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 32

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 32

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" Thus many and severe have been my afflictions from my youth even till this day, but I have trusted in the Lord, and trust Him still."

ELISHA T. BAILEY.

"Dr. Silvers used to live near Ridgeville. He and his cousin, when small boys, were captured by the Indians, and lived and traveled with them for many years (1811 and onward) from Vin- cennes to Muncie, Greenville, Ft. Wayne, etc.

" When the Indians captured the boys, the clothes were thrown on the bank of a creek to make believe the children had been drowned.

" The Indians often passed through portions of Randolph County.

"Dr. Silvers used to say there was a spot on Nolan's Fork, under a knotty walnut tree (he thinks on the farm of John Thomas, one of the first settlers), where the Indians had buried money. The doctor has gone, in later years, and dug to find it; whether he succeeded or not, probably no mortal knows.

"At another place, near Richard Corbitt's, he said metal had been found.

"On Green's Fork, he said, an old Indian buried a lot of money, and the doctor spent months in hunting for it, but whether he found that or not no one ever knew but himself.

" The Indians used to have copper kettles (gotten in trade with the English or the French), and settlers have found some of them. Mr. Frazier, on Green's Fork, found one in early times."

WILLIAM M. LOCKE.

"The first preaching appointment at Spartansburg was started by Ohio preachers at Brother William McKim's. The Method

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

ists built their first church there, in 1837, and their present one in about 1869.

" The first preaching was about 1833. We joined in 1834, in Mr. McKim's barn. Camp-meetings were held a little west of town three different seasons. The preachers in charge were Revs. Hall, Bruce and Smith. Large numbers joined the church.

" A Mr. Manning died near the camp ground. He had been sick, and was feeling better, and he wished so much to attend meeting, that he went before he was able, and by the excitement and the night air he took a relapse, and was dead before they got him home.

"There had been a little mill where Jessup's mill was after- ward built, but it was gone. The "Quaker Trace " had been cut out, but as you went farther north, the track went " all over the woods," over saplings, round logs and ponds, etc.

" John Alexander used to tell how, in high water, the cattle would get on the bridges, and the puncheons would be floating, and the oxen would get their legs between the puncheons, and the teamsters would unyoke the cattle and let them swim out. How the wagons were got across cannot be stated. Old Thorn- ton Alexander and his boys (colored) used to wagon regularly to Ft. Wayne."

ARTHUR M'KEW, 1831, RIDGEVILLE.

" When I was a lad, thirteen years old, Iwent with father to Fort Wayne, with two yoke of oxen and a wagon ; and he worked there two weeks. When about to start for home, father found a man who was going to Logansport, and father waited, went with him, taking the oxen and wagon, and sending me home by the "Quaker Trace," alone. It took me five days to make the journey. It was a lonely trip, and I camped out several nights. Father, in coming home, lay out the last night. There was a heavy snow- fall, and he spread the blanket over him and raked the snow on and around him to keep him warm.

"At one time, Thomas Shalor, whose home was near Camden, Jay County, Ind., came to mill, and after bacon, etc., with a wagon and two yoke of oxen. As he started home, in passing a drain bridged with poles, an ox got a leg between the poles, and broke it. Mr. S. came back for help, and hired me (a boy four- teen years old) to take a yoke of oxen and help him through. As we were crossing the "maple slash," in Jay County, the ox- tongue broke. It was in winter, and the snow was six inches deep. Shaler went to Mr. Welch's, four miles off, to get help- and tools. He returned after dark with an ax and an auger and two men. Joseph Hawkins (another boy, fourteen years old) and myself took the "back tracks" of the men, getting to Mr. Welch's after midnight, nearly chilled through. She got up (the woman was in bed), and gave us some " corn dodger," and it was good, sure. The men came with the wagon and team, near day- light, with feet badly frost-bitten. After breakfast, Shalor and I went on, getting to Philip Brown's for dinner (corn bread and venison)-near Liber-and staying at Judge Winters' that night. In the morning, we cut the ice and crossed the Salimony, and went on through the thick woods, there being no road ; and away in the night we got within half a mile of Shalor's cabin; but there was a creek and ice, and the oxen would not cross ; so we tied them to the wagon, and, shouldering some meal and bacon, footed it to the cabin. But that cabin was a sight. No daub- ing, no chinking, no floor, no fireplace, no chimney ; fire in the middle of the cabin, and the house filled with smoke. The woman got up, cooked us some meat and gave us some dodger, and we lay down. That woman and her four little girls had been there alone for more than a week, and were out of food. [See J. Haw- kins' statement.] The next morning I started for home with the cattle. I had passed Judge Winters' about 1 P. M., when I met father, with Mr. Lewallyn and Mr. McCartney, hunting me. We got home about midnight, I having been absent five days.

