USA > Indiana > Allen County > Marion in Allen County > History of Mitchell and Marion Township, Indiana > Part 2
USA > Indiana > Lawrence County > Mitchell > History of Mitchell and Marion Township, Indiana > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Less than eighty years ago the old sickle was still used that had been in use in Egypt before the pyramids were built; it had been in use long before the christian era-in fact before authentic history began. For thous- ands of years it had been the only reaper.
The plow that was used here less than a hundred years ago with its wooden mould board, was but little different from the plow that was used in the fields of Boaz.
In the memory of some few persons, yet living, wheat was threshed by tramping, just as it was in the days of Moses.
No wonder that agriculture, unaided by intelligent inventors, had made no advance- ment. It has been little more than half a century ago that the scythe and cradle came into general use. Farmers then con- sidered it a model of usefulness and a great labor saver. The scythe and cradle was used almost exclusively in reaping in this community until about the year 1850 when a clumsy reaper called the Kentucky Har- vester came into existence and was used on some of the larger farms. A few years later a machine called the Dropper came into use This machine did not bind the bundles but dropped them off to be bound by hand. Then came the self binder which The first binders used wire
is now in use
instead of twine to bind the bundles. It was many years after this community was first settled that a threshing machine was used. In fact threshing machines were not used here until about the year 848. Un-
til then, the grain was threshed either with a flail or tramped out with horses. The first machine used in threshing was called the "Ground-Hog". This machine sepa- rated the grain from the straw but did not separate the grain and chaff This had to be done by running the grain and chaff through a fan, which was turned by hand.
MAKING LUMBER
All the lumber used in this community, for many years of its early existence, was sawed by whip saws, as they were termed. The process of making lumber with a whip saw, as I have had it described to me, is something like this: A frame work for the purpose was built on a hill side high enough for a man to stand under and work. The log that was intended to be made into lum- ber was rolled upon this frame and the saw- ing was carried on by two men, one above and one below the log. A long, thin saw was pulled up and down through the log by these men, much after the fashion of the old upright saw that some of the older people remember seeing at Hamer's mill a half century ago. It would require of two men a day of hard work to saw as much lumber as an ordinary saw mill would saw in ten or fifteen minutes.
It is said that necessity is the parent of invention. This was surely true of the early pioneers. Money with them was very scarce, so it became necessary for them not only to do their own tailoring and shoe making, but to tan their own leather. A tan vat could be seen at nearly every home. This was a large trough that had been hewn
from a poplar log, sunk to its upper edge in the ground. A quantity of white oak bark was easily obtained in the Spring when the clearing was being done. This. after being dried, was shaved and pounded on a block of wood with a maul or axe. Ashes were used instead of lime for taking off the hair. The blacking for the leather was made of soot and bear grease or lard Leather made in this way, while coarse, was good.
WEAVING CLOTH FOR CLOTHING.
The clothing worn for many years was of domestic manufacture. Almost every house contained a loom and every woman was a weaver. Girls were taught how to weave and spin at a very early age. Lin- sey, which was made of flax and wool was about the only article of clothing. Every family raised a small field of flax. Many who read this have never seen a field of flax. The seed was sown in April or May and covered with a wooden tooth harrow. In August or September it was ready to pull. This was a slow process as it had to be pulled much as we would pull weeds from a garden. After being pulled it was bound into bundles like wheat or oats. After a few days drying it was taken to the thresh- ing floor and by the use of the flail the seed was separated from the stem, It was then
scattered out on the ground in order to rot the woody portion, where it remained about a month. It was then taken to the flax brake and the woody part broken into small bits then with a large wooden dagger, call- ed a singling knife, these bits were separat- ed from the flax. The next process was to separate the flax from the tow, which was done by pulling it through the teeth of the hackle. The flax was then ready to be wound around the distaff and spun into thread ready for the loon. Flax was al- ways spun on what was called the little wheel. I will not attempt to describe any of the tools just mentioned. but suggest that someone make a flax brake, a flail, a singling knife and hunt up a hackle and a little spinning wheel and have them on ex- hibition at the centennial celebration, that I understand is to be held here sometime during the present year.
HOW PIONEERS OBTAINED TITLE TO THEIR LANDS.
As was noted in a previous sketch the early settler could make practically his own selection as to a place to build a cabin for his home and to clear fields for a farm. It should be understood however that simply occupying the land gave no legal claim to
ownership. While all the land in this community prior to the year 1815 was termed public land, it had to be purchased or entered, as it was called, before any individual could acquire title to it. At that time there was no preemption law that gave one a right or claim before others. To properly understand how the title to land here in Indiana was acquired it is necessary to go back to a period which antedates the admission of the State, and eve ) before its formation as a territory.
