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 59
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
315
UNION TOWNSHIP.
of the purest and best of men, exerting a happy and blessed influ- ence upon society. He studies well his themes, in the preparation of his sermons, and speaks extemporaneously. He does not confine his study and reading to theology, but [reads all branches of litera- ture and science. He was married August 29, 1860, to Miss Olive Stone, of Shelby county. She is a granddaughter of Judge Cole, of that county. They have four children : Leona, Erastus S., Mary Libbie, and Ira L. Three of these are members of the Christian church. The first two gradnated in the city schools of Crawfords- ville in the class of 1881. Mr. Conner is an adherent to the princi- ples of the republican party, casting his first vote in 1860 for the im- mortal Lincoln.
John Nicholson, photographer, Crawfordsville, was born in Jef- ferson county, Indiana, on a farm, July 12, 1825, and remained a tiller of the soil until he learned the trade of a carpenter. His father, Jesse C., was a carpenter, and is now living in Indianapolis, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. He is a native of Ken- tucky, and came to Indiana before it was admitted as a state, and to obtain a market for his produce was compelled to ship it down the river on flat-boats. In 1832 the family moved to Shelbyville, Illi- nois, where Mr. Nicholson was engaged at his trade. From here the family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and then to Bellville, St. Clair county, Illinois, and remained until 1841. Here John received a common school education, and from this place moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and in a short time the family moved to Clark county, Indiana, upon a farm, where John was employed in outdoor work. His next residence was in New Albany, Indiana, where he was en- gaged in hauling wood. In 1843 they resided in Jeffersonville, where Mr. Nicholson was engaged in guarding the prisoners who were at work upon the penitentiary. From here he went to Livonia, where he engaged in the manufacture of Windsor chairs, and in 1845 he took up his residence in Salem, Indiana, where his father, brother-in-law and himself were engaged in chair manufacturing. He then moved to Columbus, Indiana, where he occupied himself in house, sign and portrait painting. March 10, 1847, he reached Franklin, Johnson county, where he resided many years, engaged in painting and in the cultivation of fruits, at which he made a sig- nal success producing fruits of rare quality and beauty. In Janu- ary, 1849, he moved to Durhamville, Tennessee, and engaged in chair manufacturing and painting. In May, 1850, he returned to Franklin, and in February, 1851, learned daguerreotyping and thor- onghly fitted himself for an artist's life. After the introduction of
316
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
photography he spent some time in Cincinnati studying that branch of his life work, which has since occupied the greater portion of his time. In March, 1872, he moved to Kokomo, Indiana, and here lived until May 23, 1879, at which time he began his residence in Crawfordsville. He has a well furnished photograph gallery on Main street, from which much work of excellent character has come, to the satisfaction of numerous customers, and credit to himself. In 1853 he was married to Minerva Hicks, and they became the parents of three children : Eva, Mary, and Mabel. Eva attended Franklin College and became a proficient elocutionist, and to-day has a good reputation as a teacher, and is held in high esteem by members of the profession. After the death of his first wife he married Mary L. Davidson in 1861, and became the father of John Jr., Thomas, Nellie, and Bessie. Mr. Nicholson is an Odd-Fellow, joining at Franklin in 1861, and a member of the Knights of Pythias. He first united with the Baptist church while in Tennes- see, but in 1856 joined the Christian denomination at Franklin, In- diana, and has since been a faithful, energetic and consistent worker. His wife is a member of the same church. He is a republican and was one of its earliest supporters as an abolitionist. As an ar- tist Mr. Nicholson is eminently successful, and his love for the ideal and beautiful prompts him to study his subject from a phrenological standpoint, enabling him to more fully develop those leading fea- tures in a person's character, thereby giving to his pictures more of a natural and life-like expression. He is a close observer of men and things, and finds great pleasure in his well filled library with his special favorites, mental philosophy, theology, poetry and art.
