History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 116

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942

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John Van Blaricum and David S. Van Blaricum, the southwest quarter of section 33, township 16, range 3.

Noah Wright, the northwest quarter of section 21, in township 15, range 3.

Levi Wright, the southeast quarter of section 20, township 15, range 3.

Michael Woods, the southeast quarter of section 24, township 15, range 2, and the west half of the southwest quarter of section 19, township 15, range 3.

Sarah Whitinger, the southeast quarter of section 22, in township 16, range 2.

Jordan Wright, the southwest quarter of section 22, township 16, range 2.

Joha Wolf, the east half of the northwest quarter of section 33, township 16, range 3.

James Johnson, Esq., the southwest quarter of section 31, township 16, range 3. A biographical sketch of Mr. Johnson is given on another page of this work.

William Speer, the west half of the northwest quar- ter of section 9, township 15, range 2. Mr. Speer was born in 1802, and came to Marion County in 1824.

Adam Thompson, assessed on no property, except one horse and two oxen. He was well known as the keeper of a tavern on the National road, near Bridgeport.

Wolfgang Coffman lived near the south west corner of the township, but was not assessed ou any real estate. He had been a soldier in the armies of the Emperor Napoleon, and was fond of relating incidents of the conqueror's campaigns and of the disastrous retreat from Moscow in 1812.

William McCaw, the southwest quarter and the west half of the southeast quarter of section 21, township 16, range 3. Lands located near Eagle Creek, northwest of Mount Jackson. He was a native of Westmoreland County, Pa., born in 1787, and came to Marion County in April, 1822.

Isaac Pugh, the northeast quarter of section 26 and the west half of the northwest quarter of section 25, township 16, range 2. Mr. Pugh was born in Chatham, N. C., in 1794; came to Marion County in July, 1822, and became one of the wealthiest farmers and most prominent men in Wayne town- ship, being frequently elected to responsible offices. His farm was near where the Indiana, Bloomington and Western Railway crosses Eagle Creek.

Jacob Pugh's heirs, the southeast quarter of sec- tion 26, the northeast quarter of section 27, and the

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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

northeast quarter of section 35, in township 16, range 2. Jacob Pugh was a North Carolinian, who emi- grated to Marion County in the summer of 1822, and died before 1829. He was the father of Isaac Pugh before mentioned.

Joseph Pense, not assessed on any real estate, but afterwards owned a farm located on the Rockville road, near Eagle Creek. Enoch Pense was his son.

Jesse Johnson, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 35, township 16, range 2. Mr. Johnson was a native of Grayson County, Va .; born in 1787; arrived as a settler in Marion County, Nov. 16, 1826; died July 9, 1879.

Isaac Harding, the west half of the northwest quarter of scetion 4, towoship 15, range 2, eighty- three acres. Mr. Harding was born in Wayne County, Ind., in 1804, and came to Marion County in November, 1826.

George L. Kinnard, assessed on no property in Wayne township in 1829, except one horse and a silver watch. He was one of the earliest (if not the first) of the school-teachers of the township. Col. Kinnard had charge of the surveying and laying out of the Lafayette State road. In 1833 he was elected to Congress against William W. Wiek as opposing ' candidate. His death was caused by an accident on a steamboat.

P., Marcia Aun, Martha Ann, Elizabeth, and Sarah. He died in 1858. His younger brother, John, came to this county with him, and settled in Wayne, on the northwest quarter of seetion 8, township 15, range 3. He, with his brother William, took the contract for the brick-work of the old (first) court- house of Marion County. John also built the Kunkle mill, in Wayne township. He died a few years after he made his settlement here.

Abraham Coble, the northeast quarter of seetion 29, township 16, range 3. He was a native of North Carolina, emigrated to Ohio, and thence, in 1821, to Wayne township, Marion Co., where he settled on the lands described. He built one of the first saw- mills of Marion County, located on Crooked Creek, near his homestead. With lumber sawed at this mill he loaded a flat-boat and sent it down White River, it being the first lumber-freighted boat that ever descended that stream. He died in May, 1842. His son, George Coble, is now living in Indianap- olis.

Joshua Glover, the southwest quarter of seetion 18, township 15, range 3. A daughter of Mr. Glover married James W. Johnson, of this town- ship. Joshua Glover died in 1836.