At the formation of the government all lands not owned by individuals belonged to the states within whose limits they were situated. The claim of the states however was subject to the claim of various Indian tribes. At the time I mention, what is now Indiana was a part of Virginia. This state, a few years later ceded its claim to the Federal government and it became a part of the North West Territory. A few years later a part of thi vast domain was sur- veyed and offered for sale to individuals. It is curious however to look back at the first awkward attempt at legislation govern- ing the sale of public lands. The earliest law passed by congress for the sale of government lands provided for its disposal to purchasers in tracts of not less than four
thousand acres each, and did not allow the selling of a smaller quantity. This law, as can readily be seen, prevented persons of moderate means from ever requiring free- holds and would have enabled a few persons of wealth to have been the only freeholders. Had this law remained on the statute books this country would have been like Mexico, a land of landlords and serfs The law was unpopular in the extreme
The first step toward a change in this objectionable system of disposing lands was made by William H. Harrison when he was a territorial delegate in congress. In 1800 the law referred to was changed so that Government lands could be entered in tracts as small as forty acres. Before land could be sold by the Government it was necessary that it be surveyed. This was done by surveyors employed by the Government. The first work of these sur- veyors was to establish a base or starting point from which to measure. To do this it was necessary that two lines be located. One, a meridian line which runs north and south; the other, a base line which runs east and west. From the point where these two lines cross all the land in this part of the country was surveyed. The meridian line used in the survey of the lands in this
community is the east boundary of Mitch- ell, and the base line is eighteen miles south of here.
The next work of the surveyors was to divide the land into units six miles square called townships. The townships were then divided into thirty-six equal parts called sections. The sections are one mile square and contained six hundred and forty acres. The lines dividing the sections were marked through the timber land, such as the land here was, by blazing and cutting notches in trees. These were called witness trees. When no trees were on the line those nearest on both sides were blazed in such a way as pointed to the line the sur- veyor had established. If a tree stood at the precise spot where a corner was to be made, as was sometimes the case, it was marked in a peculiar manner to indicate that it was the corner of a section. When there was no tree to mark the corner, a large stone with the proper numbers placed on it was set to indicate the corner. The suryeyor made a record of trees marked and stones placed. This record was called "field notes. ' The surveyors were also required to make a plat or drawing of the land surveyed. A copy of this plat and
field notes was placed on file in the land office in the district where the land was offered for sale or entry. By noting care- fully the marks on the witness trees and the numbers on the corner stones, and com paring them with the field notes and plat at the land office, the early settler had but little trouble in locating the land he desired to enter.
The land office, where the early settiers from this part of the country procured titles to their homes, was at Vincennes. Although it is but sixty-five miles from here, yet to make the trip at the time I mention was quite a difficult task. There was no road, simply a trail leading from here to guide the pioneers and that was, for a large por- tion of the way, through unbroken forest and over a very rough and hilly country. As the two branches of white river and a number of creeks had to be crossed and as there were no ferries or bridges it was quite a problem to cross the rivers and creeks when making the trip especially when they were swollen, which in those days was often the case.
THE ENTRY PRICE OF LAND
The entry price of land prior to 1820 was two dollars per acre. One-fourth to be paid
when the certificate of purchase was issued, the remainder in two annual payments. After 1820 the price was one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, all paid at time of entry. In every congressional township one section number 16 was reserved for the benefit of public schools and was called school lands. These lands at first were not subject to entry, but were leased for a number of years. The person leasing them was required to make certain improve- ments each year, that is, to clear so many acres and to plant so many fruit trees. These lands were afterward sold and the money placed to the credit of the public school fund which was the beginning of the splendid school system we now have
Very few of the pioneers had sufficient money when arriving here to make full payment on land, and were given simply a certificate of purchase which secured the land to them for a certain length of time, when. if they met the other two payments, they received a patent, as a government deed was called. If they failed to meet either of these payments they forfeited the land and the money they had paid, and all the hard work in clearing and improving it was lost.
Most of the early immigrants to this community were very poor, and, as I have stated, had only money to make the first payment on the land they had selected for a home, depending on making the money to meet the deferred payments when they became due. This they found to be quite a difficult task. It was all they could do for a few years to clear the land and raise produce enough for their own use. and if they had raised a surplus, there was no market for it. The only way they could procure money was by selling the skins and furs of wild animals. And so it happened when the payments became due and de- linquent, many of the settlers were on the point of losing their homes. Through the efforts of William Henry Harrison, who was formerly the territorial governor of Indiana, but who at the time I mention was a member of congress, a system of re- lief wa- devised which, by extending the time of payment, enabled most of the people to save their homes. General Harrison was born and reared in a log cabin in the wilderness and knew some- thing of the trials and hardships of pioneer life.
After 1820 the credit system was abolish- ed. and the price of land, as has been
stated, was fixed at one dollar and twenty- five cents per acre instead of two dollars, the former price.
