USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > History of La Porte County, Indiana, and its townships, towns and cities > Part 5
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Some of the leading citizens in point of the number of years they have lived in the township, are James Forrester, and Samuel Harvey, who have been members of the State Legislature, as was also Jacob R. Hall, in 1855; Wm. A. Banks, Joseph Mclellan, Alexander and Henry P. Crane, Daniel Kimball, D. P. Shoemaker, John W. Andrew, S. K. Pottinger, W. B. Hammond, Alexander Van Pelt, Chas. Knott, A. C. Hall, C. Simmons, Andrew McLel- lan, C. N. Evans, and A. J. Rogers.
These represent but a few of the present population which com- prises an intelligent and enterprising people. Occupying as they do one of the richest portions of land in the county, the whole of it convenient to a market at LaPorte, they are a highly favored com- munity, and will no doubt continue to improve in wealth, intelli- gence, enterprise, and all the comforts, and even luxuries of civilized fiel.
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
CHAPTER IV.
NEW DURHAM TOWNSHIP.
New Durham township is one of the original three which formed the county when organized, and it then embraced all of range four, ' within the limits of LaPorte county. Since then its territory has been diminished to form Coolspring and Michigan on the north, and Clinton, Cass and Dewey on the south. It now occupies con- gressional township thirty-six, the civil township being commensu- rate with the congressional, that is, exactly six miles square. This township was named by Miriam Benedict, mother of Levi J. Bene- dict, who chose for it the name of the place of her nativity, Dur- ham, Greene county, New York. The first settlers were the Bene- dict family ; Henly Clyburn, who had married Sarah Benedict in Illinois, and Thomas Clyburn. This was the first white family that settled in the county. It is possible that there may have been trappers, hunters or traders before them, but they were not settlers, and removed as soon as game became scarce, and the land was cleared up. None of these had their families with them, or if so, they had Indian wives, and were more nearly identified with the aborigines than the whites.
Stepen S. Benedict, together with Miriam Benedict his wife, and his children, Joseph H. Benedict, Alpha M. Benedict, Levi J. Ben- edict, John K. Benedict, Holland Benedict, James W. Benedict and Sarah Benedict, migrated from Durham, Greene county. New York, in the year 1827, and moved to Illinois. They stopped a short time at Chicago, and from thence moved to Ottowa. where Stephen S. Benedict died. In February of 1829, the family started
for Chicago. They remained there but a few days, when they re- sumed their journey in an easterly direction. and arrived in New Durham township on the fifteenth day of March 1829. accompanied by Henly Clyburn. After their long and tedious journey with an ox team. the snow being a part of the time eighteen inches deep, they encamped about sixty rods northerly of the grounds upon which the Westville railroad depot now stands.
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NEW DURHAM TOWNSHIP.
Previous to their arrival at this point the little company had managed to send word to Pokagon prairie, in Berrien county, Mich- igan, that they wanted assistance in putting up a log cabin, and in accordance with such request, Samuel Johnson and William Eahart had arrived at the designated point a day before the party encamp- ed. These men were pleased with the country, and after assisting . in the erection of a couple of cabins, went back to Michigan and returned with their families in the following April, bringing Jacob Inglewright with them, who made a claim of the farm now owned by Hon. C. W. Cathcart. In the same year Charles Whittaker and James Whittaker settled on section twenty-three. Wm. H. Shirley came the same year with his family. On the sixteenth day of July, the first white child in the county was born. It was Elizabeth Miriam Clyburn, daughter of Henly and Sarah Clyburn.
In 1830 Wm. Garwood entered three hundred and twenty acres of land on section fourteen, in the vicinity of New Durham, and moved on to it with his family. A large number of Ottowa and Pottawatomie Indians were encamped in this vicinity, but they gave the settlers very little trouble. They bought the surplus crops paying for them in furs, etc. These were converted into cash, by sale to the agents of the American Fur Company. With this money many of the early inhabitants were enabled to pay the gov- ernment for their lands, when they would have found it very diffi- cult to have done so without such a market. Only one instance is known of the Indians having committed any depredations, and that was the killing of an ox belonging to Henly Clyburn. For this he eventually received the cash, by having it stopped out of their annu- ities at Chicago, where they were paid. Some idea of the remoteness of neighbors, the scarcity of stock, and the consequent inconvenience of the loss of the ox may be formed, when it is related that Clyburn was obliged to solicit the loan of a yoke of oxen from the Carey mission, located at Niles, Michigan, in order to make up a breaking team.
