History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 145

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664

USA > Indiana > Randolph County > History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships > Part 145

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ROADS.

Three old routes of travel passed through Ward Township- from Winchester to Ridgeville, from Winchester to Portland via Deerfield, and from Greenville northwest through Deerfield, Ridgeville and Fairview.

Two railroads pass through the township now -- the Pan-Han- dle and the "Shoo- Fly," or, more strictly, the P., C. & St. L., and the Richmond & Grand Rapids Railroads. Three stations are in the township-Saratoga and Randolph, upon the P., C. & St. L .; and Stone Station, upon the Richmond & Grand Rap- ids Railroad. They are but small towns. The larger towns adjacent -- Union City, Winchester, Ridgeville, Farmland-sap their vitality and prevent their growth.

One principal pike, the one extending north toward Portland, has been in existence for several years, and it is of priceless val- ne to those low and level regions, erewhile wellnigh impassa- ble. The smooth and gravelly surface, the solid highway, is widely in contrast to the "corduroy " that used to stretch its rough and weary length for miles and miles at intervals toward the northern regions-northward, constantly northward, farther and still farther, across swamps, through jungles, over creoks and rivers, through bottomless morasses, into the gloomy, over- shadowing forests, those rude paths, those primitive roads -- they could not be called highways -- would unroll their endless extent. And now these awful " corduroys." which used to jerk and shake and pound and rattle, with their endless " pounce " and " bounce,"

by sunlight and starlight, in rain or in shine, come winter come summer, do that fearful work no more forever!

1. ; Other pikes also are in process of construction-one east and west through Stone Station, through Saratoga east and west, and perhaps others still.

ENTRIES BY SECTIONS.

Township 21, Range 14-Section 1, 3, 19, 1836-37; Sec- tion. 2, 22, 1837; Section 4, 15, 1836; Section 5, 25, 1832- 37; Section 6, 27, 1837-38; Section 7, 0, 17, 1817-36, Benjamin Lewallyn, Joel Cansdy, Joseph Hinshaw; Section 8, 1817-18, Jacobs, Kite, June 10, 1817; Sections 10, 12, 18, 1817-37, James Wilson, D. & J. Richardson, James Jacobs; Section 11, 23, 1831-37; Section 13, 1816, James Strain, October 16, 1816, firat entry in township (whole section st once); Section 14, 1819 -38, Joseph Cravens; Section 16, school land; Sections 20, 29, 1820-37, Martin Boots, Elias Kizer; Section 21. 1818-36, Rich- ard Beeson; October 5, 1818; Section 24, 1818-37, James Mas- sey, November 5, 1818; Section 28, 1819-36. John Hall, Novem- ber 18, 1819: Section 30, 1822-38, Henry Kizer, May 4, 1822; Section 31, 1820-38; Sections 26, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36, 1836-38. Ward was entered between 1816 and 1838, inclusive.

TOWNS.

Deerfield -- Location, Sections 16 and 17, 21, 14, south side of Mississinewa River; Curtis & Butler, proprietors; twenty- nine lots; streets, north and south, Meridian; east and west, Sycamore, Main, Hickory. Recorded October 14, 1833.

Lank's Addition (east of old town)-S. D. Woodworth, sur- veyor; twenty-six lots. Recorded October 10, 1837.

Edger & Searl's Addition-E. Edger and --- Searl, pro- prietors; twenty-eight lots. Recorded June 3, 1852. Winches- ter, seven and a half miles; Union City, ten and a half miles; Raudolph, one mile; Farinland, fourteen miles; Stone Station, four miles; Ridgeville, three miles ; Fairview, twelve miles; Portland (Jay County), ten miles.

The village was laid out in 1833, by Messrs. Curtis & But- ler. and surveyed by D. W. McNeil, of Portland. The town is lo- cated north of Winchester, on the State road laid out from Greenville west, and running by Fairview into Delaware Coun- ty. A pike connects the place with Winchester. The "Pan- Handle " (P., C. & St. L.) Railroad is within about a mile south of the town. The village grew at one time to be of considerable size, and was in early days the center of a large and prosperous trade, the best time in that respect being from 1845 to 1855. The principal business men of the place during or before that time were Messrs. Butler, Searl, Edger, Whipple and others. Much travel passed northward and westward upon the roads crossing each other at that place, although those highways, especially from Winchester north, were often wellnigh impassable, notably iu the winter and spring. Much grain and stock changed hands there; many goods were sold; a woolen factory, a grist-mill, etc., were built, and altogether, that town became a lively place.