The immigration to this part of the country for the first few years was slow and tardy in its movements. Up to the year 1820 there had been less than forty land entries in what is now Marion town- ship, which contains more than sixty-five sections of land. This is little more than one purchase for each thousand acres em - braced in the township, and some of the persons making these entries aid not live here. During the year 1820 there were but four entries of land made in this locality. These entries were made by Thomas Bulitt, Aaron Davis, Robert Hall and Zebedee Wood. Mr. Bulitt, two years prior to this, had built the mill long after- ward known as Hamer's mill, and the land he entered was adjacent to this property. Aaron Davis located on White river, near where the road leading from here to Bed- ford crosses the river, Robert Hall entered a part of the land now owned by Clay Wright and Mrs. Henry Trueblood and built there the first house of hewn logs that was built in this community. He also was the first pioneer to venture away
from a spring or stream, and it is said, dug the first well that was dug in this entire vicinity. Zebedee Wood located near where Woodville was afterward located. Mr. Wood was the first gun-smith to locate here, and to his honor be it said, was among the first to depart from the custom of having whiskey at house-raisings and log-rollings.
During the twenties quite a change came over the community. A number of the cabins once so solitary became the nucleus of a little settlement. After the settlers had secured titles that were undisputed to their homes they began to plant orchards and make other improvements.
The year 1826 was especially eventful, for in that year more settlers arrived than dur- ing any two years previous. Among these were the Bass families, the Field families, and quite a large number of the Burton families. It was also during that year that the first postoffice this community ever had was established. It was located at Hamer's mill and called Mill Spring. Hugh Hamer was the first postmaster.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY
The question has been doubtless asked, why have I presented this portrait of the hardships, privations and crude manner of living of our fathers and forefathers? If so, may I not ask, why are you pleased with reading the horrors of war and the account of the butchery and carnage of battles? Why are you delighted with the fictions of poetry, the novel and rom nce? I am attempting to give facts and facts only as I understand them. I am en- deavoring to depict a state of society and manner of living that have long since ceased to exist and are fast vanishing from the memory of man. I hope these sketches and descriptions of early times will give the young people who may read them a knowledge of the advantage of living in a community blessed with all modern im- provements, and prevent them from think - ing that former times and conditions were better than the present.
It is especially befitting that in this centennial year of our State and the centennial year of the settling of this community we should inquire who the men and women were who came here when this was a wild and rugged wilderness.
This is now a prosperous and progressive community, and surely the people who laid the foundation for its development are worthy of our study and consideration.
The history of this community is evolution. Present prosperity and present conditions have come only from exertion, privation and sacrifice. No thinking person can be insensible to the pleasure of the study which deals with the aspirations and efforts of those people who, many years ago, laid so well the foundation upon which has been built the civilization we now enjoy. It is eminently proper that we should know something of those people and trace and record the social, industrial and political progress of the community in which we live. So far, I have spoken only of the hardships and trials of the early settlers. But these conditions were not always to exist. As time went on some of the settlers built mills, not such as we have today, but they filled a much felt want. Some of the early mills were run by water; others, by horse power. Some of the old people now living can remember when baskets of corn were brought in to be shelled by the bright blazing fire-place. After supper the entire family would assist in shelling the corn from the cob. It was
then placed in a bag and the next day the settler placed it on the back of a horse and a boy mounted behind it and started to the mill which was often quite a distance. When he arrived at the mill he would probably find others there before him and would have to wait sometimes two or three days for his turn.
CORN THE CHIEF PRODUCT
For many years corn bread was the staple food, and it was made in the simplest manner. The meal was mixed with salt and water and made into a stiff dough which was placed on a clap-board two or three feet long and about an inch thick This was placed before a hot fire in the fire-place. When partly baked it was turned on the board and the other side was placed toward the fire. When baked in this manner it was called "Johnny Cake." Sometimes the dough was made into what was called a pone and baked in an oven. If baked in this manner it was called "corn dodger."
For several years of the early settling of this locality corn was almost the only grain raised, and there was but little, if any, market for it. Sometime during the early twenties a whiskey distillery was built at
Hamer's cave by a man named Montgomery who bought considerable corn and distilled it into liquor. A year or two later Hugh Hamer commenced building flat boats at the old boat yard near where Mill Creek empties into White river, and shipped corn and other produce to New Orleans. From this time on the settlers found a market for their corn and other produce The price, however, was often very low. Some- times not more than ten cents per bushel was paid for corn.