" At another time, a horse had strayed. He was " spanciled," and I " trailed" him. I had on a rimless straw hat, and no coat nor vest, but simply tow shirt and pants, and was barefooted. I

followed the trail to near Huntsville, stayed all night with a " Dunkard," and the next morning went with him to a " woods meeting." The preacher made inquiry, and a man came and told me he had seen such a horse, and where. The horse had been raised at Connersville, and seemed to be heading thither. I went to Connersville, Cambridge City, Milton, Jacksonsburg, Waterloo, etc., but no horse could I find, and so I set out for home. I met father near Maxville, hunting for me. I told him what the man had said, and he went and found the horse in that neighborhood. I had somehow missed him. My travels had been one hundred miles or more, and lasted seven days. At Waterloo they thought me a runaway apprentice, and were about to arrest me as such ; but a man there happened to know my father and myself, and they let me go. And truly I was a sight to behold, and my story, though true, was entirely unlikely, and people would not believe me.

" Flatboating was a great business in those times. We used to steer the boats down the river over the dams, etc., to the Wa- bash, or elsewhere, and then go home on foot. Once, five of us were hired to take five boats down, all lashed together. We got through all safe, got our pay twenty miles below Marion, and "put" for Randolph. We struck south for the road (what there was), and so to Marion. Billy Gray said, "Boys, this makes my thirteenth trip. I always had plenty of company at the start, but none when I got home." We set forth that day for " keeps." The next day, Billy Gray was not well, but he warmed up and left us. We had to wade waist-deep that day to cross a stream. The next day he went ahead again, but we passed him before he reached Fairview. Gray stayed at Elijah Thomas', south of Fair- view. Addington stayed at Caylor's Tavern, Roe came home, three miles from Ridgeville, and I got home to Ridgeville at mid- night, having traveled that day more than fifty miles, often wad- ing, and in places waist deep.

[NOTE .- Arthur McKew died at his home, in Ridgeville, Jan- uary, 1882.]

JAMES PORTER.

"George Porter, my brother, came out in the spring of 1829, and raised crops, and then came back and moved his family to Randolph, three or four weeks before I arrived there.

" There was a mill at Ridgeville, when I came. Henry Hinchy built a water-mill on the Mississinewa, after a while, for corn and wheat, bolted by machinery, in (about) 1844.

" The first school was taught by George Porter's wife, about one-half mile west of our house (in Ward Township), about 1836.

" We used to go to meeting (M. E.), at Riley Marshall's house, near (what is now) Prospect Meeting-House. Mrs. P. used to go afoot and " tote" the baby-three miles. Mrs. Porter used to be greatly afraid of the Indians, though they never injured her. Travelers would often pass from Winchester to the "Quaker Trace." We were glad to see them and have them stay over night.

"The Brockuses would drink and fight. Their wives were fine women, but the men used them badly. They would not work, but would go off hunting or running about. The women would be at home with nothing to eat.

" I went three times to Cincinnati to enter land-forty acres each time-afoot, except, partly, the second time. Then I rode a colt to Hamilton, and sold it there for $35 cash, to enter land with. I had been offered $100, credit, for the horse at home, but I was in a hurry to enter my land, for fear somebody else would get it before me. I went afoot to Cincinnati, and home again.

" Thomas Shaler lived in a cabin on this place (and his brother; but they moved off). He had been here three or four years. Samuel Emery came in 1826. He lived in Ward Township, two miles down the Mississinewa. Allen Wall lived close by Emery's. There were no more between here and Deerfield, on the Mississin- ewa. Daniel B. Miller and Riley Marshall lived near Prospect Meeting-House, east of Deerfield. Philip Storms lived near " Sockum," at the crossing. He had been there some time. An-

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

drew Debolt lived at Mount Holly. William Simmons had been here, had gone away to Blue River, and he came again in 1630. Messrs. Keys, Hodge, Manus and Fields lived south of here.

