USA > Indiana > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, together with historic notes on the Wabash Valley; gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic sources > Part 30
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 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93
On July 3, 1822, John Lopp entered the first tract of land ever sold by the government in Montgomery county. This was the E. } of S. E. + Sec. 14, T. 17 N., R. 4 W., in what is now Scott town- ship. The land now belongs to M. M. Henry. Subsequently, on the same day, however, Austin M. Puett entered the E. { of N. E. Į Sec. 34, T. 17 N., R. 4 W., and David Henry entered the W. ¿ of S.E. { Sec. 34, T. 17 N., R. 4 W. On the next day several other tracts were entered in different parts of the county, and during the following autumn quite a number of entries were made, most of them in what is now Union township.
On December 21, 1822, the legislature passed an act defining the boundaries of Montgomery county, and providing for the organiza- tion of civil government therein. The county was named Montgom- ery in honor of Gen. Richard Montgomery, of revolutionary fame, who was killed in the assault on Quebec, December 31, 1775. On March 1, 1823, William Offield, James Blevins and John McCul- lough were elected the first board of county commissioners for the new county, and the local government thus went quietly and peace- fully into operation. The whole number of votes cast at the first election was sixty-one. The county jurisdiction originally extended northward over what are now Tippecanoe, Clinton, Carroll and Cass counties ; eastward to Marion county, southward to Parke, and west- ward to the Wabash river.
The first settlers on the lands embraced in what is now the county of Montgomery came principally from Kentucky and Ohio. There were some, however, from Tennessee, the Carolinas and Virginia, and a few from the eastern states. They brought with them but few of the necessaries of civilized life, and none of its luxuries and re- finements. They lived in rude cabins, built of round logs, with the ends beveled on top and notched underneath so as to fit closely
13
EARLY HISTORY.
together and prevent slipping apart. The cracks left between the logs were filled with mud, and the cabin was thus made tight and comfortable. The floors were laid with what are called puncheons, which were made by splitting small logs through the middle, dress- ing off the flat surface with an axe or adz, and notching the under side so as to fit down on the sleepers. The fireplace and chimney were made of split sticks, and lined with a stiff clay, which, when dried, was very durable. A smoke-house, in which to dry the meat, was made in the same manner as the dwelling, except without floor or chimney. The cabin and smoke-house were covered with clap- boards, which were made by cutting off oak logs about three and a half feet long, and splitting them into thin slabs with what was called a frow, a strong, thick knife, with a handle at one end at right angles to the back, like the handle of a cross-cut saw. The pieces of wood were set on end in a horizontal fork, slightly ele- vated, and the knife driven in with a small mallet. Nails being out of the question, the boards were weighted down with small poles, extending from one gable to the other, and laid on each course of boards. The cabin usually consisted of but one room, and in this the pioneer housewife and daughters cooked their scanty meals, con- sisting, for the most part, of corn-bread and meat. Here the whole family slept at night, and here, on Sunday, they received and enter- tained their company from neighboring settlements. This descrip- tion of the first settler's cabin would be very deficient in the eyes of many without some mention of the proverbial latch-string. The door was always fastened by means of a wooden latch on the inside, to which a long buckskin string was attached and put through a small hole a few inches above, so that one wishing to enter had but to pull the string and thus raise the latch. At night the string was pulled inside, so that the door could be opened only by one within. The contrivance thus answered the place of a latch by day, and a lock by night. When it was said of a settler that his latch-string was always out, it was simply meant that his door was ever in a con- dition to be opened by those in quest of his hospitality. The family dressed in plain goods, usually of their own manufacture. The set- tler who succeeded in getting his cabin built, and a few acres of ground cleared on which to raise his bread-corn, was thought to be in good condition for living.
