USA > Indiana > Jay County > History of Jay County, Indiana > Part 4
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After hunting until it was time to return, he had gone down Butternut to the Salimonie, intend- ing to take up stream to the mouth of the Little Salimonie, and then up that to Shaylor's. The mouth of the Little Salimonie is very narrow- like a small run-and coming to this, he thought it could not be the place, and passed on up the Big Salimonie, one or two miles above Portland. Finding that he had missed the way, he returned, and when he reached the little prairie opposite where Thomas Jones now lives, he was too much exhausted to proceed further. He then tried to strike fire, but his flint entirely failed. He soon found his feet were freezing. He cleared away the snow, and by dancing around managed to keep awake all night. Early the next morning he again tried his flint, and the first stroke made fire. In thawing his shoes he burned his frozen feet terribly, and could not again put on his shoes. He then made a pair of mocassins from the skin of a wolf he had killed the day before. He left his gun, and, with the help of a staff, dragged himself along ; found the mouth of the Little Sal- imonie, and was going up the stream when found
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LOST -- FOUND.
by the young men. He was immediately taken to his home, where one leg and the toes and heel of the other were amputated. He lived for many years, and afterward revisited the county.
CHAPTER VI.
NANCY HAWKINS-THE OLDEST CABIN-INCIDENTS.
NANCY HAWKINS is still living, and is now sev- enty-five years of age. She is in good health, active and lively. Unusual energy, unfaltering devotion to right principles, and tull-hearted hos- pitality are, as they always have been, her distin- gnishing characteristics. She is a passionate lover of home, and has impressed this trait of character upon all her children. She still lives upon the "Old Home Farm," where she and her husband first settled, and until within the last year in the log cabin built by him in 1829. She is never so contented as when enjoying the genial warmth of that great fire-place. Of this institution, so cher- ished in Jay County-the crowning charm of all log cabins-we heartily adopt the language of Mrs. Stowe, in her "House and Home Papers :"
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NANCY HAWKINS.
"Best of all, there was in our parlor that household altar, the blazing wood-fire, whose wholesome, hearty crackle is the truest household inspiration. I quite agree with one celebrated American author, who holds that an open fire- place is an altar of patriotism. Would our Revolutionary fathers have gone bare-footed and bleeding over snows to defend air-tight stoves and cooking-ranges ? I trow not. It was the memory of the great, open kitchen fire, with its back- log and fore-stick of cord-wood-its roaring, hilarious voice of invitation -its dancing tongue of flame, that called to them through the snows of that dreadful winter to keep up their courage, that made their hearts warm and bright with a thousand reflected memories."
CHICAGO
THE HAWKINS CABIN-SEE MAP.
That cabin is the oldest one now standing, and the fourth one built in Jay County, and will never be torn down while the farm remains in the Haw-
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THE OLDEST CABIN.
kins family. Ambrotypes of it, with Nancy's several children and grandchildren, and the old rocking chair in front, have been taken, and are in possession of the family. The cut above rep- resents the old lady standing at the door, though the likeness is not truthful except as to her size. The boy near her is a grandchild. Just beyond the cabin, at the foot of the hill, a spring, over- lung with beautiful shade trees, issues from the banks, and the cool water finds its way to the Salimonie through that family favorite, a spring- house. She lately told the writer that if they would only fix the old house so it would not let in the rain, she would much prefer living in it than in the new one. A beautiful farm house, erected by B. W. Hawkins, now stands beside it. 1
Oh, the old house at home, where my forefathers dwelt, Where a child at the feet of my mother I knelt ; Where she taught me the prayer, where she read me the page Which if infancy lisps is the solace of age : My heart 'mid all changes, wherever I roam, Ne'er loses its love for the old house at home.
CHORUS. The old house at home, the old house at home ; My heart never changes for the old house at home.
'Twas not for its splendor that dwelling was dear- 'Twas not that the gay and the noble were near ;- O'er the porch the wild rose and the woodbine entwined, And the sweet-scented jessamine waved in the wind ;
4*
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THIE OLDEST CABIN.
But dearer to me than proud turret or dome, Were the halls of my fathers-the old house at home.
CHORUS.
Though now the old house is no dwelling for me, The home of the stranger it never shall be ; And ne'er shall he view it, or rove as a guest O'er the evergreen fields which my fathers possessed ; For still in my slumbers sweet visions will come Of the days that I passed at the old house at home.
