USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 40
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In 1884 the Wabash Railroad Company adopted the plan of estab- lishing a hospital for the benefit of its employes and in 1886 a frame building was erected in the northwestern part of Peru, on the eleva- tion that afterward became known as "Hospital Hill." This building was used for about ten years, but in 1896 a handsome brick building was erected on the Mexico road, which is a continuation of Broadway, in the town of Ridgeview. The institution is known as the Wabash Railway Employees Hospital, though on a number of occasions pas- sengers injured in wrecks or other accidents on the Wabash lines have
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been taken to the hospital for treatment. By an agreement with the Wabash Company, the employees of the Lake Erie & Western and the Chesapeake & Ohio railroads are also entitled to the benefits of the institution. Each railway employee, by paying a small monthly assess- ment, is entitled to receive free medical attention, not only for himself, but also for the members of his family. While the institution is not open to the general public, it is one of the mutual benevolent concerns of Miami county that is doing a good work in its particular field of charitable endeavor. For nearly a score of years Dr. E. H. Griswold has been the surgeon in charge.
In the settlement of a new country, one institution that must sooner or later be established, yet one the pioneers are loath to see make its appearance among them, is a burial place for the dead. Scattered over the county of Miami are a number of country graveyards, most of which have no special history. When the first death in a community would . occur, some one would donate a piece of ground for a burial place and this would be the beginning of a cemetery. In many instances no deed of such tract would be made to trustees and entered upon the records. As the old settlers died or moved away these graveyards fell into dis- use, were neglected and in a number of cases only a trace of them remains. As far as possible a list of these country graveyards is given by townships, and where any one of them has a recorded history it is noted.
In Allen township the first burial place was laid out on the farm of Matthias Carvey, in Section 18, a short distance northeast of the present town of Macy. Among the early burials here were a Mr. and Mrs. Bailey, Matthias Carvey and a child of William Hakins. This place is still called the Carvey cemetery. Not long after it was estab- lished a graveyard was laid out at Five Corners, in the southwestern part of the township, where Matthias Harmon, Nathan Bryant and a number of the early, settlers in that part of the county were buried. Many of the graves in this old cemetery are unmarked and the names of those buried in them have been forgotten.
The most important cemetery in Allen township at the present time is the Plain View cemetery at Macy. It is located in the southeast quar- ter of section 13, township 29, range 3, just west of the town, and had its beginning in 1890, when the Odd Fellows' lodge at Macy bought three acres of ground and laid out a cemetery. On October 17, 1908, a new plat of the cemetery was filed for record by Benjamin F. Zart- man, John C. Moore and Manoah W. Tracy, trustees of Allen Lodge, No. 540, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The new plat shows two hundred and nine lots, each twelve by twenty-seven feet in size.
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except a few along the west side, and there is also a section set apart for individual burials. Mrs. Sarah M. Champ was the first person to be interred in this cemetery. The place is well fenced and properly cared for by the Odd Fellows, though persons not members of that order may avail themselves of the benefits of the burial place.
The oldest burial ground in Butler township, of which there is any account, is the Clayton cemetery, in the northeastern part of the town- ship. James and Thomas Clayton were among the pioneers that set- tled along the Mississinewa river below Peoria, and James Clayton died a few years after coming to Miami county. He was one of the first persons to be buried in this graveyard, which still bears the family name. Several Indians were buried here before the Miamis left for their new reservation in Kansas, but their names have been forgotten.
About two miles west of the village of Peoria, in the southeast cor- ner of section 7 and a short distance northwest of the Presbyterian church, is a small graveyard that grew up about the time the church was established there in the fall of 1863, but it cannot be learned who was the first person to be buried there.
Another old graveyard in Butler township is located in the north- west corner of section 22, about a mile and half of south of Peoria. A Christian church was built near this point about 1868, but it is not known whether the graveyard was established by the church or not. There is a sort of tradition, not very well founded, that some burials had been made there before the church was founded.
