History of Madison County Indiana (Volume 1), Part 41

Author: John L. Forkner
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 391

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A storm closely resembling a western cyclone swept over the north- ern portion of the county on May 12, 1886, passing about midway between Frankton and Elwood. James Legg's residence was completely wrecked and his son, John Legg, was killed. This is the first recorded instance of any one being killed by a storm in Madison county. Mrs. Legg suffered a broken arm and a broken leg, and other members of the family were less seriously injured. On the old Caleb Canaday farm, near Legg's, the house and barn were destroyed and everywhere in the track of the storm the ground was covered with uprooted trees, scat- tered fences and other debris.

On August 17, 1888, a severe wind and hail storm passed over parts of Monroe and Richland townships, leaving devastation upon a strip of country about five miles in width and extending as far eastward as the Delaware county line. Trees were torn up by the roots, fences and out- buildings were scattered by the hurricane, and the hailstones, which were both abundant and unusually large, beat the crops into the ground. Several instances of small animals being killed by the hail were reported. A small log house occupied by a Mrs. Hupp and her family was literally blow to the four winds, some of the logs being carried to a consider- able distance. One of the boys was hurt on the head by a piece of falling timber, but recovered in a short time. The other members of the family escaped without serious injury.

Probably the most destructive storm ever experienced by the people of Madison county was the cyclone that passed over the southern por- tion on June 25, 1902. This storm covered a large part of central Indiana, damages being reported from Montgomery, Boone, Hamilton, Marion, Hancock, Madison, Henry, Fayette and Wayne counties. Telegraph wires were torn down and traffic on the interurban lines west of Anderson was suspended. In Madison county the ravages of the storm were greatest in the vicinity of Pendleton, Ingalls and Markle- ville. At Pendleton the Taylor glass factory was unroofed, the build- ings of the Star Manufacturing Company and the American Window Glass Company were considerably damaged, the loss on these three con- cerns amounting to over $10,000. The Guy schoolhouse near the town was partially destroyed. On the Henry Coburn farm, near Pendleton, James Van Hoy sought shelter in the barn when the storm came up.

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A few minutes later the barn was blown down and he was killed. Barns were also blown down on the farms of Lon Pritchard, John Kip- hart, Oliver Burdette, Arthur Jacobs, Robert Kirkbaum and Ezra Watts. George Phipps' saw-mill was wrecked and the residences of Abraham Umble, George Williamson and Edward Haines were badly damaged.

At Ingalls the Wagner Window Glass Company's buildings were partially destroyed, a portion of the roof of Kinley's hotel was carried away, windows were blown in, out-buildings were swept away by the wind and other damage was done to shade trees and growing crops. The road from Pendleton to Ingalls was so filled with debris that in places it was almost impassable.

In the neighborhood of Markleville the storm was especially severe. Barns belonging to Frank, Isaac and Cornelius Mauzy were torn down, the fences and crops on their farms were almost entirely destroyed and trees were uprooted, sometimes being carried for some distance by the

NINTH STREET BRIDGE, ANDERSON, FLOOD OF 1913

wind. The Morris McDaniel residence was badly damaged and the barns on the farms of Amos Williams, John McCullough and John Foster were completely wrecked. On the 26th hundreds of sight-seers visited the stricken districts to look upon the ruins wrought by the cyclone. There have been other storms besides those above enumerated, but none has ever compared in violence with the great cyclone of 1902.

Old settlers still tell of the great flood of 1847, which washed away the first bridge over the White river at Anderson, near where Norton's brewery now stands. This bridge was built by John and Hugh Rogers, who received final payment of $300 for the work in September, 1846. The flood that carried it away was in January, 1847. Before the erec- tion of that bridge a ferry was maintained at that point, and after the flood the old ferry-boat was again called into requisition and was kept in service until in 1863, when a new bridge was built. The destruction

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of the bridge was not the only damage done by the flood of 1847, but it was the most notable and best remembered case of destruction.

The summer of 1875 was a "wet season." As expressed in the old negro ballad :

"It rained forty days and it rained forty nights, And it rained on the other side of Jordan."