David Faussett, the south part of the southwest quarter of section 9, township 15, range 2, one hun- dred and seven acres. He was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1802, and arrived in Marion County as a settler March 4, 1824.

William Holmes, the northeast quarter of section 8, in township 15, range 3; the west half of the northwest quarter of the same seetion ; and the west half of the northwest quarter of section 9, same Lewis Clark (colored), the east half of the south- east quarter of section 8, township 15, range 3. Clark was a fugitive slave, and it is said of him that he was the first colored man who paid taxes on real estate in Marion County. In 1836, at the "raising" of Clark's frame house, an accident occurred, by which William Cool lost his life. Cool was a settler in Wayne township before 1829, and reared one of the first orchards in the township. His daughter, the widow of Theodore Johnson, is still living in the township. township and range. Mr. Holmes was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., in 1792, emigrated with his father's family to Ohio in 1800, and in 1820 re- moved to Wayne County, Ind. In 1821 he married Elizabeth Lyons, and settled on his lands in Wayne township, Marion Co., where he made his home during the remainder of his life. He built the Billy Holmes saw-mill on Eagle Creek, just below the National road bridge. In 1832 he was one of those who volunteered for service in the Black Hawk war. He was the father of William Canada Holmes, Cyrus Cotton, the west half of the southeast quar- ter of section 8, township 15, range 3. His lands were located west of Eagle Creek, on the present one of the best-known citizens of Marion County, and also of eleven other children, viz .: John B., Jonathan L., Ira N., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Uriah, Noah | line of the Vandalia Railroad. On his farm he

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erected a two-story stone dwelling-house, one of the first of that kind built in Marion County.

John P. Cook, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 21, township 15, range 3. Mr. Cook's two-story brick house was the first built in the township, and one of the earliest in the county, of that material.

Luke Bryant, the east half of the southwest quar- ter of section 21, township 15, range 3. These lands joined the farm of John P. Cook on the east. Mr. Bryant came to Marion County from the vicinity of Urbana, Ohio, bringing a considerable amount (for those times) of money, which he placed out at inter- est. He was an eccentric man, and (as it was said by some) inclined to skepticism in religious belief. He sold his farm on section 21, but continued to reside in the township until his death.

Joel Conarroe, the east half of the southeast quarter of section 28, township 16, range 2. Mr. Conarroe was a native of Burlington County, N. J., born in the year 1800, and came to Marion County, Ind., in December, 1821.

John Furnas, the west half of the northeast quar- ter and the east half of the northwest quarter of sec- tion 21, township 15, range 2. " John Furnas, agent," was assessed on the west half of the north- west quarter, Isaac Furnas on the southeast quarter, and Joseph Furnas on the southwest quarter of the same section; so that the Furnascs, who were all Quakers, held the entire section, except cighty acres, the east half of the northeast quarter. The farm of John Furnas embraced the ground which became the site of Bridgeport. On his farm, below the village site, he had a mill, which was driven by the water- power of the creek. This mill, which he built and put in operation before the beginning of the village settlement, he afterwards sold to John Zimmerman.

The village or " town" of Bridgeport is situated in the southwest corner of Wayne township, on a fork of White Lick Creek, and also on the lines of the Vandalia Railroad and the old National or Cumber- land road. The village was laid out by Samuel K. Barlow (on land of John Furnas, as before men- tioned) in 1830, the town plat being recorded May

17, 1831. The original plat comprehended forty- three lots, lying on six streets, viz. : the main street (the old Cumberland road, running through the cen- tre), seventy-five feet wide ; Ballard Street and Por- ter Street, cach seventy feet wide; and the narrower streets named North, East, and South, bounding the village on the sides indicated by their names. Bar- low afterwards laid out two small additions, embracing between thirty and forty lots on two new streets crossing the Cumberland road.

The first dwelling-house in the village was that of Aaron Homan, located on the southwest corner of Ballard Street and the Cumberland road. It was a building of hewed logs, about eighteen by twenty feet in size, and besides serving as Homan's dwelling, it was also the place where the first meetings were held in the village. Homan (who was a cabinet-maker) may thus be mentioned as the first settler in Bridge- port, though several others settled there at about the same time, among them being Robert Speer, Allen Jennings, and John Johnson, all of whom built small houses of hewed logs. Robert Speer was a brewer, and located on the second lot east of the site of the present Methodist Church. Allen Jennings lived on the corner of Ballard Street and the Cumberland road. John Johnson was the first merchant of the place, and his store, located on the southeast corner of Ballard Street and the Cumberland road, was the first frame building erected (1832) in Bridgeport. He occupied it for merchandising about six years, then sold out. It was afterwards owned and carried on for a short time by William and John Givens.