Among the settlers who came to New Durham township in 1831 was Alden Tucker, who settled on section thirteen; but this was a comparatively dull year for settlement and there were not many arrivals. The year 1832 witnessed the arrival of many more. Among them were Josiah Bryant and family, Jeremialı and Jona-
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
than Sherwood, Charles Campbell, and Wilson Malone. In this year, Rev. James Armstrong, the pioneer Methodist preacher, con- ducted the first religious services in the township. It was in this year that the Black Hawk war broke out, a full account of which, as affecting La Porte county and people, is given in connection with the history of Scipio township.
The settlers had been told by the Ottawas and Pottawatomies that "as soon as the leaves on the trees became as large as a squir- rel's ear," it was the intention of the Sacs to invade the settlement and murder the inhabitants. During the month of May, rumors came from Chicago bringing tidings of the approach of their ene- mies. The settlers left their homes and retreated to Door Village, to the block house, where they stopped until all appearance of danger was passed. They then returned to their homes.
During this year the land sales occurred at LaFayette. There was no preemption law, and settlers had much difficulty with spec- ulators who over-bid them when the land was exposed at public sale. This occurred in many instances where the settlers had expended all their means in making improvements. Much of the land thus situated and located in New Durham, went as high as five or six dollars per acre.
On the first day of January 1833, Rachel B. Carter opened the first school ever taught in the township. It was in one side of a double log cabin on the farm of Wm. Eahart, on section twenty-two. She had eighteen scholars. Among them were Levi J. Benedict, Wm. Garwood, and several by the names of Morgan and Eahart. In November 1834, she married a man named Jacobus. She is still living, apparently strong and healthy, and does not appear so old as her history would seem to indicate. From her is gathered a part of the facts contained in this narrative.
When Miss Carter was teaching this school, Indians of various ages would come to the cabin, wrapped in their blankets, and stand for hours without uttering a word or making a motion, while they gazed curiously at the proceedings. Then they would glide away as noiselessly as they came. Upon one occasion, an Indian woman called "Twin Squaw," informed Rachel that the Indians intended to kill all the whites, as soon as the corn was knee high. Rachel
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NEW DURHAM TOWNSHIP.
replied that the white people were well aware of the intentions of the Indians, and taking up a handful of sand, said that soldiers were coming from the East as numerous as its grains to destroy the Indians before the corn was ankle high. The next morning there were no Indians to be found in the vicinity, and it was several months before they returned. An Indian told Rachel, at one time, that they liked a few whites with them to trade with, to act as interpreters, and that they learned many useful things of them ; but when they commenced coming, they came like the pigeons.
The aborigines had a far different idea of propriety from that which we entertain. They had a burial and dancing ground north of Petro's grove, upon what is now the land of Lucas Hixon. As late as 1835, this ground was made use of for the purposes named. During this year a specimen of Indian justice took place, which shows that they had a very clear idea of what attorneys term "exemplary damages." An Indian had chopped a tree in a pigeon roost, for the purpose of obtaining "squabs," and when it fell it killed a pony belonging to another member of the tribe. A coun- cil was called, and after a great deal of consultation, and all the forms relating to the administration of justice had been gone through with, a decision was made to the effect that the carelessness of the offender entitled the aggrieved Indian to receive two ponies in the place of the one killed. The judgment of the court was complied with. There were no writs of error, no supersedeas, or certiorari known to their code, and the same court had both original and appellate jurisdiction.
The Ottowas and Pottowatamies were anything but neat and clean in their habits, and in their culinary department they exercised but little care. James M. Ray, an old settler, relates that in 1836, there were some five hundred of them camped in and about West- ville. At one time he passed a party of them who had captured a turtle and a coon. The former was thrown alive upon a bed of coals, and held with sticks until it was dead. The latter was put into a camp kettle and cooked with very little dressing. The In- dians insisted that Ray should partake of their feast, but the cook- ing excited little appetite for him.
In the years 1834 and 1835 settlers came rapidly, and the gov-
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
ernment land was nearly or quite all purchased. In 1835, Leonard Woods, now of Michigan City, opened a store at Cathcart's grove. He sold goods on credit in small amounts, to supply the immediate wants of the settlers; and he never lost a dollar from having trusted the pioneers, though many of them were strangers to him.