In those days mills were scarce, and going to mill was one of the great events of the year. The settler, after returning from one of these trips, which sometimes occupied a week and more, would spend many evenings around the big fire-place relating to his wife
14
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
and children what he had heard at the mill, for the mill was the great news depot. In those times the settler had no daily papers, with telegraphic news from all parts of the world, as we now have, and it was only those who were more than ordinarily prosperous and well-to-do who could afford even a weekly paper. But notwith- standing these early settlers had only rude cabins in which to live, plain fare to eat, homespun clothing to wear, and were shut out, in a great measure, from all communication with the world, they were not absolutely unhappy. They gathered often at each other's houses, and spent many pleasant hours at night by the blazing fire, relating their adventures while hunting in the woods, discussing plans for the future, and telling the news received through private letters from the kindred and friends they had left behind them in the old states. They were a simple, honest and sociable people, and long years after their settlement in the county, when they had grown rich and had carriages to ride in, and pianos, and silks, and broad- cloth, and were worried with trade and business and fashions, some of them have been heard to breathe a sigh, and wish for a return of the good old days of the log cabin in the woods, with its humble fare, its generous hospitality, and its sweet peace and freedom from anxiety ; and, in later days, when the question at the school-house debate happened to be "Does a high state of civilization and refine- ment tend to increase man's happiness," the old settlers were always inclined to take the negative, fancying they could find stronger arguments on that side. But, after all, were it seriously proposed to do away with the improvements of the age, throw away our fash- ions and luxuries, and go back to the condition of 1822, it is more than probable that the old settlers would begin to hesitate, if not to oppose such a course.
A benevolent creator has so made man that he soon forgets the troubles and long remembers the pleasures of the past, and this, in a large measure, accounts for the universal disposition to regard the past as preferable to the present. But few would sigh for a return to their childhood if it were not for the fact that childhood's bitters are all soon forgotten, and its sweets long remembered.
The traveler passing northward along the road about one half mile from the month of Black creek, some three or four miles north- west of Crawfordsville, will see to his right a considerable knoll, known in the neighborhood as "Noggle's Hill." It is on the S.E. ¿ of N. E. ¿ Sec. 34. Here, at a very early period, perhaps before the county was organized, a man by the name of Mayfield murdered one Noggle. The former had suspicions, and perhaps
15
EARLY HISTORY.
proof, that the latter had been interfering with his domestic affairs, and meeting him in the woods one day, while hunting, fired upon him at a distance. The ball passed through his knee, and so dis- abled him that he could not walk. Mayfield reloaded his gun, and walking up to where Noggle lay piteously begging that his life might be spared, deliberately shot him through the heart. Noggle was buried near the spot where he was murdered, and his grave is yet pointed out by those living in the vicinity. Mayfield fled from the country, and no attempt was ever made to arrest him. This was the first murder ever committed in the county.
The first court ever held in Montgomery county was organized at the house of William Miller, in Crawfordsville, on May 29, 1823, with Jacob Call, of Vincennes, presiding, John Wilson acting as clerk, Samuel D. Maxwell as sheriff, and Jacob J. Ford as prosecut- ing attorney. At this session nothing was done beyond organizing the court, ordering a summons for a grand jury for the ensuing term to be held in August, and adopting a seal for the court. After transacting this business, which probably occupied only a few hours, court adjourned "till court in course, " and Judge Call mounted his horse and rode through the woods back to Vincennes, or to some other county in his circuit, which then extended from Montgomery county to the Ohio river.
On August 28 following the court convened, for the second time, in Crawfordsville, but the record does not state at whose house. Tradition, however, locates it at the tavern kept by Henry Ristine, father of Ben T. Ristine. The grand jury, for which a summons had been ordered at the previous term, was in attendance, and was composed of the following persons : James Dungan, Richard M. McCafferty, James Scott, James Stitt, William Miller, Robert Craig, Samuel Brown, Elias Moore, George Miller, Joseph Hahn, Samuel McClung, William P. Mitchell, Wilson Claypool, and John Farlow. Samuel McClung was appointed foreman. The jury was duly instructed by the judge of the court, and retired to diligently inquire of the felonies and misdemeanors which had been con- mitted in the county. After a few hours' session an indictment was *returned against John Toliver for assault and battery, and the fore- man answering in response to the inquiry of the judge, that they had no further business before them, the jury was discharged, and allowed 75 cents each as fees. Burwell Daniels was allowed $1 for serving as bailiff to the grand jury, Jacob J. Ford $25 for his services as prosecuting attorney, Samuel D. Maxwell $15 for serv- ing as sheriff, and John Wilson $15 for serving as clerk.