Charles F. Lucas, a prominent merchant of Crawfordsville, was born May 25, 1842, in Chambersburg, Fountain county, Indiana. His mother's people, Fielding Smith and wife, came from Pennsylvania to Fountain county, Indiana, in a very early day, and settled north- west of Chambersburg. Here his mother, Catharine (Smith) Lucas, was born, she being the first white female child born in Foun- , tain county. His father, Joseph G. Lucas, was born February 14, 1803, in London, England. He came to America when eighteen years of age, and settled in Flat Rock, Indiana, and in an early day · moved to Rob Roy, Fountain county, Indiana, but soon settled in Chambersburg, where he has lived for over forty years, and is now retired from: active life. He has been twice married, having had four children by his first and ten by his second wife: Lewis A., Susan C., William H., Charles F., Thomas N., Louisa C., Har- riet A., Emma J., an infant dead and America (both deceased).
317
UNION TOWNSHIP.
Both parents are members of the United Brethren church. Charles F. Lucas experienced farm life during his first eighteen years, yet was part of this time in the store. In 1860 he began for himself in the dry-goods business in Chambersburg, in partnership with his father, continuing for seven years. He then changed his location to Russellville, Indiana, where he carried on business with Joseph O. Rear, but shortly after he moved to Hillsboro,. where he remained for twelve years, and in 1879 settled in Crawfordsville, where, in part- nership with his brothers, T. N. and W. H. Lucas, he carried on an extensive trade. W. H. Lucas retired from the firm in the fall of 1879, leaving C. F. owner of two-third interest in the business, and F. N. a one-third interest. They are also proprietors of a large gro- cery establishment in Crawfordsville. C. F. Lucas owns a store at Hillsboro. W. H. Lucas is owner of the Waynetown store, .so that the Lucas brothers, owning four stores, buy an immense quantity of goods annually, and, as a consequence, can undersell establishments of less capacity. The Boston store, opposite the postoffice, is a two- story brick 40×70, in which is carried about a $15,000 stock, with yearly sales of about $40,000, in millinery and dry goods. Mr. Lu- cas was married November 16, 1861, to Elizabeth Rynearson, daugh- ter of Rynear and Catharine (Whitenack) Rynearson, of Fountain county. They have one child, Ephra A., living, and one, Frank E. (deceased). Both Mr. and Mrs. Lucas are members of the Christian church. He is solidly republican.
Dr. W. T. Gott, Crawfordsville, is a son of William and Rhoda A. (Swindler) Gott. His father was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, in 1806, and came to Montgomery county in 1829 and entered 160 acres of land in Scott township. In 1831 he was married, and on that farm Mr. and Mrs. Gott lived until 1861, and raised a family of ten children, five of whom, two sons and three daughters, are now living. In 1861 they retired from active labor and moved to Lado- ga, where he died, December 20, 1877, and rests in the Ladoga ceme- tery. They had been successful farmers, adding to their first 160 acres until they owned a farm of 340 acres. Mr. Gott was a whig in early times, but later became a democrat, in which party he was quite prominent, having been twice elected land appraiser. He was a man who took an active part in all progressive movements, such as gravel roads, etc. He was a man of strong conviction, acting from a sense of duty in important questions. He was firm and decisive, generally taking a leading part in public meetings. He was worshipful master in a Masonic lodge for some time. His father was a revolutionary sol- dier, and served as quartermaster under Gen. Greene. Mrs. Gott is
318
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
still living, at the age of sixty-seven years. Her children living are: R. C. Gott, prominent in the democracy, and later a national and a suc- cessful farmer ; Letitia, wife of Cassius M. Stone; Mary S., wife of Joseph N. Sidener; America, married to James U. Lofollett, and W. T., whose name appears at the head of this sketch. The last named son, like the rest, was raised on the farm. He attended the Ladoga Academy for some time, then began the study of medicine under Dr. William Hill, of Greencastle, with whom he remained two years, then entered the Mother Institution of Reformed Medicine at Cin- cinnati in 1877. Leaving the medical college, he settled for the prac- tice of medicine in Atherton, Vigo county, Indiana, where he re- mained until April, 1880, when he removed to Crawfordsville. Here he formed the copartnership with Dr. J. N. Taylor, which firm still exists. Their office is in the Blue front. Mr. Gott is a member of the Christian church.
