USA > Indiana > Rush County > History of Rush County, Indiana, from the earliest time to the present, with biographical sketches, notes, etc., together with a short history of the Northwest, the Indiana territory, and the State of Indiana > Part 28
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In these pages devoted to the early settlers, an attempt will be made to explain all these matters so that all can easily understand.
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It is scarcely necessary to premise these accounts by stating that what is now Rush County was all a dense forest of gigantic pro- portions, no prairies, barrens or open woods; it was, indeed, in its truest significance a wilderness, grand in the wild luxuriance of a vegetation, the proof and product of the vast fertility of the virgin soil. This rich soil, under the skillful labors of the agriculturist, has brought wealth and prosperity, of which every citizen is justly proud. The children of these old pioneers are now enjoying the blessings accruing from their labors. Beautiful farms, splendid houses, with every tasteful adornment of fruits and flowers, culti- vated fields, meadows and pastures of blue grass that fully equal the far-famed fields of Bourbon County, Ky., with live stock of all kinds, meets us on every side. The capacious school-house in every neighborhood attests the educational ti aining of our children, while the many handsome churches indicate the religious and moral character of the citizens. The change from the wild woods to the present state of high cultivation, civilization and refinement, has all been wrought in sixty-seven years or less, for the land office in Brookville was not opened for the sale of lands until the first Mon- day in October, 1820. Compare this country in 1820 with what it is to-day, and you can form some idea of the vastness of the change in the physical appearance of the country and its material wealth.
The very first settlers were squatters. Some of these after the land office in Brookville was opened purchased their homes and went to work to open up a farm, but the majority were hunters and trappers, whom a restless spirit of adventure ever kept on the fron- tiers; they were the avant coureurs of the white race; always in ad- vance of emigration ; as soon as the men who sought a permanent home settled near them, they pushed farther into the wilderness, where the ringing blows of the axe had not driven away the game. This type of squatters were a peculiar people, brave, skilled in all the mysteries of woodcraft, wonderfully self-reliant and cool, hos- pitable and generous, they were utterly uncultivated and rude; they despised the learning of the schools, and the polish and refinement of society, deeming them frivolous and effeminate, unworthy the attention of the free rovers of the forest.
First Settlers .- The Indians having ceded their title to the land, in the early part of 1819, and the most of them having left this part of the country, the squatters soon found their way into the abandoned hunting grounds, some for the sake of the abundant game, others with an eye to a future home, to be secured when the land was thrown into the market. Of the latter class were several afterward well known in the early history of our county. Henry Sidorus was a squatter on land now owned by T. P. White,
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on the south side of Flat Rock; it was where the Indian trail lead- ing from Connersville to the White River towns crossed that stream. He settled there in 1819; he was a keen hunter and skillful trapper. He built a house and stable, cleared some land, and had a wagon and horses. After the sale of the land he entertained land viewers and movers, assisting them with his team when needed. In 1821, he sold his claim to Joseph Smith for $100, with which he purchased eighty acres on the north side of Flat Rock, now a part of the farm of Mr. Jesse W. Smelser. After Indianapolis was laid out, he hauled the first dry goods from Cincinnati to that place, and also assisted in moving families and their household goods there. In 1823, he sold his land to John Smelser, for $300, and pushed out into what is now Champaign County, Illinois, and located in a beautiful grove, which bears his name, as does the postoffice and railroad station, now there. His son William has his home there still. Richard Thornberry settled on Flat Rock, some four miles below Rushville, at the mouth of Hurricane Creek, in 1819. He entered his land on the 2nd of October, 1820. He remained an honored citizen of Rush, leaving many descendants. Isaac Will- iams squatted on the farm now owned by Andrew Guffin, a mile and a half north of New Salem, also in 1819; he entered his land in 1820. Samuel Gruell squatted on what is now Arnold's Home farm, and his brother-in-law, Weir Cassady, on the Joseph Hinch- man farm. This was in 1819. Gruell sold his claim to John Ar- nold, for $50, in 1820, and then bought eighty acres where Matthias Parson now lives; this he traded to John Parson for a farm on Nolan's Fork of Whitewater. Weir Cassady also bought land in Rush, and was a citizen until his death. He left numerous descendants. His widow died at the house of her son- in-law, John Oliver, in Rushville, within the last year. John Hale was a squatter on the land belonging to Thomas Cassady. He en- tered 160 acres of land and afterward sold it to Wilson Laugh- lln, which is now Judge W. A. Cullen's home farm. He was a famous hunter, and as a slayer of deer there was but one in the county that could compete with him, and that was Ben Burton, another squatter and afterward a permanent settler.
