History of Johnson County, Indiana, Part 11

Author: Branigin, Elba L., 1870-
Publication date: 1972
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen, [Evansville, Ind.], [Unigraphic, Inc.]
Number of Pages: 981

USA > Indiana > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Indiana > Part 11

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In making these surveys the instruments employed were a solar com- pass; a surveyor's chain, thirty-three feet long, made up of fifty links; eleven tally pins; a telescope, and tools for marking trees and stones. In a survey through the woods, trees on the line of the survey were marked by two notches on each side, and sometimes trees near the line were blazed on two sides quartering toward the line. One of the oldest highways in the county, yet known as the Three Notch road, got its name from the blazes used to mark its route. These marks or blazes were to be plainly recognized for many years, indeed as long as the tree remains standing, for the scar is never entirely covered in the growth of the tree. But, by reason of the re- moval of the forest trees, nearly all such monuments have been destroyed, and surveys are now witnessed by other monuments more durable, or less likely to be removed.

Nineveh township was surveyed by Abraham Lee in the year 1819. In June, 1820, that part of Franklin township lying in township 12, of range 5 (now in Needham township), was surveyed by John Hendricks. In August of the same year that part of Franklin township lying in range 4 was sur- veyed by Thomas Hendricks. In the month of August, 1820, John Hen- dricks also surveyed all the lands in Blue River township, and after he had

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finished this work he surveyed Union township. Hensley was surveyed at about the same time by B. Bently, who also surveyed that part of White River township lying in township 13. W. B. Mclaughlin surveyed all of White River township in township 14 north. Later in the same year Thomas Hen- dricks surveyed all the lands in what is now Pleasant township, while John Hendricks surveyed all the lands contained in the present limits of Clark township.

Taking into consideration the difficulties in the way of an accurate survey, the unbroken wilderness, the tangled undergrowth, the unbridged streams, the almost endless marshes in some sections, it is surprising with what degree of accuracy this pioneer work of survey was done. And had the later records been made and kept with the care and fidelity of the first, ·little trouble would ever have been met in conveyancing or tracing records. But carelessness crept in, and in many of the deeds and court records, so little care was used as to render them meaningless to us. For example, one peti- tion for a highway filed in commissioners' court thus defines its course : "Commencing at the end of a road running from Jacob Peggs, Esq., crossing the Madison road above David Trout's old stand, in by Littleton Hills to the three notch line where it makes a sudden halt."

Since the constitution of 1851 was adopted the county surveyor is elected for a term of two years. He is charged with the duty of making and preserving an accurate record of all surveys, and of planning and supervising the construction of all highways and drains. He prepares plans and specifi- cations for all bridge work, under direction of the board of commissioners, and has charge of all repair work on drains. As drainage commissioner he is entitled to receive as compensation four dollars per day for time actually employed, but in ordinary field work he is entitled to charge certain fees specified by statute. The surveyor of Johnson county was paid for his services to the county in the year 1912 the sum of $1, 186.72, but this does not include private work nor allowances as commissioner in partition cases.

Prior to 1851 the office of surveyor was filled by appointment of the board of commissioners. Judge Banta says that the following persons filled the office of surveyor : James H. Wishard, Thomas Williams, Hiram Graves and G. M. Overstreet. James H. Wishard was appointed county surveyor March 2, 1846, for a term of three years. Commissioner's Record "B," page 43, shows the appointment of John S. Hougham at the August term, 1848, and the earliest field notes now of record bear date of that year. He served until the election of Franklin Hardin under the new constitution.

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The following persons have served as county surveyor since 1851 :

Franklin Hardin

1852-'54

John S. Hougham 1854-'56

Peterson K. Parr

1856-'58

John E. Stretcher

1858-'61

W. W. Hubbard

1861-'65

Joseph J. Moore

1865-'67

Peterson K. Parr

1867-'70

W. M. Elliott 1870-'72 1 1 1

Wilson T. Hougham

1872-'74

Peterson K. Parr

T 1874-'78

1 David A. Leach 1878-'82 1

Wilson T. Hougham 1 882-'86 1

Ben R. Ransdell

1886-'90

Floyd S. Owens

1890-'92

Ben R. Ransdell

1892-'93

Thomas Hardin

1893-'94

Wilson T. Hougham

1894-'96

Elba L. Branigin

1896-'98

John E. Jolliffe

1898-'04

John B. Duckworth

1904-'14

COUNTY ASSESSOR.