John Borradaile, proprietor of St. James Hotel, Crawfordsville, was born in Wayne county, New York, August 26, 1850. His father has kept eight different hotels, and is now keeping a fine hotel in St. Catharines, Ontario. His grandfather was the first sheriff in Wayne county, New York, and was a hotel-keeper. His mother's father was Maj. IIurd, of the revolutionary war. Mr. Borradaile graduated in the classical course of Sand Lake Collegiate Institute, New York. He then went into the hardware business, followed that seven years, and then went into the hotel-keeping with his father for five years, keeping hotel in Rochester, Charlotteville and St. Catharines. In March, 1880, he became proprietor of the St. James hotel, of which he has since been the successful landlord. He was married Septem- ber 11, 1879, to Miss Dora S. Case, daughter of Charles E. Case, who was one of the contractors that built the Erie canal. Her grand- father was a relative of the Van Burens. Mr. Borradaile belongs to the Royal Arch Masons of Canada. He and his wife are both mem- bers of the Episcopal church.
Rev. James W. Harris, pastor Methodist Episcopal church, Crawfordsville, was born May 7, 1844, two and a half miles west of Terre Haute, in Vigo county, Indiana. His grandfather was in the revolutionary war. His father, Richard, was a native of Delaware. The subject of this sketch lived on the farm till he was sixteen years old, then attended the Classical Academy at Terre Haute until he enlisted, November 1, 1861, in Co. H, 2d Cav., 41st Ind. Vols. He went in as a private and in less than a year he was promoted first lieutenant of his company. He fought in the battles of Shiloh, around Corinth; Gallatin, and in various other engagements, cul-
319
BROWN TOWNSHIP.
minated in the battle of Chickamauga and Fair Garden. He was taken prisoner May 9, 1864, at Varnill Station, Georgia. He was a prisoner in Dalton, Macon, Savannah, Charleston, Camp Sorgum and Columbia. As he was being taken with others to Charlotte, he and Capt. W. C. Adams conceived the plan of escape by cutting through the bottom of the car with a saw made of a case knife. When the train stopped they made their exit. They were seven days in reaching the Union forces. When they started it was night and no moon or stars shining. They got lost and traveled the third night over the same road they did the first. They lived on corn part of the time and traveled through swamps and woods, enduring hardships and running many narrow escapes, until they at last found refuge under the flag of freedom. Mr. Harris was in the army three years four months and twenty-one days, nine months and four days of which he was a prisoner. In 1870 he entered the ministry, and began preaching in the northern part of the state in Porter county, and has preached at Chesterton, Argus, Terre Haute, Covington, and in September, 1880, became pastor of the Methodist church in Craw- fordsville. In 1874 he entered Asbury University and graduated in the classical course in 1878. He was married in 1868, to Miss J. A. Goodman, daughter of Rev. W. W. Goodman, of Vigo county. She was a member of the Congregational church and died in 1870. Mr. Harris is a member of the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the A. O. U. W., and chaplain of the Grand Army of the Republic, department of Indiana. He is a diligent student, studies in the forenoons and devotes the afternoons to pastoral work. The subject matter of his sermons is metaphysical, logical and scriptural. He presents the truth in an earnest, forcible manner that carries convic- tion to the hearts of his hearers.
BROWN TOWNSHIP.
Brown is the corner township in the southwest of Montgomery county. It is bounded on the south by Putnam and Parke counties ; on the west by Parke county also; on the north by Ripley and Union townships, and on the east by Scott township. The original survey of the township describes it as embracing T. 17 N., R. 5 W., and east part of T. 17 N., R. 6 W., being south of Sugar creek. In 1858 that part of Secs. 30, 31 and 32 being south of Sugar creek was ta- ken from Union and attached to Brown township.
Brown township is an oblong square, nine miles east and west by six miles north and south; a deviation being on the north line,
320
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
at a point a little west of the middle of said line, where it turns due north one mile to Sugar creek ; thence down said creek south- west to the terminus of the western line of the township. This change from the original boundary was made for the accommodation of the early citizens of the township, many of whom were detached from the main portion of the township, and petitioned for the above change, when the commissioners of Montgomery county, at a meeting held in 1858, ordered that the line between Brown and Ripley town- ships be changed so as to make Sugar creek the township line.
