USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > History of La Porte County, Indiana > Part 36
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
year 400 acres were bought by a company, consisting of John Walker, Abram P. Andrew, Jr., James Andrew, Hiram Todd, and Walter Wilson, on which it was proposed to lay out a town which should become the county-seat. In addition to this, the Andrews bought other lands in the immediate vicinity, and thus laid the foundation for a handsome competence.
All along the line of these settlements there has been an increase of numbers and strength during the year.
THE YEAR 1832.
The year 1832 opened up with quite a change having been made in the condition of the country since the Benedict family had driven their stake as pioneers. The rich prairies were being made to yield abundant supplies for all necessary demands, improvements were being made in almost every direction, though rude and primitive as compared with the improvements of to-day, perhaps, but which served to accomplish the purpose designed,-to give a home to those who had sought one in the uninhabited border.
It is this year that we have the first intimations of the now pros- perous city of Michigan City. The lands on which the city now is situated were purchased of the Government by Major Isaac C. Elston, of Crawfordsville, at the " land sales " of last year; and in October of this year he laid out the town. The sight was anything but that which would tempt settlers to it, and if settlements were to always be made because of beauty of landscape, Michigan City would have been blessed with but few; for the site was forbidding, much of it being low and swampy, and other parts excessively sandy. But the after results have shown the wise judgment of Major Elston. He believed that at this point a harbor could be made. His pene- tration, as he looked at Tail creek making its way slowly over the sands to the lake winding its way around the foot of Hoosier Slide in a deep, sluggish stream, though obstructed at its month by a bar of sand to such an extent that a person could easily pass over it on foot, so little water passed over it, enabled him to appreciate its value, and hence his purchase. It will, no doubt, in the future fill his most extravagant expectation, taking the advancement which has already been made as a criterion by which to judge. However, all that we find of Michigan City this year is the plat as surveyed by its proprietor.
Now, leaving this locality, uninviting so far as its landscape appearance is concerned, and taking a course southward along the line on which the Lonisville, New Albany & Chicago railroad is now located, and continuing until we come to Clinton township, we shall find that the settlement of New Durham township is still widening and increasing. We shall here find Isham Campbell set- tled on the west side of Hog creek, the original pioneer of Clinton township, but quickly followed, that is to say, in the fall of this year, by Andrew Richardson and Edmund Richardson, who settled on section 9.
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
The purposes of business, travel and inter-communication were to be subserved; and hence we find this year Mr. John Dunn build- ing a bridge across the Kankakee river, and thus becoming the first settler of Lincoln township, or at least that which is such now.
Many arrivals this year swelled the settlement in New Durham township very greatly,- it is now assuming almost the proportions of a community. Josiah Bryant and family, Jeremiah Sherwood and Jonathan Sherwood, Wilson Malone and George Campbell, and many others found a home in its midst. The pioneer preacher is beginning to seek these communities, and here the Methodist pioneer preacher of the county, Rev. James Armstrong, held the first religious services for this people during this year.
The settlement in Scipio township was swelled this year by the following at least: Mr. Melville, John Broadhead, Elijah Brown, and Peter White. And to link these two settlements together, Mr. A. M. Jessup settles rather between them. Others thus settled, so that by this time these communities are beginning to merge into one.
The unequaled beauty of Pleasant township this year began to attract the immigrants, and in it settled Silas Hale and Oliver Clos- son, settling in section 22, thus becoming the neighbors of Messrs. Webster and Highley who have already found a location in it, being only about three or four miles away.
And over in Springfield settlement settlers are coming this year so that they too are beginning to put on airs. They build a school house and put Miss Emily Leaming into it to teach school. Messrs. Rose and Griffith hold Methodist religious services, and likewise Mr. Marks holds Baptist services, for these Springfield pioneers.
The community is increased during the year by John Brown, Erastus Quivey, Charles Vail, John Hazleton, Joseph Pagin and his sons, et al., becoming settlers.