16
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
There was yet no case on the docket for trial, except the indict- ment returned against Toliver, and he seems to have fled, for the record shows that writs were repeatedly issued for his arrest without success. The court remained in session but one day at this term. At the May term, 1824, James Stitt and William Burbridge appeared with their commissions as associate judges, and were duly sworn into office by Judge Call, the presiding judge. At the May term no indictment whatever was found, and after a session of one day the grand jury was discharged, and the court adjourned till the next term. At the May term, 1825, one Jesse Keyton, was sentenced to the penitentiary for two years for receiving stolen goods. This case doubtless created a profound sensation throughout the county, for it was the first case of any importance ever put on the docket of the court. At the time of the trial of this case the new court-house had been finished and received from the hands of the contractor, and Mr. Keyton had the honor of going to the penitentiary from a bran new temple of justice.
The history of the county would be very incomplete without a description of the first court-house. It was ordered at a special session of the board of county commissioners, held on June 28, 1823, and the specifications, according to which it was to be built, were as follows :
"To be of good hewed logs; to face at least twelve inches; to be twenty-six feet long and twenty feet wide ; two stories high; the lower story to be nine feet from the floor to the joists; the upper to be seven ; the roof to be joint shingles, made of poplar timber ; each floor to be laid with good seasoned poplar plank, to be one inch and a quarter thick and seven inches wide; the lower floor to be square jointed, the second to be tongued and grooved, the third floor to be laid loose, but to lap one inch on each side ; the first and second floors to be well nailed down with suitable flooring nails ; the house to have thirteen good joists in each story, the joists to be three inches by nine, to be neatly sawed ; the under side of the second floor to be dressed together with the joists; the lower room to have two doors and four windows ; the doors to be good batten doors, and are to be hung with butts, and are to have locks such as are on the doors of the land office ; the four lower windows to have twenty lights in each eight by ten ; to have shutters to open each way, or in the middle, and to be fastened with bolts; the upper story to have a plank partition across, six feet from the end of the house ; the lower room then to be subdivided by a partition starting at the middle of the house, and extending to the end of the
17
EARLY HISTORY.
house, which partition is to divide the large room of the second story into two rooms of equal size, each to have a good door with latches, and to be hung with butts. There is to be three windows in the upper story of the house, which windows are to have twelve lights in each, to be eight by ten, and are to have shutters and to be finished in like manner to the lower windows. There is likewise to be a good and convenient stairway to ascend from the first to the second story. Each corner of the house is to be raised twelve inches from the ground and to be set on stone. The house is to be chinked and pointed with good lime and sand. All the work to be done in a neat and workmanlike manner. The undertaker to furnish all the materials; one-third will be advanced by the undertaker giving bond and security for the faithful perform- ance of his contract. The building to be completed by the 20th of May next."
On August 11, 1823, the contract for building the house was let to Eliakam Ashton, at $295, and on August 9, 1824, the house was duly finished according to the plans and specifications, and turned over to the board of commissioners. It stood on the lot now occupied by Gregg & Son's hardware store, on Main street. A chimney was afterward added by another contractor. It seems to have been overlooked in the first contract, or perhaps for some rea- son, now unknown, was purposely left out of the original specifica- tions.