Brown township has an area of about fifty-four square miles, or about 34,560 square acres of fertile soil, extensively drained and abundantly supplied with running water. It is traversed in all direc- tions by public thoroughfares. The old state road, extending from Terre Haute to La Fayette, passes through this township from the southwest to the northwest, which, in the early history of the state, was the United States mail and stage route.
The township is nearly equally divided from the northeast to the northwest by the Logansport, Crawfordsville and Southwest railroad, which enters the township at the village of New Market, situated at the northeast corner of Brown, and running southwest, emerges from the township in the valley of the Little Raccoon, at the southwest corner. This road has done much in developing the township, and enhancing the valuation of the land and timber, and has brought ready market for grain and produce, which the fertile soil yields in abund- ance to reward the honest toil of the husbandman.
There is a .proposed rail route, known as the Anderson & St. Louis railroad, which has been chartered and surveyed out ; the route passing through this township forming a crossing at Waveland with the Laporte, Crawfordsville & Southwestern railroad, and passing eastward crosses the middle of the east line of the township into Scott. When this road is completed and the rolling stock is moving, Wave- land will become an important center of trade and travel to a large area of country, unsurpassed, in many features, by any other portion of Indiana.
The geological features of this township are diversified and interest- ing. The land in the west and southwest is slightly rolling, with a remarkable uniformity over that part of the township; indeed, the name, Waveland, which is given to the principal town in the town- ship, is quite suggestive of the general features of the land, whose evo- lutions remind one, who has been on the large waters, of the steady swelling of the waves of the great sea under a constant breeze.
In the south part of the township, and extending north along the
Albert- D. Thomas,
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND FILMEN FOUNDATIONS K
321
BROWN TOWNSHIP.
western boundary, the soil is of a drift material, and rich in fertility, until we approach the high lands of Sugar creek in the northwest. The southeast and east are more level until we reach the northeast, where the land is in many places flat. The soil in this part of the township differs materially from the south and west, there being a prevalence of clayey material, and generally flat and somewhat cold and heavy. This land, however, is being drained, which is developing a very fertile and productive soil for certain grains and grass ; and un- der the enterprising energies of the Brown township farmers, its pro- ductive qualities will not long remain dormant. The north "runs down into the sandy rocks or clayey shales of the coal formations," and is good soil for only certain kinds of products, of grass, and certain grains. The township is divided from the east to the west by a ridge entering about the middle of the eastern border, and passes west to the center of the township, then turning to the northwest until it reaches Sugar creek, the boundary of the township. Although this ridge is so regular in elevation that the traveler will scarcely note it, yet it is the dividing ridge between the head-waters of the Little Rac- coon creek on the south, and Sugar creek on the north ; the waters of the former flowing to the Big Raccoon on the south, and the latter to the Sugar creek on the northwest. In this part of the township, where it borders on the above stream, it is high, broken, and rocky, which shades down from the high bluffs to the rolling lands on the south, and to the low lands on the east.
The soil and timber of Brown township are of superior quality, cov- ered with a rich surface soil, we find muck, sands, gravel, clay, and cal- careous elements, combined in various forms and compositions ; but of such quality as to make the general land of the strongest and most productive nature. The heavy growth of timber which covered the land in its native state enibraced the most valuable varieties. And when the pioneer began his struggle with the wilds of Brown township he regarded the choicest timber as an incumbrance to the soil ; sngar, beach, gum, oak, black walnut, and poplar, were alike felled by the axe and burned. And though half a century and more has passed, there are still seen standing some grand specimens of primeval forests, which make unimproved land now valuable for its timber. And had the timber which has been burned in the heap on many farms in this state been properly stacked in the log to protect it from the destructive ele- ments, would be worth more to-day than the land on which it grew." Along the banks of Indian and Sugar creeks are also found ever- green groves, especially on the high lands of the northwest portion of the township.
21
322
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
LAKE HARNEY.