And over in Noble township, Joseph Wheaton became a resident, and began to raise the ambition of the little community by laying out the town of Union Mills (however, the plat of the village was not put on record until December 7, 1849). Bird McLane and John McLane bought land in the township during this year, and prepared to settle in it.
In the spring of this year the number of settlers in Kankakee township was swelled by the families of Solomon Aldrich, Charles Ives, and Alexander Blackburn, and during the year by many others. It seems that all these communities are taken with the notion at about the same time of building school-houses, holding religions services, etc. In this community Rev. James Crawford held Presbyterian religious services at the house of Alexander Blackburn, during this year.
And while these things were going on in these other parts of the county, Brainard Goff and Charles Fravel, et al., are settling in and around the prospective county seat. Colonel W. A. Place brought his family and settled in October of this year, though he made a prospective visit last year.
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
Prosperity seems to have set in. At least we have seen settle- ment after settlement spring np in various parts of the county, and they have all strengthened and increased. This is the first year that the county has had the American privilege of voting for the country's Chief Magistrate. It seems that these pioneers appreci- ated this privilege or esteemed it a duty, for at the election in November, 115 of them expressed themselves on the Chief Magistrate question at the ballot-box. We have mentioned this fact that we might the more effectnally note that other fact, the rapid growth of the county. Though we have been mentioning a few of these early settlers, it will appear from this that we have not been able to gather anything like a complete list of them. Remember that the county is at this time only about three and a half years old from the time the first log-cabin was built, and the magnitude of this growth will appear. This population was not gathered together at any center, but was distributed, as we have noted, at various parts of the county. Only three families were now living where the future beautiful city of La Porte was to be: the families of George Thomas, Richard Harris, and Wilson Malone.
THE YEAR 1833.
The Board of County Commissioners was organized on the 28th of May, 1832-last year. This board consisted of Chapel W. Brown, Elijah H. Brown and Isaac Morgan.
The year 1833 opened up with new interests. The county had been filling up so rapidly that by this time it became apparent that it stood in need of the necessities of a civilized community. Good roads are not only concomitants of civilization, but they are necessities belonging to it; aye, they promote it. This the pioneers early saw. Hence they called upon their Board of Commissioners to make all needful arrangements for them; and they did. It was apparent to them, as well as to the citizens, that their own interest demanded means of easy access to all parts of the county and to adjoining, and even to the more distant, counties. Among their first acts was the establishment of connty roads, at the request of the inhabitants. They did not hesitate to expend money on a road leading from Michigan City into Marshall county, nor to authorize Matthias Redding to keep a ferry across the Kankakee river on the line of this road. The result of this policy was that the trade of the southern counties, as far south as Lafayette, Monticello and Logansport, was attracted to Michigan City for a market; and this had a direct influence upon the prosperity of the connty in attracting both wealth and citizens.
Time makes some changes. In the matter of business, changes have been brought about since the days of which we write and now. It would seem odd to our present dealers in common merchandise, if it did not really disgust them, to have to pay a license to do any
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
kind of business; but the business men of those times were required to do so. Witness the following: At the September term of the Commissioners' Court in 1833, the Board ordered that license be issued to Thomas M. Morrison to " vend merchandise in La Porte county" for $15.00; also that license be issued to Messrs. J. F. & W. Allison to sell merchandise, and to "keep a tavern in the town of La Porte," for $15.00; also that license be issued to Elijah Casteel to " vend groceries in the town of Michigan City" for $10.00; also that license be issued to William Clements to " vend merchandise in the town of La Porte" for $10.00. This is enough to show how these county fathers were looking after the interests of the county, and how business was made to tally "ducats" for the county treasury.
This year sees the settlements widen more and more. A new settlement is begun in what is now Galena township. A man named George W. Barnes, originally from Maine, but more recently from the city of Cleveland, in Ohio, came into the county and selected his land and went to work with great energy. He is said to have been a man of indomitable will and great strength, which well fitted him for his pioneer work. He died without descendants, many years ago.
