USA > Indiana > Posey County > History of Posey County, Indiana : from the earliest times to the present, with biographical sketches, reminiscences, notes, etc. : together with an extended history of the Northwest, the Indiana territory, and the state of Indiana > Part 23
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Dr. Owen would meet each camp, and study the work accom- plished. The country was almost without settlements, and each camp had to be supplied with hunters, whose duty it was to furnish game for subsistence.
"In looking over Dr. Owen's report, one cannot fail to appre- ciate the skill and fidelity with which this great geologist per- formed this survey under immense difficulties and in such a short time. He carried with him on the trip up the Mississippi, a suite of rocks and minerals, which were exposed on a table in the cabin of the steam-boat, and he would daily give his men instruc- tion in geology and point out the characteristic rocks of the lead- ing formations and the minerals that it was likely would be found in them. In this way, by the time they reached the place to dis- embark, they had been made acquainted with the first principles of geology. In after years this great region was more syste- matically surveyed by Dr. Owen.
" The headquarters of the United States Geological Survey. continued at New Harmony up to 1856. Among the geologists connected with these surveys, who spent more or less time at New Harmony, were Dr. J. G. Norwood, B. F. Shumard, Dr. Litton, Col. Charles Whittlesey (the veteran geologist), Dr. Locke, F. B. Meek (the eminent paleontologist), and others.
" After the completion of the Smithsonian Institution building at Washington, the headquarters of the Government surveys were established in that city.
" Dr. Owen was placed in charge of the Kentucky survey and the Arkansas survey, with Dr. J. G. Norwood in charge of the Illinois survey, and Prof. Richard Owen in charge of the Indiana survey, all of whom had headquarters at New Harmony, where the advantages of comparison could be found in the extensive cabinets of the Owen collection. New Harmony then became the resort of a great many geologists, some of whom made it their home. Among those connected with the Kentucky survey were Maj. Sidney Lyon, Prof. E. T. Cox, Leo Lesquereux, Mr. Nicholson, civil engineer and topographist. In the Arkansas survey, E. T. Cox, Leo Lesquereux, Dr. Elderhorst (author of ' Elderhorst on the Blowpipe '), and Joseph Lesley; on the Illinois survey, J. G. Norwood, chief; Henry Pratten, J. H. Wolfers, Dr. Varner, A. H. Worthen and J. H. McChesney. In
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HISTORY OF POSEY COUNTY.
the Indiana survey, Richard Owen and Leo Lesquereux. From this, it will be understood why New Harmony became a kind of Mecca for geologists and naturalists. Subsequently A. H. Worthen became State geologist of Illinois, and the headquar- ters were moved to Springfield. Prof. E. T. Cox was appointed State geologist of Indiana, in 1869, and the headquarters of the survey were established at Indianapolis.
ARCHAEOLOGY.
"Posey County was the center of mechanical skill in the time of the Mound-Builders. Copper was beaten into thin plates, for buttons, gorgets and tiny bells; obdurate flint was polished as are Danish flints; shells from the ocean were pierced and polished for ornaments; beautiful vases and vessels were made in perfect symmetry; and the native pearls of the Wabash were prepared and pierced to serve as beads. Several good-sized mounds may be seen on the bluff, 170 feet above the Ohio, at West Franklin, giving a wide outlook over the beautiful river and its rich valley® lands. A clump of mounds on the bluff overlooking New Har- mony attracted the attention of our early scientists. One was opened and described by Leseuer. At the same town the old Ger- man burial ground is dotted with mounds, showing the taste of our predecessors for beauty in aspect and situation.
WATER.
"An analysis of water leached through the lacustral loam or silico-calcareous earth is found to contain an excess of magnesia, and observation shows that it has a deleterious effect on the health of those who habitually employ it for domestic and drinking purposes. During the presence of cholera, Owen observes that those who habitually used this kind of water were apt to be more frequently and seriously attacked. In such localities, at times of drought, erysipelas and typhoid fevers are liable to prevail. Mag- nesia and its metallic combinations, rendered deliquescent by ex- posure to atmosphere, are not acute poisons, perhaps, in the small quantity which exists, but long continued use produces a chronic irritation which may tend to incite disease. Hence the use of pure, filtered rain water is earnestly urged.
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263
HISTORY OF POSEY COUNTY.
ALLUVIUM.
