USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > History of La Porte County, Indiana > Part 35
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In concluding this chapter on the archaeology of the county, and the history which these remains suggest, the following is extracted from the American Cyclopedia, from which the greater portion of the facts given above are compiled :
" The facts connected with the monuments of the Mississippi valley indicate that the ancient population was numerous and widely spread, as shown from the number and magnitude of their works, and the extensive range of their occurrence; that it was essentially homogeneous in customs, habits, religion, and govern- ment, as appears from the great uniformity which the works display, not only in respect to position and form, but in all minor particu- lars; and that the features common to all the remains identify them as appertaining to a single grand system, owing its origin to a family of men moving in the same general direction, acting under common impulses, and influenced by similar causes. Whatever differences the monuments display are such as might result from the progressive efforts of a people in a state of development, or from the weaker efforts of colonies, or what might be called provin- cial communities. It is impossible that a population for whose
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protection such extensive military works were necessary, and which were able to defend them, should not have been eminently agricul- tural; and such monuments as the mounds at Grave creek and Cahokia [and near Delphi, on the Wabash river .- AUTHOR. ] indicate not only a dense agricultural population, but a state of society essentially different from that of the existing race of Indians north of the tropic. There is not, and there was not at the period of the discovery. a single tribe of Indians, north of the semi-civilized nations of Mexico and Central America, which had the means of subsistence to enable them to supply for such purposes the unpro- ductive labor necessary for the work; nor were they in such social state as to compel the labor of the people to be thus applied.
" As regards the antiquity of these monuments, apart from such facts as a total absence of any reasonable tradition as to their origin among the Indians themselves, and the existence of the largest and most ancient forest trees on the embankments and in the ditches of the various works, there are other facts which enable us to arrive at approximate conclusions upon this point.
" None of these works occur on the lowest formed of the river terraces which mark the subsidence of the Western streams; and as there is no good reason why their builders should have avoided erecting them on that terrace, while they raised them promiscuously upon all the others, it seems to follow that this terrace has been formed since these works were erected; a conclusion supported by th e important fact that some of them have been destroyed by streams which have since receded for half a mile and upward, and which under no present possible rise, from rains or other natural causes, could reach the works again. Upon these premises, the time since the streams have flowed in their present courses may be divided into four periods, corresponding to the four terraces which mark the eras of their subsidence, of which period the last and long- est (since the excavating power of the streams diminishes as the square of their depth increases) has elapsed since the race of the mounds flourished.
" Another fact bearing upon the question of the age of these works is the extremely decayed condition of the human remains found in the mounds. Considering that the earth around the skeletons is for the most part wonderfully compact and dry, and that the condi- tions for their preservation are exceedingly favorable, while they are in fact in the last stage of decomposition, we may form some approximate estimate of their remote antiquity. In the barrows of the ancient Britons, in a moist climate and under unfavorable condi- tions as regards preservation, entire and well-preserved skeletons are often found possessing an undoubted antiquity of at the least 1,800 years.
" From these and other facts and circumstances equally conclusive, we may deduce an age for most of the monuments of the Mississippi valley of not less than 2,000 years.
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
"By whom built, and whether their authors migrated to remote lands under the combined attractions of a more fertile soil and more genial climate, or whether they disappeared beneath the victorious arms of an alien race, or were swept out of existence by some direful epidemic or universal famine, are questions probably beyond the power of human investigation to answer." [American Cyclopedia, in loco.]
While, from the facts and circumstances presented in the fore- going, it may not be determined beyond a doubt who the race was that toiled at these works, nor the time when these piles were made to appear above the surface to mark the patience and ambition of their builders, yet it is most patent that La Porte county, in common with all this country, has a history which cannot be written only by spelling out the dimly written lines engraved upon the surface, to the close of which paragraphs these " Indian Mounds " serve as the periods.
STANDING BY THE MOUNDS.
