USA > Indiana > Porter County > History of Porter County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests > Part 5
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
made the portage to the St. Joseph river, down which they passed and then crossed the lake to the French posts on Green Bay.
In 1679 Robert Cavilier, Sicur de la Salle, set ont from Canada for the purpose of discovering the Mississippi river and descending it to its mouth. llis company of some thirty men, among whom were Henri de Tonti, Father Hennepin and Sieur de la Motte, passed down the Kankakee and Illinois rivers. On that occasion, La Salle failed to reach the mouth of the great river, and in 1680 he returned eastward by land, passing through Porter county on his way to Frontenac. In 1681 he again started westward-this time with a much larger company-follow- ed the lake shore, and in April, 1682, reached the mouth of the Missis- sippi, where he laid claim in the name of France to all the country drain- ed by that river and its tributaries, giving the country the name of Louis- iana in honor of the French king. By this act of La Salle's Porter county became a dependency of France. A Catholic mission was estab- lished on the St. Joseph river in 1711, under the charge of Father Char- don. In a short time a number of traders gathered about the mission, and in thicir trading and trapping excursions penetrated as far west- ward as the valleys of the Calumet and Kankakee.
All northern Indiana became a British possession in 1759, and three sprang up a spirited rivalry between the French and English for the control of the fur trade. The latter made but little headway, however, for the reason that the Indians remained loyal to the French, who under- stood their language and had for years been on friendly terms with them. Louisiana was ceded to Spain by the sceret treaty of Fontaine- bleau in 1762, and nineteen years later the Spanish authorities decided to take possession of the territory about the head of Lake Michigan. Ac- cordingly an expedition was sent out from St. Louis in the winter of 1781, under command of Don Eugenio Pierre. This expedition consist- ed of a considerable body of Spanish soldiery and about sixty western Indians. Although Don Pierre was permitted to occupy the country without bloodshead or resistance, his victory was of comparatively short duration, for the treaty of 1783, between the newly recognized republie
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of the United States and Great Britain, fixed the western boundary of the United States at the Mississippi river, and Spain was soon forced to acknowledge the elaims of the new government. The British retained possession of the post at Detroit and continued to exereise dominion over the country to the westward until 1896, when Porter county really eame under the authority of the United States.
By an aet of Congress, approved May 7, 1800, the territory north- west of the Ohio river was divided and William H. H. Harrison was appointed govenor on the 13th of the same month of the newly establish- ed Territory of Indiana. The next day John Gibson, of Pennsylvania, was appointed secretary, and a few days later William Clark, Henry Vanderburgh and John Griffin were appointed territorial judges. Gen- eral Harrison arrived at Vincennes on January 10, 1801, and two days later convened the court. The session lasted until the 26th, and in that time the governor and the judges adopted eertain regulations for the government of the territory. As these regulations had the foree of laws, they may be considered as the first legislation of a local eharaeter affecting what is now Porter county.
The first movement of the United States toward exercising authority over the country around the head of Lake Michigan was in 1803, when . Col. John H. Whistler was directed to esstablish a fort at the mouth of the Chicago river. Colonel Whistler made the voyage from Detroit to the site of the proposed fort in a government vessel ealled the "Traey," which is said to have been the first boat of any size to enter the Chicago harbor. His expedition, which marehed, by land from Detroit, passed along the southern shore of Lake Michigan. The fort was completed in the spring of 1804 and was named Fort Dearborn. It became the headquarters of the fur traders operating around the head of the lake, and wielded considerable influence over the Indian inhabitants of Por. ter county. Trappers and hunters increased in numbers along the Calu- met and Kankakee rivers; corn was eultivated upon the prairies and taken to the fort to supply the white people there, the traffie being car-
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ried on by means of eanoes which skirted the lake shore, or by paek ponies over the Indian trails.