At the May term of the county commissioners' court in 1903 a peti- tion was filed asking for the incorporation of a cemetery association at Peoria. The matter was continued until the next term, in order to give the petitioners an opportunity to give the proper notice of an intention to ask for such an incorporation, and on June 1, 1903, the Peoria Cemetery Association was regularly incorporated, to have and to hold a certain tract of ground in section 10, township 26, range 5. Alfred Ramsey, former county commissioner, headed the movement for the organization of the association. This is the only incorporated and regularly recorded cemetery association in Butler township.
In the atlas of Miami county published by Kingman Brothers in 1877, and also on a map of Miami county published by Rand, McNally & Company in 1905, two cemeteries are shown in Clay township. One of these is located near the United Brethren church in section 28, about a mile and a half east of Bennett's Switch, and the other is a short distance southwest of the village of Waupecong.
Near the north line of section 23, in the western part of Deer Creek township, is an old cemetery that was once the churchyard of the
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Baptist church founded there in 1849. A number of the pioneers of the township were buried here during the existence of the church, but since the congregation was disbanded in 1893 the cemetery has fallen into decay through neglect and is rarely used. In the southern part of section 36, in the same township and not far from the Howard county line, is another small burial place; there is also a graveyard on the middle fork of Deer creek, in the northeast corner of section 29, about a mile east of Bennett's Switch, and another is situated in the east side of section 17, on the south bank of Deer creek and a short dis- tance east of the village of Miami.
The county atlas and map above referred to show three cemeteries in Erie township. The first is situated near the United Brethren church in section 8, in the northern part; the second is near the old Methodist church in the southeast corner of section 10, and the third is in the southwest quarter of section 21, just north of the Wabash rail- road and in what was once the Joseph Richardville reserve.
In the extreme northern part of Harrison township, just north of Pipe creek in the northwest quarter of section 5, and a short distance southwest of the village of Santa Fe, is an old country graveyard in which some of the early settlers of that part of the county found their last resting place. The McGrawsville Methodist church has a cemetery near that village; there is another just east of the village of North Grove; one in the northwestern part of section 8, north of the Pan Handle railroad; and there is an old burial ground in the southeastern part of the township that was once maintained by, the Wesleyan Meth- odist church of Cary, but it is no longer used, except on rare occasions.
The first cemetery in Jackson township was laid out on the farm of Thomas Mason and the first burial there was that of an infant child of Thomas and Mary Addington. This graveyard, afterward known as the Xenia cemetery, was the beginning of the principal burial place at Converse, though in recent years it has been greatly enlarged and improved. Second in importance is the cemetery just north of Amboy, in the northern part of section 23, which is the principal place of interment for the people of the town and a large district of the sur- rounding country. There is an old cemetery in the south side of sec- tion 2, on the bank of Pipe creek and on section 1, about a mile farther east is what was once known as the South Grove Protestant cemetery. About half a mile northwest of Converse is the churchyard of the Friends or Quakers, where the members of that denomination and their friends bury their departed.
As narrated in Chapter VIII, the first person to die in Jefferson township was Solomon Wilkinson, who was buried just west of the town of Mexico. That was the beginning of the Mexico cemetery.
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Other members of the Wilkinson family were among the early burials here. What is known as the Walling graveyard was established in the southwestern part of the township as early as 1836. Mrs. Burrell Daniels, whose husband built the first gristmill in the township, was buried here. This graveyard was abandoned as a burial place many years ago and the few graves there are now hardly distinguishable.
The Eel River cemetery, located in section 2, township 27, range 3, about two miles west of Mexico, was established by the members of the Eel River chapel about 1838. On March 6, 1911, a plat of the cemetery was filed in the office of the county recorder, by W. H. Myers, though it has been used as a burial ground ever since it was first laid out three quarters of a century ago.
There are two cemeteries kept up by the German Baptists in Jeffer- son township-one in connection with the church about half a mile north of Mexico and the other in section 27, township 28, range 5, about half a mile east of the village of Courter. In the cemetery at Mexico are several graves of old people and children who were inmates of the Old Folks' and Orphan Children's Home mentioned earlier in this chapter.
In Perry township one of the oldest burial places is located in the east side of section 15, on the north bank of Squirrel creek and not far from the county line. It was kept up for a number of years by the Niconza Baptist church, but after the church went down the cemetery fell into disuse. Brant & Fuller's History of Miami County (page 719), in mentioning the death of James Bunton-the first death in Perry township-says : "He was buried in the Niconza graveyard, one of the oldest cemeteries in the county."
