USA > Indiana > Vermillion County > History of Parke and Vermillion Counties, Indiana : with historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 18
USA > Indiana > Parke County > History of Parke and Vermillion Counties, Indiana : with historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 18
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CHAPTER XXII.
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP.
Liberty is the northwestern township in Parke county. The Wabash river washes its western borders, Fountain county is on its north, while south and east its boundaries are Reserve and Star Creek townships. Its streams are Coal, Mill and Rush creeks, with their numerous tributaries, many of which, at an early day, furnished an abundance of waterpower for milling purposes. The township is one of the most thickly settled in the county, it having had a population, in 1880, of 1,774. The last enumeration (1910) gave it as 1,513. The 1880 assessed valuation was $449,202 in real estate, while its personal property amounted as per assessed valuation to $168,385, as against a total valuation of $812,110 in 1912. Some of the finest grazing land in Parke county was reported by writers a third of a century ago. The bottom lands in the western part of the township are not excelled in all Indiana for the fertility of the soil and the annual production of immense crops of corn. Originally, Liberty township was composed of thirty-nine full and six fractional sections, but in the seventies sections 35 and 36 and the south halves of 25 and 26 were cut off to form a part of Penn township.
PIONEER SETTLERS.
The first settlers in Liberty township were located in the northwest portion, and came in about 1821-1822, when Abe Timberman, William and Edward Brockway and Samuel Arnot came up the Wabash and pitched their tents in the vast, untried wilderness, while in 1825 David Shirk arrived, who, in addition to hewing out a farm from the forest, preached the gospel to the few settlers over that portion of Parke county, he being of the Baptist denom- , ination. Early that year came also John Richmond and he was soon fol- lowed by the Burtons, who entered land on which Howard now stands. The settlers of 1823 included Jacob Bowsher and family, who located on Sugar creek, in section 25, at which time the Indians still occupied this part of the country, a village of one hundred and fifty wigwams standing on the land he chose. The chief of this band was John Cornstalk. They were, however. at this date, very friendly with the white settlers, never displeasing them
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further than the occasional stealing of a calf or pig. While off on a hunting expedition, a young man named Steever set fire to and burned down their village. Upon their return the tribe of Indians went to putting on war paint, and asked Mr. Bowsher to tell them who had committed the deed, saying that in case he told them no harm would come to anyone but the guilty party. So, in defense of his neighbors and himself, he was compelled to tell the Indians who it was, but took care to send a boy to notify the Steever fellow of his action, so that he might make good his escape, which he did, after the Indians had chased him sixty or seventy miles. Soon after that these Indians were removed to their reservation, and after that only small parties were ever again seen in the township. Near this Indian village was a burying-ground, in which more than a hundred graves were found by the first white settlers. One, better cared for than the others, was believed to be that of a chief, and after the final removal of the Indians it was opened by Joseph Bowsher and other boys, who found a string of gold beads, a butcher knife and other relics.
In 1824 came Lawson Hoffman, settling in the southern part, when nine- teen years of age. Joseph Thompson came four years later and at same time came Isaac Harvey. The first to effect settlement in what is known as the Rush Creek settlement, which was about 1830, was James Marks, who came from Kentucky and purchased a quarter section, where later his son George resided. After paying for his land at the land office, he had twelve and a half cents to begin the world on. John Osborn arrived the same year, and later came Isaac Weaver; then James Woody, who came in 1833, followed in 1834 by George Towell and George Marris, while Thomas, Jonathan, Lot and David Lindley arrived in 1832.