In the same locality with Mr. Barnes during this year Whitman Goit, John Talbott, Sylvanus James, Shubal Smith, and Richard Miller, having selected their claims, settled and began to make improvements. When these men went into this locality they found an almost unbroken forest, but soil loamy, warm, and rich,-pro- dueing well. It is said that some of the best timber in the county can still be found in this region where these men found their homes.
Again we find the New Durham community attracting to itself a large immigration, and among which came the following, who eame directly to the settlement or were attracted to the locality afterward, but were settled in the county this year: Henry Cath- cart, W. F. Catron, Eliza Cole, John Warnoch, John P. Noble, and J. R. Reed.
And the closely-allied settlement in Scipio township receives a large immigration, among whom may be mentioned Elmore Pattee, and Jacob R. Hall, who was a former resident of Cass county. General Joseph Orr had also become a resident, however, buying land along the line of the present townships of Seipio and Centre. This community, like the rest, did not forget the higher interests of it. This year the Methodists built a frame church at Door Village; Rev. James Armstrong did the preaching for them. He also preached in different houses in the community. So also did Samuel Holmes and Dr. St. Claire, two earnest ministers of the Christian church.
The community at Lake Du Chemin still increased. Among the settlers there during this year we find Mr. Fleming Reynolds. And the little town of Hudson on the lake, the nucleus of this
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
community, is beginning to develop and to reach out after business. It becomes the rival of La Porte. This year a school-house is built, the first one built except the mission school-house which has already been mentioned, and a man named Edwards is set to teach the school. Many business enterprises are set on foot; Charles Egbert opens a creditable store, John D. Ross begins blacksmithing, as also a Mr. Jewett; Samuel Elliott starts a coopering establish- ment, and James F. Smith keeps a hotel.
Over in Wills township the following names were added to the list of settlers; Joseph Starrett bought an " Indian float " and set- tled upon it; Jesse Willett, Jesse West, Nimrod West, Jacob Gallion and J. Clark.
The settlement in Pleasant township is also extending, and during this year John Wilson, from Ohio, Asa Owen and Andrew Harvey, and Benjamin Butterworth, who settled near by, were made a part of the rapidly consolidating community of the county.
Crossing again to the Springfield neighborhood, it is still found busy and active. The village is surveyed on the lands of Judah Leaming by Daniel Leaming, and the accessions to the community were Erastus Quivey, who built a mill, Hiram Griffith, John Griffith, Gilbert Rose, et al.
During this year, a new settlement was begun in what is now Cool Spring township, or rather it was the advance of the older settlements into new territory; and not only one but more settle- ments were inaugurated in this part of the county during this year. Nathan Johnson established a settlement at the little place known as Waterford; John Luther another some three or four miles south and west from him; while Arba Heald, a former resident and first settler of Scipo township, penetrated this part of the county and settled south and east from Luther's cabin. He was also followed by John Beaty, who established himself at what is called Beaty's Corners. These settlers, while they were several miles apart, may be said to constitute one neighborhood.
Passing again to the other side of the New Durham settlement, into the present Clinton township, we shall find that the settlement is extending in that direction. During the year Stephen Jones, a Methodist preacher, Nathaniel Steel, William Niles, John Osborn, Lemuel Maulsby, Levi Reynolds, Thomas Robinson, R. Prather and Richard Williams become settlers among others.
These separate and distinct settlements in the various parts of the county are fast merging into one. Passing a little farther to the east, in Noble township, and we find it gathering up in the number of its settlers very rapidly. This year the following settlers found homes here: Peter Burch and Ira Bureh, William O'Hara, Michael O'Hara, Samuel O'Hara and Edward O'Hara, Warren Burch, Jer- emiah Perkins and Isaac Johnson and Wright Loving and Silas Loving, together with others, forming quite a community.
Going still again to the east, and we shall find that Mr. Stillwell, the " border man," who sought seelusion from the society of the
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
whites by making a settlement in this part of the county, gets all he wants, perhaps; for at the close of this year, around him and near him, the following have found homes and places to settle: John Winchell, John Vail and Henry Vail, who turned their attention to the milling business, Joshua Travis and Curtis Travis, Henry Davis and Henry Mann, Theodore Catlin and Daniel Finley, and others.