There is an old cemetery in Perry township in the western part of section 4, "near the prairie," about a mile and a half west of the Wabash county line and near the northern boundary of the township. Another cemetery is situated in the western part of section 7, just north of Gilead and is the principal burial place for the people of that village and the neighboring rural districts.
Peru township, being the site of the city of Peru, is naturally bet- ter supplied with burial grounds than any other in the county, and its cemeteries are larger, better kept as a rule and more pretentious than are those of the smaller towns and country districts. Mount Hope cemetery was laid out about the year 1845 and comprised about three acres of ground. In course of time this land was all sold for burial purposes and at such low prices that there were no funds with which to keep the cemetery in repair. In 1881 the Mount Hope Ceme- tery Association was duly incorporated by the commissioners of Miami
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county and in 1884 an assessment of $6 per lot was levied for the pur- pose of providing funds for the improvement of the grounds. In 1908 another assessment of $2.50 per lot was levied, and some money was willed to the association as an endowment.
The Oak Grove Cemetery Association was organized on March 30, 1868, and by various purchases acquired about seventeen and one-half acres of land, adjacent to and surrounding the Mount Hope cemetery on the north and west.
On February 6, 1912, a new Mount Hope Cemetery Association was formed by the consolidation of the two above mentioned associations and was incorporated on that date by order of the commissioners of Miami county. At that time the assets of the old Mount Hope associa- tion were $281.42 in cash and $1,900 loaned at six per cent on first mortgage security. The assets of the Oak Grove association consisted of $285.58 in cash and nearly ten acres of unsold land, upon which there was a mortgage of $3,000. By the consolidation of the two asso- ciations the lands of the new association were made available for an extension of burial grounds and the cash and endowment fund of the old one gave the new organization a fair working capital for imme- diate needs.
New by-laws were adopted by the lot owners of the Mount Hope Cemetery Association on February 3, 1913, at which time the following officers were elected: Charles H. Brownell, president; Frank M. Stutesman, vice-president; Henry S. Bailey, secretary; Joseph H. Shirk, treasurer; Nott N. Antrim, Walter C. Bailey, George C. Miller, Sr., and Henry Kittner, directors. Under the revised by-laws each owner of a lot or part of a lot is a stockholder in the association, but no pecuniary benefit of profit shall come to him by virtue .of such rela- tionship. The by-laws also provide that each lot shall pay an annual assessment of $2 and each fraction of a lot an assessment of $1 for the maintenance of the cemetery, and for the same purpose each single burial space shall pay an assessment of fifty cents.
Mount Hope is beautifully situated in the eastern part of section 28, just north of the city limits and under the new organization the cemetery promises to become one of the prettiest in central Indiana. Provisions have been made for building up a general endowment fund, the income from which will be used for the care of the cemetery, and in addition to this general fund the association has made provision for a special endowment fund to consist of money or securities given to the association with the understanding that the income shall be used to beautify a certain lot or section of the cemetery.
The Catholic cemetery, north of the Wabash railroad, and some
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distance west of the city limits, was bought early in the '60s, while Father Bernard Force was pastor of the St. Charles parish, and was consecrated according to the ritual of the church as a burial place for Catholics. Adjoining the Catholic cemetery is that of the Lutherans, which is a typical churchyard, neatly kept and sufficiently large to answer all demands of the congregation that uses it as a burial ground. In section 32, at the west end of the city of Peru and immediately east of the Catholic cemetery, is what is known as the Reyburn graveyard, so named from one of the pioneers families of the city, some of whose members were buried there in early days. The atlas of 1877 shows an old Methodist cemetery in the north side of section 11, about two and a half miles north of the city on the road leading to Chili, and east of that road is the old Tillett graveyard, where several of the Tillett family and their neighbors lie buried.