During the month of July the ground was too wet for the greater part of the time to cultivate and the fields were overrun with weeds. About the first of August the White river broke over its banks and flooded all the lowlands lying along its course. Much of the land in Madison county had not then been drained and great damage was done by the smaller streams. The low grounds along the river and Green's branch in what is now the northwestern part of Anderson were com- pletely inundated and for several days the road leading north from Anderson was impassable on account of the high water. At all hours of the day sheaves, or whole shocks, of wheat could be seen floating down the river from the fields whence they had been carried by the flood. Fences were washed away and much loss to the farmers was caused by the drowning of live stock. In Anderson special prayer meetings were held to pray for the rains to cease.

Another great flood occurred in the year 1884. The bridge that was erected in 1863 was carried away by the raging waters. At that time the contractors, McCormack & Sweeney, were engaged in the erection of the Madison county courthouse and soon after the flood they were awarded a contract for the erection of stone abutments for a new bridge, the iron work being done by the Morrison Bridge Com- pany. Again the farmers along the river suffered heavy loss by the destruction of their crops, and even the lowlands along the smaller streams were under water.

Rain began falling on the evening of March 24, 1904, and for twenty- four hours there was a steady downpour. On the 25th the White river rose rapidly and Green's branch broke .all previous records for high water. About nine o'clock that evening the first appeals for help came from some of the inhabitants of Hazelwood, a suburb of Anderson, where a number of dwellings had been flooded by the latter stream. Park Place, on the opposite side of the river from the main portion of Anderson, was also inundated. On Saturday morning, the 26th Mayor Forkner issued a proclamation calling on the citizens for aid, and the township trustee furnished a number of teams and boats for the removal of the people and their effects from the flooded districts. Along Green's branch, in the western part of the city, many people were rendered temporarily homeless by the flood. The electric light plant was dam- aged, the northern part of Maplewood cemetery was under water and the works of the Buckeye Manufacturing Company were completely surrounded by water.

On Sunday, the 27th, a meeting was held to devise some means of taking care of the flood sufferers. A finance committee, consisting of Mayor Forkner, J. W. Carr, Alexander P. McKee, H. J. Stein, George

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Nichol, Joseph Hennings, George Wheelock, Jerome Brown and Rufus Williams, was appointed to solicit and receive contributions. At that meeting $553 were collected and this amount was materially increased the next day. The Associated Charities, through their finance com- mittee and the general secretary, Miss Doan, rendered valuable assist- ance in caring for the homeless people. By Monday the danger was past and the river began falling, but the work of assistance was kept up for several days, until the unfortunate flood victims were made as comfortable as circumstances would permit.

Pipe creek and Duck creek both broke their bounds and considerable damage was done by these streams, especially in the vicinity of Alex- andria and Elwood, though the people of Anderson and the immediate environments were the greatest sufferers. Rural mail service was aban- doned until after the waters had subsided, and was renewed with diffi- culty, owing to the destruction of a number of bridges and washouts in

FLOOD SCENE, 1913

the gravel roads. A special session of the county commissioners was called to take action with regard to repair of highways and bridges. Altogether the damage done by the flood ran into thousands of dollars.

The great flood of 1913 will long be remembered on account of the great damage done over all the central portion of the country, Ohio and Indiana being the states to undergo the greatest disaster. On March 23, 1913, about three inches of water fell in central Indiana. Such a rainfall was unprecedented and the natural channels of the streams were not equal to the emergency; hence, on the morning of the 24th a large part of Madison county was under water. North Anderson was cut off from the city by the cemetery road, Green's branch had again inundated the lowlands lying along its course, the Twelfth street bridge and the Big Four railroad bridge were swept away, about one-half of Hazelwood was flooded and the people living there had to seek safety in flight; trains on all the railroads were delayed, some

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of them being several hours behind time; Duck creek at Elwood was the highest ever known and many residents of that city had to be taken from their homes in boats; Pipe creek at Alexandria and Fall creek at Pendleton set new high-water marks and did a great deal of damage along their courses, and again the rural mail service was suspended.