This is an ancient lake is distinctly outlined in the northeast part of the township, and embracing not less than one-third of its area ; a coast washed by the waves of a body of water extending nine miles east and west by four or four and a half north and south. This ancient 'shore extends across the township from southeast to north- west, entering two and a half miles north of the southeast corner, run- ning west two miles, then north one and a half miles ; thence northwest, passing one mile north of Brown's Valley; thence northwest to Sugar creek, near the mouth of Indian creek, where it passes into Ripley township, sweeping eastward through Union to the western line of Walnut; then southwest through Scott to the east line of Brown as before. The land within this ancient lake-bed is being drained by the farmers in the northeast part of the township, developing a fertile and productive soil. The date of this body of water we have no means of determining, more than to fix it at a very remote period of time, in the past ages, as] the present outlines include an area of land which the pioneers of the country found covered with a dense forest and heavy timber. The great mastodon that once roamed over the plains and through the forests of North America doubtless have drunk of its waters and grazed on its banks.
The rocks of Brown township are found in the region of Sugar creek elevated into rugged and romantic heaps. The most massive are sandstones of best building quality, composed of sand and silicia, produc- ing a composition that is usually soft when taken from the quarry, but hardens when exposed to the changes of the atmosphere, a quality much desired for building purposes. There are also limestone compounded of carbonate of lime, sand, clay, and carbonate of magnesia. These stones are well adapted to building purposes, as well as burning in the kiln for the manufacture of quicklime. There is found also some mill- stone grit in this locality, and along the banks of the Indian creek boulders of this quality are found. The buhrs in the mill built on this creek by Samuel Van Cleave were made of one of these stones, and proved of excellent quality. Dark shales with clays, pyrites of iron, are also found. These shales and rocks are classified with the Hamiltonian group of the Devonian period. Some animal remains are found in these shales, while petrifacts are discovered in the limestone neighbor- hoods. In the south part of the township a kind of boulder clay is found at a depth of twelve or fifteen feet under the surface, forming strata four feet thick, under which is a stratuin of blue clay which covers the sandy water-bed at a depth of fifteen feet. This stratum, or sand-
323
BROWN TOWNSHIP.
bed, underlies most of the township, and holds an inexhanstible supply of most excellent water. The boulder clay is noted for its tendency to generate deleterious gases, and especially what is commonly called " the damps." It is said by old citizens that, in digging wells, after striking this clay there is such an accumulation of gases that men have been driven from their work, making it necessary to improvise means by which pure air could be forced to the bottom of the well to protect the workmen from suffocation. The boulder clay indicates a period of shifting of the elements, and agrees with the glacial period, traced through the northern part of this county, showing that there were wonderful changes in the contending elements in building up this part of the continent.
There are also found submerged remains of timber at varions depths, and frequently underlying the boulder clay drift, which were depos- ited at a time when this region was covered by an inland sea, and were doubtless drifted down from the high lands of the northeast and northwest part of the continent when there was communication between those regions and this locality by a great water; as evident from the kind of timber found, which was not of this soil or climate, as well as the boulders found in the subsoil, which seem to belong to the rocky formations of the north, and which have doubtless been carried down by the action of water and drifting ice.
The drainage of the land is good : on the south by the tributaries to the Little Raccoon, and on the north by the Indian creek, and some tributaries to the. Sugar creek on the northwest. Indian creek is the principal stream of the township, which traverses it from east to west. It enters the township on the cast a little north of the center of the eastern boundary, and meandering to the northwest empties its waters into Sugar creek, on the northwest boundary of the township. This stream is fed by numerous tributaries in its course through the north- ern division of the township.
In pioneer days, before the primeval forest had fallen by the wood- man's axe, and before the lowlands aud morasses in the lower sections had been drained, it was a stream of much importance to the early set- tlers of the country, to whom it furnished water-power to grind their grain, saw their timber, card their wool, and full their cloth. And at a very early day in the history of the township was heard the whirr of the mill on the banks of the Indian and Sugar creeks. The water supply of Brown township is abundant and good. The numerous tributaries to the streams above mentioned traverse the township, in which springs of running water, with artesian fountains and inexhaust- ible wells, abound.
324
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Brown township presents interesting attractions for romantic sight- seeing and scientific exploration. That part of the township lying on the northwest border, adjoining Sugar erecek, with its rocky grottoes and caves, has long been the attraction of the romantic who make it a place of resort and pleasure.
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.