Pipe Creek township is well supplied with burial places. In the east side of section 5, near the northern boundary of the township and east of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, is an old graveyard that served as a place of interment for the early settlers in that neighbor- hood. This cemetery has been supplanted by one established by the United Brethren church about a mile farther west. There is an old burial ground in the north side of section 14, on what is known as the Medsker farm, not far from the Cass county line. About a mile south of this cemetery is one established by the Christian church soon after the close of the Civil war, and there is also a cemetery a short distance west of the town of Bunker Hill.
In Richland township, near the center of section 1 and about two miles east of the old village of Wooleytown, is what is left of an old graveyard established in an early day. The oldest cemetery in the township, however, is the one at Chili, which was laid out some time prior to 1840. There is also a graveyard in connection with the Ger- man Baptist church in section 3, near the northwest corner of the town- ship, and another at the Baptist church at Chili. The last mentioned is situated on the bank of the Eel river a short distance below the town.
The Paw Paw cemetery, in Richland township, was consecrated as a burial place in 1840 and the first person to be buried there was Margaret, daughter of Richard and Amy Miller. On January 5, 1904, the tract of land including the cemetery was conveyed to the trustees of the Paw Paw Methodist Episcopal church by Margaret Miller. A plat of the cemetery was filed in the office of the county recorder on August 13, 1913, the trustees at that time being Thomas F. Black, E. B. Miller and Clarence Grogg. This cemetery is located in section 16,
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township 28, range 5, a short distance west of the old village of Paw Paw.
Referring again to the old atlas and map previously mentioned, three cemeteries are noted in Union township. One is situated in the northeast quarter of section 33, about a mile northeast of Deedsville; the second is near the Missionary Baptist church in the southern part of section 7, near Weesau creek and about three miles northwest of the town of Denver; and the third is in section 16, just north of the old Weesau Indian reservation.
In Washington township the Wickler graveyard in the south side of section 15, about two miles south of the county asylum, is one of the oldest cemeteries. It was established at a very early day and one of the first persons to be buried there was a child of Robert Love. The roads were in such condition at the time that it was difficult for vehicles to pass over them and the little coffin was carried to the graveyard on horseback by a Mr. Miller. Mr. Love, the father of the child, was also buried here a little later.
The Rankin graveyard, in the southwestern part of the township, is located on what was once known as the Bearss farm, on Big Pipe creek and about two miles east of Bunker Hill. It is one of the old graveyards of Washington township. Caleb Adams and a Mrs. Harter were among the first persons to be buried in this cemetery.
Shortly after the United Brethren church known as Crider chapel was built in 1869, a cemetery was established in connection with the church. It is located in the northeast corner of section 24, near Little Pipe creek and is still used as a place of interment by the members of the church and the residents in the neighborhood.
Near the northwest corner of the township, in section 4, is an old graveyard on the bank of Little Pipe creek, and in the extreme south- west corner, just south of Big Pipe creek, is the old Hawes grave- yard. John, Bernard and Conrad Hawes settled in this locality in the early '40s and one of them (it is not definitely known which) was the first person to be buried here. Another early burial in this cemetery was a man named Larimer and several pioneer families used it as a burial place for many years.
CHAPTER XIX
MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY
FIRST FLAG IN MIAMI COUNTY-LAWLESSNESS-A VIGILANCE COMMITTEE -PETITION TO PRESIDENT POLK-EARLY PRICES AND WAGES-THE STRANGER'S GRAVE-TRADING WIVES-QUEER REAL ESTATE-SOME PROMINENT. PEOPLE-POLITICAL MEETINGS-TEMPERANCE-DISAS- TROUS FIRES-A STORMY SUMMER-HISTORIC FLOODS.
In these days, when United States flags can be purchased at almost any dry-goods or department store, at prices ranging from five cents to fifty dollars or more, it may seem strange to the reader to learn that the first flag ever used in Miami county was not made until ten years after the county had been organized. In 1844 a number of young people began planning to celebrate the Fourth of July and soon discovered there was no flag to be found. Now, a celebration of the "Glorious Fourth" without a flag would be like a performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet with the character of Hamlet missing. In this emergency the young men agreed to buy the material if the young women would make a flag. The girls agreed to the proposal and through this channel came the first flag to Miami county.