The assessment of real and personal property for the purposes of taxa- tion has been a vexatious problem in Indiana, and the subject of many legis- lative experiments. In the beginning the tax levy was a specific listing of chattels without regard to value, aided by special licenses on various occupa- tions. The first tax levy of record was made by the board of county justices in 1826 and reads as follows :

"Ordered, that for the purpose of raising a county revenue for the year 1826, there be levied on each horse, mule or ass over three years old 371/2 cents ; on each work oxen, 1834 cents; on each gold watch, $1.00; on each silver or pinch-back watch, 25 cents; on each white male person over the age of 21 years, 50 cents; on license to retail foreign merchandise, $15.00; on license for tavern, $5.00; on ferrys, $2.50; on each covering horse, $2.00."

For the year 1827 were added special license fees on retailers of spirit- nous liquors ; a tax of one dollar on each pleasure carriage and on each brass

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clock, sixty-two and one-half cents. Real estate also comes under the tax gatherer's eye, the levy being twenty-five cents on each one hundred acres of first rate land, twenty cents on same acreage of second rate land, and sixteen cents on third rate land. It cost the same to own four hundred acres of first rate land as it did to enjoy the luxury of a pleasure carriage. The gold watch and three hundred acres of the best land had the same value in the eyes of the tax collector.

In the year 1828 there was added a levy of fifty cents per one hundred dollars in value on each town lot-the first recognition of value as a basis of taxation. It was not until 1839 that the county board made a levy of taxes by fixing a rate on valuation, and even then many special license fees were levied. For state purposes a levy of fifteen cents on the hundred dollars was levied, as well as a poll tax of fifty cents .. For county purposes the rate was seven cents, with a poll tax of fifty cents; for road purposes, three cents. License fees were fixed as follows: On each license to vend clocks, $50; exhibit shows, $50 per day; to keep a ferry, $2.50; and to vend liquors, $10.

It cost just twenty dollars to secure an assessment of all property in the county in 1826. William Barnett, of Blue River, John S. Miller, of Nineveh, Hugh Williams, of Franklin, and Absalom Lowe, of White River, each re- ceived five dollars for assessing their respective townships, the county being then divided into four townships named. "Listers" were also appointed for the various townships in 1827, and such appointments were made by the county board at each January session succeeding until the March term, 1836, when they divided the county into seven districts and appointments of as- sessors were named by districts. This arrangement continued until the year 1840, when, at the January session, William C. Jones was appointed as assessor for the entire county.

Thenceforward and until the Constitution of 1851 the county assessor and his deputies prepared the assessment roll for the whole county. He was elected for a term of two years, and was allowed two dollars per day for services of himself or deputy. By the new Constitution the assessment of all real and personal property was entrusted to township assessors elected by the voters of the several townships. And so it yet remains, except as to certain corporation property whose valuation is now fixed by the state board of tax commissioners.

The tax law of 1891 (Acts 1891, page 199) created the office of county assessor, fixing his term at four years, but limiting his authority to the cor- rection of errors in the returns of the township assessors, and to the addition

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of property omitted from the lists. Together with the auditor and treasurer, then constituting the county board of review, he has authority to equalize assessments of property and on notice to parties may add to the list any omitted or undervalued property.

The county board of review is now composed of the auditor, treasurer, assessor, and two freeholders appointed by the judge of the circuit court. In this county the session begins on the first Monday in June and may extend its session to thirty days. A per diem of three dollars is allowed each member.

The county assessor of Johnson county receives an annual salary of eight hundred and fifty dollars. The total cost of assessment of property in the county for the year 1912, including pay of township assessors, county assessor and the board of review, was $4,928.36.

The following named have served as county assessor :

William C. Jones

1840-1841

James Hughes

1841-1843

Daniel McClain

1843-1844

David R. McGaughey

1844-

John Ritchey

1844-1846 .

Jeremiah M. Woodruff

1846-1848

Malcolm M. Crow

1848-1850

Hume Sturgeon 1850-1851

Peterson K. Parr

1891-1896

Harvey M. Kephart

1896-1900

Francis P. Clark

1900-1906

Augustus D. Sullivan

1906 ---

THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT.

