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 34

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 34

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

I once tried to go to the first house in Union City (there was only one) to appraise some property there (Star House). I struck the railroad track and went on east. Coming to a house, I in- quired, " How far east to Union City?" "Half a mile west," was the reply.

We had to cut up corn and haul it to the barnyard to keep the squirrels from taking it in the field.

There were no mills near, not even a corn-cracker. Cole's mill and Dean's mill (Ohio) were there. There had been one at Sharp Eye. A dam had been built, but the people thought it made them sick, and it had to be taken down. When I first came I moved into a cabin near by.

I came in March, 1834, and cleared seven acres and put it in corn that spring. I cut, rolled and burnt what I could, and the rest I killed by piling and burning the brush around them. I hired 2,000 rails made and fenced the land.

I have never bought in all, during forty-six years, ten bushels of corn. Two grists of corn and three bushels of wheat is all I have bought in that time.

I moved with three wagons, and afterward brought another load of bees, grain, etc. I had wheat in Darke County, and after harvest I hauled the wheat home.

I worked for one man (Mr. Teegarden) in Darke County one year, at $7 per month (some of the time at 31 cents a day). I have worked many a day at 31 cents a day. I never hunted or fished much. They must bite quick or show themselves, or I was o-p-h. I have killed only two deer. One night, fishing in a "riffle," in the " Dismal," we caught a basketful of suckers with our hands, many of them a foot long. One year, the creek froze and then raised above the ice with great numbers of fish, and the water froze again and fastened the fish between the ice in great quantities. We could have caught lots of them, but we thought freezing the fish spoiled them.

I found a steel-trap in Darke County, and sold it to an Indian for six coon-skins to be brought at such a time. The time came, but no coon-skins, and I thought " Good-bye steel-trap, good-bye coon-skins," but he caine and brought them afterward, and said, smiling, "Too good sugar-making-couldn't come." Sugar- trees were plenty. We made all the sugar we needed, and some to sell.

The first school in the neighborhood was, say, in 1838. The first meeting-house was at South Salem.

I used to be a Presbyterian, but have joined the Protestant Methodists."

The following is a list of old men residing in Wayne Township (age, 1880): John Hartman, 76; Jacob Baker, 79; Joel Elwell, 75; William A. Macy, 71; Ezra Coddington, 73; Francis Frazier, 79; Robert Murphy, 75. Isaac Clifton, 73; George Huffnogle, 80; William Pickett, 79.

Mr. Murphy is growing old and somewhat feeble and de- crepit, but no more so than might be expected at his age.

PETER HOOVER (1835).

Settlers when Mr. Hoover came: Robert Murphy ; John Dixon came the fall before and bought out Mr. Kennen ; James Griffis, William Kennon, Smith Masterson.

"People were sociable then. Men would go seven or eight miles to a raising or a log-rolling-to Sheets', north, or to Griffis' or Carnahan's, soutli, or even farther. People worked then. They did not eat and sit around. Twenty to thirty men were a large crowd. The first election (for Jackson and Wayne Town- ships together) was held at Peyton's west of Union City, in, say 1836, and only seven votes were polled. The rest went to other polls to vote. A person could vote anywhere in the county then.

Mrs. Teeter carne early ; her husband had died in Pennsyl- vania. She- raised a large family and died about. 90 years of age."

P. FIELDS (1833).

"Settlers when Icame-some of them were Burkett Pierce, west of Deerfield, very old and living still ; George Ritenour, across the river, near Pierce's, an early settler, but is now dead ; Will- iam Odle, Curtis Butler, living along the river below town, moved away long, long ago.

There were none above (east of ) town till a mile above me. Samuel Emery lived a mile up the river. He became very old and died a year or so since.

Mr. Bragg came the fall before I did, in 1832; he is dead.

Allen Wall was on the north side of the river, opposite Bragg's ; he, too, is dead.

James Mayo, north of the river, also dead.

Aquila Loveall lived near Mayo's; he is not living.

Daniel B. Miller, up the river on the south side ; he is quite old and resides at Winchester. having his third wife (he is now dead).

Robert Parsons lived a mile below Deerfield. He owned a corn-cracker ; he is dead. Deerfield had not "started" yet. One shanty stood there, but no town had been begun. A school shanty was standing one and a half miles above, on Congress land. on the north of Deerfield and Union City road.

There was one also near the> Id (Chapel) meeting-house west of Deerfield.

The Chapel Meeting-House was built about 1835, and is the oldest one in the region.