CHORUS.
When he was elected County Clerk, in 1859, he persuaded his mother to live with him one winter; but when the willows put forth their earliest leaves, the bright green grass was peeping from door-yards and fence-corners, and the first gleeful chirping of the spring-birds was heard, she went back to the farm, and the fairest tempta- tions of town life cannot induce her to leave it again. The farm is a rich and beautiful one, lying just at the forks of the Little Salimonie, half a mile from the village of Antioch
One time the dogs caught a deer near the house, when Mrs. Hawkins and Mrs. Shaylor were the only occupants. They took the axe and went to assist the dogs, which held the animal down, but with his fore-feet and horns he would fight very briskly. Whenever there was an opportunity the ladies would give the deer a blow with the poll of the axe. But this style of warfare served only
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INCIDENTS.
to exasperate. Changing the plan of attack, they took the edge and gave " hard blows and fast," to which the deer soon yielded, and after skinning and quartering, the lady hunters carried it home.
The Indians were the only neighbors of the Hawkins family for several years. The tribes who were in the habit of visiting this region were the Miamies, Wyandottes, Pottawatamies, Sena- cas and Shawnees. The two latter were very friendly. They came in the fall to hunt, and in the spring to trap. While passing through one time an Indian boy stole an axe. About three months afterwards they returned, and the boy's father brought the axe back, saying, "My boy stole him. No good boy !"
If they found Mr. Hawkins' ducks far from the house, they would drive them home, and some- times they would find his cow mired in some swamp several miles distant, when they would come and inform him, pilot some one to the spot, and assist in releasing the animal. By such little acts of kindness they showed their friendly feel- ing toward the white family.
Once an Indian called on Peter Studabaker, at Fort Recovery, and told him that a very rich man had moved into the county, meaning John J. Hawkins. Studakaker inquired whether he had many horses and cattle. "No," said the Indian, "he got heap of children and thirteen dog !" It
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INCIDENTS.
was the source of much laughter among the neighbors.
All early settlers are familiar with the name of the old Indian, Doctor Duck, who remained in the country a long time after his tribe had emi- grated to Kansas. He showed much skill in the treatment of diseases, but could not cure Mr. Haw- kins, with whom he lived for six months. He was very religious, and often appeared to be pray- ing to the Great Spirit. One time he attended preaching near Deerfield, after which there was a church trial of an offending member. The old Indian listened attentively until there was some conflicting testimony, when he went to the door, turned round and said to the meeting, "Me go; no much good here-too much lie."
About two weeks after Mr. Hawkins died this Indian went alone to the grave, and there spent nearly half a day, apparently preaching and per- forming wild ceremonies. During the year 1835 B. W. Hawkins was employed by a Greenville firm to buy furs, at forty dollars per month and expenses paid. He visited ten counties, and pur- chased of the Indians, in one lot, fifteen hundred dollars' worth. His employers had offered to their agents that the one buying the best lot of furs should be presented with a new suit of clothes. Mr. Hawkins got the suit, from boots to hat.
CHAPTER VII.
THE PIONEERS OF 1830.
SKETCHES have now been given of the first four families who became residents of Jay County. On this account they are given in detail, and, also, because Pioneer Life can be most truthfully sketched by a correct history of several individ- ual families. In the lives of these families, all pioneers can see likenesses of their own. Yet the experience of no two are exactly similar. What golden threads of history might be unraveled at every family heartlı-stone ! What family's history would not be full of thrilling interest, were the silver chords of love, and hidden currents of siniles and tears, joys and sorrows, revealed ? But these are too sacred for the public eye. The limits of this volume admit only of specimens of Pioneer Life. Henceforward families will be mentioned only in more general terms, and the
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THE PIONEERS OF 1830.
events of public history more closely grouped.
At the opening of the year 1830, from the low chimneys of but three humble cabins the blue smoke curled gracefully above the tall, vast forests surrounding them, to mark the beginning of civilized life in Jay County. As a few bright stars appear first at evening, and, as the night draws on, multitudes glitter in the sky, so these families-" stars of empire "-were the front lights of that thronging civilization that is follow- ing. They were Orman Perring, John Brooks and the Hawkins family. At that time, althoughi Brooks had been a settler there for eight years, the others knew nothing of him, nor did he of them. Thus dimly did the light of civilization shine in that region at the opening of this decade.