In 1836 an inhabitant of New Durham named Pelton, started for the West with a considerable sum of money. Soon after start- ing he was waylaid, murdered and robbe:l. A man named Staves was arrested and tried for the crime, and being found guilty he was hung at Valparaiso, the murder having been committed in Porter county.
The growth of the township was not confined to the opening of farms, although farming was the leading industry. In 1839 Israel and James Jessup built a saw mill which was the first one erected in the township. It was near the present town of Otis. In 1844 Henry Herrold built another saw mill south of Otis. It was run by water, and the site is now owned by W. F. Cattron & Co. In 1845 Philander Barnes built a mill about a mile west of Otis. In 1852, Capt. Jo. Davis and his son, Caleb Davis, built a steam saw mill in New Durham township, a mile and a quarter north of the village of New Durham. In the year 1854 or 1855, it was sold to Wm. S. Medaris, who moved it to a point near the railroad. It now belongs to the Medaris' heirs. Other industries grew up and flourished: but they existed more especially in the villages, and will be described in the proper place. In the year 1860, a boy " named Landon was drowned in a pond near Medaris' mill, by the sinking of a canoe in which he and another boy were sailing. The place where the pond was, is now dry land. In 1867, Patrick Daily was killed by Patrick Dunn, a dispute having occurred between them. The deed was performed by Dunn having struck Daily with a wood rack stake. Dunn was indicted for murder, and tried at the April term of the circuit court of 1868. The defense set up was self-defense, and the jury rendered a verdict of " Not guilty."
Union chapel, the first place for religious worship in the township was erected in 1839, on section thirty-four. Prior to this time public religious services were held in the school houses, in private
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NEW DURHAM TOWNSHIP.
houses, and sometimes in the beautiful groves which abound in the township. In the month of May 1862, a most remarkable murder occurred in New Durham township, about a mile and three-quarters north of Westville. A man named Fred. Miller, had been missing from his home several days, and his dead body was found upon the shores of Lake Michigan. He had evidently been murdered. Mil- ler was a German, and some of his countrymen had their suspicions that his wife was a party to the deed, and they hung the woman a short time, for the purpose of extorting a confession. She told them that John Poston had committed the murder in her presence, and had promised to marry her if she would not denounce him. Poston was arrested and brought before Alfred Williams, Esq., for examin- ation on the thirty-first day of May, but the evidence of the woman was so contradictory and unsatisfactory that the magistrate felt constrained to acquit him. Poston afterwards joined the army.
Near New Durham there are two mounds, of the kind con- structed by the former inhabitants of this continent. They were formerly, within the memory of the oldest inhabitants, of the height of six feet, but from being cultivated and otherwise disturbed, are not as much elevated as formerly, though plainly ,discernible.
In the spring of 1873, Bugbee, Luff & Palmer commenced build- ing a paper mill on Reynolds' creek, three quarters of a mile west of Otis, on the L. S. & M. S. railroad. In the spring of 1874, Mr. Palmer sold out his interest to Daniel Webster, of Illinois. During the last summer, Mr. Bugbee sold out to his sister, Mrs. Owen. H. D. Luff purchased Mr. Webster's interest on the first of September. The mill is now owned by Mr. Luff and Mrs. Owen. It is doing a very fine business, making a ton of straw board each day. A little village is springing up in the vicinity, and it is pos- sible that the local historian of half a century hence, may have use for this item.
Another paper mill has also more recently been built near Otis by W. F. Cattron and others. It is situated on a branch of the Calumet, on the L. N. A. & C. railroad. The building is of brick and the machinery is propelled by both steam and water power.
In this township there are four villages, Westville, Otis, Holmes- ville and New Durham, or "Pin Hook," the oldest of which is
74
HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
NEW DURHAM.
As early as the year 1837, this place had grown to be something of a village, and a postoffice was established with Wm. Taylor as postmaster; but it was not until the 15th day of April, 1847, that a plat of the village was filed in the office of the county recorder, by Joseph Davis.
The first house built in New Durham was a log cabin erected for a store, by Leonard Woods in the year 1834. During the next year, Hiram Wheeler and Woods were in partnership in the mer- cantile business in that place. Woods sold out to William Taylor, and moved to Cathcart's grove, where he opened another store. Taylor seld out to Horner, who kept it ten years. Horner sold to Bill Jennings. In the year 1856, A. G. Standiford and D. C. Standiford bought the concern. This partnership continued about one year, and then D. C. Standiford continued the business alone about three years, after which he sold to Asahel Reynolds. Rev- nolds sold to Henry Cole, who continued in business until 1863. The store was then discontinued.