Still no white man had established a permanent domicile within the limits of Porter county, and it was not until 1822-six years after In- diana was admitted into the Union as a state-that the smoke from a white man's cabin told that the Caneasian had taken possession. In that year Joseph Bailly located at the place afterward known as Bailly Town in Westchester township. His eabin of unhewn logs stood upon the north bank of the Calumet river in the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 27, township 37 north, range 6 west, though at that time the government survey had not been made. At the point where he located his cabin the Calumet has high banks, which doubtless influeneed him in the selection of a site for his home in the wilderness. That he aeted with authority is evidenced by the fact that he was in possession of the following document :
DETROIT, 15 March, 1814. "To All Officers Acting Under the United States :
"The. bearer of this paper, Mr. Joseph Bailly, a resident on the bor- der of Lake Miehigan near St. Joseph, has my permission to pass from this post to his residenee aforesaid. Sinee Mr. Bailly has been in De- troit, his deportment has been altogether eorreet, and sneh as to acquire my eonfidenee; all officers, eivil and military, acting under the authority of the American Goverment will therefore respeet this passport which I aeeord to Mr. Bailly, and permit him not only to pass undisturbed, but if necessary yield to him their protection.
"H. BUTLER
"Commandt M. Territory and its Dependencies, and the Western District of U. Canada. To All Officers of the A. Government."
Mr. Bailly was a French Canadian, born in Quebee in 1774, and prior to his settlement in Porter county had been engaged in the fur trade. During the War of 1812 he had been captured or arrested by both the Vol. I-3
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British and American troops, but he maintained a strict neutrality and declined to bear arms on either side. Ile married a woman who was part Ottawa Indian and brought her with him to Porter county. There he established a store and in a little while built up a good trade with the Indians. In this work he was materially aided by his wife, who thoroughly understood the Indian language and customs, though she .also understood French and readily adopted many 'of the customs of civilization. Bailly's place soon became widely known. Travelers, voyaguers, traders, trappers, missionaries, adventurers and govern- ment officers or agents alike found shelter and entertainment within the hospitable walls of the French trader's cabin. In later years religious exercises were held there and it became a rallying point in time of danger.
To Mr. and Mrs. Bailly were born five children-a son and four daughters. The son died in 1827 at the age of ten years. The eldest daughter Eleanor joined the Catholic Sisters and for some years was the mother superior of St. Mary's at Terre Haute, Indiana; the second daughter, Esther, married Colonel Whistler, and resided in Porter coun- ty until her death; Rose Victoire, the third daughter, married Francis Howe, a civil engineer of Chicago, and after his death took up her resi- . dence on the old homestead in Porter county; Hortense, the youngest, became the wife of Joel Wicker, who was the pioneer merchant of Deep River, Lake county. Upon a sandy knoll about three-quarters of a mile north of the house is the family cemetery, which received its first offer- ing in 1827, when Mr. Bailly buried there his only son and erected over the grave a large oak cross bearing the inscription : "To-day, my turn ; to- morrow, yours; Jesus Christ Crucified; have mercy upon us." He also erected there a small log building called "the chapel," though Mr. Bail- ley's granddaughter, Frances R. Howe, in "The Story of a French IIomestead," published in 1906, says; "This building was not a chapel, but merely a shelter for those who went to pray at the foot of the cross, as did all the household on Sundays and Holy Days. There was no appointed hour for a visit, neither was there any public prayer. The rule
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HISTORY OF PORTER COUNTY
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was that the visit should be made in the morning, and rach one prayed silently, according to the bent of personal devotion."
Mr. Bailly himself was buried in this little cemetery in December, 1835, other Catholie members of the family rest there, and the spot is regarded as "eonseerated ground."