The office of county superintendent of schools was created by the act of March 8, 1873. He has general supervision of the public schools of the county, except the city schools. It is his duty to grant teachers' licenses to applicants who successfully pass the examination required by law. The examination is public and the questions uniform throughout the state. Under the old practice of holding the examinations in private, with no precise stand- ards of tests, many abuses had grown up. It is recalled by B. F. Kennedy, a pioneer teacher, that he secured a two-year license by successfully naming

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and defining the different genders of nouns, as he and the county examiner passed from the street to the court house door.

The superintendent of schools must at the time of his election hold a thirty-six months' license, a sixty-months' license, a life license or a pro- fessional license. He must visit each school under his charge annually; he conducts county institutes, and in many school matters decides controversies between school authorities; he makes requisitions for school books and oversees their distribution. He reports the enumeration of school children to the state authorities, as well as general school statistics. He is ex-officio a member of the county board of education, consisting of the township trustees and the chairmen of the boards of trustees of town schools. Aside from the election of truant officer, the county board of education is chiefly a friendly council of school officers.

At first a two-year office, the term was extended to four years by the act of March 3, 1899, and under the act of 1913, page 160, the terms of all county superintendents is extended to August 16, 1917. The next election of such officer will be held on the first Monday in June, 1917, when an election will be made by the township trustees, the auditor having a vote in case of a tie. The reason assigned for such extension is that a previous Legislature had extended the terms of the present township trustees until January I, 1915, so as to put the election of school officers in an "off year" and escape the influence of partisan politics. And having extended the term of the trustees, it would not be advisable to at once throw the new trustees into the turmoil of an election for county superintendent. After they have served two years, they will have more experience and will have had time to learn how good an officer the present incumbent is.

The superintendent of schools is paid an annual salary in our county of $1,408.50, the equivalent of $4.50 for each working day of the year. He is required to give bond in the sum of $5,000, and is allowed office room in the court house, together with postage and office expense. The total cost of the office to the county for the year 1912 was $1,843.64.

As will be seen in another connection (see chapter on Education and Schools) the matter of public education was given little consideration until after the adoption of the new Constitution in 1851. In that year the John- son circuit court, at its March term, appointed A. B. Hunter, Duane Hicks and Samuel P. Oyler as examiners for common school teachers. Prior to that time, however, the following had served under appointment of the cir- cuit court : Fabius M. Finch, Pierson Murphy and Gilderoy Hicks in 1834;

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Hicks and John C. King in 1837; William Brand, Adam Carson and James Ritchey in 1845. In June, 1854, William H. Barnett, Jacob Peggs and J. H. Williams were appointed school examiners by the board of commissioners; Thomas W. Woollen was elected to same office in September, 1857; in 1861 and in 1865 Jolin H. Martin was elected; David D. Banta served in 1866, and William T. Stott in 1870. These are the only school examiners whose appointment I find of record, but doubtless others served.

Fortunately for our school work, the men at the head of our common school system have been, almost without exception, men of high character and scholarly attainments. The school examiners were not all educators, but nearly all were professional men of the highest standing. Among the super- intendents, Hervey D. Vories was in 1890 elected to the office of state superintendent has just completed a term of four years as a member of the superintendent of schools, and served the state acceptably. The present state board of education.

It would not be fair to say, however, that politics has played no part in selection of our school men. At the June meeting of the year 1907 the trustees attempted to elect a county superintendent, but met with difficulty by reason of the refusal of one trustee to attend and vote. Four of the trus- tees, Paskins, of Hensley, Hughes, of Nineveh, Brickert, of White River, and Haymaker, of Union, were Democrats and voted for the re-election of Hendricks. Other four of the trustees, Williams, of Clark, McCollough, of Franklin, Salisbury, of Needham, and McCartney, of Pleasant, were Re- publicans and opposed to the election of a Democrat. J. M. Carvin, Repub- lican trustee of Blue River, refused to attend any meeting. The auditor, David A. Forsythe, was a Republican, but was not able to exercise his right of casting the deciding vote, as the Democrats "filibustered" by splitting their vote.

And so the matter stood, Hendricks holding over, until after the resig- nation of John R. Brickert, trustee of White River township, on February 12, 1898. Auditor Forsythe promptly appointed John Hardin, independent Democrat, to succeed Brickert, and three days later, at a meeting of the trustees, Hardin joined with the four Republicans in the election of John W. Terman, Republican, and he was again elected at the regular June meet- ing, 1899, serving four years, the office having been changed from a two to a four-year office by the act of March 3, 1899.