A tan yard was put in operation in 1836 by Harlan Harvey, of Warren county. Ohio, and was run by him and his partner, George Madden, who arrived in 1837, for sixteen years. In 1840 Mr. Madden laid out a nursery, which furnished fruit trees and ornamental shrubs for a wide scope of country. A greater part of these settlers were of the Friends religious faith and in 1832 a congregation was formed by them, by Isaac Hobson, David and Lot Lindley, and a few more. This, with other churches and schools, will be mentioned at length in chapters on these subjects. The first school house was built in 1830, and its first teacher was Isaac Hobson, who also kept a small store at his house on Rush creek. Another store was owned by a stock com- pany, situated west of Rush Creek meeting house, in which W. Hadley offi- ciated as a clerk. At that time prices ranged as follows: Calico fifty cents a yard; coffee, fifty cents a pound ; salt, five dollars per barrel, while wages ran from twenty-five to forty cents a day for labor, and in harvest, with the
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reaping-hook, thirty-seven and one-half cents per day was paid. Near the mouth of Sugar creek was the mill to which this settlement had to look for its milling advantages. That was operated by John Beard, an old man, who had arrived in the county at a very early day. A saw-mill, propelled by water power, was erected on Rush creek by a Mr. Reid, in 1826. At the same time there was a small corn cracker in the northwest part of the township, and a water mill in the extreme southern part. The first steam saw-mill was built in 1848, on section 16, by O. P. Davis, who with his partner, James Woody, conducted the mill many years and were successful in their operations and of great service to the pioneers.
About a mile east of the village of Howard is a graveyard, in which many of the early settlers are buried. It is situated on a large mound in Mill creek bottoms, and is supposed by many to have been the work of mound- builders. Such, however, is a mistake, as geologists have determined that it is but a natural drift of deposit made in the period when such formations were made in this section of America. It had been used as a burial place by the Indians, doubtless for centuries, as in digging graves numerous skeletons and detached bones are found; the remains usually found were those of per- sons who must have been from six feet six inches to seven feet in height. Others of smaller size were also found. A log school house was erected on the east side of this mound in 1835, and there many a good citizen of a later date received his education.
VILLAGES IN LIBERTY TOWNSHIP.
The villages within this township are: Waterman, Howard, Sylvania and Tangier. Waterman, in the northwest corner, was originally called Lodi, the name being changed in 1857, in honor of Dr. Waterman, who set- tled there that year and was an important factor, having opened a large gen- eral store and a pork-packing establishment. Here a large trade was carried on, as in all the early-day river towns, in shipping provisions, grain and other commodities to New Orleans, by water, on flat-boats. The salt well at- tracted much attention when the Wabash & Erie canal was opened, that, too, had great influence in reviving trade until that waterway was abandoned in the seventies, after which the town went almost to decay. In 1880 there was a large flouring mill erected by C. K. Bright and L. C. Davis. In 1880 the business of the place was confined to a drug store, one dry goods store, a grocery, a blacksmith shop, a saw-mill and two physicians. There is but little there today to mark the former fond hopes entertained by its citizens of the
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fifties and seventies. A Masonic lodge was instituted there in 1855, called Lodiville Lodge No. 172.
Howard, formerly called Westport, is situated on the Wabash river, and was laid out in 1827 on land owned by J. and J. Burton, who built a house there and opened the first store in the vicinity, probably in the township. The place grew rapidly and numerous business houses were erected, among the heaviest operators baing James H. Beadle and Harlan Harvey, who shipped grain and pork to New Orleans and southern points generally. After the canal was opened business greatly increased, there being at one time two large dry goods stores, two grain warehouses, and numerous stores and work-shops. Thirty-three years ago all had gone-no trace of business enterprise was left, save the bed of the old canal and the decaying timbers of an occasional old warehouse. The churches and schools are mentioned elsewhere. The, name is no longer listed on the maps of Indiana.
Sylvania, one of the sprightly villages of Parke county forty years ago, is located on the northwest quarter of section 14, and is younger than either Howard or Waterman. The first to embark in business here was Henry Durham, who opened his blacksmith shop. Following him were Atkinson and M. Stout, who each opened stores. Durham sold to Gillum Brothers. In 1880 a Masonic lodge was organized at Sylvania. Churches and schools are mentioned elsewhere, under general chapter headings. At one time there were factories making broom handles, tile, picket fencing, bee-hives and a wagon shop. For many years it has been a station point on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroad. While other towns and hamlets draw from its trade, yet a considerable business is carried on at that point.
Tangier was platted later, just to the north of Sylvania. This is one of the modern railroad points of this county and is a convenience to a large number of farmers in that section of the county. It was platted by William B. Swaine and Edmund Lindley, March 13, 1886, on section 15, township 17, range 8. It now has a popuation of about three hundred.
CHAPTER XXIII.
PENN TOWNSHIP.