But the era of railroads in this region began, and drew the enrrent of business elsewhere. Especially since the Union & Logansport and the R. & G. R. R. R.'s have been made has the town rapidly declined. There is now very little business, There is one small store; the wool factory has been burned; no grain, etc., is bought or handled, and trade is wellnigh ex- tinct. The grist-mill still prospers, though its custom has fal- len off. At one time it had a great run of business, people com- ing from Wabash, Centerville, Greenville, etc. There were other mills, but the Deerfield Mill had a great reputation, and drew much custom from an extensive region. A large number of business men have been at the town during its existence. Merchants : Edward Edger, Fearl, U. Pierce, Fitzpatrick, Goorge Wilt, Robert Watson, Jolin Collett, David T. Holly, William Drew, Sam Clevinger, Daniel Pierce.

Hotels - Messrs. Thomas Butler, Searl, Mock, Voris, Wall, Pierce, Collett, Whipple, etc.

Physicians-Messrs. Longshore, McAfee, Banks, Washburn, Snow, Hearn, Smith, Hall, Bosworth, Lambert, Purcell, Bal- lard, Clevinger, etc.

Mr. Ritenour built a water grist-mill on Mississinewa River

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in early times, which was bonght by Jason Whipple in 1847, and run by him till 1855. Jason Whipple built a new steam- mill in 1855, still in operation. A woolen factory was here for many years, owned at different times by Robert Murray and Den. nis Hess, etc. It was twice burned, and the last time (1875) was not rebuilt. There was at one time a tannery and an ash factory.

There are at present one small store, one grist-mill, one smith shop, one church (Methodist), one schoolhouse, one post office, one toll gate, one saw-mill (near by). A new station (Randolph) has grown up where the pike crosses the Pan-Handle Railroad, one inile south of Deerfield.

The principal citizens of Deerfield and vicinity are da- son Whipple, Willis Whipple, Daniel Pierce, Benjamin Clevinger, Dr. Purcell, Burgett Pierce, William C. King. John Clapp, Quincy Pierce, John Michael, John Sipe, David Harker, Benja- min Clevinger (east of town), Robert Collins and others. There is a thriving store a mile north of town, on the pike which crosses the Mississinewa just north of the place.

At one time, Deerfield was t e only post office between Win- chester and Fort Wayne. Deerfield contains thirty houses and 200 people.

Randolph-Location, on Pan-Handle Railroad. eleven miles west of Union City, one mile south of (old) Deerfield, three miles cast of Ridgeville, at the point where the Deerfield & Winches- ter Pike crosses that railroad. upon Sections 16, 17, 20 and 21, 21, 14. I. H. Fitzgerald, proprietor. Recorded May, 1867; seventy-four lots; size of lots, 44x125 feet; streets sixty feet wide; Main and Line streets, eighty feet wide; alleys, twenty feet wide.

Miller's Addition-Sylvester Miller, proprietor. Recorded July 8, 1874; twenty-four lots. The streets of the town are, north and south, Diamond. Pearl, Pike; east and west. Miller, Line, Main, South. The town lies on both sides of the railroad.

The growth of the place has been slow, and it is yet quite small, being too near Ridgeville (a point where two important railroads cross each other) for extensive trade. Some business, however, is done, and considerable grain and stock are handled.

There are as follows: One store, one smith shop, one ware- house, one post office, one toll gate, one schoolhouse, one lodge F. & A. M., one lodge I, O. O. F. Its chief citizens are Alex- ander Voris, Enos Myers, Benjamin Hawthorne, Thomas Adding- ton, Darius Orr and others. The town contains about twenty houses and one hundred people.

Saratoga-Location, Section 25, 21, 14, ofi Pani-Handle Rail- road; fifty-two lots; J. C. Albright, proprietol. The streets are, north and sotith, Barber: east and west, Washington. Record- ed Angust 10, 1875

[NOTE .- Saratoga has been a town ten or twelve years or more than that. ]

The town was begun under the name of Warren Station, abont 1867, when the Pan-Handle Railroad was built, though the plat seems not to have been recorded till 1875. It grew up immediately upon the completion of the Union & Logansport Railroad, and has become the center of some trade.

There are three stores-John & J. F. Warren (grain-buyers). Cyrus Bowsman. Jacob Lucas. The smith shops are Davis, Eli- jah Frazier. There aro two wagon shops -William Davis, Philip Devore; one saw-mill, J. St. Johns, corn-eracker: one milliner shop, Miss Bowsman; one post office, Cyrus Bowsman; one hotel, Turns Bowsman; one schoolhouse, two rooms; two churches - United Brethren, frame, 1870; Methodist Episcopal, brick, 1877; Iwo physicians -Messrs. Evans and Ford; three carpenters - Harrison Pogne, George Browse, Enos Cole; thirty houses. 150 people, one cemetery.