At Anderson the electric light plant was. damaged slightly, but managed to keep part of the machinery in working order, so that the city was not thrown into utter darkness. The sewers backed up into the basement of the Sefton Manufacturing Company and inflicted con- siderable damage on the stock stored there. Views taken from the Schalk mills, looking north, and from the foot of Main street, looking toward the cemetery, show the lowlands between Anderson and North Anderson as one vast sheet of water. Gravel roads all over the county were washed out in places and the total property loss in the county was over $100,000. Traffic on the interurban lines was suspended on account of the danger from wash-outs. In such cases there are always some persons who act the part of harpies and prey on the unfortunate. Petty thieves and plunderers made their appearance in Anderson and the mayor and police board asked Governor Ralston to send militia to protect the property of those who had been driven from their homes by the flood. The governor responded by ordering Captain Wells' company to act as a patrol guard at Anderson.

About midnight of the 24th the water burst over the fair ground levee and Park Place was soon flooded. In the haste to escape from the rapid rising waters families became separated and the anxiety of moth- ers over the absence of some child, who had possibly been swept away by the deluge, was heart-rending. Fortunately, however, no lives were lost and the separated families were in time reunited. The water- works were temporarily injured and as a precaution against fire the moving picture shows were closed.

Then came the work of relief. On the 27th a meeting was held at the court-room for the purpose of determining upon some plan of sys- tematic aid to the homeless. A finance committee, consisting of J. J. Netterville, John L. Forkner and T. J. Nichol, was appointed and $3,500 were subscribed. The city council met and appropriated $1,000 to the relief fund, and by the last day of the month the popular sub- scriptions had reached nearly $6,000. The finance committee of the Associated Charities also rendered valuable assistance. Trades unions contributed to their members, especially the Park Place victims, the Gospel Trumpet Company cared for over 600 homeless and sent out several tons of coal to those in need of fuel, the Central Christian church was provided with cots and bedding by the good women belonging to the congregation and the court-room was also thrown open as a shelter for the unfortunates.

The water began falling on the 27th and the danger was past, but the relief work was kept up until all were made at least comparatively comfortable. It was some time before many of the submerged homes were habitable. Furniture and carpets were practically ruined and the floors and walls were so damp that it was a menace to health to try to live in the houses. It will be a long time before the great flood of 1913 will be forgotten by those who were driven from home by its ravages.

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CHAPTER XIX MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY

SKETCHES OF A FEW TYPICAL PIONEERS-LEVI BREWER-MENTION OF PROMINENT CITIZENS-JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY-SAMUEL RICHARDS -THE FENIAN RAID-EXPRESS ROBBERY AND THE FALLIBILITY OF CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE-MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF A PED- DLER RECALLED-RECEPTION TO COMPANY L-CHRONOLOGY OF THE COUNTY-CENSUS-LIST OF COUNTY OFFICERS.

It is a common occurrence when an old resident dies, for the news- papers to publish an obituary under the headline "Another Pioneer Gone." As a matter of fact there are very few left who can claim the distinction of being pioneers. There are, and doubtless always will be, pioneers in industry, scientific or mechanical development and other lines of human endeavor. Likewise there are and always will be many old settlers, by reason of their having lived for a long period in a given community, but the real pioneers-those who conquered the primeval wilderness and dwelt in the "cabin in the clearing"-have about passed into ancient history. Parton describes the pioneers as a "little band, clad in leathern aprons and armed with broadaxes, which marches boldly in advance of the main body and blazes out the route that civili- zation is to follow." The pioneers who came to central Indiana in the early part of the last century are now exceedingly rare. Here and there is one who has approached near to the century mark that can really be classed as a pioneer, but the men who wore the "leathern aprons and swung the broadaxes" in Madison county, to blaze out the route for the present generation, have nearly all passed to their long home.