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The official register is as follows :

B. F. Kennedy 1873-1875

John H. Martin 1875-1881

David A. Owen 1881-1883

M. F. Rickoff 1883-1885

Hervey D. Vories 1885-1891

Charles F. Patterson

1891-1894

Eldo L. Hendricks

1894-1898

John W. Terman

1898-1903

Jesse C. Webb

1903 -~

Charles F. Patterson was first elected to succeed Vories, resigned, on March 2, 1891. Eldo L. Hendricks was first elected to succeed Patterson, resigned, on August 30, 1894.

OTHER OFFICERS.

A short-hand reporter is appointed by the judge of the circuit court and is allowed a per diem of five dollars. Mrs. Minnie Meggenhofen Owens was court stenographer continuously from 1888 to 1909, and her record as such was marked by unusual talent and fidelity to her important task. Miss Myrtle Wiley, of Edinburg, has been the efficient reporter since 1909. Prior to 1888 W. C. Sandefur and wife served the court in the same capacity, they being the first short-hand reporters of the county.

A board of county charities and corrections and a board of childrens' guardians are appointed by the judge of the circuit court. Each serves with- out compensation. The first named have an oversight of the county insti- tutions of a charitable and correctional nature; the second, of all neglected and dependent children.

The county physician attends prisoners confined in the county jail and inmates of the county poor asylum and orphans' home. He is appointed yearly by the county board, at a salary fixed by it. The position pays one hundred and fifty dollars yearly.

Two jury commissioners are appointed annually by the judge. They receive a per diem allowance of three dollars. Together with the clerk of the circuit court, they take from the tax duplicate a list of persons qualified by law to serve as jurors and deposit the slips containing the names in the jury box.

One week before each term of court they meet and draw from the box

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the names of six persons, who are summoned as grand jurors, and other twelve who are summoned as petit jurors. Under recent provisions of the law, they are also called in to fill vacancies in the regular panel. In 1912 grand and petit jurors and bailiffs were paid out of the county funds for their services $4,928.36. This amount will henceforth be increased as the per diem allowance of jurors was by the act of 1913, page 114, increased from one dollar and twenty-five cents to two dollars and fifty cents per day.

The county attorney is not, strictly speaking, a county officer. The courts have held that the board of county commissioners have authority to employ attorneys to prosecute actions in behalf of the county and defend the same. But the office is not defined by statute, nor its duties prescribed. In some counties the county attorney is employed to advise the county officers gen- erally as to all questions affecting public interests. But in Johnson county the more correct view is taken that the board only has authority to employ attorneys to represent the county. The county attorney is required to attend sessions of the board and of the county council and to prosecute and defend all actions in which the county is a party. The first regular appointment of county attorneys of record bears date of June 16, 1869. At that time Banta & Byfield were employed at fifty dollars per year. On March 15, 1871, after Judge Banta went on the bench, Woollen & Byfield were appointed at a salary of one hundred dollars per year, with extra pay for cases in circuit court. On October 21, 1875, Judge Woollen was employed at a salary of three hundred dollars per year. Beginning at the December term, 1876, Woollen & Banta were retained as county attorneys at salaries varying from two hundred and fifty to four hundred dollars until Judge Banta's removal from Franklin in 1889. From 1889 to 1896 Judge Woollen ably represented the county as its legal adviser, receiving a salary of two hundred dollars, at which figure the salary of the office has since remained. White & White next served for a term of four years, to be followed by Deupree & Slack for a period of six years. George I. White was appointed county attorney December 5, 1906, and served three years, and was followed by Branigin & Williams for a like term. Miller & White were appointed at the January term, 1913.

No counsel for pauper criminals has been regularly employed for many years. On application to the court, such appointment is made under section 281, R. S. 1908.

The county truant officer is employed by the county board of education annually, on the first Monday in May. He is charged with the duty of

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enforcing attendance of children at school, and receives a per diem of two dollars. Last year he was paid $298.00. The office is regarded as a sinecure and in the opinion of many ought to be abolished.

The secretary of the county board of health is appointed annually by the board of commissioners. His principal duty is to keep a record of all marriages, births, deaths, and cases of contagious diseases. He enforces obedience to health laws and the regulations of the state board. The position is now filled by Dr. Oren A. Province. The salary is three hundred and fifteen dollars, and an allowance of fifteen dollars for office expenses.

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CHAPTER VI.

BENCH AND BAR OF JOHNSON COUNTY.

JUDGES OF CIRCUIT COURT.