In the spring of 1830, James Stone and Wil- liam Cummings visited Ft. Recovery. They knew Peter Studabaker, for, three years prior, while on a visit to the St. Joseph country, they had enjoyed his hospitality. They selected land in Noble Township and went to work, planted corn, killed large numbers of deer and found many bee-trees. Greatly pleased with the country, when autumn began to tinge the forest with yellow, Mr. Stone brought his family from Gallia County, Ohio. This time he was accompanied by Henderson Graves, who had married his daughter the even- ing before starting. William B. Lipps was living
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THE PIONEERS OF 1830.
near there at that time, but how long he had been there is not known. Stone bought him out and he moved to Greenville.
The two families lived in a camp about six weeks, tlien built a cabin. In October, Jolin J. Hawkins came there, hunting some cattle, and they learned, for the first time, that they had a neighbor within six miles.
The country abounded in such luxuries as tur- keys, venison and honey. The greatest difficulty was the want of a mill, there being none nearer than Greenville. But Peter Studabaker dressed a couple of "gray heads," and constructed a horse mill which served the neighborhood for some years as a corn-grinder. This mill was turned by a "tug" instead of cogs, which was made of raw cowhide. In dry or frozen weather the tug would contract and become too short, and in wet weather stretch and get too long. Corn was raised in abundance, with but little work. In 1831 James Stone sowed 13 bushels of wheat on 13 acres of ground. When 'harvest time was at hand, the blackbirds came by thousands, and destroyed much of it; yet he got 37} bushels. He was the first settler in what afterward became Noble Township, and entered the first piece of land ever entered in Jay County, November 9th, 1832. He had this honor, however, by but one day, as Thomas Scott entered forty acres the next
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THE PIONEERS OF 1830.
day. He was an enterprising, industrious citizen, and died in the spring of 1848.
Thomas Scott came soon after Stone, remained a few years and moved to Texas, where he died.
Henderson Graves says that about this time, he and Conaway Stone cut a bee-tree, and, to their great surprise, found two swarms in it, from which they got ten gallons of strained honey. . At an- other time when they were hunting, and at some distance apart, both shot at the same deer, at the same instant, neither one hearing the report of the other's rifle, and each fatally wounded the animal. These settlers saw that sublime phenomenon of the shooting stars, which occurred in 1833.
In October, 1830, a boy fifteen years old, and small of his age, started from his father's house in Darke County, Ohio, on horseback, to select a piece of land for their future home. He stopped for the night three miles north of Fort Recovery, with David Beardslee, who desired that they should settle near him. But the boy's father in- structed him not to select land near another fam- ily, for near neighbors were apt to quarrel. Tak- ing a bridle path which Orman Perring had made from Fort Recovery to the Wabash, he followed it till he came to the land which was afterward the farm of the late Elder Ebenezer Drake. Dis- mounting, he hitched his horse, blazed a path to the Limberlost, and returned just before night.
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THE PIONEERS OF 1830.
Hoppling his horse and putting a bell on him, he let him loose. Then, lighting a fire, he lay down by it, on some bark, and, withont even a blanket, slept soundly. The next day he built a half-faced camp, (which he called "a three-ended cabin,") just high enough for the boy to stand up in, and in that he ate and slept for two weeks, as happy as a lark, seeing no one except Indians, and an occasional traveler on the Quaker trace. The In- dians were very good-natured and familiar. He traded a pint of whiskey to one of them for a ham of venison. Asking what would he take it in, the
Indian took a deer's bladder, still warm, from his breast, and received the drink in that. The wolves would come around the camp every night and howl terribly. The youth would sometimes get up and stir the fire in order to see them, but could not. That boy was Hamilton Gibson. He was building a cabin for his father's (William Gibson's,) family. William W. Dole, Peter Studabaker and three others from Fort Re- covery helped raise the cabin, which was the third one in Wabash Township. The next month William Gibson and his family came, his daughter Jane, now the wife of Samuel Arbaugh, being the housekeeper, her mother hav- ing died in Ohio. After Hamilton was married and had fifteen acres cleared, a man attempted to enter the land, and so cheat him out of his im-
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THE PIONEERS OF 1830.
provements. This was a common and shameful method by which speculators defrauded the indus- trious early settlers out of their homes and the fruits of their labor. A friend loaned him $50, and without one cent to pay his expenses, he went on foot to Fort Wayne, and saved his home.