Prospect Meeting-House was not built till several years after I came, perhaps about 1840. The cemetery at the Chapel is the oldest one in this part of the country.

When Lewallyn came to settle near Ridgeville, they unloaded their goods into the brush. Some stayed and went to building a "camp," and the others went back to get the rest of the " plun- der."

Lewallyn's daughter married one Mr. Renberger, who used to live near Ridgeville, and she may perhaps be living now.

I came from Hawkins County, Tenn., sixty-four miles up Holston River from Knoxville. I sold 100 acres of land there for $400. We came here with one four-horse wagon and a car- riage.

Lancelot Fields, my brother, had moved to this county before me, and had settled near New Pittsburg. not far from James Por- ter's. He had returned to Tennessee on business, and, when he

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

came back to Indiana, we came along, too. There were thirteen in the company.

Deerfield & Union City road had been laid and " blazed," but it was not yet opened through. I helped open it to Middle- town.

One Indian, called "Old Duck," lived in Allen Wall's yard, in a little shanty.

Cabins were made with " knees " and weight-poles and latch- strings.

The people were social and friendly. We used to go six or eight miles to raisings and log-rollings, and to Richmond to mill.

Deer were plenty, though I did not care for hunting. I never killed but one deer in my life.

But venison was very easily gotten. There were plenty of hunters who were only too glad to shoot for us all the deer we wanted. George Porter and his boys were hunters, and had no land. Zack Key, brother of Andrew Key, lived near us, and if we wished any venison, all we had to do was to speak to him, and he would shoulder his rifle and bring one down in a hurry. He would hang it up and tell me where to find it, and I would go out and bring the carcass in. The hunters cared nothing for the flesh. All they wanted was the skins, which would sell for from 25 to 50 cents.

Once I was hunting my horses. They had wandered far, and in looking for them, I came to Ephraim Bowen's. It was per- haps in 1835, not long after I came to the county. The settlers were far more numerous in that part of the county, but farther north it was wild enough. Mr. Bowen and his folks were very kind and hospitable. They could not tell me where to find my horses, but they did another thing which was first-rate for a tired and hungry man. They would not take ' no' for an answer, but insisted that I should stop and take dinner with them, which I did, and went on my wandering way much refreshed.

Horses had a wide range then, when running out, and some- times gave immense trouble to their owners in hunting them."

JOHN R. WARREN.

"Settlers when I came were Daniel B. Miller, on the Miller place ; Samuel Helms, two miles north of Saratoga ; Andrew Key, three iniles north of Saratoga ; William Pogue (father of Robert Pogue, Union City), near Andrew Key ; John T. Evans, west of Saratoga; Edward Evans, west of Saratoga; Abram Harshman, east of Saratoga; Alexander, near Ilarshman's ; William Bragg, below Andrew Key ; Daniel Mock, west of Saratoga ; George W. Barber, one mile west of Saratoga ; Will- iam Simmons, on Mississinewa River; Samuel Sipe, near Perry Fields ; John Sipe, came shortly after I did.

The first school after I came was near Daniel B. Miller's, about 1840.

The first meeting-house was the one at Prospect, 1840.

The first grist-mill was west of Deerfield.

The first smith shop was kept by Jo Locke, north of Sara- toga.

There was but one house in Deerfield.

A man told me I would not know when I got there."

EDWARD EDGER, DEERFIELD.

"When I came to Deerfield, just three families resided there, viz .: Henry Taylor, Henry Sweet and Jonathan Thomas. Henry Sweet was a blacksmith. Henry Taylor had a few gro- ceries in a log cabin there. He also sold some whisky, and pro- fessed, besides that, to keep a hotel, too.

Curtis Butler had been doing business there, and had been Acting Postmaster at that place. Deerfield was by no means an unimportant place, in fact, small though it was, and deep buried in the thick forests of the Mississinewa. Although that valley had been settled more than twenty years, yet along its whole course,

that little Deerfield was its only town, and its only post office, and the only one, it may also be said, between Winchester and Fort Wayne.

But Mr. Butler had moved to Marion, and left the post office in the hands of William Odle. The amount of business may be judged of when it is stated that the salary of the office was $1.75 per quarter. It rose afterward to $40 per quarter. I was ap- pointed Postmaster soon after my removal to Deerfield. Short- ly after that, and for two or three years, an immense business was done in Randolph and Jay Counties in the entry of land, cs- pecially in Jay County, and vast sums of (silver) money were sent by John Connor, the mail carrier, to Fort Wayne.