Penn township is situated in the north-central portion of Parke county. It was the latest township formed, its organization taking place in 1854, its territory being set off from parts of Liberty, Reserve and Sugar Creek town- ships, and is formed in the shape of a letter "T". It contains twenty-one full and five half sections. It is bounded on the north by Liberty and Sugar Creek townships, Howard and Washington on the east, Adams and Reserve on the south and Liberty and Reserve on the west. In 1880 the assessed valuation of all property in this township was reported as $655,065, as against $617,775 in 1912. In 1880 it was fourth in population of the townships in this county, and today is, according to the federal census of 1910, 1,393.
The soil in Penn township is a rich clay loam, which produces large crops of wheat and grain of all kinds. Drainage is excellent and the rural scenes of today are a feast to the admirer of pretty and highly cultivated farms. The land on either side of Sugar creek, in the north part, is hilly and picturesque in the extreme. Rock Hollow and other favorite resorts for tourists are here found. Sugar creek, Leatherwood, Roaring creek, all are included in the streams of the territory. From an early day, mills and factories have been built along these streams. The gravel road from Rockville to Annapolis greatly improved this township, as did the construction of the Indianapolis, Danville & Southern railroad, which has for a station point the village of Bloomingdale. This portion of Parke county was originally largely of the Quaker, or Society of Friends, religious faith. North Carolina furnished most of the pioneers. That was no desirable home for people of this sterling faith; they never believed in slavery and would not vote and act with the slave-holding element of the South, hence sought new homes in a strange land. The act of 1787 declared that the Northwest Territory should be free, and for this reason, together with the natural advantages, many of the Friends located in Indiana and many came to Parke county. Among the first of this sect to locate here was Perley Mitchell, who came about 1823, and was soon followed by the Tenbrooks, the largest number of these people coming in 1824-5. In 1829 came John Woody and sons, James and Thomas. Others
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were Joseph Finney, James Nelson, Stephen Kersey, William Hunt and Eli and James McDaniel.
VILLAGES.
About 1825-6 the village of Annapolis was first settled, and it was not long before the ground was cleared off by William Maris and John Moulder. About the same date Bloomingdale (then called Bloomfield) was originated. Both places could not, of necessity, succeed, and efforts were made to unite the two and locate a town on neutral ground, but this failed, Annapolis re- fusing to leave her first choice. A few years after laying off the village the first store was opened by Thomas Woody, the next being started by a com- pany consisting of William Marvis, John Moulder and Aaron Maris. Either John Moulder or William Holliday was the first postmaster. In 1880 the business interests of the place consisted of two dry goods stores and a grocery, one drug store, two blacksmith shops, one harness shop, a pump factory, saw and planing-mill, a pottery, and a few lesser institutions. For churches and schools see other chapters. The village now has about two hundred popula- tion.
Bloomingdale, or Bloomfield as first named, was platted in 1825, or 1826, south of the present site of the village, where the first store was opened in a log house by William Pickard, his son John opening a drug store, it being through the efforts of the latter that the town was begun. But Annapolis for a time took away all the trade from this place; until times changed conditions in the community, after which Bloomingdale overtook and even greatly sur- passed her rival at the north. The gravel road was constructed in 1864, and that aided the place materially. Then the building of the railroad through the township in 1873, a short distance to the north, helped Bloomingdale immensely.
Of the once famous Bloomingdale Academy, the reader is referred to Prof. Linebarger's article on the schools of Parke county. This forms an important item in the history of this county, wielding as it did great influence in this section of Indiana for many years. Bloomingdale now has a popula- tion of about five hundred and twenty-five people.
EARLY-DAY INDUSTRIES.