A true type of the pioneer, who lived, labored, loved and enjoyed the simple pastimes of early days, is Mrs. Emma Shinkle, a resident of North Anderson, who has passed the age of four score years and ten, and who has been a resident of Madison county all her life. She is a daughter of William Curtis, who was appointed agent for Madison county when Anderson was made the county seat in 1827, and was a little girl of some seven or eight years when that appointment was made, having been born in 1820, and she has lived to see Madison county develop from a wild unbroken tract of forest and swamp land into one of the most populous and prosperous counties of Indiana. In her youth the opportunities to acquire the accomplishments of the young

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PHILIP AND EMMA SHINKLE, PIONEERS

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ladies of the present day were wanting, but she mastered the art of making and caring for a home. As a young woman she could spin her "six cuts" a day and she still has in her possession the old loom upon which she has woven rag carpets enough to cover many of the parlor floors of Madison county. In 1836 she was married on Killbuck creek to Philip Shinkle and they began housekeeping in the customary log cabin of that period, but by their thrift and industry the young couple pros- pered and the log house soon gave way to a residence of a better char- acter. Although she has lived far beyond the average period allotted to members of the human family, Mrs. Shinkle is in full possession of her mental faculties, and physically is as spry as many a woman thirty years her junior. From the storehouse of her memory she can relate many an interesting incident that occurred in Madison county before many of its present inhabitants were born. She is indeed a pioneer, and is now in the ninety-fourth year of her age.

In Van Buren township, near Summitville, lives another pioneer in the person of Mary E. Beck, widow of the late John Beck and grand- daughter of General Daniel Morgan of Revolutionary fame. Her illus- trious grandfather was born in New Jersey in 1736. Going to Virginia at the age of seventeen, he worked at various occupations until he became the owner of a team and wagon and in 1755 joined General Braddock's expedition as a teamster. The following spring, while engaged in hauling supplies to troops along the Virginia frontier, a British officer became so arrogant and abusive that Morgan struck him with the flat of his sword. For this offense it was ordered that he receive five hun- dred lashes on the bare back. This so incensed Morgan against the British that when the battle of Lexington was fought in April, 1775, he raised a company of Virginia riflemen and was the first officer to report with his command at Boston. At Washington's request he was commissioned colonel of the Eleventh Virginia Regiment and afterward rose to the rank of major-general. Every school boy is familiar with the story of Morgan's victory at the battle of Cowpens and his masterly retreat before the superior forces of Cornwallis. General Morgan died at Winchester, Virginia, July 6, 1802, but before his death received a large tract of land in North Carolina for his services in the Revolution. About 1759 he married Abigail Bailey, a woman of great force of char- acter, and their only daughter, Elizabeth Morgan, became the wife Henry R. Shelton. Mrs. Mary E. Beck is the third daughter of this union. She was born in 1823, the year Madison county was organized, and is the only living granddaughter of a Revolutionary general. She has been a resident of the county for many years.

The death of Edward P. Vernon, who recently died in Fall Creek township, could have been appropriately chronicled under the head- line referred to at the opening of this chapter. He was born on Novem- ber 10. 1816; was a great-grandson of Aaron Vernon, who came over with William Penn in 1682; a grandson of Edward Vernon, and a son of Abram Vernon, who came to Indiana in 1836 and the next year set- tled in Madison county. Abram Vernon was born on March 5, 1774, married Mary Bailey in 1801, and died in the Fall creek settlement on Vol. 1-22

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July 3, 1857, leaving four children. Edward was the only son; Hannah married Silas Hayes; Rebecca became the wife of David Catren, and Esther married Robert Parry, of Richmond, Indiana. Edward P. Vernon was in his twentieth year when he came with his parents to Indiana in 1836. On October 15, 1840, he married Hannah Rogers, who died leaving four children-Elizabeth R., Abner, Mary and Sarah Ann; and on January 18, 1855, Mr. Vernon married Ruthanna Davis, by whom he had nine children. Shortly after his first marriage Mr. Ver- non became the owner of the farm entered by John Rogers, the first white settler in Madison county. The old cabin built by Rogers was weatherboarded and used as a workshop for many years by Mr. Vernon. When he came to Madison county there were no gravel roads and but few highways of any kind. During the three-quarters of a century he lived in the county he saw the swamp lands reclaimed by drainage, a splendid system of highways developed, a good public school system built up, the advent of the railroad, the telegraph and the telephone, the introduction of the rural free mail delivery and the electric railroad. He saw the old reaping hook and the cradle give way to the twine binder, the tallow candle to the electric light, and the lumbering ox-wagon to the automobile. Edward P. Vernon was a pioneer. Born and brought up as a Friend or Quaker, all his life he adhered to the tenets of that faith. In 1911 there was a reunion of the Vernon family at his place in Fall Creek township. At that time he was the oldest living repre- sentative of his family and his death occurred a few months later.