The town has some growth, and does a fair business. It is even miles from Union City, four miles from Randolph and five miles from Deerfield.

Residents in vicinity not already named are John Warren, in 'own; James Evans, southwest; Freeborn Charlton, west; Cyrus Cox, south; William Gaylor, southwest; Elisha Lawler, west; Joseph Lawlor, north; V. R. Warren, north; Elihu Warren. north; Mrs. Lawler, west; N. Bowsman, north; George Limbard, north west.

Stone Station (Clark Post Office) -Small unincorporated town and station on Richmond & Grand Rapids Railroad, on Sections 30 and 31, 21, 14. four miles from Winchester and four miles from Ridgeville.

It is not a laid out town, but a small station on the Rich- mond & Fort Wayne Railroad, started about the time of the completion of that road, 1870. The place is small, with but lit- tle business.

There is one little store, kept by Thomas H. Johnson. There is a post office, Thomas H. Johnson; also one grain-buyer, Thom- as H. Johnson. There is a saw mill owned and run by Barnes & Clark. The place contains five or six houses. One stock- buyer lives near-George Wesler. He buys stock extensively, and Mr. Johnson handles a fair amount of grain. One pike has been built, passing east and west through the place, intending to connect the pike running north from Farmland with the Winchester & Deerfield pike. There seems no reason why Stone Station should not become a thriving little country center, suit- able for a quiet village residence, near the railway but away from the bustle of a crowded town. A Free-Will Baptist society was formed in the vicinity in 1880-81, the meetings being held in Clark's Schoolhouse, one-half mile from the station. A church is soon to be built.

A fearful casualty occurred at the place in March, 1882. The boiler of a steam saw-mill exploded, killing several persons outright, and wounding others.

BIOGRAPHY.

Benjamin Clevinger was born in Pennsylvania in 1816, and came to Raudolph County, Ind., about 1850; married first in Pennsylvania, but lost his wife there, and was married again, in Randolph County, in 1851. His second wife was Sarah Ann Smiley, who was born in 1838, and whose parents moved to Ran- dolph County the same year. Mr. Clevinger moved to Pennsyl- vania after living awhile here, but he returned again and took up his permanent abode where he now lives, two miles east of Deerfield, on the Greenville State road. He has had only three children. He is a thriving farmer, owning about one hundred and forty acres of land; a Democrat in politics, and has been Township Trustee during two terms-1876-80. He is very care- ful of the public funds. Some think a little freer use of money would have been better economy in the long run. Mr. Clevinger is a respectable and influential citizen.

William Doty was born in Maryland. He came to Butler County, Ohio, and to Randolph County, Ind., the latter removal having been made in 1828. He was the father of eleven chil- dren, nine of whom are still living, and seven are married. Mr. Doty was a farmer, residing just across the Mississinewa River from Deerfield. He died about twenty years ago, and his wife sixteen years ago. There were but few settlers in what is now Ward Township when Mr. Doty came. The Masseys had come and gone; the Kizers, Burgett. Pierce, Mr. Ritenour, Daniel B. Miller, Riley Marshall and a few others were living in the woods in that region. The town of Deerfield was not laid out (at least not recorded) till five years afterward (1833). A few settlers found their way to the Mississinewa very early, but the whole region remained nearly a wilderness till after 1825.

Samuel Emery. Among the quaint personages of the pioneer times of Randolph Co., Samuel Emery was conspicuous. We regret that no detailed history of him has been obtained. He was an early settler, among the first, and he died, a very old man, only a short time ago, yet no one has been found who can give a definite history of his life. Andrew Aker, in his " rem- iniseences," furnishes a hint from which to draw a picture of the odd, quaint, sturdy, brave, honest backwoodsman. He says, in substance: "There came to my store in Winchester a strange, uncouth-looking fellow, with a bundle of skins on his back. His pants were buckskin, and ripped up to the knee: the rim of his straw hat was half torn off, his shoes were ragged and tied up with hickory bark, and everything else in proportion. He wished to ' trade out' his roll of buckskins. He got several articles; we reckoned up, and found the account nearly even. He then said, 'I wish to get some other things-powder, lead and flints; will

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you trust me?' I asked Charles Conway. 'Oh, Sam Emery is all right; he is one of the substantial citizens out on the Missis- sinewa.' So I 'trusted' him, and he paid promptly. He traded much with me afterward; dealing always fairly, like the honora. ble man that he was." But no other story of him is at hand, and we add no more. | Mrs. Evans, daughter of Allen Wall, who settled on the river in 1819, says that Samnel Emery came years after her father, probably in 1826. He lived two miles north and one mile east of Deerfield, north of the river. ]

Since writing the above, another incident has come to hand, which is so odd that we cannot withhold it. As to the truth of the tale we can say nothing, for we know nothing. A truthful man told us, but how it came to him we cannot tell.