Other white settlers were slow in coming and for more than ten years Joseph Bailly was the only pormenent white resident in Porter county. By his fair dealing he won the confidence of the Indians, from whom he purchased large quantities of furs. These he shipped to Maek- inae in row boats, and oeeassionally he visited Quebec to look after his commercial interests. He spent a portion of his time at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he had established a trading post, to which the west- ern Indians brought him furs from the Rock Mountain country, and even seal skins from the northern Pacific coast. These were exported from New Orleans to France. By the time of the treaty of 1832 his Porter county establishment had grown to six or eight log cabins, in which lived his French employees who assisted him in his fur trade. By treaty with the Pottawatomies in the fall of 1832, the lands in Porter eounty were thrown open to settlement. In 1833 a stage line, operated by Converse & Reeves, was started between Chicago and Detroit, and with its establishment began the actual settlement of Porter county. In that same year Jesse Morgan came from Virginia and located on sec- tion 6, township 36, range 5; a short distance southeast of the present town of Chesterton. His house became a sort of station of the Chicago and Detroit road and was soon widely known as the "Stage House." His two brothers, William and Isaac, came at the same time and settled in Washington township on the prairie which still bears their name. Others who came in 1833 were Adams S. Campbell, of Chautauqua county, New York; Reason Bell, of Wayne county, Ohio; George B. Cline, of Union eouuty, Indiana; and Henry S. Adams, of Jefferson county, Ohio, all of whom selected homesteads on Morgan prairie. The last named was accompained by his mother, his wife and three daughters. Seth Hull, who was probably the first man to locate
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a claim in what is now Center township, settled on the site of Chiqua's Town, but soon afterward sold his claim to J. S. Wallace and went farther westward into Illinois. A French fur trader established a post near the place later known as Morgan's School House in Westchester township and it is said sold elcven barrels of whiskey-his chief article of merchandise-in one winter. Samuel Flint came into Washington township, and is eredited with having made the first improvements at Prattville, and there were a few others, most of whom were without families and did not remain in the county.
The year 1834 witnessed a larger immigration. In this year occurred the birth of the first white child in the county-Reason Bell, son of Reason Bell, Sr., who had settled in Washington township the preceding year. Just a month later was born Hannah, daughter of Jesse Morgan, in Westchester township. Early in the year eame J. P. Ballard, who built the first house in the city of Valparaiso, or rather upon the site of the present city. A. K. Paine built the first dwelling and took up the first elaim in what is now Jackson township; Thomas and William Gosset selected claims in Westchester township; William Thomas, Sr., Jacob Beek, John Hageman, John I. Foster, William Frame and Press- ley Warniek brought their families and established homes in the same township; in Washington township Jacob Coleman, James Blair, Isaac Werninger, Ruel Starr and James Baun were added to the population ; Joseph Bartholomew, IIenry Adams, George, Jocob and John Schultz, and Benjamin Speneer settled in Morgan township. In June Owen Crumpacker came from Union county, Indiana, and was probably the first settler in Liberty township. He was soon joined there by William Downing, Jerry Todhunter, Elijah Casteel, Peter Ritter and Thomas Clark, generally referred to as "Beehunter" Clark.
.In 1835 the first sale of Porter county public lands was held at Laporte. Praeteally all the men who had taken elaims in Porter county were present, and there were a number of bidders from a distance. A mulatto named Landy Gavin, who had purchased his freedom for $600, settled in Westchester township, but subsequently removed to Michigan
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City. R. Cornell, Eli Hendricks and a few others settled this year in Westchester township, and the first settlement was made in Boone town- ship by Judge Jesse Johnson, who was soon followed by Isaac Cornell and Simeon Bryant. By the time of the land sales at Laporte a large number of new settlers had come into Washington township. N. S. Fairchild, Archie De Munn, Charles Allen, Josiah Allen, Rinier Blach- ley, Morris Witham, William Billings, Lewis Comer and a number of others settled in Morgan township, most of them bringing their families, The first settlements were made in Union township in this year, but it is not definitely settled who were the first men to locate there. Jackson township received a large number of new citizens, among whom were William Barnard and Benjamin Malsby. Several hardy pioneers were also added to the population of Portage township, where Reuben Hurl- burt and a few others had settled in 1834. Pleasant township was like- wise settled in 1835, by William Trinkle, John Jones, and a man named Sherwood. A number of claims were taken in Porter township, Newton Frame, Samuel and Isaac Campbell, Isaac Edwards, Jacob Wolf, Elder French and David Hurlburt being among the early settlers in that lo- cality.