These little earth mounds may be passed and repassed by the multitude and no notice be taken of them,-no whisperings of their voices be heard as they tell the story of their builders and reveal the existence of these extinct nations; but, in the light which a comprehensive view of the entire range of these works will give, the little earth elevations may be approached, and instantly a hundred voices, which had hitherto been inaudible, begin to whisper a wonderful revelation. Standing by one of these little earth piles, and catching the voice of its words, within the easy reach of the imagination may be seen the thronging population of these same prairies, which now yield sustenance to another and dominant race, in the unknown centuries of the past. If the data of the author in the Cyclopedia are correct, and his conclusion right as to the time of these " mound builders," then may be seen, at the time when Moses was liberating an enslaved people and leading them out under the most wonderful manifestations of heaven in their behalf, a busy throng in these western worlds; when the Egyptians were rearing their immortal pyramids, this people were building like immortal piles; when the sculptors of Egypt were carving Cleopatra's Needle, a monolith recently transported from that land of historic wonders to this land of historic mysteries, the sculptors of Honduras were chiseling away at the monoliths at Copan and Palenque; when the Hebrews were building, with the aid of King Hiram, the temple on Mount Zion, "the glory of all lands," busy hands in this western world were rearing the wonder- ful monuments of Tiahuanaco on the shore of Lake Titicaca; when Xerxes and Darius sat on the thrones of Media and Persia, the predecessors of the Incas reigned in Peru; when Romulus and Remus were feeding on the lupine nurse and laying the founda- tions of imperial Rome, the foundations of society in the hither
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world were crumbling and ready for the fall; when Greece was in the glory of its exaltation and its army led by the world's conqueror, the people of Door and Rolling prairies, etc., were wrapping the robes of disruption and death about them and sinking into the silence of earth with no voice to tell of them only such as arise in almost inaudible tones from these " mounds " which they built. Down into the mysteries of night they went. Sic volvere parcæ.
The first inhabitants of the county, then, were a people which was the outskirt of a powerful race whose center of power and in- fluence was in the countries farther to the south, and their history is its history.
Standing by them, these "mounds" speak with a thousand tongues.
CHAPTER V. EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
THE FLOOD OF EMPIRE TAKING ITS WESTWARD WAY.
The suggestions of the archaeological remains in the county are that once a people was born, grew to its manhood, worked its period of manhood away, declined into its senility, and wrapping the robes of old age about it lay down to sleep,-all in this very country where another race and another civilization are to be found, whose history we are to trace.
From the period of the " mound builders " until a recent date, this land is covered with dimness and darkness,-scarcely a ray can penetrate its imperturbable shades. We do know that it was inhabited for an indefinite time by another race, that side by side with nature relapsed into wildness,-wild vegetation and wild beasts,-stood a race of wild men. "untamed sons of the forest;"' and that, somehow, they lived in this waste of wildness; but further than this we know but little. It may be supposed that for long periods this state of affairs maintained, and that the even tenor of things prevailed except as it was disturbed by the little internal dissensions which arose among themselves, and one chief smote a fellow chief and carried his scalp away in triumph. Even with the most efficient help from the imagination we cannot tell to what extent the rumbling of the ponderous buffalo-herd, the howl of the yelping wolf-pack, and the whoop of the war-painted savage were intermingled. But whatever it might have been, and whatever might have been the circumstances of these dumb ages, these things were not to maintain forever. One day was born from the ocean a form to these unknown before. Its body rested on the water and its wings were already plumed for flight. What was the surprise when they saw issuing from it another race of men? Others like it were born in quick succession, and the new race multiplied rapidly. The stream poured in steadily until a great tidal wave was heaped up along the eastern shore of the land, and westward it began to move,-slow at first but irresistible, -- and these aboriginal tribes were swept farther and farther back. The foot-hills of the Alleghanies were reached, and up their sides it pushed its onward flow. It leaped the Alleghany summits, and pushed down the hither slopes the drift-wood of these races. On and on it came, and back and back they went. It rushed headlong over the tim- ber lands and prairies of Ohio and Indiana, leaving scarcely a . vestige of their former inhabitancy. The first rippling streams of this tidal wave reached La Porte county in March, 1829.