Samuel Emery lost some money, and was considerably wor- ried, for " money was money" in those times; besides, no one likes to lose a thing by having it stolen, at any time.

Edward Edger, then at Deerfield, thinking perhaps he could guess where the money had gone, since " boys will be boys," and sometimes think they need more than their "pap" thinks they do, advised Mr. Emery to a certain course, which he followed faithfully. He took the Bible and read a certain chapter five nights in succession. and told his family that he was doing it to find out who took his money, and that the one who had taken it would die on the fifth night. The last night. as the old man took down the Bible for the fifth time and began to read, one of the boys sang out, " Stop, dad; you might have a death in your own family!" He stopped, and made no more inquiry for his money (at least, not among the outside world). What transpired between "dad " and the boy, this deponent saith not, for a very good reason-he does not know. The boy who is concerned may be alive yet for all the author knows; if so, it is to be hoped that the whilom lad, be the story irue or not true, will not be angry, since the erime, even if it were so, was not a very heinous one; and the story was really too good not to be told, and because, in so large and dry a work as a history has to be, some fun is, in fact, a sine qua non (thing indispensable); since also, according to the old couplet,

" A little nonsense now and then Is relished by the best of men."

Some of the descendants of Mr. Emery are living in the region still.

Perry Fields lives east of Deerfield, on the old State road, and is a prosperous farmer and land-owner. He was born in North Carolina in 1802. His father moved to Tennessee in 1804. Perry Fields married Millie Bragg in 1826, and in 1833 they emigrated to Randolph County. Ind., settling in Ward Town- ship. Ho bought 160 acres in the school section, and, soon after, forty acres more. He has kept on buying at various times until he now owns 365 acres. They have had five children. Three only are living, and they are married. Mr. Fields is a Methodist and a Democrat. He is aged. but active and! sprightly for his years. Mrs. Fields died very suddenly in the early winter of 1880 (not far from Christmas). She was found in the morning, just before breakfast, sitting in her chair, entirely dead. She had been a member of the Methodist Church for nearly sixty years; in fact, ever since she was a young girl. She was au ne- tive Christian, and is greatly missed from her circle of friends and acquaintances. Her remains lie buried in Prospect Come- tery, and her aged, sorrowing companion is sadly, patiently waiting the tinal hour. when his body shall be laid solemnly and quietly by the side of that of this life-long bosom friend, and when his ransomed spirit shall go to meet her in the Paradise of rest on high.

[ Perry Fields died August. 1882, aged eighty years. ]

Jesse Gray was born September 9, 1789, at Newberry, S. C. His mother was a native of Ireland, and his father, having been born in Maryland, fonght through the war of the Revolution, and emigrated to Wayne County, Ind .. in 1810. Jesse Gray married Sarah Stone in 1808, and in 1811, in company with a brother-in-law, they set out for Indiana. the wives, children and movables "being brought upon horses equipped with paek-sad- dles." They did not sleep under a roof upon the route, but, finding some relatives in Knox County, Ky .. they stopped there,