Those early days were not without exciting episodes, indepen- dent of the adventures and dangers of the forest. John Hale had made considerable improvements on the land he designed entering, and was making every effort to get together a sufficient sum to make the purchase. At this time, 1822, he ascertained that some parties from Kentucky had taken the numbers of the land, and had started to Brookville to make the entry. In this emergency he mounted his horse and galloped to Judge W. B. Laughlin to ask
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for aid in his dire distress. He stated the case to the judge and he immediately furnished him with the necessary cash. He then be- sought Harmony Laughlin to take his money and his horse and en- deavor to overtake and pass the other party, who had some hours the start, and get to the land office first and secure the land. Fortunately for the party so deeply interested in the race, his horse had both speed and endurance, and Hale had charged Harmony to beat them there if it killed his horse. Inspired by this order and his natural energy, he dashed away through the dim pathway, at furious speed. Night had overtaken the Kentuckians at Judge Mount's, at the point afterward known as Metomora. Here they put up for the night, but Harmony made no halt but pushed on toward Brookville, where he arrived near morning, and as soon as it was light, hunted up the land office officials and made the entry, that secured to his friend Hale, the desired home. Shortly after the business was completed the Kentuckians arrived and to their intense chagrin, found that they were too late, that the other party had traveled while they slept.
Character of the Pioneers. - After the first Monday in October of 1820, when the land office was opened for the sale of the new purchase, the lands were rapidly taken up by settlers. As a general rule they were poor men, with only money enough to buy from 40 to 160 acres, and every man went to work to literally hew out a home in the wilderness. Thus the whole country was being simultaneously improved. All recognizing their mutual dependence on each other, a spirit of kindness and helpfulness was engendered. One active factor in the development of the country was that every man, who sought to make a home in the forest, was a picked man, one who had volunteered to lead the forlorn labor of civilization against the rugged powers of nature. They were brave, patient, persevering and hopeful, determined to succeed. No labors, hard- ships, or privations could daunt them. It was a most fortunate thing for the welfare of our county, that there were no large bodies of unoccupied land, to defeat the neighborhood, for roads, schools and churches. There was but little land held by non- resident speculators, who could patiently wait in their distant homes, for the actual settlers, by their labors to make their lands valuable. The early settlers while representatives of the several states from which they came, possessed marked individuality. The conscious- ness of innate power made them self-reliant and each one worked and managed according to the dictates of his own judgment and conscience. The cool and calculating Yankee was found side by side with the generous and impulsive Kentuckian; the proud Vir- ginian beside the plodding Pensylvanian Dutchman; the quiet and
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peaceable Quaker, from the Carolinas, by the side of the wild and reckless Tennesseean, and here and there was a grave Englishman or warm hearted and quick tempered Irishman. From the gradual amalgamation, of these strong and varied elements, has resulted the present moral, intelligent and prosperous community.