John Zimmerman was a wagon-maker and a prom- inent man of the village of Bridgeport. He has already been mentioned as the purchaser of John Furnas's old water-mill on the stream below the town.

The first public-house in Bridgeport was opened by John Ballard, between 1839 and 1840. David Hartsock was the first tavern-keeper in the village, his first license being dated March 7, 1839, and he continued in the business there till about 1845.

Samuel Lockyer was a shoemaker and kept the first shop of that trade in Bridgeport, having a small shoe-store in connection. He commenced business

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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

there in 1838, and had Ranston Wooten with him for some time. About 1845, Wooten started another shoe-store, in which he carried on a business of eon- siderable magnitude for several years.

The first physician was Dr. Lot Reagan, but neither the exact date of his coming nor the length of time that he practiced in Bridgeport has been ascertained.

John Mattern was one of the early and prominent men of Bridgeport. He was born in 1801 in Hunt- ingdon County, Pa., where he learned the trade of potter. In 1831 he came to Indianapolis, where he had a store, and was the first one who sold ready- made clothing in the city. In 1833 he married Mary Scott, a widow, and daughter of John Johnson. In 1834 he moved to Bridgeport and went into mer- chandising with his father-in-law, but after about two years the store was sold out to - Williams, and Mattern went into the pottery business, which he followed in Bridgeport for about seventeen years, after which he kept a publie-house for four years. In the mean time he held a number of public offiees. He was appointed postmaster1 at Bridgeport, and in 1840 was elected justice of the peace. In 1846 he was elected township trustee, and held the office sev- eral terms by re-election. Having sold out his tavern business, he moved from Bridgeport to a farm about two miles west of the village on the National road. Now in his old age he is living about four miles southwest, with his son John. His other surviving sons are George and Jacob, the last named being the son of his first wife, who died in 1841. His second wife, by whom he had four children, was Hannah M. Woodrow.

Before the financial panic of 1837 the village of Bridgeport had attained a very considerable growth, and was a place of much more comparative impor- tance than it is to-day. A little prior to that time a steam flouring-mill and saw-mill was built and put in operation by Jeremiah Johnson, who had previously been the (first) keeper of the Marion County jail, and

an ionkeeper in Indianapolis. He also opened quite an extensive store in a large frame building erected for the purpose on the opposite side of the street from John Johnson's. This store passed from Jere- miah Johnson into the hands of Washington MeKay, who kept it for some years, and was succeeded by - Baker, who, during his term of business, built the building now occupied by John Rhodes. Baker sold out to James S. Newman, and he to Samson Houghman and his son, P. N. Houghman, in 1844. They kept it about two years, and sold to John Hoffman and Samuel Schenek, who were the last proprietors of the establishment. Another early store was located on the Cumberland road, west of Ballard Street, near Allen Jennings, and was carried on by William Stout, who purchased from a previous pro- prictor.

A grocery and liquor-store was started about 1836 by Eli MeCaslan and Charles Merrick. It afterwards passed into the possession of Aaron McCaslin. There were a number of liquor-shops and tippling-houses in Bridgeport during its early days, but they passed out of existence many years ago, the last one being blown up with gunpowder about the year 1850.

A store was started in the southwest part of the town about 1842, by Samuel Spray and -- Mc- Knight, who kept it until the death of Spray, when MeKnight sold out to Thomas Mills. It afterwards passed to Nathaniel Mills and Calvin Ballard, and some other proprietors, and was finally discontinued. In 1840, and for some years thereafter, Bridgeport contained four general stores besides a grocery, but after the opening of the railroad the number de- ereased, and the business was revolutionized. The village has now two general stores, both on the Na- tional road,-one kept by John H. Ingling and the other by Thomas Ingling; a post-office, John H. Ingling, postmaster; two churches (the Methodist, with Rev. - Switzer as pastor, and the Friends, with Wilson Spray as principal minister) ; two briek school-houses ; a steam mill (not in operation), owned by H. Swindler, and a population of about three hun- dred inhabitants. .