"The 'river bottoms,' or alluvial 'meadow lands,' bordering the rivers and streams are due to causes now in action. Solid rocks, laminated or crystalline, compose the rock-ribbed crust of the earth. These, on exposure to frost, air and water, decompose or disintegrate, or, broken from their beds, are rounded, rolled, and, by the mills of nature, ground into clays, sands and pebbles- by rushing water and waves. The finer particles, as clay and sand, combined with rich organic matter, form here the produc- tive alluvial bottoms of a delta outrivaling the famous delta of Africa. This deposit is always found above or against the sides or excavated edges of older beds.
"In deep shafts at Evansville, and at Henderson, Ky., a bed of fluviatile shells was found, at a depth of forty to seventy feet from the surface, so deposited as to indicate an era when the Ohio flowed at a bed that much below its present level; but, more won- drous, it showed an early period in the river's existence, reaching back to tell the story of life, and climate, and time. These mol- lusks, then abundant here, were such as now are common in streams bordering the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico; and as they could only exist in a sub-tropic climate, they prove that such climate prevailed here. They may be intimately connected with the following epoch.
LACUSTRAL EPOCH.
" The loess or lacustral loams succeed in age. It was the epoch of great lakes or slow-flowing lagoons, with a warm climate succeeding the glacial time. These loams are an ash gray or brownish buff color, exhibiting, principally, an impalpable sand, with a small amount of clay. Sir Charles Lyell, on his visit to this county, identified this deposit as the equivalent to the loess of the Rhine, and he was enabled to know of the thermal con- ditions by the shells found abundantly at New Harmony as equiv- alent to that of Cuba or Mexico. These shells are as follows : Macrocyclas concava, Say; Zonites arboreus, Say, Hyalina inden- tata, Say ; Patula perspectiva, Say ; Helicodiscus lincatus, Say ; Pupa armifera, Say; P. fallax, Say; Strobila labyrinthica, Say; Steno- . trema hirsuta, Say; S. monodon, Rack .; S. monodon var. fraterna, Say; Vallonia pulchella, Muell .; Succinca avara, Say; Valvata tri-
2
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HISTORY OF POSEY COUNTY.
carinata, Say; Pomatiopsis lapidaria, Say; Helicina occulta, Say. Of these shells, H. occulta is of tropic life and belongs to the lat- itude of Cuba and Mexico. Prof. Swallow remarks: 'These lacus- trine fluviatile and land species of mollusca indicate a deposit formed in a fresh-water lake, surrounded by land and fed by rivers; and refer back to a time when a large portion of this val -. ley was covered by a vast lake, into which flowed various rivers and streams.' The climate was tropic or sub-tropic.
"The low, rounded hill tops, constantly recurring, appear like tumuli, and are occasionally shaped by the Mound-Builders for funeral purposes. The red, marshy clay, fat with shells of that epoch, forms a fertile soil along the shore line of the lagoon-like lake, characterized by a heavy growth of poplar, walnut, sugar tree, ash and post oaks of giant size; the lower and more sandy member of the loess, impervious to air and moisture, bears a growth of oak, hickory, gum, beach, dogwood, symbolic of the cold, close soil.
DRIFT.
"Next in order of time succeeds the great ice age; a stratum of sand and gravel resting below the loess, but upon or against the sides of older formations. It represents the sorting and sifting power of water in motion, each deposit being placed where the velocity of the current could no farther carry it; thus a ripple de- posited gravel and bowlders, a slower current left banks of coarse sand, and, finally, slow eddy-currents made banks of clay and fine sand. At the base of the hills at New Harmony are beds of gla- cial material, indicating the sorting powers of the Wabash in its youthful vigor."
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HISTORY OF POSEY COUNTY.
CHAPTER II.
SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY-NAMES OF THE EARLY RESIDENTS- THEIR CUSTOMS, INDUSTRIES, SPORTS, TRIALS AND PRIVATIONS; TO- GETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRIMITIVE SCHOOLS, BUILDINGS, TEACHERS, METHODS OF INSTRUCTION AND CORRECTION, AND OF THE CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS, CIRCUIT RIDERS, REVIVALS, MEMBERS SUNDAY-SCHOOLS, MINISTERS, HOUSES, ETC., BESIDES A FUND OF VALUABLE AND INTERESTING MISCELLANEOUS, HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL MATTER.
COON after the ceding of the claims of Virginia, on the North- west Territory, and the passage of the "Ordinance of '87" by Congress, immigrants from the old States began to pour into the lands west of the Ohio. Some came to cultivate the rich lands, some to enjoy the freedom and scenes peculiar to a new country, a part desired to hunt game and some were moved by idle curi- osity. In 1763 all the land above mentioned passed from the hands of the French into those of the English. The last named people had a greater faculty for civilizing a new country than the first, but not such a faculty for making friends of the natives. The lands of southern Indiana with a great portion of the Northwest Territory remained in dispute between the Indians and the squat- ters until the power of the great Miami Confederacy was crushed at Tippecanoe in 1811.