In 1837, Henry Harding opened and kept a hotel in the village, and in 1838 Wm. S. Medaris carried on a wagon manufactory, and W. B. Webber a blacksmith shop. They were run in connection with each other, and were upon the sites now occupied by Wm. Pathe and Michael Burgher, for the same purpose. In the fall of 1839, James Flood and Wm. Johnson opened a tailor shop. They succeeded David Christman.
In 1843, Richard Smith commenced the business of boot and shoe making and continued it until 1855. In 1846 Dr. A. G. Standiford commenced the practice of medicine in the town and vicinity. He was the first physician who resided there. In 1847 a church was built in New Durham by the Methodist denomination, and the first minister was Rev. J. J. Cooper. Rev. Mr. Parrott, previous to that time, had conducted religious services for the Methodists.
Archibald McAllister commenced the business of harness making in 1846, and Capt. Joseph Davis opened a store in 1847, but going the next year to California, the store was closed in 1849. About this time Daniel Pangborn commenced blacksmithing.
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NEW DURHAM TOWNSHIP.
Wm. B. Webber bought out Wm. S. Medaris' wagon shop in 1850, and carried it on four years. He at the same time bought out Amos Perrin's blacksmith shop. In the year 1852, he manu- factured one hundred and fourteen wagons and buggies, and mounted three hundred steel plows.
In 1854, a frame school house was built in New Durham, which has since been replaced by a substantial building of brick. In this year also the postoffice was removed from New Durham to Beaver Dam, and Sylvester Goff was appointed postmaster. This was an indication of the decline of New Durham, and the railroad having reached Westville, the pioneer town of the township ceased to be a place of any importance. Many of its buildings have been moved away. Some of them have gone to Westville. and some are used for farm houses. Though the town is gone, the rich lands of the prairie remain, a constant source of wealth.
During the days of her prosperity New Durham had a rival. At the crossing of the old Chicago road and plank road, at the head of Flood's grove, little more than a half mile distant, John Arm- strong opened a very good dry goods and grocery store, and Henry Herrold a blacksmith shop. For a long time there was considerable jealousy between the inhabitants of the two places. The citizens of the Flood's grove settlement gave New Durham the cognomon of "Pinhook," and the good people of the latter place retorted by naming the settlement of their neighbors. "Squatham."
Reckoning from the time when the first house was built, the next- oldest town in New Durham township is
HOLMESVILLE.
This place was laid out upon the lands of of Hiram Holmes. The plat was filed for record on the second day of October, 1855. It is described as being in the northeast corner of the southeast quarter of section four, township thirty-six, north of range four west.
In the year 1833, Jacob Bryant built a saw mill where that of Henry Larry now stands. He also built the first dwelling house, which was a frame, the boards being sawed out at the mill. The house is now occupied by John Moorman.
After this no other building was erected until after the location of the railroad in 1850. In that year Mr. Prosser built a part of
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTI.
the house now occupied as a dwelling and store by Adolph Schaffer. Prosser sold goods in the building. In 1852 an addition was made, and it was opened as a public house.
In the year 1851, John H. Armstrong bought the saw mill and other property of Jacob Bryant. Immediately afterwards he sold to Hiram Holmes. In the year 1860, Samuel S. Davis bought out Mr. Holmes.
A postoffice was established at Holmesville in 1852. kept by Prosser, but was discontinued in 1856. In 1853 a warehouse was built by the Michigan Southern railway company ; and the house now occupied by Samuel S. Davis was built by Hiram Holmes. Wm. Booth also built a house here in 1856, and Charles Moorman built another in 1857. Francis Burkhardt bought the hotel property in 1856. He died in 1869. His heirs have rented to Adolph Schaffer who carries on a store in the building.
Holmesville has become somewhat noted for accidents and cas- ualties. Two suicides have occurred here. one of a German who had boarded with Burkhardt, and the other an emigrant woman. who was on the journey to the west with her family. Four men have been killed here on the railroad, a Mr. Marshall. a Mr. Eaton, a deaf and dumb man, and a man who was drunk and had lain down upon the track in the night. In 1862 there was a collision at Holmesville between a freight and an express train, which did much damage to the trains, but killed no one, and in 1866 a train was thrown from the track by a cow. By this accident several per- sons were very seriously injured.