Bridgeport Lodge, No. 162, F. and A. M., was chartered May 24, 1854, Joseph H. Ballard, W. M .;

1 The post-office at Bridgeport was established in 1832. The first postmaster was Eli Murdock, who served but a short time, then resigned, and was succeeded by Aaron Homan, who was in turn succeeded by John Mattern, as stated above.

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Noah Reagan, S. W .; Samuel G. Owen, J. W. The present officers of the lodge are Humphrey Forsha, W. M .; Poter P. Blank, S. W .; Woodford Thomp- son, J. W .; Danicl Broadway, Trcas. ; R. W. Thomp- son, Sec. The lodge has now thirty-five members.

The village of Maywood is situated on the south line of the township near its southeastern corner, and on the line of the Indianapolis and Vincennes Rail- road. On a part of the site now occupied by the village a two-story brick house was built in 1822 (some accounts say 1821), by John P. Cook, who was the first resident in that loeality. There was no village at the place, nor was it in any way different from other farming neighborhoods for forty years after Cook's settlement there. In 1854, James A. Marrs and Ira N. Holmes built a steam grist-mill in Decatur township, on the southwest quarter of scetion 36, township 15, range 2. Holmes sold out to Marrs, who ran it until his death, in October, 1857, and it was afterwards run by his administrator till 1863, when it ceased operation, and was sold to Fielding Beeler and Calvin Fletcher, who moved the machinery to a new mill building which they erected on land owned by Fletcher at what is now Maywood. They added a saw-mill and some new machinery, and ran it until the spring of 1873, when it was sold to other parties ; but it was not a financial success, and was finally abandoned, the machinery sold, and the build- ing dismantled.

At the building of the mill at Maywood and during the occupancy of Messrs. Beeler and Fletcher they erected ninc dwelling-houses for their workmen, of whom they employed about twenty. There was no store there, but a cooper-shop and a blacksmith-shop were opened at the place, which was called Beeler's Station, on the Vincennes Railroad. The mill enter- prise, and what grew out of it, created the village, which was laid out as Maywood, June 4, 1873. It is yet a very small village, containing about twenty dwellings, one general store (by Charles Litter), one grocery, at the depot, a post-office (Charles Litter, postmaster), one blacksmith-shop (by George Crowe), one wagon-shop (John Russell's), one physician (Dr. Harrison Peachee), one shoemaker, one school-house

(no graded school), a Methodist Episcopal Church (Rev. Mr. Payne, pastor), and nearly one hundred inhabitants.

Fielding Beeler, one of the earliest born and best known of the native citizens of Marion County, is a son of Joseph Beeler, and born in Decatur township, March 30, 1823. He remembers seeing at least one party of the Indians of the country before their final departure from it; has heard the wild wolves howl around his father's cabin at night, and remembers when what few sheep were in his neighborhood were regularly penned at night near the owner's dwelling, to keep them from being devoured by these voracious prowlers. Most of his education was obtained in the primitive log school-house, and under the tuition of the primitive teachers of these early times. His school-books were Webster's "Spelling-Book" (old edition), in which he became very proficient, " The American Preceptor," " English Reader," Weems' " Lives of Marion and Washington," and Pike's " Arithmetic." These schools were taught in the winter, and from one and a half to three miles from his home, and most of the way through the.woods ; but the trips were almost invariably enlivened by the sight of deer, sometimes a dozen of them in a herd, and flocks of wild turkeys. He says it seems to him now that there were sometimes hundreds of them in sight at once.

During these school-terms he generally did the going to mill for the family, part of the time to the old Bayou Mill, which stood a little north of the present site of the Nordyke Machine-Works, and at other times to the Ede Harding Mill, on Eagle Creck. The man was to take a sack on a horse, and he ride on the saek. As the grinding was done by turns, and it usually required from one to three weeks for the turn to be reached, it was of importance to com- mence in time. After beginning his Saturday trips, usually in a couple of weeks he could begin taking a grist home, and thus during the course of the winter enough was accumulated to last well into the summer.

One of the important occurrences of his boyhood years was a trip to the then important town or city of Madison with a two-horse wagon loaded with wheat ;

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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

as he remembers, about twenty-five or twenty-six bushels constituted the load, and was sold on arrival at sixty-two and a half eents per bushel, and the pro- ceeds invested in a sack of coffce, with perhaps some additional funds in salt at seventy-five cents per bushel, which constituted the return load. The trip was made in company with a neighbor. Feed for the trip for team and boy was hauled in the wagon, out- doors used for dining-room, and wagon-bed or the ground under it for sleeping-room. It was to him, however, an important journey as he passed down and up the Madison hill, saw the to him great Ohio River and several steamboats, and also what seemed to his boyish imagination a great town.