BLACK TOWNSHIP.
This township was not reduced to its present limits with its present name until March 13, 1822. It was named in honor of the Black family who came from North Carolina in 1806 and set- tled a short distance northwest of Mount Vernon.
The grandfather, Thomas, had four sons: James, William, Thomas and John. The three last named were in the battle of Tippecanoe, the last named having been killed at that battle. James Black was represented in the battle in the person of Robert Berger. The family has grown to be quite large, and has always been identified with interests of the township and county. Gen
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HISTORY OF POSEY COUNTY.
William Henry Harrison entered a portion of the land on which the city of Mount Vernon now stands. His claim called for 317 acres of Section 8. This claim he tried to sell to James Black, but he refused to buy because one of the McFaddin's had squatted on the land and refused to yield possession. Harrison afterward sold the land to Aaron Williams, of Big Prairie, Ill., for a horse and some money borrowed of James Black.
NAMES OF SQUATTERS.
Adam Albright squatted in the county in 1807 in the Albright settlement. The sons of Adam Albright were William, John and Adam. They were from North Carolina. The Aldridge family settled in the township in 1810; they, too, were from North Caro- lina. Of the older ones were Samuel, Elijah, Reuben, Henry (who was a gunsmith), William and Aaron. The father of these was John Aldridge, who was something of a blacksmith. The family are now quite numerous. Other early settlers were Joseph Holleman, Thomas Russell, John and Aaron Burlison, and the Todd family, who came from Charlottesville, N. C. The elder ones were Hugh and William Todd. They both were at Tippe- canoe, but the former, like the New York soldier at Bull Run, being ordered to retreat and not ordered to halt, went on home. William Todd was something of a wheelwright. Of the younger Todds there were Samuel, John, William and Darius. Thomas Jones and sons, Nathan and Milton, are also numbered among the first settlers.
George Harshman settled in what is known as "Prairie Set- tlement." Thomas and Ralph French came to the township from Kentucky. There were also the two Ashworths-Nathan and Moses, who brought two slaves to this county. Old ."Solomon," one of the slaves, lived until a few years ago. Moses Ashworth was a local Methodist preacher. Aaron Bacon was one of the early settlers of Black Township; he was one of the early sheriffs of the county, having served in that office for two terms, from 1820 to 1824. There were also Edmond Bacon, Samuel and Joseph Bacon. The last named brought two slaves to this county, but as he could not keep them in slavery here they were taken South and sold. Joseph Kennedy and Samuel Kennedy were early settlers; the former was a son-in-law of Aaron Bacon.
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HISTORY OF POSEY COUNTY.
The Netlers also were early settlers, of whom were Solomon and Jonathan, who are said to have been somewhat given to fisti- cuff. William Curtis and Joshua Curtis came from North Caro- lina and settled at the old Curtis homestead in 1811. William Curtis was the father of William B. Curtis, who is still living. All of those heretofore mentioned settled on the northwest or west of Mount Vernon, and nearly all are represented by descendants of the same name, living in the same neighborhood.
The McFaddins gave name to the bluff on the river. This family was one of the first to settle in the township, and seemed prolific in nicknames, as there were two Andrews designated by the names " Slim " and " Piddle-de-dum." The former claimed the honor of firing the first gun at Tippecanoe; the latter lived to a very old age. There were also two Jameses known as " Big " and "Little" Jim. John McFaddin was one of the same family. Other families were the Rowes, Dunns, Jeffreys and Andrews.
GAME.
The first settlers lived almost entirely on meats from wild an- imals, such as the county was filled with, consisting of deer, tur- key, occasionally a bear, and smaller game. Numerous wild hogs were found in the woods, where they were allowed to run at large until two or three years of age. Wolves were so plentiful that sheep could not be kept without enclosing them at night. They would sometimes attack sheep in daylight. Wolves were caught in steel traps, or in pens, and killed sometimes by the unerring rifle of the backwoodsman. Few bear were ever killed in the county. It is claimed the marks of their claws are still to be seen on beech trees which they had climbed! John Noel once killed a bear in the Wabash bottom.
PIONEER INDUSTRIES.