We come again to visit the locality of La Porte and its surround- ings. Since the last visit, we can detect a rate of improvement that must have been gratifying to those who were interested in its permanent progress. The town has been laid out and the original survey made. It has been made the county seat; in its survey regard was had for a public square; a contract has been made by the Commissioner with Simon G. Bunce for the erection of a court- house, to cost $3,975; also with Warner Pierce for a jail to cost $460; and at the close of this year, or at the beginning of the next, it had so grown that it could count 15 houses.
A little description of the court-house which the Commissioners determined to build will be appropriate in this place to show the spirit which animated these early settlers, the oldest of whom had at this time only five years' residence, and indicate the thrift which attended them; for it is a noticeable fact that thrift begets a com- mendable spirit and taste. Where a country is covered with tasty farms, tasty residences, and cities are filled with tasty public and private buildings, it is evident that back of these, and unmistak- ably born of it, is thrift. Then, again, thrift is the product of industry and favorable circumstances. Industry is a quality which the people possess, and this element of prosperity, therefore, is indicated in the public buildings which the commissioners proposed to erect. In this we shall find more that will really speak of the industry and thrift of these pioneers than pages of platitudes upon these qualities. Following are the specifications of the building as they appear in the records: The building was to be of brick, located in the center of the Public Square, 40 feet square and of proportional height; it was to be dressed in tasty and permanent cornice, and to be surmounted with a cupola three stories in height. The first story of this cupola was to be 12 feet square and 9 feet high, with a round window in each side in which was to be a fancy sash. The second story was to be octagonal, eight-sided in shape, and 10 feet high, with a window in each side to be closed by a Venetian blind; and the corners were to be ornamented with turned columns. At each of the corners of the first, or square story was to be placed an urn of "suitable size." The third story was to be a dome, six feet six inches in height, and to be covered with tin. From this was to proceed a shaft six feet six inches high above the dome, into the top of which was to be placed an iron rod or spire which should hold at its connection with the shaft a " cop- per ball," two feet in diameter, "laid with gold leaf." Half way from this globe to the top of the spire there was to be another " copper ball," one foot in diameter; and at the top, a ball of wood,
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
six inches in diameter, and painted black, was to be placed. The work was all to be substantial and workmanlike.
The men who laid the foundation work of the county were not destitute of taste, it may be called " pardonable pride," and they determined that the court-house should not simply be " four plain walls," but that it should be a building representing the thrift of the county and creditable to their own tastes.
Thus is the county found at the end of five years of settlement.
THE TIME FROM 1834 TO 1840.
With the rapidity of the incoming tide that now sets in, and the constant accretions which these nuclei are receiving, thus inter- lapping and interlacing these settlements with one another, it is impracticable to follow them year by year farther. The next years must be grouped as a whole.
In the preceding part of this chapter, we have been compelled to chronicle the establishment of isolated and distinct settlements and neighborhoods, and have tried to preserve the names of a few of those who formed those settlements, for there was nothing else to chronicle. Now, we are to call the attention of the reader to the destruction of these isolated settlements and neighbor- hoods, as such, by detailing their consolidation and merging into one.
Attention has already been called to the fact that the first settle- ments were made near the crest of that insensible swell, or eleva- tion of land which serves the purpose of a " dividing ridge," sepa- rating the waters of the county which flow into the Gulf of St. Lawrence from those which flow into the Gulf of Mexico, and which sweeps entirely across the county from east to west. The attentive reader who has followed the chronicle of facts as they have been given in relation to these settlements, could not help discerning the additional facts that these first settlements, seemingly, insensibly crept toward each other along this same crest until they were blended, slightly it may be; and that then they began to descend its insensible slopes on either side until the whole of the county was occupied. If not discerned before, a thought now will convince any one of its truth. Of the period of which we now write the settle- ments in what are now the townships of Cool Spring, Michigan, Springfield, and Galena, on one side of this crest, and of Clinton, Union, Noble and Johnson, on the other, are isolated neighbor- hoods, while the settlements in New Durham, Scipio, Centre, Pleasant, Kankakee, Wills, and Hudson, which are more or less on the crest of this elevation, have begun to sensibly run into one another, showing that the bulk of the population is there.