FIRST POSTOFFICE ESTABLISHED
It was in the year 1826 that the first postoffice was established in the town- ship. Previous to that time the pioneers of this part of the country had been as completely cut off from their old home and friends as if an ocean rolled between them. Although the privations and suffering of the early immigrants did not last many years it was quite a long while before they were permitted to enjoy what might be termed the luxuries of life. Matches, which we consider a necessity, were un- known to them. Fire was kept from day to day and from year to year by covering heaps of coals in the fire place or by setting fire to hickory logs and stumps in the
woods and fields near the home. If the fire went out they had to kindle it by the use of the flint and steel or go to a neigh- bor and borrow. For a number of years after the first settlement, the people had no candles nor lamps. Their cabins were lighted by the blaze from the open fire- place or by what they termed the tallow . dip, which was made by saturating a rag in tallow or bear grease and burning it. A few years later candle moulds were brought into use, and for many years candles were used for lights. It was not until some time in the fifties that coal-oil lamps were brought into use.
IMPROVEMENT OF HOMES
As time went on conditions that I have been speaking of changed. By and by many of the cabins gave place to hewed log houses, some of them with an upper room which was reached not by a stair- way, but by a ladder on the outside of the house. This upper room was called the loft. After a few years even the little cabins in the woods began to look more homelike. We should bear in mind that the people of those early days were much like the people of the present time. It was the circumstances and surroundings that
made them different. Although without the means to provide themselves with fine clothing and elegant homes. yet they loved the beautiful. After a few years the yards of their humble homes were made fragrant by wild roses. daffodils, sun flowers and other old fashioned flowers. Indian-creepers, wild morning-glories and other blooming vines clambered over the walls of the cabins, and Mary in her vine covered cabin in those days was as happy as she would be in her vine clad cottage today.
EARLY SCHOOLS
The people who settled here in early days had little time, for several years to think of education. It kept them busy to clear the ground and provide food and clothing for their families. Children assisted in the work on the farm and as it was such a difficult task to prepare the land for culti- vation, that had schools been situated in their midst the children, who were old enough to do any kind of work, could not have been spared to attend school. The people of this community, as have been previously stated, for several years had been completely cut off from communicat- ing with the rest of the world and had not, perhaps, read a newspaper for years. The
opportunity for reading and studying at home was very limited. In those days a family library usually consisted of a Bible, a hymn book, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and sometimes outlines of Ancient History. It is worthy of special note that under these difficulties and limitations the Ameri- can thirst for education was alive and the pioneers of the forest longed for the oppor- tunity of educating their children. While none of these people had been instructed in classic lore, yet, they were as a rule, people of ordinary intelligence and some education and as soon as the bread and butter issue was not a problem, the education of their children was first in their mind. At that time it was almost impossible to obtain books, slates, pencils, pens and paper, and for several years their use was limited to those who had brought them from their old homes. For quite a number of years after Indiana become a state there was no pub- lic school system and no public funds to pay teachers or build school houses. For several years the few school houses, that were built in this community, were built by the men in the locality where they were located, and the teachers for a number of years, were paid by private subscription. When the people of a neighborhood decided
to build a school house, a site would be selected as near the center of the neighbor- hood as possible. Then a day would be agreed upon for the men to meet and build the little structure that was to be a neigh- borhood or community school house. As the country became more densely populat- ed, a few school houses were built of hewed logs but most of them were made of round logs with clapboard roof and puncheon floors. The boards on the roof were fas- tened down with wooden poles and wooden pegs. Almost h lf of one end of the house was taken up by a fireplace and stick and clay chimney. A section of the log was cut away on one side to form a window. Over this opening stiff paper was placed which had been greased to make it trans- parent. For a writing desk split boards that had been smoothed with a drawing knife were placed on pegs which had been inserted in auger holes in a log beneath the window. The door was made of slabs and hung on wooden hinges. The benches were made of logs split into halves and the split side smoothed with a broad axe and sup- ported by pegs driven in the round side. The school house was now complete and the people of the neighborhood were just as proud of it as we are of our elegant school houses of today.
A school house of this kind was by no means a comfortable place for children to spend eight or ten hours a day. This was especially the case in winter time. The wind whistled about the little structure and found plenty of open space, or "cracks" as they were called, so the scholars, as well as the teacher, often suffered with cold in spite of the blazing fire in the big fire place.
It was the custom, in those days, to study the lesson aloud, that is, the pupils spelled and read their lessons, when studying, in an audible tone, and sometimes, when study- ing their spelling lessons, could be heard for quite a distance from the school house. A school conducted in this way was termed a loud school. When a teacher applied for a school he was always asked the question : whether he wanted to keep a loud or silent school. In those days, except in spelling. the pupils did not recite in classes, but in- dividually. When reciting the spelling les- son there was always a head and foot to the class and a record was usually kept of the one who received the largest number of head marks during the term of the school and sometimes a prize was given to the lucky one. The spelling class recited twice each day; just before the noon recess and again just before the school was dismissed
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.