In the little town of Chesterfield lives another old-timer in the per- son of Henry Bronnenberg, a son of one of the first settlers of Union township. Although past ninety years of age, Mr. Bronnenberg thinks nothing of making the long trip to Florida every fall and returning to his home at Chesterfield in the spring. In his younger days he was a great lover of horses and has owned some of the fastest running horses ever brought to Madison county. Like Mr. Vernon, he has seen Madison county expand from a wilderness to a community possessing all the comforts and luxuries of modern civilization.

Levi Brewer, for many years a resident of Lafayette township, was a native of Madison county, where he was born on January 6, 1825, when the county was but two years old. In 1846 he enlisted as a private in Captain Wallace's company for service in the war with Mexico and was in the battle of Chapultepec and the capture of the City of Mexico. He was also in the Civil war as a member of Company H, Ninety-ninth Indiana Infantry, and was therefore a veteran of two wars. Levi Brewer was a fine specimen of the hardy, unlettered frontiersman; brought up in the wilderness, amid wild beasts and without an opportu- nity to acquire an education, it is not surprising that he was compara- tively illiterate. Yet he never hesitated to "speak his sentiments," no matter if he did display his ignorance. He knew the word minister as a synonym for clergyman, but was not aware that it had any other significance. When he heard that President Andrew Johnson had appointed Colonel T: N. Stilwell as minister to Venezuela he remarked that "South America must be devilish hard up for preachin'."

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ENGILEAD AND.

LEVI BREWER

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On one occasion Levi attended camp meeting at the Holston camp grounds, in Richland township. A preacher named McKeg was "Shak- ing his brimstone wallet over the heads of his congregation," as Eggles- ton expresses it. Picturing an imaginary sinner, steeped in vice and crime, the preacher started in to consign him to everlasting punishment. Brewer came in soon after the beginning of the sermon, and being unable to find a seat, stood with his arms folded listening to the excoriation by the minister. When Brother McKeg had finished and sat down, Levi, forgetting his surroundings, drew a long breath and exclaimed to nobody in particular : "Well, I7-God, I guess they'll hang him." While some of the good church members were monentarily shocked at this expres- sion, most of them knew Brewer and joined in the laugh that followed.

Levi Brewer stood over six feet in his shoes and was in his younger days a man of almost herculean strength. He never seemed to care for the accumulation of wealth, but always managed to secure enough to eat and wear. After the government granted him a pension of eight dollars a month for his services in the Mexican war, he had at least four "good times" a year, for among other frailties he liked a toddy and every quarter-day, upon receiving his pension, he would remain in Anderson until his money was about all gone, when he would go back to work. Yet he never knowingly wronged a human being, unless it was himself. He died a few years ago, poor but respected by many who had known him for many years as one of Madison county's eccentric characters.

Among those who have left their impress upon the history of the county, perhaps the names of Milton S. Robinson, Thomas N. Stilwell, Charles T. Doxey, William R. Myers, Charles L. Henry and Winfield T. Durbin stand out with greatest prominence.

Milton S. Robinson was born at Versailles, Ripley county, Indiana, April 20, 1832. He received a common-school education, after which he read law in the office of his father, and was admitted to the bar before he had reached his twenty-first birthday. In November, 1851, he located at Anderson, where he built up a good practice. In 1856 he was one of the presidential electors on the Republican ticket and made a thorough canvass of the Eleventh district. In 1861 the legislature elected him one of the directors of the penitentiary at Michigan City, but this position he resigned in September, 1861, to enter the army as lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-seventh Indiana Infantry. When the Seventy-fifth Regiment was organized he was made colonel and in March, 1865, was made brevet brigadier-general. In 1866 he was elected state senator for the counties of Madison and Grant; was elected to Congress in 1874 and again in 1876, and was recognized as one of the foremost members of the Madison county bar.

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History of Madison County Indiana (Volume 1), Part 41

Author: John L. Forkner Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Number of Pages: 391

Author: John L. Forkner
Publication date: 1914
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 391