"Thomas Devor and Mr. Beach, Jacob Johnson, Joseph Sut- ton, James Wickersham, Amos Smith, Thomas Wiley and John Hoke came after a while. John Skinner and James Skinner came also."

WILLIS C. WILLMORE.

" Before I was five years old, I remember being at my grand- father Harrison's; I was with some black boys tramping clothes in a big trough. My uncles made me popguns, and gave me slices of toast from the plate before the fire. When five years old, father took me to his new home, and my new mother.

" As I got to the gate, I ran into the house, and the first thing I knew I was in my stepmother's lap. Father settled among the Blue Ridge Mountains. A part of the farm was creek bot- toms, the rest was on the mountains. Some of the surface was very steep, so that it could be cultivated. The sloping land had to be plowed one way, and some could not be plowed at all ; and that which was too steep to be plowed was cultivated entirely with the hoe. The stones and the hoe would often meet, and sev- eral hoeing together would make lively music. The mountains were full of bears, wolves, panthers, wild cats and snakes. Rat- tlesnakes and copperheads were the most dreaded. Our nearest neighbor was a mile distant. We could see no house but our own. Many days would pass with a sight of none but our own family. The pasture was fine in the mountains and ravines, and ready in March. The cows would come to their calves for three or four months, and then they had to be hunted. I was the cowboy, and often night would find me in the mountains call- ing the cows. The hair would well-nigh stand on end for fright while driving them over rocks and hills, and through laurel thick- ets, not knowing when I might meet a wild beast or tread on a snake. One night, two of my brothers, out coon-hunting, came home at daylight, and said the dogs were baying a bear in the mountain close by. We went with the gun to find the den. I walked to its mouth, the bear met me and passed without a word of " How-d'ye," or "Good bye." I crawled in and captured three cubs and took them home.

Another night, John and I were hunting in a strange place. John fell from a cliff; I hugged a tree. At dawn we were at the edge of a precipice over a stream.

One time, going home from picking whortleberries, we came upon three huge rattlesnakes lying in the sun. We cut three long forked sticks, and put them over their necks, and I held down their heads with a short fork, and cut them off with my pocket-knife. We did this to prevent their biting themselves, be- cause we wanted the oil. We dragged our snakes two and a half miles to get them home. When I was skinning one of them the headless neck drew back and stood in the attitude to strike, and gave a forward blow as if to bite. My brother laughed at me years afterward for being bitten by a rattlesnake without a head.

"In the valley where I was born, in the Blue Ridge, the sun would shine far up the western heights long ere we could see its disk above the eastern hills, and long before night, moreover, it had sunk behind the mountain tops. In that rugged country, work began at daylight, and at 9 A. M., the horn blew for break- fast, and at 2 or 3 o'clock for dinner, which was the last meal. The work kept on from dawn till dark, and in winter cotton had to be picked till 9 or 10 o'clock at night.

The hills were very steep, so much so that often we were obliged to " tote " things a long way to where they could be " hauled." One day I was driving a cart, and, though several were holding it, over it went-load and all. Luckily the "over- turn " did little damage, so we loaded up again and went on.

People here can have little idea of the hardships of such a life in so rough and rugged a land.

Yet there were some advantages even there. The clear, cool,

bright springs gushing from the hillsides, and the pure, fresh, bracing mountain air were a delight to behold and to breathe.

" I had even in my boyhood resolved that this hard and broken land was "not the land for me." I had heard of that fair, level, rich country in the Northwest, beyond the beautiful Ohio, and I determined to find it, and view its glories for myself. And in due time the opportunity came. Father had met with losses and went to Ohio to find a new home. Meanwhile, I remained be- hind to settle his business, and a hard and tiresome task it was, indeed. In performing the work, I walked more than a thousand miles, and rode hundreds of miles besides.

Once we ' ran off' a tract of land overflowed by a violent rain, riding on horseback and using poles instead of pegs. The survey had to be made, and the surveyor would not do it, and so we did.

When all was done that I could do there for father, I moved stepmother with eight children to the "Great West," finding fa- ther in Gallia County, Ohio, in which region he made his new home. So here I was in the wonderful Northwest, and I had come to stay. I had bidden the rough and rugged mountains a long, long farewell. I had found the forest plains of which I had dreamed so often and so fondly. In Ohio I married, and, after four years, made my way to Wayne County, Ind .; and after a brief sojourn there, we pitched our tent under the green beeches of Randolph.