The first mill in the township, was begun by William Wier, who settled in the county in 1807. The mill was completed by James Black, it is claimed, as early as 1810; this was a horse- mill. The marks of the old mill are still visible. Black built a water-mill on Big Creek, in 1817, and afterward moved his horse- mill to the same place, so that if the water should be too low. he could use his horse-mill. Hugh Todd built a horse-mill
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HISTORY OF POSEY COUNTY.
about eight miles northwest of Mount Vernon, in 1820. The first steam-mill ever built in the township, was built by Darius North, Virgil Soaper and Andrew McFadden, in 1831, at Mount Vernon. This, at first, was a saw-mill, but buhrs were added for grinding corn. It was finally changed to a grist-mill and distil- lery. In 1838. it was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt imme- diately by other parties, and again burned in 1853. The estab- lishment was again rebuilt on an enlarged scale a few years la- ter. The buildings were burned for the third and last time in 1873. In 1832 John Wier built a water-mill within the city limits of Mount Vernon; this mill was soon afterward moved to the river bank and changed to a steam-mill.
Adam Albright built the first tannery in the township, about five miles from Mount Vernon, on the Jordan farm. This was before the quick process of tanning was known, and almost every man was his own shoe-maker. Hides were frequently tanned on the shares.
EARLY LAND ENTRIES.
James Moore, 1816; Amos Robinson, 1807; Thomas Duck- worth; 1817; Absalom Duckworth, 1811; Sylvester French, 1818; Anson S. Andrews, 1818; Daniel A. Willis, 1818; Elisha Phillips, 1818; James Duckworth, 1817; Samuel Phillips, 1818; Absa- lom Willis, 1816; Alexander Willis, 1813; Daniel Barton, 1817; Edward Blount, 1817; Joseph Cully, 1819; Reason Cavin, 1816; F. and S. Culley, 1817; Joseph P. Coburn, 1818; Aaron Moore, 1819; David R. A. Bradley, 1819; William Moffit, 1818; Aaron Burlison, 1818; Andrew McFaddin, 1812; James Moore, 1817; B. W. Moore, 1812; Samuel Gill, 1807; John Bradley, 1819; Solomon Nelson, 1813; Christopher Nelson, 1818; Edward Traf- ford, 1818; Samuel Jones, 1816; William Russel, 1818; John Burlison, 1819; Elijah Culley, 1819; David Thomas, 1814; Robert Castles, 1817; Thomas Nesler, 1816; Samuel Jones, 1807; Samuel Gregg, 1814; Thomas Templeton, 1815; Samuel Ald- ridge, 1813; Thomas Givens, 1807; William Wier, 1807; Gen. William Henry Harrison, 1807; (Section 8, Town 7 south, Range 13 west) ; Henry P. Colvin, 1818; John Russel, 1817; Jabez Jones, 1807; John Caldwell, 1815; Thomas Miller, 1814; John Warrick, 1811; Peter Wilkinson, 1817; Joseph Johnson, 1816; John Goad, 1819; Charles Allison, 1818; Jacob Kern, 1818;
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HISTORY OF POSEY COUNTY.
Samuel Eblin, 1816; Francis Miller, 1816; Aaron Robinson, 1808; John Phillips, 1816; Mark Barrett, 1816; Thomas Willie, 1817; Lowry Hay, 1812; John Walker, 1817; James Black, 1811.
SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS.
Thomas Heady is claimed to have been the first teacher in the township, as well as the county. He taught in a rude log schoolhouse built at McFaddin's Bluff, now a part of the corpor- ate limits of Mount Vernon, in 1814. Heady taught the three "R's," and was strong on spelling. There are quite a number of the old settlers who can testify to his skill in the use of the birch and his promise to use it. His practice bore evidence that he believed in "no lickin, no larnin." Heady taught in almost every neighborhood in the township. William Hooker taught school as early as 1825, in a schoolhouse built in the city limits of Mount Vernon. He also taught in the various settle- ments of Black Township. E. Allen, another of the pioneer teachers, taught in a number of places, one of which was at James Black's. Mr. Black had built a new house, a frame, the first in the township, and the old log house was used for a school- house. This is said to have been about 1816. The families of Black, of French, of Templeton and of Russel, attended at this school. Later, a schoolhouse was built just north of where Milton Black's farm lies, near the Templeton graveyard. An- other place of holding school was at, or near, John Wilbern's, in the Aldridge settlement. As the country was sparsely settled, the schoolhouses and school teachers were not numerous, nor were the buildings or furniture gorgeous. The houses were of logs, size about 12x14 feet. Seats were made of split logs, sup- ported upon wooden pegs. The floor was made of puncheons, or the bare earth, the door of boards loosely nailed together and hung on wooden hinges. The writing desk was made of a broad slab or plank fastened at one side of the building, at the proper height and inclined, and over this was a window made by cutting out a log and pasting greased paper over the aperture. Through this opening, the sun shed his feeble light upon the toiling and mischievous urchins and lordly teacher. The following were among the early teachers:
Harrison O'Banyon, who taught both in town and in the
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HISTORY OF POSEY COUNTY.
country, and was postmaster at three different times. He was considered a fair teacher in his day. and one named Larkin also taught.