The men and women who first dared to invade this section met with much to dishearten those not possessing stout hearts and strong arms. Work for both was the order of the day, which meant half the night as well. Cloth-
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ing all had to be prepared and made from home-made goods. The busy house-wife then found little time to spin "yarns" as gossiping women do now-a-days. The yarns they spun were of a better, more useful variety. The people then carded and spun their own wool by hand, the cards being fastened to two pieces of board a foot long and five inches wide, with handles in the center. The wool was put on one of them with the hand, and when carded enough the back was used to take off the roll. It was about 1825, when Perley Mitchell started his carding machine, and it was not long before several others were in operation. The machines in use at that time were similar to those used today. The rolls were about two feet long, and when carded were rolled up in a sheet or blanket, being pinned together with thorns, and weighed from ten to forty pounds. They were usually carried home on a horse in front of the rider, then spun on what was known as the "big wheel." From twelve to forty cuts was a day's stint, and the pay for spinning warp was sixteen and two-thirds cents; for filling, a shilling per dozen cuts, and for carding rolls, with machinery, ten to twelve cents per pound. The wages paid for weaving were, for plain, ten cents a yard; for twilled, twelve and a half cents, from three to five yards being a good day's work. Two hands with machinery, could easily card and spin one hundred dozens per day of coarse yarn as was used at that time, and one girl with a power loom could weave from thirty to sixty yards per day. Every woman understood the art of dyeing all colors perfectly, excepting blue, which was more difficult to manage and was governed by luck or the sign. The colors were obtained from various barks, those chiefly used being walnut, which produced a favor- ite, fashionable color of brown goods; yellow, from black oak bark, and swamp ash for drab. Unless a girl could do all these kinds of work she was not considered "bright" enough for marriage.
About 1834, Mahlon Reynolds erected his fulling-mill, in partnership with Jerry Siler, on section 23, on Leatherwood creek. The machinery con- sisted of a shearing machine, press plate, screw press papers, and copper dye kettle, which would contain about sixty gallons, having been brought from Dayton, Ohio, a special trip having been made there by Todd Mazwell, with a huge two-horse wagon, to purchase them, and who later rented the mill and conducted it for several years. This fulling-mill was run by water power, and the shearing machine by hand. The following prices obtained: Fulling, coloring and dressing the cloth, twenty-five cents per yard; without dressing. twenty cents; coloring and scouring flannel, ten cents; coloring and fulling jeans, ten cents. For several years the dye stuffs were hauled in wagons to the mill from Dayton, Ohio.
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About 1827, Simon Rubottom erected the first grist-mill in the town- ship on Leatherwood creek, on section 23, the millwright being an old man named Antony. The machinery consisted of an under-shot water-wheel and one run of stones, or "nigger-heads," each burr being a single stone. The bolt was a single reel, twelve feet long, inclosed in a chest, and was operated by hand. The flour, middlings and shorts, all fell into this chest, the bran coming out at the end. The miller separated the flour, middlings and shorts with a wooden shovel, the former afterwards being carried up stairs in a half bushel measure to the bolting hopper. The building was a rough affair, constructed of logs, without chinking or daubing, and no floor except a little around the hopper. When a fire was needed it was made on the ground, and the smoke allowed to escape through the cracks.
The first saw-mill in this neighborhood was that of Perley Mitchell, on Leatherwood creek, in 1826; the next by Isaiah Pemberton, in 1828, a half mile up the same stream. On account of bad engineering, later it was dis- covered that the work was useless, as there was not fall enough to drive the machinery, when it was torn down and moved to the other side of the creek, by William Pearson, in 1829. In 1831, Adam Siler built a mill a half mile above the last named, which could be run about half the year. Two of these mills failed entirely in 1845; that of Pearson was kept sawing until 1862. From five to eight hundred feet of lumber was a day's cut. Sometimes they run all night through, and on Sunday as well. Saw logs were generally hauled during the winter on sleds drawn by oxen. When horses were used, the. simplest harness was employed, consisting of shuck collars and rope har- ness, entirely destitute of iron, save the bridle-bits. "Log-chains" were made from large rope twisted together. The sawing rates were twenty-five cents per hundred feet for poplar and thirty-seven and a half cents for hard timbers. Lumber sold at the mill from fifty to seventy cents per hundred feet, and had dull sale at that, until the prairies west of the Wabash began to be settled up, when large quantities were demanded. The first steam saw-mill was that of Jeremiah Siler, a fourth of a mile south of Bloomingdale, about 1860.
In 1848 another mill was built at Devil's Den, on Sugar creek, in section 36, by Prior Wright, whose store at the Narrows had been washed away by the high water of the year before.
In 1837 William G. Coffin erected a foundry on Leatherwood creek, two and a half miles northwest of Bloomingdale, where he made the first cast plow used in this part of Indiana. Owing to its weight and clumsiness, it was never popular and was soon driven out of the markets.