" But the West was not without its hardships also. Workwas wearisome, and money was scarce. Twenty-five cents a day (cash) was reckoned fair wages. Fifty cents in " dicker " was easier to get than half that amount in money.

I chopped and split rails from heavy oak timber for 25 cents a hundred and my board. Everything (that farmers produced) was low. The first cow (and calf) I bought was for $6.50. She was three years old and very small. When I got home with her and the calf, I called to my wife, " See here, I have brought you two calves." She looked and cried out, "She can't raise a calf." She did though, and both of them made splendid milkers.

We bought pork at $2 net, delivered, and corn was 122 cents a bushel. I boarded a teacher, Samuel Godfrey, in Wayne County, about 1830, for 75 cents a week.

" November 17, 1831, we moved into our cabin, and the next day it snowed. I had managed by years of hard work to get money, with which I had entered 160 acres of land, and I felt richer than a king, and hoped and expected to prosper. But, alas, disease and affliction were speedily my lot. I was doomed to crutches for life. In less than three months I was prostrated with the " cold plague," and I have never stood upon my feet unsupported nor walked without crutches since that hour. I lay a long time helpless, my wife rolling me over in bed. Nobody thought I would live. But here I am! When it became clear that I could not regain strength, I was alarmed at the prospect. What was to become of us ? But these fears were at that time taken away, and I clung to the promise, "Seek first, etc." We resolved to hold together as a family, which we have done. To pine, would avail nothing. How we lived is hard to tell. " God delivered us," is all I can say. The wheel and the loom did a brave part. When the calamity came, I was engaged in preach- ing to two churches. Of course I stopped. But when I had re- covered so as to go on crutches, though not to sit up, I was sent for to see a sick man. The house was crowded ; I lay on a pallet and pointed them to Christ. Since then, often have I, lying on a couch, in the congregation, invited sinners to repentance, and bade Christians God speed ! The followers of the Lamb would meet, and sing, and pray, and I would try to preach, and the Lord was well pleased for His gracious name's sake. And many a time we were fed on heavenly manna !

My worldly prospect was indeed dark, but God comforted me, and blessed be His holy name !

I had grace to trust Him, and He sustained me. We had kind friends, and we always had enough; sometimes the bitter tear would fall, but I lifted up the eye of faith to Him who sent the

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ravens to feed Elijah, and to Him who, though He rules all worlds, yet had not where to lay his head ! I was not disap- pointed. My friends have been many and kind, and with them would I live and die; and may we all rise to light, clothed in the garments of salvation !

" I was converted and joined the Baptists in 1821, was licensed in 1825, and ordained in 1830, and in 1839, when we moved to Winchester, a Baptist Church was organized for that place and region, which stood many years.

There was, at the time, a Methodist meeting-house, and there was no other. The Presbyterians began before long, and kept up an organization for ten or fifteen years, building a house for their worship, but the church was always weak, and at length be- came extinct.

" After I moved to Winchester, at first I wrote lying on a nar- row straw bed, but mostly on my knees. The Recorder's office then was worth but little; an able-bodied man could have done the work, but I had to hire a deputy, and the profits were small. In the summer of 1847, my disease returned, and in May, 1848, I was hauled between two feather beds to where I now live. I was confined to my bed at that time for more than two years ; since then I have been several times snatched from the jaws of death by the same hand which has led me all my journey through. Like the Jews before Jordan, I look across the river and behold the blessed Canaan.

Like Moses on Mt. Pisgah's top, I view the heavenly land- scape o'er, and humbly wait the appointed time when God shall set my happy spirit free, and receive my blood-washed soul to the blissful mansions of eternal rest.

"For some years I trusted in the sweet Bible promises, and was upheld in the midst of my sorrow. But, as my family cares increased, after a time I became somewhat disheartened ; my way seemed hedged up, darkness was on me, and I felt gloomy and sad. When I looked at my wife and children, and thought of their needs and my own, and my helplessness, my soul cried, " What will become of us ?'

But one Sabbath, after having been to my appointment at Concord (for I could preach though I could not stand, and had been greatly helped and strengthened in the Lord's work), I came home, and at night, when in bed, a burden of distress rolled upon my heart, and it seemed that I should be crushed ; I was not asleep, it was no dream; but I saw myself struggling through deep water, and suddenly my Savior was walking by my side, and He sweetly held me up as I buffeted the waves. Deep peace fell on me, all trouble and doubt and sorrow fled, and my soul was bathed in joy unspeakable and full of glory. The holy bap- tism of that midnight hour bas never left me; but I bave been enabled to walk in the strength of the grace I then received, even to this blessed day.