He used to have two horses-one for the mail and one for the money sack. He would have, sometimes, as much money (silver) as two of us could well throw upon the horse's back. He would lead the horses and walk, sometimes.

People would " look land " and leave the money with me, and I would send it by Mr. Connor.

He has taken thus as high as $6,000 or $7,000 at one trip. We used to hide it in a hole in the ground, beneath the puncheon floor, under the bed.

We handled in that way, in all, many thousand dollars. I would receipt for the money, and take Connor's receipt, and he would pay it at Fort Wayne and obtain the patents, and bring them to me, and I would deliver them to the parties concerned, and they would pay at the rate of $1 for eighty acres.

Though Mr. Connor was poor, he was faithful and honest, and, during my whole course of business with him, for nearly twenty years, I never suffered a cent of loss.

He carried the mail for some twenty-eight years, up to about 1861. His appointment began about 1835."

"The mail routes were as follows: Richmond to Fort Wayne, via Winchester; Greenville west to Winchester.

There were perhaps others. The mails were carried once a week from Winchester to Fort Wayne and back. Connor had to lie ont in the woods one night on his trip going to and coming from Fort Wayne. The operation would not be considered very safe now, especially with hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in conveyance, but Johnnie Connor was never molested.

Between Winchester and Deerfield was a dense forest and much swamp.

There were only two settlers between Elias Kizer's (one mile north of Winchester) and Deerfield, viz .: Samuel Cain and John Kinnear. Mr. Cain's was two miles, and Mr. Kinnear's threr and a half miles, south of Deerfield.

A large part of the land on both sides of the road northward from Winchester to Deerfield was held by James G. Birney, a non-resident, and the country remained unsettled for many years.

Deerfield became an important trading point, and it was fo years & lively place.

David Conner, the Indian trader, left his post east. of Deer- field some years before I came, though I think not very long.

" I traded with the Indians for furs, as also in succeeding years in cattle, hogs, etc. I traveled extensively, to Green Bay and the northwest for furs, etc., and in general trading, visiting every northern State and the South also.

The trade at Deerfield at one time extended over Jay and Blackford Counties, and even much farther than that. I have sold as high as $15,000 in a single year, and have taken in as much as $700 in one day. One day I bought 160 saddle hams that had been killed the day before. There had fallen a snow several inches deep, a tracking snow, so called, because the hunter could track the deer in it.

George Shaneyvelt, of Jay County, killed nine deer in one day.

The furs were coon, inink, muskrat, wild cat, catamount, etc. Wolves and bears and wild cats were common, and deer were very plenty.

Deer-skins were of different prices, from 50 cents to $1.

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

"Short-blues " were $1, i. e., deer killed in the fall whose hair was short and whose skins had a bluish cast.

In early times great quantities of tree-sugar and molasses, and of venison hams used to be wagoned to Cincinnati ; and salt and iron kettles, etc., would be hauled back. I sold four tons of sugar kettles in one winter. The cost of hauling was great. At one time a quantity of salt that was worth $18 in Cincinnati, cost $20 to get it hauled from there to Deerfield.

Four-horse teams would take two or three days to get from Winchester to Deerfield.

Teamsters would cut out a road and then throw brush across to hide it so that nobody else would see the track, that the ones who made the opening might have the use of it for several trips.

"I had the first cook-stove in the county. It was brought from Cincinnati. That and another cost $100 in silver at 10 per cent premium, equal to $110 in currency. The other one was sold to Mrs. Kinnear, south of Deerfield.

"Considerable flat-boating down the Mississinewa was done after I came to Randolph.

At one time the task was undertaken to take several loads of coal down the river.

A German named Keizer, who was poor, wished me to advance goods to him and take the coal for security. I would not, but Mr. Searl let him have the goods and took Frederick Miller as security. The coal was burned, the boats were built and caulked with tow, and the coal was loaded upon the boats, as also the goods which Mr. Searl furnished to Keizer upon Miller's security. I had about two wagon loads of furs which I put upon one of the boats, and I steered the boat on the trip down the river.

Mr. Holly steered another of the boats.

We came to Mr. Mckinney's dam below Fairview, and Hol- ly's boat got fast on a bar.

Mr. Mckinney came out with his rifle and threatened to shoot if we attempted to jump his dam. We did attempt it, how- ever, and he did not shoot.

But the boats could not cross the dam, and the merchandise was a total loss, except my furs, which I sent back by wagon to Deerfield. Mr. Searl lost about $2,000, which came near break- ing him up. These boats were loaded at Ritenour's mill below Deerfield, a point at which many boats received their cargo.