In March, 1835, the commissioners of Laporte county, who at that time had jurisdiction over all the territory west of that county extending from the Kankakee river to Lake Michigan and west to the western boundary of the state, including the present counties of Porter and Lake, issued an order for the division of this region into three town- ships, as follows :
"The township of Waverly to be bounded on the north by Lake Michi- gan, east by the Laporte county line, south by the line between Townships 35 and 36 north, and west by the line through the center of Range 6 west. The township of Morgan to be bounded on the north by the south line of Waverly township, east by the Laporte county line, south by the Kanka- kee river, and west by the line through the center of Range 6 west. The.
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township of Ross to include all the attached territory west of the line through the center of Range 6 west."
At the same time the commissioners ordered an election in each of the three townships for two justices of the peace and other township offi- cers, and designated the voting places as follows: In Waverly township at the town of Waverly, a new town which had just been laid out by John Foster about two miles northwest of the present town of Chesterton; ' in Morgan township at the residence of Isaac Morgan, and in Ross town- ship at the residence of Cyrus Spurlock. In Waverly township thirty-two votes were polled. John J. Foster and Elijah Casteel were elected jus- tiees of the peace; Owen Crumpacker and Jacob Beek, constables; Eli Hendricks, superintendent of roads; Jesse Morgan and William Frame, overseers of the poor; Alexander Crawford and Edmund Tratebas, fence viewers. Twenty-six votes were cast in Morgan township. Adam S. Campbell and George Cline were chosen justices of the peace ; T. A. E. Campbell and Jones Frazee, constables; Henry Rinker, supervisor of roads; Reason Bell, Sr., and Jacob Coleman, overseers of the poor; Ben- jamin Saylor and Jacob Coleman, fenee viewers. Ross township now con- stitutes the county of Lake and the result of the election therein is not germain to the history of Porter county.
The establishment of these townships and election of officers marks the introduction of local civil government in Porter county. During the year following this election there was but a slight increase in the popula- tion of the county. The actual settlers devoted their attention to the improvement of their claims, the construction of roads, the establishment of schools, etc., and speculators overran the county seeking investments that would found their fortunes, but few of these speculators located within the confines of the county.
Pioneer life in Porter county differed but little from that in other new countries, and for the benefit of the present generation it may not be amiss to give a brief description of the industrial and social customs of that period. In the prairie distriets the matter of elearing the ground for cultivation was a comparatively easy matter, but where the land was
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covered with a growth of timber more labor was involved. After the trees were felled and eut into suitable lengths eame the "log rolling," when the neighbors would gather and pile the logs into heaps convenient for burning. These log rollings were often contests of physical strength, and the luckless individual- who could not "keep up his end of the hand spike" was made the subject of good-natured badinage. The house rais- ing was an event of importance. When the logs were collected upon the site where it was proposed to ereet the cabin, the settlers would frequently come for several miles to assist in the "raising." Four men skilled in the use of the ax were selected to "carry up the corners." These men sat astride the logs as they were hoisted upon the walls, shaped a "saddle' upon the upper side of one log and cut a notch to fit it in the under side" of the next. By this means the eracks between the logs were made smaller and the walls rendered stronger. After the walls were up the door-there was usually. but one-the windows and the fireplace were sawed out and the ends of the logs supported by an upright pieee held in position by wooden pins. The opening for the fireplace was generally four or five' feet aeross and about the same in height. Outside the wall of the cabin a pen was built and lined with heavy clay walls as high as the top of the fireplace or a few feet above. On top of this pen smaller stieks were used and the whole was plastered with clay or mortar to a height a foot or two above the roof of the cabin. The openings between the logs were "chinked"with pieces of timber which were covered with elay or mortar to keep out the cold. Usually the floor was of puncheons, smoothed on the upper side with the broadax or adz. The door was frequently made of rough boards or pieces of timber rived out with an instrument called a frow. It was hung on wooden or leather hinges and provided with a wooden lateh, to which was attached a string which ran through a small hole in the door. To gain entrance one had but to pull the string and lift the lateh. At night the string was drawn inside and the door was locked. This custom gave rise to the expression "The lateh string is always out," to indicate that one would be welcome at any time. These frontier cabins were often constructed without the use of nails, or hard-
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ware in any form, the clapboards forming the roof being held in place by poles fastened at each end with wooden pins.