The natural advantages of this country which had drawn to it so many from their distant homes, willing to endure every hard- ship if it secured them a home, were a rich virgin soil, as fine and varied timber as can be found on earth, gushing springs and abun- dant streams, with a gently undulating surface pleasant and profit- able to cultivate. These men had an abiding faith in the future, and a love for this land of their hopes. The estimation they had of it, may perhaps be well shown, by the utterances of a preacher delivered in the woods more than fifty years ago, near the Alger cemetery. The Rev. John Brown was an uneducated, but earnest and sometimes eloquent speaker. He was a New Light then, but afterward became a Christian preacher. His theme was the wonderful goodness, mercy and beneficence of God, in endowing his thoughtless, thankless creatures with so many and such rich temporal blessings. That if we could only realize these things, that the coldest heart, the dullest intellect would be vivified by love and adoration of the great Giver. He then went on to say, that his audience had great and peculiar reasons for thankfulness. That their lots had been cast in pleasant places, for that America was the most favored quarter of the globe; that the United States was the best part of the continent; that Indiana was the best state in the Union; that Rush was the best county in the state, and finally that Ben Davis' Creek was the best part of the county: and then in most impassioned tones he exclaimed: "Beloved brethren, Ben Davis' Creek is the heart of the world!" This sentiment was audibly endorsed by Jacob Millburn, to the evident satisfaction of the assembled worshipers. Jacob Millburn was a typical moun- taineer of western Virginia, one of the finest specimens of nature's noblemen, physically large and powerful, but by no means graceful in appearance or movement, unpolished in language and address, yet he was one of the gentlest and kindest persons that ever lived. No poor, distressed or unfortunate ever appealed to his sympathies in vain; to all such he cheerfully and ungrudgingly ministered with his time and money. To his kindred and friends, his generosity was boundless and untiring. In all his dealings he was just and honorable. Although the owner of a first-rate quarter of land, and of indefatigable industry, yet possessing the traits of char- acter above mentioned, it is not surprising that he did not prove to be a successful money maker. But who can doubt, that when the
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dread hour of departure from this world came, the recollection of a life spent in the amenities of humanity, was far more soothing to his soul than would have been the possession of untold millions.
Life in the Woods .- When a pioneer was selecting land for his future home, of course he wanted good soil, good timber, good water, including springs for the use of the family, and if possible other springs or running streams for stock. He always built his cabin near a spring, for the digging of wells was a dernier ressort The first thing to be done after selecting the site was to cut down and clear away the timber; then the building of the cabin was the next and most important undertaking. The usual size was about sixteen by twenty feet, varying according to the size of the family to be sheltered. It was built of round logs securely notched at the corners. The roof was composed of clap boards, four feet long, and about ten inches wide, and half an inch thick; these were generally of oak. They rested on round logs, some three feet apart, and were kept in place by similar ones, the weight poles laid on top of them, which were kept in place by supports extending from one to the other at each end. For the fire place, an opening of eight or ten feet was cut out of one end of the cabin and the chimney was built some five feet high of heavy, split slabs at each end of the opening, notched into the building, and then notched into other slabs for the back, forming, an enclos- ure, say eight by five feet. Then the next thing was to thoroughly work clay so as to form a tough mortar. With this the jambs and back of the fire place were made, by piling it up about eighteen inches thick, and with heavy maul packing it solid. Then above this, came the graceful stick chimney, large at the bot- tom and then gradually drawing in for five or six feet, then built straight up, and extending above the roof. The sticks were split square, so as to fit accurately, and as fast as it was built, was thor- oughly and smoothly plastered inside and out, making a chimney safe and durable. The floor of the cabin was made of puncheons, that is split timber, some four inches thick, the edges and upper surface were made smooth and straight with the axe. The joists on which they rested were round logs, with the upper surface hewed, a very solid and substantial floor, but not quite so tight as could be desired. The doors were made of thinner split boards, fastened by wooden pins to cross pieces, one end of which, project- ing somewhat, had a hole to receive a pin fastened to the wall. This constituted the hinges. Generally on the side opposite the door, was the window, made by cutting out three or four feet of a log; in winter this was closed by paper made translucent by being oiled. In summer it was always open. The openings between
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the logs were effectually closed by being chinked and daubed, that is split pieces of timber were accurately fitted and driven in the chinks and then they were plastered inside and out with clay, clos- ing the openings, and making a warm and comfortable room even in the coldest weather, when the vast fire-place filled with its mighty back-log, fore-stick and smaller sticks, sent a torrent of flame up the chimney. The joists above were covered with clap boards making a low ceiling. The axe, the saw and different sized augurs were the only tools necessary for the construction of this primitive dwelling. No nails, glass, brick or sawed plank entered into it. The furniture was generally made with the tools above mentioned, and was rough and unpolished, but very substantial. The cradle, was an indespensable article in those times, for women then had, as a rule, large families and they were happy in them. This is very unlike their descendants of the present day, who though willing enough to enter into the married state, are loath to per- form the duties and assume the responsibilities of that divinely or- dained institution. Some indespensable articles were not of domestic manufacture. These were the large wheel for spinning wool and the small wheel for flax, and also the reel. These were supplied by the wheel-wrights, who floated on the wave of emigra- tion, ready to supply by their skill the wants of the settlers.