One winter Hamilton went with a team and sled into Ohio after provisions, to procure which was a source of great labor and inconvenience to all the pioneers. When he was crossing Still Water the ice broke and let him into the stream. Un- hitching the horses, he tied them to a tree, and went to a neighbor's and staid all night. In the morning the stream had risen so that he could not get in sight of his horses, and they had to stand there nearly two days and nights before the water subsided !
In those early times Mr. Gibson was quite a hunter-has hunted four days without seeing a house. At night, in the winter, he would build two log heaps, set them on fire and sleep between them on bark. At one time, hunting a horse that had a bell on, he did not find it until it was too dark to go home. He mounted the animal and let her go, but, after traveling two hours, she came back to the place from which they started. Dismounting, he lay down at the roots of a tree, without a fire, sung awhile, and went to sleep, not waking until the morning sunlight was stream-
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THE PIONEERS OF 1830.
ing through the forest. Reaching home, he found his wife had been fighting fire from the fences nearly all night, aud was very anxious for his safety. This was the year to take the census, and Judge Jer. Smith, of Winchester, then quite a young man, was appointed Assistant Marshal of Randolph County and the terri- tory attached thereto, extending northward to the line between Congressional Townships 25 and 26. This was the dividing line of the territory · attached to the counties of Randolph and Allen, respectively, they being the only counties then or- ganized between the north line of Wayne County and the north line of the State. Near the close of the summer Mr. Smith came to the Salimonic,
census-taking. Had he desired to enumerate the rich bee-trees, the droves of beautiful deer, the families of bears and wolves, with which the for- ests were then populous, the result would have ranked the county among the first in the State. But he found human beings and the products of labor scarce indeed. While following a trace, in search of some inhabitants, he met Samuel Haw- kins, and took from him the census of that family, and learned that there were two other families in the region.
Thus resulted the census of Jay County for 1830. Could we peer into the dark unknown be- yond us, and compare with these the census re-
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THE PIONEERS OF 1830.
turns of 1930, when we, who now make the life of the county, shall all be gone, and our beloved forests and their delightful haunts for game have faded ;before a busier-perhaps not better-civi- lization, and when other men and women, other enterprises and interests, occupy the places we now hold-with what strange, intense interest would we look upon the exhibit !
CHAPTER VIII.
SETTLERS AND INCIDENTS OF 1831 AND 1832.
During these years new settlers came very slowly. So, at least, thought the small "advance guard " of pioneers who were waiting and hoping for neighbors to come in, and the germs of socie- ty to spring up around them. It was in the au- tumn of 1831 that the tinkling of the cow-bell and the sound of the white man's axe first broke the wild stillness of what, four years later, became Madison Township. John Eblin and William Denney, with their families, settled there at that time, and were the first settlers in the township. By coming together, they avoided much of that dreariness and many of the severer trials which met those families who lived their first years in the county alone amid the wild woods, wild men and ferocious beasts. However, they passed through those privations which necessarily follow
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SETTLERS AND INCIDENTS.
. the pioneer in his aggressions upon the territory hitherto the home of the aborigines. William Denney lived upon the land he entered, having done his part toward the development of the coun- try by opening a large farm, until a few years since, when he died. John Eblin also cleared a fine farm, then moved into the Osage country, in Missouri, where, being an unflinching lover of the Union, he became a victim of rebel hate, and lost his property, being obliged to flee to Iowa, where he died in 1863.
Not long after these men moved in, Conaway Stone built a cabin near where Mr. Abraham Lotz now lives; but soon moved across into Noble Township. About this time, also, Henry Crowell and John Fox settled there, making quite a neighborhood.
It was during this year (1831) that Thomas Shaylor moved into the county, occupying the vacated "shanties" of Mr. Hawkins until he could build a cabin. This he did upon a branch of the Salimonie, on what was afterward the Har- dy Farm, now the property of Lientenant C. H. Clark. In 1833 Mr. Shaylor moved down the Sal- imonie, and became the first settler in Green Township.
In November, 1831, Mrs. Sarah Riddley-a woman who, during her lifetime, was the wife of seven different husbands-settled with her family
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SETTLERS AND INCIDENTS.
in the southeast corner of Pike Township. Be- side the enterprising settlement in Madison Town- ship and the coming of Mr. Shaylor and Mrs. Riddley, there were no other additions to the meagre population of the county during that year.