A man named Williams John Wetherell taught school about fifty years ago, he is said to have had a weakness for whisky. J. S. Barwick was one of the first to teach in the seminary, Samuel Annoble being the first.
Philo Dibble, a pioneer teacher, was an intelligent man, and had a faculty of making everybody in his presence laugh, and was well liked by his pupils, while "Vince" Jones was morose and cold. Edward Clark, an old Black Township teacher, moved to Grayville, Ill., and founded the Grayville Independent, a very able paper which he edited until his death a few years ago. Two other teachers were Robert Jeffreys and a man named Bostick. In addition to those already mentioned were Isaac Knapp and George Knapp, (who is said to have been a good teacher), Cyrus Collins, H. A. Marston and Robert McCann. It has not been possible to follow these names in order, nor to give dates, as no record of their work has ever been kept. There are four other teachers whose names should not be forgotten: Charles Weaver, Thomas Smith and two of the Gages who were from New England. While one of them, whose Christian name cannot be recalled, was teaching in the Aldridge settlement, the boys undertook to enforce an old practice, not entirely fallen into disuse yet, that of making the teacher treat. He came into the school-room with an unusual look upon his countenance, and on his refusal to treat was promptly set upon by the boys, who carried him to the near- est pond of water. The ice was broken and he was unceremoni- ously immersed, and pieces of ice were placed on his bare bosom, still he remained inexorable, and but for the arrival of some of the neighbors, something serious might have resulted from it. Since the adoption of the free school system in 1853, there has been a constant, steady growth in the public schools. The town- ship trustee, Mr. Templeton, employs twenty-one teachers at an average of $2.45 per day, about the highest, if not the highest salaries in the State.
THE COUNTY SEMINARY.
The General Assembly of the State, at a very early period of the State's history, saw the necessity of popular education, and
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HISTORY OF POSEY COUNTY.
passed a law that certain fines, forfeitures, penalties, etc., before justices, circuit court, etc., should be applied for the maintenance of a county seminary of learning. The fines were to revert to the seminary fund varied from 1 cent to many dollars. Lots 107, 108, and 109 of Springfield were set apart April 20, 1822, for seminary purposes .. The first trustees of the seminary of the county were Samuel Jones, Joseph Price and William Hunter. They were appointed in 1822. Their first report was made November 8, 1825, which showed a balance of about $300 on hand. Jones resigned November, 1830, and Anson S. Andrews was appointed in his place; John Carson and Ezekiel Holland were the other trustees. In 1840, George S. Green, Asbury Jagneer and Thomas Brown were trustees. The law pro- vided that when there was a surplus of the seminary fund to the amount of $500, the trustees might, at their option, erect a semi- nary building. As the amount of money had accumulated suffi- ciently for the beginning of the erection of the building, the General Assembly February 18, 1833, appointed Gen. W. Johnson of Knox County, Daniel Grass of Spencer, and the Hon. George H. Proffit of Pike County, as commissioners, to locate said building. Efforts were made in several places to secure its loca- tion. Hon. R. D. Owen tendered ninety-two square rods of land at New Harmony, and about eighty acres of land on the Spring- field road for its benefit, and the free use of his library. McClure, by his agent, offered the McClure Library and Museum. A petition of 114 names with the property mentioned and money to the amount of $1,399.50, came from New Harmony. Elisha Phillips of the "Yankee settlement " tendered four and a half acres of land to have it located there. Lynn Township pe- titioned with a list of 121 names; Robb, with 106 names; Smith with 85, and Robinson with 68 names. Mount Vernon sent a long list of petitioners, and made a tender of $500 and about four acres of ground. The commissioners, in September, decided on Mount Vernon. The report of the treasurer, Elijah Goodwin, showed available means on hand to the amount of $1,564.78 in 1841. The trustees at once began the erection of the building near the L. & N. depot. The same building is now used for the colored schools. The building was finished in 1843, on the completion of which there was a deficiency of $194. 27. The
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