USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Indiana > Part 59
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On the second day of November an adjourned meeting was held, at which time the committee on constitution and by-laws reported. The following is the constitution adopted :
SEC. 1. This society shall be known by the name of the "'St. Joseph County Historical Society." Its object is to collect the early and correct history of St. Joseph valley, and especially St. Joseph county, and to preserve the same in a durable form.
SEC. 2. The officers of the society shall consist of a president and vice-presi- dent, who shall be elected for the period of one year. The president shall pre- side at all meetings of the society, and in his absence one of the vice-presidents shall preside in his place. There shall be a secretary whose business it shall be to keep the minutes of the proceedings of this society. There shall also be a
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
corresponding secretary, whose duty it shall be to conduct the correspondence of the society, and receive all communications directed to the society, and lay the same before it at its next regular meeting thereafter, and discharge all other duties that the society may require. There shall also be a treasurer, whose duty it shall be to receive and pay out the funds of the society in pursuance of any resolution thereof; and a librarian, whose duty it will be to take care of and preserve the books, papers and manuscripts belonging to the society, and to discharge such other duties as may be required of him, provided that the secretary may discharge the duties of librarian. Said officers shall be elected by ballot, and hold their respective offices for the period of one year, and until their successors are elected and qualified. The following named persons are hereby declared to be the offi- cers elect for the first year, to wit: Horatio Chapin, President; Elisha Egbert, Daniel Dayton, John A. Henricks, Vice-Presidents; William H. Drapier, Secre- tary and Librarian; Thomas S. Stanfield, Corresponding Secretary; John T. Lindsey, Treasurer. The subsequent annual elections shall be held in South Bend, on the first Saturday of November in each year.
SEC. 3. At the first meeting in each year there shall be appointed the follow- ing Standing Committees of three members each, to wit: on Collation, on Corres- pondence, on Revision, on Membership.
SEC. 4. Any person of adult age may become a member of this society, who shall unanimously be recommended by the Committee on Membership, and pay the admission fee required of members.
SEC. 5. To defray the expenses of the society, the admission fee for member- ship shall be one dollar, and each member shall pay the treasurer at the first an- nual meeting the sum of one dollar.
SEC. 6. The meetings of the society shall be on the first Saturday evening of each month, in the city of South Bend.
SEC. 7. Five members shall constitute a quorum to do business.
SEC. 8. The society shall have power to make all the by-laws, rules and regulations it may deem necessary for its government, not inconsistent with the constitution, and by a two-thirds' vote of those present at an adjourned meeting may alter or amend this constitution.
The second regular meeting of the society was held Saturday evening Jan. 4, 1868, when the following resolution and state- ment of points on which information was desired was adopted:
Resolved, That each member of this society, and each individual to whom this circular is addressed, be requested to furnish to our society a short historical sketch in answer to the following questions, in the order in which they stand, so far as he has any information on the subject matter of each question :
1. State the place and date of your birth, the nationality of your father and mother and names in full, and the maiden name of your mother.
2. When and how long did you attend school or college? What was the char- acter or kind of school-houses, teachers (male or female) and books in use when you attended school ? How far was the school-house from your place of resi- dence ? Give any information in regard to the schools attended by you that you may regard of interest.
3. At what date did you first settle in the St. Joseph valley ? At what places have you resided since, and how long in each place; the number of inhabitants in any village in which you reside at any date you can give? Or if you settled in the country give the uames of your neighbors, and the distance of their residence from yours. The distance to your nearest school-house or church, with a descrip- tion of the buildings used for such purposes. What was the character of the land on which you settled or lived at any time? Was it thick timber, openings or prairie? How does the fertility of the soil when first cultivated compare with its present productiveness ? What fertilizers have you used and what one do you prefer ? What kind of crops have you considered the most profitable, and what kind have you raised principally ? What kind of implements have you used for farming purposes in the St. Joseph valley at various dates ? What ones do you now consider the most useful and profitable ? What kind of fruits have you raised, and what is the result of your experience as to the adaptation of the soil and cli- mate for the cultivation of the different fruits ? What kinds can be profitably raised
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here and how do you protect them in the winter? What kinds of live stock have you raised, and what kind do you consider the most profitable? Give any other information in any way connected with farming interests that you may think use- ful or important.
4. Merchants, lawyers, physicians, ministers, school-teachers, mechanics and artisans of all kinds are requested to give a short history of the introduction, prog- ress, incidents and present condition of the various professions and acts carried on in St. Joseph valley,-the name of the first person who opened or commenced any business or profession; the fees and prices charged at various dates; the means and facilities of receiving and shipping ot goods and produce, and all mat- ters of interest, and your opinions arising upon such facts, in any way connected with the mercantile profession or mechanical business of the St. Joseph valley, from its earliest date to the present time.