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
THE YEAR 1829.
The initial settlement of the county was made a short distance northwest from where Westville now stands on the 15th day of March, 1829. This settlement was made by the widow of Stephen S. Benedict, Mrs. Miriam Benedict, and her family, consisting of six sons and one daughter. They were also accompanied by Henly Clyburn, who had married the daughter, Sarah Benedict. Here they erected their pioneer house and made them a pioneer home. A few years ago the place where this house was erected was honored and made memorable by raising a pole upon it, thus calling the attention of the passer-by that here was the place of beginning for the development of La Porte county. The Benedict family was alone except such company as they could secure from the Indians, and it does not appear that they were particularly anxious for their company to any very great extent. In the humble home thus made in this new country, on July 16, 1829, Elizabeth Miriam Clyburn was born to Henly and Sarah Clyburn, the first white child born in the county.
The Benedict family were preceded by a day by Samuel Johnson and William Eahart who came from Berrien county, Michigan, to assist them in erecting a log cabin in which to live. They were all well pleased with the country. After erecting the house, to do which they had come, they built two others, and returning to their homes they came with their families and increased the little settlement by that much, during the month of April. With them came also Jacob Inglewright, who made a claim in section 22.
Leaving this little settlement, on the 6th of July, another one was made some seven or eight miles away, in what is now Scipio township, by Adam Keith and his family, and Lewis Shirley and his mother. And here, in October. 1829, Keith Shirley was born, probably the second white child born in the county. Elizabeth Miriam Clyburn and Keith Shirley had their baby cries about the same time, and though they were neighbors yet they did not dis- turb each other much with their eries. Here is the nucleus for another settlement, and we leave them for awhile to go over into the northeast part of the county to find another.
Sometime during this year, a Welshman by the name of Joseph W. Lykins, connected with the "Cary Mission," whose headquar- ters were then at Niles in Michigan, established a mission among the Indians on the bank of the Du Chemin lake, now in Hudson township, and lived with a man named Joseph Bay, who had an Indian squaw for his wife. Here, through the exertions of Mr. Lykins, at least through his oversight, a branch mission-house, of hewed logs was built. This, together with the house in which the Bay family lived, constituted this settlement until it was joined in the fall by Asa M. Warren and his family, coming from Ohio.
In this connection it will not be improper to call attention to the beautiful lake upon which this settlement was made, a sheet of pure
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
and clear waters, abounding with fish of the finest quality, whose shores sparkle with the glittering white sand with which they are covered, and which are fringed with luxuriant vegetation, and shaded by the great forests by which it is surrounded,-Du Chemin, or Hudson lake. This body of water is about two miles in length, with an average breadth of half a mile. Here on the banks of this lake and .in the depths of these forests, this branch of the Cary Mission was established, in point of time almost synchronous with that of the first at Westville, and in the order of their settlement not lower than the third, if indeed it could not claim the second place.
During this year, the tide of westward-trending empire left these three whirling eddies in the county which finally settled down into permanent settlements.
THE YEAR 1830.
Settlements now begin to spring np rapidly. In February, 1830, a company from Union county, in Indiana, consisting of Richard Harris, Philip Fail, Aaron Stanton and Benajah Stanton, together with two hired men brought with Aaron Stanton, reached the county and began a settlement along what is now the line between Centre and Kankakee townships, something near mid-way between the settlements made last year in Scipio and Hudson townships. They built a cabin in which they all lived together, and when the spring came, the unturned prairie sod yielded to the plow in their hands and the hitherto unseen sight, that of a growing crop, was to be seen. The green leaves of the growing corn, bathed in the sunlight, waved to the breezes in lonesome silence. Things maintained the condition as stated until after harvest, harvest in other sections of the country, of course, when Aaron Stanton returned to his former home and brought his family, thus adding to the settlement. In the fall, Philip Fail, who had his wife with him, built a cabin not far away, but in the present Kankakee township, thus widening the limits of the little settlement. To him and his wife was born in October (30th) a son, the well-known Benajah S. Fail, who is said by some to have been the first white male child born in the county; but in accordance with the dates which we have, we have given that honor to Keith Shirley. Sometime during the fall the settle- ment was strengthened by the addition of William Clark (who did not, however, bring his family until the next year) and Adam .Smith.