The above description applies to the average homes of the pio- neers. Of course there were some, who having more abundant means built larger and better houses and had some furniture brought with great labor from their old homes. The rifle hung on every wall, for it supplied the meat for their tables. The fat bear meat and the juicy venison, the delicious turkey and the deli- cate pheasant made glad the hearts or the hungry children. The ring of the axe woke the echoes of the forest and ever and anon ,came the thunderous crash, as some mighty monarch of the grove fell beneath the woodsman's blows. The prostrate trunk was trim- med of its brush and smaller limbs, which were piled and burnt, and the trunk cut into convenient lengths, which with acres of others, formed the material for a future log-rolling. When ready, the neighbors were invited and came from far and near and as- sisted in piling them in vast heaps, and when they were burned il- luminating the nocturnal heavens by their fierce light. No man refused to assist his neighbor, or kept account of the days spent in log-rolling or house raising. Some times in the spring they would spend from twelve to twenty days in this kind of work. After this came the planting of their corn and other crops, which had to be done mainly with the hoe, as much of the ground could not be broken by the plough on account of the tough green roots.
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It may be asked how did the horse and cow subsist, without pas- ture for summer or meadow to furnish hay for winter. Then, in the shade of the woods, was found wild grasses, vines and other forage plants which have long since utterly disappeared, trod out by the foot of civilization. The horse and the cow with each a large bell attatched to their necks, wandered at will, the sonorous tinkle of the bell guiding their owners to them when they wished to bring them home. In the evening the hardy boy took his fath- er's gun, to drive up the cow, hoping perchance to find some game, that would be an acceptable addition to their larder. " The cow fodder was all saved for winter, but the first year or two they had to depend principally on the browse of the elm, maple, beech and other fine twigged trees, which were daily felled for their use. This with a little corn, kept them fairly well, until the warm show- ers and genial breezes of spring awakened vegetation from its long sleep.
Blue Grass .- Another factor in supplying the food for stock, was the fact verified by the observation of all early settlers, that the blue grass was indigenous to this country, that it sprung up spontaneously wherever the land was cleared and left unbroken by the plough. So that in a few years this most nutritious of all grasses, was found in the fence corners and the cleared or par- tially cleared lands, around every cabin. Now it is found every- where, when the land is cleared and unbroken, even though no seed has been sown by the hand of man. Along the road sides, the open woods and the permanent pastures it is found growing luxuriantly. A field sown in clover and timothy at the end of five years will be found to be a blue grass sod. It is permanent, never dies out or wears out, there are pastures on Arnold's Home farm that have been used for over fifty years, that now cannot be ex- celled by any in the county. Most other vegetable products after a longer or a shorter time, seem to exhaust the elements of the soil, necessary for their production, and fail, but the rich tenacious blue grass is perennial.
Work of the Men. - This has been pretty fully described in part relating to the building of the cabin and the clearing of the land, but a few words describing the different modes of clearing will not perhaps be amiss. One method was to clear it "smack smooth, " that is cutting down and burning up all the trees, grub- bing all the underbrush and making the land ready for the plough. This implies a tremendous amount of hard work. Yet there were not a few who by this mode of clearing earned enough money to buy themselves homes. Jonathan Bishop, in 1822, cleared ten acres for Isaac Arnold, on the farm now belonging to J. R. Kirkwood.