And during the years included in the period indicated in our sub-title we find that the population thickened up more and more in these first communities, and kept on creeping down these slow
27
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HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
descending slopes until they, too, became thickly settled communi- ties, and by the close of 1840 the isolated character of the neigh- borhoods, if not completely, was substantially broken up, and the population of the county was a unit.
The results of this immigration can be better told with a few figures than in any other way. At the beginning of the year 1829, the number of white settlers in the county was -- 00. In 1832, at the time of the holding of the first Presidential election in the county, the number of the inhabitants was abont-525. In 1836, at the time of the holding of the second Presidential election, the population of the county was about-4,250 ;- a vote of 942 ballots was cast. In 1840, at the time of the taking of the census, the number of inhabitants was 8, 184 ;- the vote at the August election of that year being 1,782 ballots. Putting these figures into a little closer proximity, and in the order, and corresponding to the dates given, they are as follows :- 00-525-4,250-S,184. The votes, in the same order and corresponding to the same dates, are likewise,-00-115-942-1,782.
In the time from 1834 to 1840, quite a neighborhood sprang up in Lincoln township. Among those who settled here at this time, there may be mentioned Mr. Mutz, John Vickory and Levi Little, of 1834; George Sparrow, Newlove, Laybourn, and Carson Siddles, of 1835; E. Abergast, and Mr. Sanders, of 1836; and John Dare, and John Davis, of 1838.
At this time the whole of the southern part of the county, including the townships of Cass, Hanna, and Dewey, was a part of Starke county, and cannot be reckoned in giving these early settle- ments. In every part of the county as it then existed, we have found prosperous settlements, except in what is now Johnson town- ship; and here, ever since 1831 or 1832, John Dunn had been watching for those who were wont to use his bridge in crossing the Kankakee river, so far as our means of information will inform us, all alone. We have not been able to learn of any other settlers here until from 1842 to 1846. At this time, among others, we find that Major John M. Lemon, Charles Palmer, William Mapes, Edward Owens, Samuel Smith, and Martin Smith, had become settlers.
Cass township was settled immediately succeeding 1840. Among its first settlers were Abraham Eahart, Peter Woodin, James Con- cannon, Thomas Concannon, and William Smith.
The first settlement in what is now Hanna township, was a little prior to 1840. Among the settlers of this township before that date, may be mentioned William West, Sr., Nimrod West, Emannel Metz and his sons, Andrew J. Chambers and his sons, Amsterdam Stewart, Thomas Hunsley, William Tyner and Charles Strong.
The first settlement was not made in Dewey township until 1854, at which time, or shortly after, Jacob Schauer, George P. Schim- mel, and Lewis Besler and Michael Besler, became settlers.
This completes the "early settlements " of the county.
CHAPTER VI.
PIONEER LIFE.
PIONEER HOMES-LOG CABINS.
In the preceding chapter we have given the settlements of the county as they were begun and continued until they had merged into one. There are more things of interest connected with these settlements than the mere enumeration of the incidents of settle- ment-time, place, and by whom. There is a most interesting volume, if it were written in full, in the inside workings of these homes and settlements. We cannot hope to give these in full- we could not if we had the time and space-but we may gleam some things that will interest the old pioneers, by calling their memories back to "ye olden tyme " when their hearts were young and. blithe and thus bring to them the scenes of the past; and they may interest the young by showing to them how these pioneers lived and laid the foundations of the prosperity and blessings which they now enjoy. The homes of these pioneers were in vivid contrast with the comfortable homes, and even palatial homes, which is the rule of the La Porte county homes of the present. Instead of the handsome brick or frame edifice, handsomely painted and tastefully adorned, they were rude "log cabins " without paint or other tasteful ornamentations withont, or beantifnl decorations within, save the lily clusters of virtue and the pictures of content- ment and peace which were to be found in the households them- selves.
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