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FLAT-BOAT BUILDING.
One of the biggest industries, however, was that of constructing flat- boats. John M. Kelly gave the following, in substance, concerning this enterprise, which runs as follows :
"The first flat-boat was built in the winter of 1833-4 at the Narrows of Sugar creek, and immediately afterward at Coxy's boat yard, three miles away. The next established was Campbell's and Tenbrook's, at what is now known as Rockport Mill, then called Devil's Den. A few years later the business was carried on extensively at Jessup's Mill on Mill creek, at Coffin's boat yard, where the old foundry stood, and at several points above the nar- rows of Sugar creek. John Kelly engaged in the business in 1833 at Coxy's boat yard, the usual dimensions of boats being sixty feet long and sixteen feet wide. He was advised by old boat-builders not to exceed that size on account of the danger and difficulty of getting them out of Sugar creek, it being a crooked and very rapid stream. This advice coming from men older, and of more experience than himself, he accepted as sound doctrine, until his own experience taught him different. Mr. Kelly stated that the most diffi- cult boat to manage he ever handled was fifty feet long and twelve feet in width, while the easiest one was eighty-five feet long by eighteen in width. About the average price of a boat sixty feet long, delivered in the Wabash, was one hundred dollars, the size of the gunnels to secure a ready sale being thirty inches at the bow-rake, which was the largest part and ten inches thick. A tree suitable for gunnels used to cost from one to five dollars according to distance from the yard, the tree being split into the necessary size where felled and the gunnel logs hauled by oxen to the boat-yard. When the boat was framed and ready for the bottom, the planks are fastened in their places with wooden pins, it requiring from ten to twelve hundred of them to com- plete the job. It requires seven thousand feet of lumber to build a sixty- foot flat-boat and this must be all first class, as there is no place for inferior lumber, save in the false floor. From twelve to twenty pounds of hemp are required to calk a boat of this size, after which the vessel was ready for launching. The boats were built from three to four feet above the gunnel and sided up with two-inch plank, the same as the bottom, the roof, which had a pitch of sixteen inches, being covered with five-eighth-inch boards. The vessels were run out of the creek with two oars, one at the bow and one at the stern, none being used on the side while in the creek, except upon going over dams when the water was low, when it was necessary to get up
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as much headway as possible, that being the safest method. The steering oar is made of the same length as the boat, and so constructed as to balance in the middle. The steersman stands, or rather walks, on a bridge in the center of the vessel, so that by the time he reached New Orleans he would walk a great many miles, from one side of the craft to the other, while steer- ing her on her course. At the date of the first construction of flat boats here, the cargo consisted entirely of corn and pork, but a few years later crates of wheat, flour, lumber, staves, hoop-poles, potatoes, poultry and even live hogs became common. The amount of ear corn which a sixty-foot boat would carry was one thousand eight hundred bushels, but there was a constantly in- creasing demand for larger boats and before the business went out of exist- ence boats were built which would carry double that amount."
CHAPTER XXIV.
RESERVE TOWNSHIP.
This township derived its name from its having been a part of the Indian reservation, which consisted of a strip of territory on the Wabash river, seven miles in width, extending from the mouth of Sugar creek to the mouth of the Raccoon. It comprises twenty-two full and five fractional sec- tions, and originally contained a large portion of what is now Penn town- ship. Its western boundary being the Wabash river, its territory early at- tracted the attention of pioneers going up and down the river in search of homes. Liberty township is to its north, Penn on the east and south is Wabash township. A third of a century ago and more this township was noted for having the largest farms and some of the best in the county. Ex- cept the draws and rough land along Sugar creek, the entire township is fitted for successful agriculture, and has come to be highly improved and well culti- vated by men who, knowing the producing qualities of the fertile soil, hold their lands at a very high figure. Eastward from the Wabash river there is a strip of over two miles in width, extending back to the bluffs, which was originally covered with the finest kind of heavy timber. The assessed valua- tion of the personal and real property in this township in 1912 as shown by the county records was $718,235. Its population in 1910 was 2,224. Of the schools, churches and lodges, see chapters of a general county nature within this volume.
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