At another time Joseph NIinchy and I took a boat load of flour and salt, ete., down the river. He and I built the boat, and we loaded it at Ritenour's mill. I steered the boat, and we jumped four or five dams. One of them was Connor's, which was only a brush dam, and not hard to pass.

When we got to the " Feeder dam " for the canal, they asked $10 to go through, and it would have taken all day to clear out the logs.so as to permit the boat to pass. I offered $1.00 for a man to come on the boat with me and help me jump the dam. A man accepted the offer; we performed the feat and got the boat over safe. The boat was taken to Logansport, and the cargo was sold mostly to the Indians. This was done in 1839.

This Joseph Hinchy was a very eccentric man. He owned land in many places, and set out orchards far and near, planting and grafting the trees ; and some of his old orchards are standing yet. Ile set out trees at Joab Ward's, at Wheeling, at Marion and many other places. He was a pump-maker also. [Mr. Aker says he hauled his tools for pump making on a sled with oxen. Ile wore only buckskin clothes.]

He used to have plenty of money, and would lend it to almost anybody that wanted it.

" Deerfield was for years a place of large business. At first the trade was to and from Cincinnati by wagon, afterward to the canal at Piqua. We used to trade largely in swine. Tonce drove a herd of hogs from Kentucky to South Carolina, begin- ning to sell them in North Carolina, and so onward till they were all disposed of.

Once in driving swine from Deerfield with 2,000 in the drove, there came a terrible freshet (about New Year's). We swam

Greenville Creek twice. The hogs swam the creck. We lost none, but some we had to pull out by the ears. The trip to Cin- cinnati took twenty-one days. There were about ten hands with the drove. I got for the hogs $6 net. Pork, however, was very variable, and sometimes fell very low, and many have been bank- rupted thereby.

" I once traveled six weeks in Kansas, sleeping in a wagon the whole time. My companion most of the time was an Indian, who was a trusty, faithful man.

When a young man, I traveled through the South, working at my trade ; as also I was pilot on a steamboat from New Orleans to Louisville, spending five or six years in these ways. During these trips I passed through parts of North Carolina, South Car- olina, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. When a boy sixteen years old, I went as an apprentice with my master, Benedict Thomas, to Texas, from Georgetown, Ky., with a flat-boat load of furniture and saddles and bridles and dry goods. We took them on a flat-boat to the mouth of the river, on a keel- boat to Natchitoches, and thence by wagon 160 miles to the old Spanish fort, between the two Trinity's (rivers). He traded his goods for mules and horses and for Spanish hides. He stayed in Texas, and sent me to New Orleans to exchange the animals and hides for mahogany, coffee, molasses and sugar, which I did and re- tured home on foot. Another man came with me. We bought knapsacks and started, being twenty days on the road, and sleep- ing in the woods or with the Indians. One place was 140 miles (from French Camps to Fort Columbia on the Tombigbee) ; thence we came to Tuscumbia, and so, on home. We got provisions of the Indians-jerked meat, bears flesh and venison, and also hom- iny and sweet potatoes and corn bread. We passed through the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations.

My brother Archibald walked from New Orleans sixteen times, and my brother William twelve times, from 1809 and on- ward. They would go down with flat-boats and return on foot. The flat-boats would cost $150 and would have to be sold at New Orleans perhaps for $10. They generally made two trips a year. One of them onee tried three trips, but he got sick. They com- monly traveled "Carroll's Trace," from Lake Pontchartrain to Colbert's Ferry, on the Tennessee River. The "trace" stretched for miles and miles through deep, tall cane-brakes, a clear well- trodden path with thick canes on both sides of the path nearly impenetrable. The canes were sometimes thirty or fort feet high and as thick as they could grow.

In 1847, I went to New Orleans for hemorrhage of the lungs. Recovering my health, I returned home, and have lived since that time thirty-five years, enjoying still a reasonable degree of health and strength.

JOHN HOKE, JACKSON.