Afterwards Mr. Beeler had the advantage of two winter terms in the old Marion County Seminary, under that paragon of teachers, James S. Kemper. Shortly after reaching his majority he was married to Eliza A. Marrs, and the next spring (1845) settled in Wayne township, on the northeast quarter of see- tion 21, township 15, range 3, where he still resides.

Mr. Beeler has been actively identified with the advancement of the agricultural and industrial indus- tries of the county and State. He has done much in the improvement of the cattle, hogs, and sheep of the county by the purchase and dissemination of im- proved breeds, and by his earnest advocacy of the great advantage of the same to farmers. He has been an offiecr in all the county agricultural societies which have existed since his majority ; was seeretary of the Indiana State Board of Agriculture for 1869, the State fair of that year being the most successful one held to that time, and he has been for four years past the general superintendent of the same, and has been highly complimented for his efficient and sue- cessful management.

Mr. Beeler has always given his special attention to his farm, but was from 1863 to 1873 engaged in the milling business, in connection with his brother- in-law, Calvin Fletcher. They owned and operated a steam grist- and saw-mill near Mr. Beeler's residence, at what is now Maywood, doing a large business in flour and lumber, their flour being well known, and holding a high reputation in home and eastern mar- kets, but in consequence of the distance from the city

and consequent expense of hauling, and the great improvements made in grist-mill machinery, it was found to be unprofitable and the business abandoned in 1873.

Mr. Beeler, though having decided views on the political questions which have attracted the attention of the country sinee he has been old enough to take an interest in the subjeet, cannot properly be eon- sidered as a politician, as is usually understood by that term, at least in later years.

In 1850 he was nominated by the Whig County Convention of that year as one of its candidates for the Legislature, but was defeated, though receiving the full vote of his party. He was one of the nomi- nees of the Republican party for the same position in 1868, and elected and served through the regular and special sessions of that somewhat exciting period ; was chairman of the Committe on Agriculture, be- sides being on a number of other committees, and took an active part in all questions relating to the agricultural interests of the State, as well as to the particular interests of his constituents. He intro- duced a bill for the appointment of a State geologist and geological survey of the State, which became a law and which has had a very marked influence on the development of the coal-mining and quarrying interests of the State. He was again nominated in 1870 and elected, and served through the session of 1871, being again a member of the committee on agriculture, and taking an active part in its delibera- tions, as well as in general legislation. During each of his terms in the Legislature, he introduced and advocated bills for a homestead law, exempting the same from sale for debt, etc .; advocated and voted for bills increasing allotment to widows and exemption to debtors.

Mr. Beeler has always given much attention to the raising of stock. Some fifteen years ago he had a herd of thirty to forty head of short-horn cattle, but on going more extensively into dairying, gradually gave up that specialty. He keeps about one hun- dred fine Berkshire swine, and a floek of about ninety Cotswold sheep. He is now, and has been for four years, president of the Indiana Wool-Growers' Asso- ciation. He is an excellent farmer, and has the

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reputation of keeping more stock in proportion to the acreage of his farm than any other man in the county.

During the time when Mr. Beeler was operating the mill at Maywood he had, on one occasion, a very exciting and unpleasant experience, in being the vic- tim of a daring highway robbery. At twilight, on an evening of November, 1867, as he was returning home from Indianapolis in a buggy, with his little daughter, nine years of age, after having crossed Eagle Creek, and being in sight of his house, he was suddenly confronted by three masked men, one of whom seized the horse by the bridle, while the others quickly advanced, one on each side, and with cocked revolvers pointed at his breast, commanded him to deliver up his money and valuables, and to do it quickly. After a little hesitation, seeing that re- sistance was hopeless, he handed them his pocket- book (containing about one hundred dollars) and a valuable watch. The robbers, having satisfied them- selves that they had seeured all of value that he had about him, allowed him to pass ou, the ruffian at the horse's head quitting his hold of the bridle, and with a theatrical wave of the hand bidding him to " move up lively."

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History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 116

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 942

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942