It was in this house that the case of the State of Indiana v. Jesse Keyton (spelled in the indictment Keaton) was tried, on May 3, 1825. Keyton was charged with receiving and concealing a stolen cow's-hide, knowing the same to have been stolen. The case was prosecuted by Hon. John Law, afterward a member of congress from the southern part of the state, and Joseph Cox and Nathan Hunting- ton appeared for the defendant. The jury was composed of the fol- lowing persons : Joshua Baxter, Reginal Butt, Samuel D. Maxwell, William Miller, George Miller, Samuel Wilhite, John Stitt, William Mount, John Ramsap, Edward Nutt, Abraham Miller and Isaac Miller. The presiding judge was not present at this term of the court, and the law was expounded by William Burbridge and James Stitt, the associate judges, both plain farmers (the former a good blacksmith, also), wholly without legal knowledge, except such as is usually acquired by observing persons without the aid of law books. Yet the record does not show that any of their rulings were excepted to, or that a new trial was asked on account of any blunder of the court. The case undoubtedly attracted much attention, as well on 2
18
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
account of the fact that it was the first case involving a charge of felony ever tried in the county, as because of the eminent attorneys engaged in the prosecution and defense. The settlers came from far and near to witness the trial, and "hear the lawyers plead the case," as listening to the argument of the case was universally designated at that day. It is probable that almost every voter in the county attended the trial, and that the little court-room was unduly crowded with men dressed in either tow-linen or buck-skin pants, homespun linen shirts and coon-skin caps, and without vests or coats. The evidence showed that Henry Wisehart, who lived northeast of town, had lost a cow, and that certain indications showed she had been killed, skinned and carried away in pieces. About the time the cow was missed a couple of women (Lydia Cox and Rachel Middleton) had seen the defendant going northward on horseback, carrying a cow's hide before him. His trail was followed, and the hide found in a big pond or swamp in the northern part of the county, where, according to tradition, he had cut a hole in the ice and sunk it. But, as the indictment charges the act to have been done on April 18, a doubt is raised as to the correctness of the tradition, or of the date laid in the indictment. The hide was easily identified as the hide of Wisehart's cow. The jury found Keyton guilty as charged in the indictment ; that he be fined in the sum of $6, and be impris- oned at hard labor in the penitentiary at Jeffersonville for the term of two years. The next morning young Keyton (for he was quite a young man) was taken to Henry Ristine's tavern for his breakfast, and it is said by an eye witness that he wept over the misfortune that had overtaken him all the time he was eating his breakfast. In a few days he was conveyed on horseback to Jeffersonville, and put in the prison, where he died before the end of his term of imprison- ment. Before leaving for the penitentiary he disclosed all the fact about the killing of the cow, implicating several other persons in the crime, but as there was no witness but himself they were never arrested. The indictment against Keyton was indorsed by John Beard, as foreman of the grand jury. Mr. Beard afterward gained much celebrity as a state senator from the county. It will be of some interest to the present generation to know that Jesse Keyton was put on his trial the same day the indictment was returned into court, and that, although sixteen witnesses were examined, the case was argued and submitted to the jury, and a verdict returned before night.
In those early times the court was a great resort for persons fond of exciting scenes, and served the double purpose of securing justice
19
EARLY HISTORY.
and affording pastime for the backwoodsmen, who always enjoyed with a keen relish the searching cross-examination, and the sharp and sometimes angry contests between opposing attorneys. A closely contested case of assault and battery offered quite as interesting an entertainment for the early settlers as the play of Hamlet or Richard III does to the theater-goer of the present day.
At the time of Keyton's trial the population of the county was yet sparse. There were altogether a dozen or fifteen families in Crawfordsville, and most of these were located in the neighborhood of the Whitlock spring, near where Brown & Watkins' mill now stands. West of town, between where Wabash College now stands and Sugar creek, there was a small settlement, composed of the fol- lowing persons : John Beard, Isaac Beeler, John Miller, Isaac Miller, George Miller, Joseph Cox, John Killen and John Stitt. The last named built a small corn-mill in the deep bottom immediately west of the old Remley homestead, which was run by a branch issuing from the bluff near by. Remains of the old mill are yet to be seen on the spot where it stood. Southwest of town some two miles lived Crane, Cowan (the father of Judge John M. Cowan), Scott and Bur- bridge. East of town lived Whillock, Baxter, McCullongh, Catter- lin and John Dewey. Farther east lived Jacob Beeler, Judge Stitt, W. P. Ramey Sr., McClafferty, widow Smith and the Elmores. On the north side of Sugar creek lived Abe Miller, Henry and Robert Nicholson, Samuel Brown, Farlow and Harshbarger.
A few other families were scattered over the county, but the whole population within twenty miles of Crawfordsville at this time was probably less than 500.
Some time in 1823 the land office, which had previously been at Terre Haute, was removed to the infant town of Crawfordsville, and on December 24, 1824, a public land sale was commenced there, which lasted for several days. This sale had been extensively advertised, and land-buyers, speculators and persons in search of new homes came from far and near to buy land. The eastern part of the state was well represented, and there were many persons from Ohio and Kentucky, and a few from Tennessee and Pennsylvania. At this sale a large portion of the lands in the county which had not been previously entered were sold at public auction to the highest bidder for cash. The money received at the land office was mostly gold and silver, which was headed up in kegs and hauled in wagons to Louisville, and thence it was shipped up the Ohio, and finally reached Washington city. William Miller, the first settler of Craw- fordsville, hauled several loads of money to Louisville from the land
20
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
office at Crawfordsville, sometimes camping out at night, with no guard to protect the treasure he had in charge. On one occasion Ben T. Ristine and an uncle were employed to take $40,000, mostly in silver. 3 They went in a two-horse wagon, passing through the rough country in Morgan county. At a steep hill near where Mar- tinsville now stands their horses balked, and they were compelled to unload the wagon and roll a part of its burden up the hill with hand- spikes. Sometimes they slept in the wayside cabins at night, leav- ing their wagon with its contents standing in the road. They arrived at Louisville in about a week, and delivered the §40,000 to a govern- ment agent at that place.
