erie Railroad, large quantities of lumber was shipped to various cities.
In the spring of 1836 George Zellers came from Stark County, Ohio, and located in Section 11. He was a widower, but with him came his three sons and four daughters and the family lived in a covered wagon
THRESHING SCENE, WARREN TOWNSHIP
until a log cabin could be erected. Within two weeks, by hard and per- sistent labor, the father and sons had the new home ready for occupancy, and Warren Township had its first permanent resident. Mr. Zellers was a man of some means, a thrifty German, and purchased other tracts of land in the township. His investments in this direction enabled him to accumulate considerable property in later years.
In the fall of 1836 Thomas Staley came from Ohio and settled on a tract of land in Section 2. not far from the Whitley County line. After living there for several years he disposed of his property and left the county. He was the second white man to establish a home in Warren Township. During the year 1837 there were a few newcomers. George Slusser settled in the eastern part; Henry Kuntz located a short distance east of the present Town of Bippus; Hiram Westover settled in
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Section 9, a little southwest of Claysville, and a few others established homes or entered land in different sections.
John Funk, a native of the Buckeye State, came to Huntington County in 1838, and either in that year or the year following located upon a tract of land previously entered by his father in Section 15, about half way between Claysville and Bippus. He cleared a small part of the land and in 1842 set out an orchard, but his residence in the township was not constant until about 1851.
Among those who came during the years 1839-40 were Michael Smith, who rented land in Section 14 and carried on shoemaking in con- nection with his farming; John Altman, who settled in Section 14, near Smith, and Christian Dailey, who had formerly settled in Clear Creek Township, came to Warren and settled where the Town of Bippus is now located. In 1841 Peter Kitt built his cabin in the northeast corner; William Guffin and Jacob Shull entered land in Section 2, and Ezra Thorne settled in the southern part.
Other pioneers were George France, Daniel Dishong, John T. Cook, Jacob Myers, David Shoemaker, George Brugh, John Byers, Samuel Funk, Peter Gressley, James White, the McEnderfers family and a man named Noyer, who was killed by a falling tree soon after coming into the township.
These settlements were made while Warren was a part of Clear Creek Township. At the June term in 1843 the county commissioners ordered : "That all that part of Clear Creek township situated west of the line dividing Ranges 8 and 9, be, and hereby is, erected into a new township, to be known as Warren township." The first election for township officers was held a few weeks later, with Jacob Shull as in- spector. It resulted in the choice of Christian Dailey, John T. Cook and George France, trustees; John Altman, justice of the peace; William T. Guffin, clerk; James White, treasurer, and John Funk, constable.
Early Events-The first white child born in the township was Thomas Staley, Jr., whose birth occurred soon after his parents settled in Section 2. The first marriage solemnized was that of William Delvin and Susan Zellers, in 1837. The first death was that of Mr. Noyer, above mentioned, in 1841. He was buried on George Slusser's farm, where the first grave- yard was established, but the bodies there were afterward removed to the cemetery at the Lutheran Church, about a mile west of Bippus. George Slusser sowed the first wheat, and the first log-rolling was on the farm of George Zellers. The first religious meeting was conducted by a young Methodist minister at the house of George Zellers, in 1839. The first church was built by the Lutherans, in 1855, in Section 21, a short distance west of Bippus. The first school was taught in 1841 by
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John Funk, in a little log house in Section 14, and the same year the first schoolhouse was built at "Altman's Corners." It was in this schoolhouse that the first township election was held two years later.
About 1855 or 1856, Joseph Miller built a sawmill, the first in the township, on his land in Section 22, a little northeast of Bippus. About two years later he added machinery for grinding both wheat and corn, which relieved the settlers from the necessity of making long jour- neys to distant mills to procure their breadstuffs. Miller's mill did a successful business for seven or eight years, when it was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt and later was removed to Bippus and converted into a tile factory.
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