The young men who contributed toward the purchase of the goods were Oliver Adkison, James Potter, Coleman Henton, William Smith, Charles Spencer, Alphonso Cole, Samuel Driver and a cousin of his also named Samuel Driver, James M. Stutesman, John Hartpence, Daniel Tyler, John Aveline and E. H. Shirk. When everything was ready the following young women assembled at the home of Louis D. Adkison on East Third street, in the town of Peru, and there with needles, in the good, old-fashioned way, constructed the flag: Harriet Henton, Maria Henton Thayer, Mary Bruce Paine, Elizabeth Bruce, Louise Crane, Elizabeth Shields, Henrietta Randall, Mary Cole Miller, Hannah and Letitia Seville. When the flag was finished it was turned over to George Winters, the Logansport artist, who painted the eagle upon it and also the white stars upon the blue field.
The celebration was held in a grove near the corner of Seventh and Hood streets and was pronounced a success by those who attended. Wil-
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liam A. McGregor read the Declaration of Independence; a choir that had been organized for the occasion rendered patriotic airs under the leadership of Barney Zern, and Alphonso Cole was the orator of the day. After the celebration Oliver Adkison was made the custodian of the flag, with the understanding that it should never be used at a political demonstration-a stipulation that has been sacredly kept through all the three score and ten years since the folds of that banner were first kissed by the breezes on July 4, 1844.
When Oliver Adkison left Miami county for California in 1852, he turned the flag over to James T. Henton, who took care of it for fifty years. In 1902 Mr. Henton placed it in the hands of Frank M. Stutes- man, whose parents at that time were two of the three survivors that assisted in making the flag in the first place, the third survivor being Mary Bruce Paine of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Mr. Stutesman is still the custodian of the flag, which is carefully kept from moth and dust, a cherished relic of the first Fourth of July celebration in Miami county. The constellation upon this old flag shows twenty-four stars-the num- ber of states at that time in the Union. Then all that vast domain west of the Mississippi river, with the exception of Missouri and Louisiana, was either subject to territorial form of government or in the hands of the Indians. Now it is made up of sovereign states and the constellation on the flag consists of forty-eight stars.
LAWLESSNESS AND A VIGILANCE COMMITTEE
While some young men and women thus contributed of their time and means to the construction of a flag representing law and order as well as liberty, unfortunately not all the early settlers of Miami county were of that character. During the latter '30s organized gangs of horse thieves infested the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan and a few of these lawless individuals found a lodgment in what is now Perry township, Miami county. Horses stolen in Ohio and Indiana were taken to Illinois, and sometimes as far west as Missouri, where they were sold. The perpetrators of the theft, with the assistance of their abettors in the western states, would then return with other horses to the northern part of Indiana and Michigan, where the animals were disposed of to the settlers, often at remarkably low prices, an incident which in itself was calculated to arouse suspicion. These gangs were so well organized. the members always armed and ready to use their weapons upon the slightest provocation, that the settlers found themselves unable to cope with them.
As the time passed the success of these bandits led them to assume a bolder attitude and to commit their depredations almost openly and with
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the greatest impunity. Highway robberies were frequently committed and travelers coming into the country for the purpose of buying land learned to carry arms for their defense and never to travel alone if it was possible to find a companion that could be trusted.
About 1840, or perhaps a little before that date, a quantity of counter- feit money came into circulation in the Wabash valley. It was learned that the counterfeiters had formed an alliance with the horse thieves and that the headquarters of the allied gangs were at the house of one John Van Camp, a mile or so west of Gilead. Several efforts were made to rid the country of their presence, but the gang could never be approached unawares. It was believed that a lookout was kept in some tree top to give notice of the approach of any one of unfriendly appear- ance. Thus matters went on until the gradual increase in the number of settlers had a tendency to render the gang more cautious. Some time in the '40s a stranger came into the neighborhood and soon became affiliated with the outlaws. His resourcefulness was such that he quickly won the confidence of the thieves and counterfeiters and became one of their most trusted members. This man was really a detective and when he was chosen to conduct a robbery in Marshall county, managed to give information to the authorities at Rochester. Nearly all the bandits who took part in that robbery were captured and several of them were sent to state's prison.
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