doing this the more willingly since the Indians north of the Ohio River were hostile; the war with England was at hand, and the Indians mostly sided with the British. At the first call for volunteers. Jesse Gray answered the call, and joined the first company from that region. They were placed under Gen. Har- rison's command at Cincinnati, and served in Northwestern Ohio. Returning from the war at its elose, he found a wife overjoyed to see her husband once more, no word from him having reached her ears during his absence. They next moved to Wayne Coun- ty, Ind., soon afterward to Butler County, Ohio, and in 1820, according to his memory, they emigrated to the banks of the Mis- sissinewa River, in Randolph County, where he epent the time upon which, in his old age he looked back as his happiest years. His life was, however, by no means quiet, but full rather of ad- venture and romance. Deer-hunting, bear-killing, Indian-shoot- ing and such like were but the events of his every-day career. He roamed the forests far and wide, Wayne, Randolph and Jay Counties, and we know not how much larger a scope of country, were the scenes of his wild pranks and his narrow escapes. Northern Randolph is full of verbal reminiscences of the old hunter, but accurate details are nevertheless not easily obtained. When Fleming, the Indian, was killed at Lewallyn's by Jesse Gray, and Smith, the mulatto whom Fleming had wounded, Gray was living on Mud Creek, near Elias Kizer's. On account of the trouble arising from that homicide, he left the county and the State, and resided for several years near Hill Grove, Ohio. Mr. Clapp, resident near Deerfield, saw him at Bridge's Mill, below Greenville, in 1826. Tyre Puckett says that Jesse Gray was indicted for the killing of Fleming, and that his father, Jo. seph Puekett, was one of the grand jury that found the indict. mont. William Warren says he was at Jesse Gray's honse in 1832, and that he resided then near Hill Grove, Darke Co., Ohio. A lady resident near Deerfield says that her sister lived on old Jesse Gray's place five years, from about 1845 to 1859, and that that was north of the Loblolly, near the line of Adams and Wells Counties; that he was then a very old man, with a number of great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandehildren. [She seems to be mistaken as to his great age at that time, since, if he was born in 1789, he would be in 1859 only seventy years of age. ] His adventures were wild and romantie, and at least one person has written a life of the old pioneer, which, however, remains in phonetie manuscript, having never been published. The facts as to his early life before coming to Randolph or its vicinity were obtained from the gentleman who prepared the manuscript referred to, and who still [1881] has it in possession. Judge Wharry, of Greenville, an old man, and an almost life-long resident of that town, says that Jesse Gray. as early as 1824, had killed the Indian Flem- ing, had fled from Randolph on account of it. and was living near Hill (rove. He had a good farm there of 100 acres, but was a famous huuter. Judge Wharry says he has bought great quantities of furs and deerskins from Jesse Gray while he dwelt at Hill Grove, and also that Mr. Gray must have moved away to the " Loblolly " about 1840. Darke County History mentions Jesso Gray as settling probably the first in Jackson Township, a mile or two from Union City, Ohio, and not far from Hill Grove. After residing for many years north of the Loblolly. he is said to have removed to Jay County, in the region of Camden, and to have died there some years ago. His father, John Gray, is thought to have lived and died one mile north of Deerfield, hav- ing had eleven children. Jesse Gray himself was twice married, and had a large family. His brother, Hezekiah, went to Texas, and died there.

It is related of him in Darke County History that he used to tell of himself that at one time he encountered an armed Indian. He was armed also, and, being ou equal footing, they, by mu- tual agreement, fired off their riffes and started for the next town. They came to a creek, and the Indian stooped down to drink. Jesse said that he left. the Indian at the creek. What was done with him was not told, but the inference is that the old hunter made way with the Indian.

David S. Harker was born in Gloucester County, N. J., near Woodstown, January 22, 1827. His paren emigrated to Ohio

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in 1830, crossing the mountains in a wagon. He is the eldest of nine children-six boys and three girls. His father was a farmer, renting land in Butler and Warren Counties. Ohio. D. S. Harker, when twenty-one years old, married a daugh- ter of Cornelius Whitenack, near Foster's Crossing, Warren Co., Ohio. Like his worthy father, they were very poor. His father gave him a eow and 'two pigs, and his mother gave him a bed; and they began housekeeping in an old shanty that had long been the resort of cattle, sheep and swine, having no chimney, win- dows nor doors, and built of round logs, in the middle of an open field. His wife's parents were also from New Jersey. They had a family of twelve children. The parents of both are dead, except his wife's mother, who is eighty years old, having 100 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren. Five years passed after he was married before he owned a horse. That time was spent in working by the day, month or job, entting eord-wood, carrying rock on Gov. Morrow's mill-dam, up to his knees in water, etc., etc. He then purchased a team and began farming as a renter in Butler County, Ohio. In three years, he came to Ward Township, and purchased land where he now re- sides, and where he expects to spend the rest of his days. They have had twelve children; ten are living -three sons and seven daughters. Mr. Harker has been an active and earnest Method- ist for more than thirty years, zealous for the church and for education, temperance and every good cause. He is a firm be- liever in the religion of the Bible, maintaining that Christ in- stituted His church for the salvation of the world, and that all other organizations are only "side-shows, " good enough, perhaps, in their place, but powerless to save the souls of men. He says: " I believe that any man that preaches temperance and sinokes and chews tobacco a hypocrite, and also that any young man who will choose an honorable occupation and stick to it. with econo- iny, health and good habits, will certainly succeed."

Mr. Harker is an active, intelligent, estimable man, an honor to the community and respected by all who know him. He is a thorough Republican, and presents a pleasing spectacle of sue- cessful activity, being the owner of an excellent farm, with a good and substantial dwelling, for the comfort of his swarming family of ten living children.

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History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 145

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman Number of Pages: 664

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664