The year following the public land sale settlers came rapidly, and the dense forest began to disappear, cabins were multiplied, numer- ous corn-mills were erected on the smaller streams, school-houses and churches began to appear at intervals, roads were being opened in every direction, and altogether the scene presented was well cal- culated to cheer the hearts of those who had come with hope and courage to build up new homes in the unbroken forest in what was then known as "The New Purchase."
The new settlers spent most of their time in the clearings, stop- ping work at intervals only long enough to hunt wild meat for their families. In those days the sugar-maple was thick in almost every neighborhood, and the settlers had no trouble in providing them- selves an abundance of good sugar and molasses, which cost nothing but a few days' labor, with which the young folks mingled much fun. The young men and women of a whole neighborhood would often gather at the sugar-camp at night and have their candy-pullings, and enjoy themselves in harmless sports till a late hour. The cattle and horses ran at large in what was called "the range," and fed on the leaves and wild grasses in summer, and the tender twigs of the undergrowth in winter.
The county was for a time measurably free from malefactors, and there was but little use for prisons, but this blissful condition did not last very long. With the influx of people the usual number of thieves and law-breakers of every grade began to make their appear- ance, and the practice of hiring guards to keep such of them as had been arrested from running away was growing expensive, and the commissioners, at their February term in 1824, set about providing " a jail-house " for the county. The written specifications provided for the minutest details of the building, and the whole document, as entered of record in the minutes of the board, is worthy of a place in the history of the county. It shows not only the kind of jail the
21
EARLY HISTORY.
fathers thought sufficient to hold the criminals, but likewise how carefully the public business was transacted by the plain and honest servants of the people in those early times. The document is as follows :
"Ordered by the board that written proposals will be received by this board at their next meeting to be held in May next, for building a jail-house on the northeast corner of the public square in the town of Crawfordsville, of the following dimensions, to-wit: To be 24×20 from out to out, the foundation to be laid with stone sunk eighteen inches under ground and to be twelve inches above the ground, making it two feet and six inches deep, and to be three feet wide ; to be of good stone and well laid, upon which there is to be built with logs, to be hewed square twelve inches each way, double walls, with a vacancy of one foot between the walls. Two rounds of the outside wall, together with the sill of the inside wall, are to be of white oak timber; the timber of each wall is to be twelve inches square and laid close ; the vacancy between the walls is to be filled with peeled poles, not more than six inches thick, and to be straight; the lower floor to be laid with white oak timber, to be four- teen inches thick; to be jointed close and to butt up close against each of the outside walls, and likewise to be laid with oak plank two inches thick, nine inches wide, square jointed ; to be spiked down with wrought iron spikes four inches long and one to be driven in each plank one foot apart; the plank floor to butt up close against each of the inside walls of the house; the rooms to be nine feet from floor to floor; the upper floor to be laid with timber fourteen inches thick, close jointed, to extend over each of the outside walls eight inches, on which there is to be plates twelve inches wide and eight inches thick; the side plates and the ends of the timber of the upper floor on which they rest, are to be boxed over with good plank as usual; the house to be covered with joint shingles in a workmanlike manner; there is to be a partition wall to run through the narrow way of the house, to be of hewed timber twelve inches square ; to extend from the foundation sill to the upper floor, and to be close against each of the outside walls and to be jointed close ; the upper side of the floor is to be laid with oak plank one inch thick and nine inches wide, to be nailed down with good flooring nails and the under side of one room is to be ceiled with inch oak plank as above, well nailed on with good flooring nails; there is to be three doors to the house, the outside door to the outside wall is to be made of inch oak plank, four of which inch planks are to be nailed together, making the door four inches thick, the plank to be
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.