5. Give an account of any and all important events within your knowledge, such as rain, hail, wind or snow storms, accidents, causalties ofany kind, exciting election events, political meetings, camp-meetings, early military parades and operations, etc., etc., being particular as lo names and dales.
6. You are also requested to give, in a separate paper the history of any of your friends and neighbors, who may have died in the St. Joseph valley, following as far as convenient the course indicated in the foregoing questions.
Your response to these questions will be read to the society and carefully pre- served for future use.
All relics, such as old newspapers, magazines, printed or written documents, and all articles of curiosity found in the St. Joseph valley will be thankfully received and carefully preserved.
Interesting meetings were held from time to time by the society and some valuable information gathered. Occasionally a member was called upon to furnish a sketch upon a topic specified, and as a specimen, is given below from the pen of Dr. Humphrey's, an essay upon
THE FIRST BRICK HOUSE IN SOUTH BEND.
" The first brick house in South Bend is our subject for the pres- ent occasion, and might be termed in geological language the prim- itive brick period or era. The first residence of brick was built in the summer and fall of 1831, and still exists on Main street, one door south from the southeast corner of Main and Water streets, on the west half of lot No. 11, original plat of South Bend. It is now owned and occupied by our fellow citizen who bears the name of that distinguished philanthropist, Gerrit Smith, but does not claim relationship by consanguinity, as our Garret Smith descended from Gallic nationality. as he is said to have asserted, by virtue of his having resided for a number of years in that ancient French town, Vincennes, Indiana. It must be borne in mind that the locality of this house and its surroundings were commons at the time of its erection, a level plateau of land ornamented by a natural growth of oak trees, single or in groups, winding in and about which were ' Indian trails,' and chance road ways of the white settlers.
"Frederick Bainter, formerly from Montgomery county, Ohio, near Dayton, of German origin, projected, planned, erected and exercised ownership of the house, whose history we now attempt to write. Horace Wood, a bricklayer and plasterer of excellent
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skill, and a rapid workman, was its builder. He is well remem- bered by the early inhabitants of South Bend and St. Joseph coun- ty as the builder of the old conrt-honse. In after years he moved to Dormine Prairie, in La Porte county, Indiana; thence to Kan- kakee Rapids, thence to Minnesota; emigrated to California by way of the plains in 1849 or 1850; built a brick house at Marysville, California; subsequently returned to his home in Minnesota, and died there some years since. The bricks for the Bainter house, as near as can be ascertained, were made by Horace Wood, the clay for which was obtained from the mouth of a ravine upon the west bank of the St. Joseph river, near where the west abutment of the present river bridge is located, and carried by a flat boat up stream to a brick yard, then situated about where the South Bend Iron Works are now. The lime used in the construction of this house was burned from boulders obtained from the river. The lime kiln was in an embankment upon the lot where Mr. Lemen now resides, southwest corner Main and Water streets. It appears from this that the value of marl beds with which this country abounds was not then understood for the purpose of making lime as is now the case. The Inmber was furnished from the saw-mill of Elijah Lacy, at the mouth of Dowagiac creek, on the east side of the St. Joseph river, in the vicinity of Niles, Michigan. It could not be ascertained by whom the carpenter work was done. It was unquestionably done by some 'old-style workman' as its order in- dicates.
" Nearly cotemporary, or soon after Bainter's house was built, were erected two small brick buildings for office purposes, one by Levi F. Arnold, then a justice of the peace, and located on the south side of Water, between Maine and Michigan streets; the other by Col. L. M. Taylor, then clerk of the court, and situated on Michigan street, where the saddle and harness shop of C. W. Martin now is. But these structures have long since been demol- ished, and shared the fate of the temples at Ephesus, Karnack and Baalbec; and the Bainter house proudly asserts its claims to the pioneer structure, from materials similar to that manufactned by the ancient Israelites under the despotic rule of their cruel Egyp- tian task-masters, and like unto that of which the tower of Babel. was built. But unlike the Babylonish tower, this domicil of ad- vanced civilization in its day, was reared without confusion of tongues, although the English, German, French, Pottawatomie and Hoosier dialects were daily heard in the community at that time.
"The style of architecture of the Bainter-Smith house next claims attention. It is not Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite, nor is it Babylonish, after the style of the temple of Belna, Kasr, or the hanging gardens that Nebuchadnezzar built for his Lydian bride. It is not copied after Oriental architecture, or Chinese, where pa- godas are only imitations of the design of the Nomadic tent. It is that style that Dr. Holland believes does not particularly please the Great Architect, though the Doctor will not venture an opinion
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that the Creator of all things absolutely hates the style after which our pioncer brick house was fashioned, namely the quadrilateral or square style.