The settlers in 1836 were, west of Union City, Wayne Town- ship, Thomas Peyton, Converse place; Jacob Emerick, William Anderson's farm ; John Emerick, Weimar farm ; north of Union City ; John Sheets, Smith farm ; Eli Nofsinger, north of Smith's farm, on Little Mississinewa ; near New Lisbon ; Amos Smith, west of New Lisbon ; David Vance, William Cox, Isaiah Cox, Thomas Wiley, at New Lisbon; Andrew Debolt, at Mt. Holly, all sons-in-law of Amos Smith; Jacob Johnson, west of Mt. Holly, 1833; Seth Macy, one and a half miles of Johnson's (west); James Skinner, one mile west of New Lisbon ; John Skinner, near his brother James; James Reeves, father of the Reeveses, one-half mile north of Skinner's ; James Wickersham, one mile south of New Lisbon ; - Nickum, where Eli Man- gas lives ; Thomas Devor, one-half mile north of Allensville; John Thomson, north of Devor's; Jacobs, near Allensville, north of Mississinewa; Simmons, west, on Mississinewa ; James Porter, south of New Pittsburg; Philip Storms had been at Mississinewa Crossing, but had gone away ; James Warren, near Middletown, one-half mile south ; John Warren, three miles west of Middle- town ; William Warren, laid out Middletown.

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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

I think these settlers had been here from two to five years. For awhile people used hand-mills to grind corn-meal.

Mr. Skinner had a mill perhaps the first, in about 1840. It was a corn-cracker and stood a few years.

Mr. Hinchy had a saw-mill and a corn-cracker one-half mile east of Allensville. They stood a long time,

Others, perhaps, had mills that I do not now call to mind. The Allensville mill was the first important and extensive mill in the region, and it is there now.

The Indians (Wyandots) used to come and hunt on Gray's Branch, but they had mostly stopped coming there two or three years before I came. A few came afterward.

The first settlers did little but hunt. They thought the country would never be filled up, but would remain a superb hunting-ground. Settlers began to come in and go to clearing farms, and then they began, too, somewhat. Hunters would come through my clearing, and say: " Are you going to clear out a farm ?" "Yes, I thought I would." " Well, maybe that's the best way." The land at first was a good deal wet; half of it stood in water much of the time. Clearing and draining has dried it out pretty well."

THOMAS HUBBARD, GREEN.

" I entered 131 acres and bought, second-hand, 158 acres. I now own 150 acres. We came in a four-horse wagon, cutting our own road from White River, ten or twelve miles, taking two days.

A man, Neselrode, had a cabin and we took the cabin. I paid for my land and had $50 left. There was a cabin or two stuck around in the woods between here and White River. We came the road to Maxville, thence to Fairview. I did but little hunt- ing, since I could get plenty of deer hams for 373 cents a pair. I had to take a sled (I had a good team) to White River for corn, staying all night and till late next day. I bought the corn and got it ground on White River. Corn was 50 cents a bushel. I raised the first wheat in the settlement. I got a man to put in three acres for me, and when I came, in October, the wheat was up and looked nice. The crop was sixty bushels.

Flat-boats and pirogues were used to go down the river with pork, flour, apples, etc. One spring, five boats went down loaded with charcoal. The boats were "stove in " near here, and the coal was lost. The river was snaggy. One broke up in going over Mckinney's mill-dam ; the others were "stove in" before that. Searl, of Deerfield, owned the coal, and he was nearly broken up by the loss. They intended to take the coal to New Orleans (about 1840).

We bought the trees for our orchard of Joab Ward, of Ridge- ville, in 1840. There were 120 budded trees, and they made a good orchard. We gave $9 a hundred, and we brought them down the river in a canoe.

Mrs. Hubbard remembers seeing the soldiers at Chillicothe, guarding the British prisoners in the war of 1812. Her father had just moved from Pennsylvania, and he was poor, and her mother baked buscuits and pies, etc., for the soldiers, sometimes cooking all night to supply their wants.

A Methodist quarterly meeting was held in our house before the floor was laid. The sleepers were used as seats. Afterward the children played holding meetings, singing, praying, preach- ing, etc., going through the whole exercise in quite a business- like manner.'

MRS. SHERMAN.

" We had a splendid spring in a ' gum ' seven feet deep. We lived on the " Sample Trace," leading from Sample's mill, on White River, to Lewallyn's mill on the Mississinewa. And our spring was a noted point. We came February 20, 1837. The snow had been deep. The waters were high, and, in crossing White River, we lost a bunch of keys. We never expected to see our keys again, but some one found them two or three years afterward, and they were returned to us, and we have the keys

yet. My husband built a cabin on his land before we moved to it, and we lived in that cabin more than twenty years. He im- proved his own land somewhat, but he worked out a great deal, mowing, clearing, etc., on White River, in the older settlements. I wove, braided straw hats, etc.

New Dayton Church was built in 1877, but the graveyard has been there forty years or more.

The Methodists formed a society seon after we came, and meetings have been held, in dwellings, etc., from that day to this.

There was no school for some years after our settlement be- gan. The people were poor and "hard run," and lived far apart.

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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 34

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