During this year another settlement was begun in the present township of Wills at what is now known as "Boot Jack." This settlement was made by John Wills and his sons, Charles Wills, Daniel Wills, and John E. Wills. This was, perhaps, some four or five miles from the settlement on Dn Chemin lake; they might have been, for all that appears, regarded as neighbors. This settle- ment was further increased and strengthened during the year by
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
the arrival and settlement of John S. Garrontte, Joseph Lykins, Andrew Shaw and John Sissany.
The New Durham settlement was considerably strengthened during the year by arrivals of settlers, among whom was William Garwood, who entered a half section of land in section 14, near the locality now known as New Durham. There was a large number of Ottawa and Pottawatomie Indians encamped within the limits of this settlement at this time, but they gave the settlers no disturb- ance. Indeed, they seem to have been a help to them. They bought what surplus crops the settlers had to sell, paying for them in furs, etc., which again were sold by them to the agents of the American Fur company for money. This money they applied on payments for their land, which payments would have been hard for them to make had they had no such market for their surplus crops. Already prosperity seems to have set in.
The settlement in Scipio township received some additions this year. First among them was a man and his son, a boy of some 18 or 19 years of age, named Welsh, who settled at Door Village. How- ever, they did not remain very long, although they built a cabin and started into business. They left and went to Chicago. The occasion of their going was a little temperance crusade by a party of young Indians, which is more fully detailed elsewhere, at which they became very much disgusted. In addition to these, William Adams, Joseph Osborne, and Daniel Jessup became residents in the settlement. The old enemy of men still followed and hunted ont these settlers. Mrs. Elizabeth Keith, wife of Adam Keith, died on the 30th of May, this year,-the first death in the settle- ment.
The settlement at Lake Du Chemin also gathered to itself addi- tional strength during this year; among the arrivals and settlers were Nathan Haines and his family. As stated elsewhere, the Cary Mission, a Roman Catholic enterprise, had established a branch mission at this place among the Indians. This year we find this mission school taught by an Indian named Robert Sim- merwell, assisted by his wife, a white woman. At this school, white and Indian children came together. Mr. Haines, unable to do better, sent his older children to it. Some of the Indians at this place, under the training and influence of this mission and school, no doubt, became most devont Catholics.
During the present year, the first houses were built upon the site of the city of La Porte by Richard Harris, (already mentioned as coming to the county with the Stantons, et al.) and George Thomas. Mr. Thomas' cabin stood near where the railroad depot now stands. Colonel William A. Place, who was on a preliminary visit to the county, assisted in building the cabin; and Wilson Malone claimed that he was the first white man to sleep in the city of La Porte, if this feeble beginning can be called the city of La Porte, having used the house of Mr. Thomas for that purpose before it was occupied by the family of Mr. Thomas.
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
The population of the county was further increased this year by the birth of William Steele, who has more latterly been a citizen of Clinton township.
THE YEAR 1831.
The year 1831 witnessed quite a material advance in the settle- ments already begun, as well as the beginning of new ones. In the spring of this year, a settlement was made at the place where the village of Rolling Prairie is now situated, or as it was formerly called, Portland. This settlement was made on the 25th day of May by a party who emigrated from the vicinity of Lafayette, Indiana, consisting of the families of David Stoner, Arthur Irving, Jesse West, and Ezekiel Provolt, and also another man named Willets. It was not very long until the families of Provolt, West, and Irving had cabins which served them as homes. These were all in the vicinity of each other.