"Four walls, each 18 feet in length, two stories high, roofed with shingles, without cornice or projections at the eves or gables, a wide chimney at one end and no front door, constitute the exterior of this venerable structure, located upon the interior line of the side- walk. Each story contained but one room, the lower seven and the upper eight feet from floor to ceiling. A wide open fire-place in each story, for warmth and ventilation; two windows, each 12 lights, of 8x10 glass, in the upper story, and one of the same size in the lower story next the street; one window of the same size of those described and a door in the lower story, and two windows and a door of like dimensions in the upper story upon the east or rear side of the house, complete the interior. The front doors were in the rear of the house, the entrance being by the lower door only, and no means of access to the upper door by steps or stairs outside. Thus stands to-day this unpretending structure, once regarded as a comfortable, cozy family residence, a venerable witness of all that transpired in the thirty-eight eventful years of the past.
"From the fall of 1831 to Feb. 12, 1833, the elder Bainter and his family while ensconced within its walls were looked upon almost with envy by the passer-by, as the aristocratic dwellers in the first brick house in town; the head of the family was regarded by com- mon consent as ' Frederick the Great,' in the community of this then embryo city. From February, 1833, to some time in the year 1835, this honse was owned and occupied by Captain Samuel L. Cottrell, who was the first sheriff of the county. When Cottrell came in possession he found the honse unplastered. He immediately erected the frame addition in the rear of the house as it now stands, thus adding two rooms, one above and one below, each 10x18, with two windows on the east above and below, same size as those described, and the house was then plastered throughout. Horace Wood did the plastering, and William Creviston, assisted by E. C. Johnson, did the carpenter and joiner work. Creviston is yet remembered by our early settlers; he usually bore the cognomen of ' Bill Creviston,' was a good workman, and a rollicking, jolly fellow. He subse- quently moved to Wisconsin, thence to California, and returning from thence, is said to be now living in his Wisconsin home. In February, 1833, Frederick Bainter relinquished the ownership, as has been stated. He continued to reside in the town and vicinity until the year 1838, when he died at his home abont one mile south of South Bend, at the junction of Michigan and La Porte roads. He was a quiet, respectable citizen, esteemed by his neighbors and friends.
" During the residence of Captain Cottrell in this house, amongst other pursuits engaged in by him was the keeping of a family grocery in a building one door sonth of his house, where Mr. Menssel now resides. James Burnett, a ' half breed' (French and
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Indian), boarded in the family of Captain Cottrell while they lived in this house. In the year 1834 Burnett fell sick and died, and his remains were the first adult citizen interred in the present city cemetery. His grave is now unknown, and he was the first ' pioneer settler' in that now numerously populated 'City of the Silent Dead,' where lie buried the household treasures of so many of our people.
" The following constitute the list of owners of the Bainter-Smith house from February, 1835, to the present time: A. Coquillard, Sr., and Francis Comparet ; 1838, John T. Smith; 1839, A. Coquillard, Sr .; 1841, John D. Defrees, and the same year Coquillard again; 1844, State Bank of Indiana; 1845, Farmers' & Mechanics' Bank of Michigan; also within that year John Totman, James Benham and Herman Ball, in the order named; 1847, Robert Hyslop, of New York city ; in 1849 Hyslop conveyed to Garret and Isaac Smith; the former as has been stated, is its present owner and occupant.
" It was quite impossible to obtain a complete list of all the families who have occupied this house subsequent to Captain Cot- trell's residence in it. In 1837, and for some time subsequent, John Rush and family resided in it. The writer of this took dinner with the Rush family here in July, 1837. John Rush, to distinguish him from others of that name, was generally known as ' Black John,' or 'John, the Dusky,' from his exceedingly dark complexion. He was for some years one of our most prominent merchants and business men, and was at one time associated in business with our fellow-citizen, Dr. John A. Henricks. About the year 1850 Rush, with his wife, moved to California, where both died of cholera soon after their arrival in that country. In 1838, known all over the West as the ' sickly season,' Norman Campbell and his family occupied the lower apartments of this house. During the fall of that year, a widowed relative of the writer with her family occupied the upper portion of the house. In October, 1838, the author of this paper had a bitter experience from an attack of remittent fever of about four weeks' duration. Amongst other mental vagaries incident to fever was that for some days four other adult persons occupied jointly with him his sick bed. The sense of crowding and want of room was almost unendurable, especially in so small a house. During this time, a young man, a school-teacher by profession, died of the prevailing disease, in the lower part of the house, while a boarder in the family of Norman Campbell; his name is not now remembered, and he doubtless fills a nameless and unknown grave. Norman Campbell's trade or occupation was the same as that of U. S. Grant, a tanner and currier. He worked as a journeyman for a number of years for Captain Day, and subsequently moved to Benton, Elkhart county, at which place he is probably yet living.