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for which he received $10 an acre. He built a cabin on the land to be cleared and moved his family into it, where they lived and toiled, until the contract was completed, when he received his hundred dollars; he entered the eighty acres now belonging to Marshall Blacklidge; the land cleared and the land bought were both in Union Township. This is only one instance among many, that might be mentioned, but it is sufficient to illustrate the indom- itable industry and perseverance of the men of those times. An- other and the most usual method was to clear eighteen inches and under. In these later days it may be necessary to explain the meaning of this term. It implied that all trees eighteen inches in circumference and less, two feet from the ground, were to be re- moved, the brush to be grubbed out, all logs to be burned, and all the trees left, were to be deadened. After the first year good crops were raised in these clearings. But the easiest way was to deaden forty or fifty acres and at the end of five years, grub the matted and luxuriant underbrush, and in the dry autumn months go in with fire and axe, chopping down some, and firing all down or standing and in a short time the dry and dead timber was consumed and the land ready for fencing and cultivation. This land was always more productive, than that cleared all off in the green. The reason for this was that the small limbs falling to the ground and having rot- ted formed an abundant and rich humus, which ensured abundant crops, when cultivated. The cultivation of the land was light in comparison with the hard labor of chopping, of house raising and log rolling, which had preceded it. In the first settling, hunting was a necessary avocation, for it provided food for the family. It was not for mere amusement as it is now.
Wild Game. - Wild turkey and deer were the game usually sought for. The usual mode of hunting the deer was by day, the hunter gliding through the forest noiselessly, so as not to alarm them, and when one was sighted the trusty rifle did its work effect- ually. Another and an easier mode was to watch the licks at night. The licks were saline springs, where the deer and other graminivorous animals came to satisfy their desire for the saline. The hunter generally climbed a tree and then waited and watched until the unsuspecting creature, while slaking its thirst afforded a fair mark for the deadly rifle. Some of these licks were famous in early times and had their distinctive names. In the valley of Mahoning or Ben Davis' Creek there are several. The most widely known was perhaps the "Three Suck Lick " on the farm now owned by Dr. J. Arnold. It received its name from the fact of its having three of these saline springs, where the deer came to suck its waters. Now it is merely an unnoticed swamp or morass
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fifty or sixty yards in length and twenty or twenty-five in breadth. Perhaps 100 deer were slain at this lick. It was known and utilized by the Indians, long before the foot of the white man had ever pressed its brink.
Work of the Women .- The labor of the men was hard enough, but that of the women was incessant and multifarious. All the cooking was done in the open fire-place, in pots, skillets and bake- ovens. They were necessarily exposed to the direct heat of the blazing winter fires. The cooking stove, with all its convenient appliances, had not then been dreamed of. They not only made up all the clothing necessary for a large family, by hand, for sew- ing machines had not then been invented, but they also spun the tow, flax and wool, which they afterward wove into cloth suitable for the garments.
The big and the little spinning wheels were found in every home and were in constant use. On the small wheel was spun the tow and flax thread, from which sheets, towels, tablecloths, shirts, pants and numerous other garments were manufactured. On the large wheel the wool was spun to be used in the making of blankets, flannels, jeans, linseys, stockings, etc. Prior to the erection of carding mills in the country, the wool, after picking and washing, was carded into rolls, by the same untiring hands that afterward spun it into yarn, wove it into cloth and shaped it into garments. There was much music in the large wheel in the hands of a skillful spinner. The loud, rapid and increasing buzz, until it reached its highest velocity, and then its gradual subsidence as the momentum given to it was lost, and this again and again repeated, in rapid suc- cession, produced notes rythmical and really musical. And it can be asserted in all sincerity and truth, that there is no employment or amusement, in which the graces of form and movement of a beautiful woman can be displayed to greater advantage. See with what a firm, quick step she advances, in an instant winds up the . thread of several yards, just spun; affixing another roll, and with the right hand gives the wheel a rapid rotary motion, and with ex- tended left arm draws out the thread, as she quickly glides back- ward across the room.
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