Mr. Philip Brown was the first to arrive in the new country in 1832. He came March 8th, and built a cabin just across the road from the north side of Liber, on the southwest corner of the farm now owned by Dr. D. Milligan. It was the first house built in Wayne Township. Though the cabin has long since been gone, until lately a solitary peach tree had marked the spot ; but now nothing remains to remind the passer-by of the place where it stood. The next year, when Brown had quite a comfortable improvement made, James Wier was passing through the country looking for land. Being much pleased with Brown's place, and learning that it was not en- tered, he told him that he (Wier) had entered the land. As it was then termed, Brown had " squatted upon Congress-land," and had not yet been able to purchase it. But now, by this unfair means, he must be driven from a spot he began to call home, to commence again in the woods. He was greatly enraged, and made some threats against Wier, who went to Randolph County and swore his life against Brown. A constable named Robert Parsons came into the settlement and
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SETTLERS AND INCIDENTS.
summoned B. W. Hawkins and Joseph William- son to assist him in the arrest of Brown, who, meantime, had started to Fort Recovery. The settlers in the neighborhood sympathized with Brown, and would do every thing to aid him, for they were all mutually interested in seeing that the rights of all "squatter sovereigns" were maintained against the speculating land-sharks. The constable and his "aids " followed Brown's track, the deputies taking care that their progress should be very slow. They found John R. Mays and his boys grubbing near their house. Haw- kins asked some rather indirect questions about Brown, at the same time giving Mays the "wink," who, knowing the circumstances, gave the consta- ble the impression that if Brown was not already, he soon would be, in Ohio; at the same time pri- vately informing Hawkins that Brown was then in the house eating dinner! Hawkins then put in the plea that, it being Saturday afternoon, they might not catch Brown before the Sabbath. The constable replied that it was "State's business," and he should pay no attention to the Sabbath. After other arguments, which did not change the purpose of the constable, the deputies declared they would go no further unless their expenses were borne. This led the constable to abandon the chase and return home, while the deputies went to the house to congratulate Brown. This
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SETTLERS AND INCIDENTS.
was the first attempt ever made in Jay County to enforce the law. Soon after this Brown and Wier compromised by the latter agreeing to pay the former for the improvements made on the land. Wier then went to work and built a cabin on the northeast of what is now College corner. B. W. Hawkins was carrying the mail, and the next trip he examined the records, and ascertained that WVier's story was entirely false. On his return he at once notified Brown of his discovery. But Brown had no money and no saleable property except one horse. The neighbors showed their generosity by making up $20 for him, and mount- ing his horse, he set out for Fort Wayne. He went to Colonel Samuel Hanna, told him the cir- cumstances, and offered his horse for $30. Learn- ing that it was the only horse the stranger had, Hanna told him to keep it, loaned him the money, took him home with him for the night, and next day Brown, having entered the land, went on his way rejoicing. On reaching home, he notified Wier to leave the premises, which or- der was soon obeyed. While Brown lived there his daughter, about fourteen years of age, and a dog, chased a bear up a tree in the cornfield, near the house. Obadiah Winters was notified, and on coming over, found two or three families gathered around the tree to see the sport. Some of them begged of him not to shoot the bear in the head, 5
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SETTLERS AND INCIDENTS.
as they had heard that a bear's skull would turn a bullet, and then the animal would come down and kill them all. But Winters aimed at the head, and the bear fell harmless at the roots of the tree. About the time Brown settled there, William and Jeremiah Brockus commenced a clearing where Obadiah Winters now lives; but in a few months sold to James Morrison, who soon after sold to Mr. Winters.
On the 15th of November, 1832, Mr. Abraham Lotz and family joined the settlement made the year previous in Madison Township. There he has remained for thirty-two years, aiding in vari- ous ways the development of the county. On that farin he has raised a large family, most of whom have identified themselves with the inter- ests of the county, and some hold honorable po- sitions as officers. J. C. Lotz, Esq., was appoint- ed Clerk in the Interior Department at Washing- ton in 1861, which office he is now filling with credit. Abraham Lotz was a member of the first Board of County Commissioners, and for many years Justice of the Peace in his Township. In the summer of 1833 he opened a Sabbath School in his own house, which was very successful. The place of meeting was accommodated to the conve- nience of the neighborhood, and the school met at different houses from time to time. That Sabbath School, the immediate successor of the Indian
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