OTIS.
The settlement of this place was commenced in 1851, but no plat of the town was recorded until 1870, when Solomon Tucker, on the 20th day of April, of that year, acknowledged and filed a plat for record. The description says that LaCroix "is laid out in the south part of the northwest quarter of section five, township thirty- six, north of range four west, in LaPorte county, Indiana."
On the 27th day of June 1874, Mr. Tucker also filed a plat for an addition laid off "in the south part of the northwest quarter of section five, township thirty-six, north of range four west, in La- Porte county, Indiana."
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NEW DURHAM TOWNSHIP.
Otis was first known as Salem Crossing. This name was given to it by the Michigan Southern railroad, and when the postoffice was established, and Matthias Seberger appointed postmaster, that name was adopted by the department at Washington. The Louisville, New Albany & Chicago railroad, however, insisted upon calling it LaCroix, and when Solomon Tucker laid out and platted the town upon this land, he availed himself of the proprietor's right to give it a name, and upon our county books it is only known as La Croix. Having two names, some of the inhabitants thought it best, as a sort of compromise, to give it a third, which should supplant the other two, and suggested the name of the representative in congress from this district, and for a time it was called Packard. Upon the rec- ommendation of that gentleman, however, in 1872, the name of the office was changed to Otis. Matthias Seberger was the first settler in Otis, arriving there in 1851. In the year 1853, the Michigan Southern, and Louisville, New Albany and Chicago railroads were completed, and he acted as agent for both of them. In 1854 Geo. R. Selkirk opened a grocery store, and in the same year B. Parker and Isaac Weston erected a hotel which was kept by Parker. Henry Wing bought it in 1857, and kept it until 1865. This covered the period of the war when the patronage of the hotel was the greatest. In those days, soldiers and others going southward from northeastern Indiana were obliged to go to Salem Crossing, and thence southward over the L. N. A. & C. line. This kept the hotel well filled most of the time.
Solomon Colby opened a blacksmith shop in 1858, and in 1859 F. Harriman established a meat market. Matthias Seberger opened the first general store in the same year.
In 1861, a saloon was built and kept by Jasper Fleming, not, however for the sale of intoxicating liquors. In 1867 Seberger & Wing engaged in the business of merchandising in partnership. A wagon and blacksmith shop was established in 1870; and Dr. Clark R. Warren commenced the practice of medicine, being the first resident physician.
The Methodist Episcopal church had the first regular preaching in 1870, and in 1872 a Roman Catholic church was built by the Polanders who are settled in the neighborhood.
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
The business of the village of Otis consists of two blacksmith shops; one carpenter; one depot agent; two druggists; three gen- eral stores, dry goods, groceries, crockery, etc .; one hotel; one market; two physicians; two shoemakers; one tailor; one tele- graph operator; one undertaker, and one wagon maker.
WESTVILLE.
Westville is the most important town in New Durham township, being a place of considerable business, and a heavy grain market. The original town of Westville was located on the northwest quarter of section twenty-nine, in township thirty-six, range four west, by W. and J. A. Cattron, and the town plat was recorded on the first day of May, 1851. Afterwards an amended plat was filed by which seven lots were added to the original plot. On the eighth day of July, 1863, Henly Clyburn filed for record an addition embracing forty-five lots. James Concannon filed a plat for an addition embracing one hundred lots, on the twenty-first day of June, 1865. Smith's addition of ten lots, was made on the fifth day of June. 1858, and Clyburn's second addition, embracing twenty-two lots on the fifteenth day of June, 1858. Ray's addition consisting of eleven lots was recorded February 10, 1868.
Westville is favorably located on the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago railroad; and has had a steady growth from the time of the completion of the railroad.
The first permanent residence on the present site of Westville was a frame house, built by Henly Clyburn in 1836, James M. Ray doing the carpenter work; and the first store was one kept by John and William Cattron. at a part of the town known as the "Four Corners." It was opened in 1848: and in 1849, D. M. Closser opened a dry goods and grocery store. In 1850 Jesse McCord commenced the business of blacksmithing. Bell Jennings opened a general store in 1851. In this year, there were two num- bers of a paper called the Westville Free Press issued. L. P. Williams was the editor. He afterwards went to Nashville, where he edited an agricultural paper, until near the beginning of the war, when returning to the North, he entered the Union army, and attained the rank of Major. He now resides in Washington, D. C.
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