A cripple bodily I have continued to be to this moment, but the ecstasy of spirit which my poor soul has many a time received from the Lord, human tongue in this world can never tell. And the good Lord is with His unworthy servant still.

The prayer of the Psalmist, " When I am old and gray- headed, O Lord, forsake me not," has with me and mine been wonderfully answered ! Near fifty years ago, I lay feeble and helpless, waiting for death to do its work upon my wretched body ; and yet, here I am still, tarrying in this tabernacle of clay, patiently expecting the hour, now surely near at hand, when I shall be, "not unclothed, but clothed upon ;" and mor- tality shall be swallowed up of life-when I shall be permitted to see the King in His beauty; when my crutches and my poor old frame shall be laid aside together, and my freed spirit shall go shouting home !"

" Hallelujah to the Lamb who has purchased our pardon,

We will praise Him again when we pass over Jordan."

Since the Baptist Church spoken of above went down, Mr. W. has stood outside of special church relation. But he is in full and blessed sympathy with God and all good men, and feels that

all humble, penitent, God-fearing, heaven-seeking souls are his brethren and sisters. He feels too, that-

"The church on earth and all the dead, But one communion make. They all have life in Christ, their Head, And of His righteousness partake."

Through the glass of faith he views from the tops of the " De- lectable Mountains" the glorious sights and scenes in the New Jerusalem ; and feels that the time will not be long till he shall be among them, till he shall join the ecstatic throng; till with the spirits of the just made perfect, with the " church of the first- born, whose names are written in heaven," he, too, cleansed and purified, " washed in the blood of the Lamb," shall take up the heavenly song, and swell the hallelujah chorus that rises ever from the hosts of the saved in the courts of glory on high !

NATHAN CADWALLADER.

" When I taught school, I did bravely, taking pupils through arithmetic, etc., where I had never been myself! The first school was hy subscription, eight weeks, taught in an old log build- ing in Frederick Davis' field. It had ence boasted a clay and puncheon fireplace, but that had been pulled down, and the chimney-place was open, like a barn door. The books were what- ever each pupil brought-Bible, Testament, Life of Washington, Life of Marion, History of England, spelling books, and so on. Each one used whatever he brought, too; "uniformity of text- books " was not in vogue in that institution, sure; of course, classification gave no trouble, but each tow-headed urchin was head, and foot too, of his own class. I had, perhaps, twenty pupils. My school was liked; my government was somewhat unique, and certainly original. One day I had two lads standing face to face, two or three feet apart, with a stick split at both ends and one end on each boy's nose; another mischiev- ous ten-year-old I had thrown astraddle of the naked jeist-pole overhead ; and a fourth luckless wight who had fallen under my magisterial displeasure, was expiating his crime by standing with his hands behind his back and his nose plump against the wall !

Just at that supreme moment of the endurance of penalty for transgressing the majesty of violated law, in popped a neighbor and patron of the school, more noted for bluntness than gentility, through the open door. He stared. first at one, then at the next, and so on, till at length as the whole ridiculous gravity of the curious situation dawned upon his mind, suddenly he broke out with a rough expression, and, sinking with his ponderous weight upon the puncheon floor, burst into a loud and uncontrollable fit of laughter. Was not that school-room a sight ? " Wholesome discipline " was at a discount at that moment of supreme ridicu- lousness ; and teacher, pupils and visitor all gave way together, and laughed in concert till they got tired, and quit because they could laugh no longer."

At another time, the same " school visitor " " cut a shine " in that (or some neighboring) school, which fun-loving teachers will wonder at when they read : The school was in session ; all were at their " books," and studying "for keeps." One young man was sitting, face to the wall, engaged in writing, as he sat in front of one of those old slab er puncheon writing-desks, fast- ened against the side of the house.

All at once, in popped "that same old coon " with a meal- sack slung around his neck. Paying no special heed to what was going on in the room, he strode straight across the floor to this young man aforesaid ; and, before any one had the slightest idea of his intention, the old sack was slapped violently round the young man's face, the other exclaiming, "Tend to your books, you or-na-ry cuss." Teachers generally say they like to have visitors : doubtless this teacher had often said the same. But probably thereafter his desire for visitors contained at least one mental reservation.

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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 32

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