William Watson Wick, the first judge to preside in our court, was a most distinguished jurist and politician, as a sketch of his career will prove. Born in Cannonsburg, Washington county, Pennsylvania, on February 23, 1796, he was brought by his father, a Presbyterian minister, to Ohio in 1800. He was reared on the farm, but, being a lover of books and not inclined to his father's profession, he was sent to college and, after his father's death in 1814, taught school for two years. He then went down the river to Cin- cinnati, where he taught school by day and studied medicine at night. He later turned to the study of law with the Hon. Thomas Corwin, of Lebanon, Ohio, and in December, 1819, came to Connersville, Indiana. In 1820 he served as clerk of the House of Representatives, and when a new circuit was established on December 31, 1821, Wick was elected judge thereof, and so became the first judge of the New Purchase, and early in 1822 moved to Indianapolis, his home for many years.

At that time, and until the Constitution of 1851, president judges were elected by the General Assembly, and Wick owed his elevation to this high office at the early age of twenty-five partly, no doubt, to his urbane manner and his pleasant address, although he later showed much ability as a lawyer. When he came to his new duties the circuit was composed of thirteen coun- ties, Lawrence, Monroe, Morgan, Greene, Owen, Marion, Hendricks, Rush, Decatur, Bartholomew, Shelby, Jennings and Johnson. Judge Wick opened his first session of court at Indianapolis at the house of General Carr on September 26, 1822, but it was at once adjourned to another house on the north side of Washington street, west of the canal. The second session was begun at Carr's house in May of the following year, but it was at once ad- journed to the Washington Hall Tavern.

Judge Wick came to Johnson county in the fall of 1823 and held the first court at the cabin of John Smiley on Sugar creek, on the 16th day of

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October. Smiley's cabin was a two-room log house, in one of which Judge Wick held court, and in the other the grand jury met. Mrs. Smiley lay sick in the jury room, and the story has been handed down that when Daniel : B. Wick, prosecuting attorney and brother of the judge, came into the room he pulled a bottle of whisky from his pocket, first gallantly offered it to the sick woman and then to the jurors. And the sick woman always thereafter asserted that she alone refused the treat.

At this first term one civil case was heard by the court and disposed of. The civil case was an action on account, "a plea of trespass on the case," demand seventy-seven dollars. Upon a default, judgment was entered and the defendant is brought into court by his special bail and remanded to a debtor's cell. Arrest in civil cases was a common occurrence, the plea us- ually alleging that the defendant was "contriving and fraudulently intending craftily and subtilely to deceive and defraud" the plaintiff, and imprison- ment for debt under this form of procedure was the usual fate of the un- fortunate debtor.

In this action the firm of Gregg & Wilson are noted as attorneys for the plaintiff, the first counsel at the bar of a Johnson county court. Harvey Gregg, who two years later served as circuit prosecutor, was a most enter- taining "circuit rider," and many stories are repeated of the incidents that cheered the lonely trips from court to court. Judge Franklin Hardin lived at the Bluffs of White River on the road then most in use from Franklin to Indianapolis, and he had many opportunities to associate with the bar of these earliest days. Court lasted only a few days, business was rushed through, and the judge and the lawyers went their way together to the next county seat. Frequently they traveled on horseback throughout the night, beguiling the time with speeches on law, on politics or religion. Of Harvey Gregg. Judge Hardin related that his favorite effort at entertainment was an orthodox Calvinistic sermon. Gregg was a Kentuckian and had studied for the ministry under the Rev. Archibald Cameron. He was able not only to set forth the particular tenets of the various sharply defined creeds of the day, but he was skillful in imitating the pulpit methods of the pioneer preach- ers. He could caricature the more dignified address of the Scotch Cove- nanters, the unlettered sermonizing of the backwoods Baptists, and the vehe- ment appeal of the Methodists. One of the sermons of his old instructor upon the text "Therefore being justified by faith," he had memorized, and could repeat it from the first to the sixteenth head of the discourse with all the unction and fervor of the old-fashioned Presbyterian preacher.

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History of Johnson County, Indiana, Part 11

Author: Branigin, Elba L., 1870- Publication date: 1972 Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen, [Evansville, Ind.], [Unigraphic, Inc.] Number of Pages: 981

Author: Branigin, Elba L., 1870-
Publication date: 1972
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen, [Evansville, Ind.], [Unigraphic, Inc.]
Number of Pages: 981