During the year this settlement, though they were considerably scattered over the country, received additional settlers. Among these were Daniel Murray, James Hiley, Jacob Miller, John Gar- rett, Chapel W. Brown, and Emery Brown, together with the families of Harvey, Salisbury, and Whitehead, and James Drum- mond, Benjamin DeWitt, Dr. B. C. Bowell. J. Austin, Ludlow Bell and George W. Barnes. Later in the fall came also Myron Ives. These arrivals gave the Rolling Prairie settlement quite a start. It soon wrought visible changes in the condition of the country.
It was during this year that James Webster, and his son-in-law, James Highley, came from Virginia and settled in the northeast corner of the present Pleasant township. This township is said to have been, prior to this settlement and that which follows, one of the most beautiful, attractive, flower-clad, and grove-embellished portions of the county, and this with its sparkling little lakes and flowing streams, and gently undulating surface combined to make it a spot of unsurpassed loveliness and beauty. This beginning of settlement, as we shall see, was soon followed up and its rich acres were made subservient to the wants of the pioneers who came to make a home within it.
By the close observer, it will have been noticed that the settle- ments which have now been begun have all nearly corresponded with the crest of that swell of elevation, already noticed in giving the geography of the county, which sweeps across in a somewhat irregular way from east to west. From that on the shore of Lake Du Chemin to that of the Benedict neighborhood, they are all nearly in line. The settlement of Webster and Highley was a little departure from this; and now we go to another on the other side of the crest.
This was a settlement which was made where is now the little village of Springfield, in Springfield township. It was made in
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
this year by Judah Leaming. Before the close of the year he was joined by Abram Cormack and Daniel Griffin. This village settle- ment formed the nucleus for one more settlement in the county, and impresses one with the thought how rapidly and widely that tide of Western-bound empire is sweeping over these lands.
Crossing the crest again, we find another settlement established near the present location of Union Mills. This was made in the fall of this year by Horace Markham and Lane Markham, both locating in section eight. To the stream which runs near by, their name was given; but it has since been called Mill creek. Traces of these families have been lost.
Now moving to the east, we shall find a prairie which is called Stillwell prairie, which was so-called from the first settler of it, Mr. Thomas Stillwell, who built a log cabin near where Mr. D. H. Norton has more recently dwelt. He was a man who was some- what averse to white society, loving that of the Indian better; and he kept along the border in such a way as to avoid the one if he did not have the other. At least, in the location which he chose this time, he was not disturbed with immediate neighbors for two or three years; yet he formed the nucleus for a subsequent prosper- ons settlement.
During the year, the settlements already formed were measur- ably strengthened and increased. Their accretions were from various directions. In this year, also among others who settled in the New Durham neighborhood, was Mr. Alden Tucker, who settled so as to form a kind of connecting link between that neighbor- hood and the settlements which had been made in Scipio township; he settled on section 13. It was also during this year that the Hon. Charles W. Cathcart united his interests with the county, settling in the neighborhood of the Benedict settlement. Of Mr. Cathcart, it may be said that he has long been a distinguished citizen of the county, and has always taken a prominent and leading part in public affairs. He has received numerous honors at the hands of his fellow-citizens,-twice representing the district in Congress.
Among others who may be said to belong to the " Boot Jack" settlement, though they were more or less scattered over the country, who settled this year may be mentioned the following: James Wills, Dr. Chapman, David Stoner, and Matthias Dawson.
While the various parts of the county were thus receiving their accretions, the central part was gathering up, too. It is impossible to keep the trace of all who came to these settlements, but among those who had found a residence in the settlement which was made along the line between Centre and Kankakee townships and which reached down to the place where La Porte is now situated, we find the following: The Blake, Landon, Ball, and Wheeler families; Joseph Pagin, who built a house on the east side of Clear Lake; Wil- son Malone, William Bond, Jesse Bond, and John Garwood; John B. Fravel, Charles Fravel, William Stanton and family, and Alfred Stanton. At the "land sales" at Logansport in October of this
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