Money was scarce in the early days and few were able to hire help. Hence the enstom of exchanging work among the pioneers was a common one. In addition to the log rollings and house raisings there were wood choppings and corn huskings, when the entire neighborhood would go from house to house, taking care of the corn crop or laying in the supply of winter fuel. Among the women there were quiltings,, rag cuttings, in which the material for the rag carpet was prepared, wool pickings, apple parings, ctc., the last coming only after orchards had reached a bearing age. There were no stoves, and the cooking was done in primi- tive utensils at the huge fireplace, the housewife often wearing a large sunbonnet to protect her face from the heat while she was preparing a meal. From a pole in the throat of the chimney was suspended a large iron kettle, in which were boiled meat and several kinds of vegetables at the same time. Bread was baked in a long-handled iron skillet, which was placed over a bed of coals and after the dough was placed therein covered with an iron lid upon which hot coals were heaped in order that the bread might bake from top and bottom at the same time. Nearly every settler kept a few sheep and the spinning wheel and the loom were to be found in almost every household. The wool or yarn was dyed with indigo,or the bark of trees and woven into cloth, which was then made into clothing by hand, as the sewing machine was not invented until years later. "Store clothes" were extremely rare, and nearly every one wore "homespun." Light for the cabin was generally provided by tallow candles, made by drawing a cotton wick through a tin cylinder and then pouring melted tallow around it. When the tallow cooled it was drawn from the mould and laid away until needed for use. Candle moulds usually consisted of four, six or eight cylinders in a single frame. Arti- ficial light even of this simple character was often scarce, and is was no uncommon thing for the family to sit in front of the open fire until time to retire, the fire giving the only light in the cabin.
The sports of the men were nearly always of an athletic nature, such
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as foot racing, wrestling, pitching quoits or horseshoes, ete. Another common sport was the "shooting match," in which a spirited contest in markmanship with the rifle occurred. Bayard R. IIall, in his "New Purchase," thus describes one of these matches: "The distance was stepped off and marked-eighty-five yards off hand and one hundred yards with a rest. The rests were various, some of the marksmen driv- ing forked stakes in the ground and placing on these a horizontal piece, some using a common chair, some lying flat with a chunk or stone before them for support, and yet others standing beside a tree with the barrel near its muzzle pressed against the boll. For targets each man had a shingle carefully prepared with, first, a charcoal-blackened space, and op this for a ground a piece of white paper about an inch square. From the center of the paper was cut a small diamond shaped hole, which, of course, showed black, and two diagonal lines from the corners of this interseeted each other at the center of the diamond, thus fixing the exact center of the target. About this point, with a radius of four inches, a eirele was drawn, and any shots striking outside of this cirele lost the match to the marksman. Each contestant had three shots, and if all struck within the eirele and outside the exact center the measurement was taken from the center to the inner edge of the bullet hole. These measurements were then added up, and the one having the shortest 'string' won 'the prize."
In every settlement there was one or more who could play the violin, though he was generally known as a "fiddler." His services were fre- quently called into requisition, as the house raising was nearly always followed by a "house warming," which meant a bounteous supper and a few hours spent in dancing the minnet or the old Virginia reel. Then there were the singing schools, in which the song book known as the "Mis- souri Harmony" was generally used, the debating clubs, mock legisla- tures, ete. In winter bob sled parties formed one of the principal sources of pleasure, and after the district school was firmly established spelling school furnished popular entertainment. To one who lives in the present day of macadamized roads, automobiles, electric lights, telephones, inter-
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urban railways, popular places of amusement, and the various other con- veniences of modern civilization, the life of the pioneer may seem crude and commonplace. True, that life was one of hardship in many respects, but the frontiersman's wants were few and easily supplied. It should not be forgotten that these sturdy pioneers who marched boldly into and subdued the wilderness paved the way for the many blessings the pres- ent generation enjoys, and as one refleets upon their labors and victories he may agree with Robert Burns that
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