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" About the years 1840-'42 Captain Lot Day occupied this house. He resided here when Sheriff of this county. After a long resi- dence in this city and vicinity, engaging in various kinds of busi- ness, one of which was tanning, as has been stated, holding the offices of Sheriff, County Commissioner and State Senator, respect- ively, he, with most of his family, subsequently moved to Cali- fornia. There were other occupants of the house besides those mentioned, whose names could not be ascertained. From the long catalogue of owners and occupants of this house, it can be seen in what estimation it was held, embracing, as it does, merchants and business men, lawyers, banking institutions, office-holders and poli- ticians-the last proprietor before the present owner and occupant of philanthropic name being no less than one of New York's mer- chant princes. And if any class of men can estimate the present and prospective value of real estate, where would they more likely be found than in the great commercial metropolis of this coun- try, that boasts of its unapproachable Broadway and incomparable Fifth Avenne! The investment was doubtless made by Robert Hyslop as a profitable one, as his shrewd, keen, visual optics scanned the sky-line of South Bend's future, even at that early day.
" The several occupants of this house ought to have been an up- right people, exemplary in their conduct and zealous of good works. Just across the street, and nearly opposite the Bainter-Smith house, once stood the old Methodist Episcopal Church, erected in 1836, and from whose tower first rang out the musical tones of the first ' church-going bell' to the inhabitants of this portion of the St. Joseph valley, reminding them of their dearly cherished native homes, now widely separated from them by leagnes of distance, then traversed by no railroad or telegraph lines, and bnt few stage coaches. From the pulpit of this early sanctuary were poured forth in terms often of great eloquence, expositions of the ' glorious gos- pel of the great Teacher and Divine Redeemer of depraved and fallen humanity, wherewith believers are made free,' by a distin- guished roll of Methodist divines, which, let us hope, benefited the denizens of the Bainter-Smith house, 'wayside hearers' though they may have often been, and that, too, by their own hearth and fireside.
" As Napoleon first said to his army in Egypt, when pointing to the pyramids: 'Forty centuries look down upon your achieve- ments of to-day;' so we can say, forty years look down upon us from the walls of that venerable structure, upon which, if all the events of its years were inscribed, would cover them within and without, with records of the dead past. May its foundations never crumble, may no earthquake rend it, or tornado mar its modest proportions, or lightning scathe it, or devouring conflagration scorch it. Palsied be the hand that may ruthlessly despoil or remove this ancient land-mark of South Bend's early civilization."
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
PIONEER MEETINGS.
The old settlers of St. Joseph county held one of their annual meetings at South Bend, Friday, Oct. 2, 1874. This meeting was very largely attended, owing to its being held at a time when many were in attendance at the various fairs then being held. Music was furnished by the South Bend Cornet Band. Dr. John A. Henricks was made chairman. After a few introductory remarks, the gath- ering sung a beautiful parody of " Auld Lang Syne," written by " Malcolm Duncan " (Mrs. Flora L. Stanfield), who presided over the organ on the occasion.
" AULD LANG SYNE."
Should all our old friends be forgot, And never brought to mind ? Should all our old friends be forgot And the days of auld lang syne ?
CHORUS :
For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne ; Let us pledge anew each friend that's here, For the sake of auld lang syne.
We'll share again our early joys, Our early griefs resign, And be the happy girls and boys That we were in auld lang syne.
And in the crystal waters clear, Without a thought of wyne, We'll toast the old acquaintance here, And drink to auld lang syne.
And when upon our lowly graves The summer sun shall shine, May Heaven's grace not quite efface The thoughts of auld lang syne.
CHORUS :
For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne; Let us pledge anew each friend that's here, For the sake of auld lang syne.
Judge Stanfield, as president of the society, was expected to deliver an address. Being unavoidably absent he prepared a writ- ten discourse, which was read by Dr. Humphreys. The latter gen- tleman delivered the address of the occasion the following September. Fellow Citizens :- These reunions forcibly remind us that time is flying. I can hardly realize that I have lived here nearly forty- four years-almost half of the life of this great Republic. Forty- four years ago it had only thirteen millions of people, now over forty millions. Then the north half of this State and northwestern
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
Ohio, nearly all of Michigan, two-thirds of Illinois, all of Wiscon- sin, Minnesota, and the great West, now divided up into numerous and populous States, were almost an unbroken solitude, just in the wild condition it had been from the beginning. The time seems long in personal experience, but forty-four years is only a dot in human existence. Short as it is in the life of a people, it has abounded in wonderful work. We ought to feel thankful that we have been permitted to live in an age when all the activities of life have been so quickened by railroad, telegraph, and the thousands of other inventions, saving labor and cheapening productions, and at the same time increasing the price of labor.
" This ' St. Joseph country' as it was then called, was from a hundred to two hundred miles beyond the frontier settlement. At that time emigrants were coming in from the southeastern part of this State, and the central and southwestern parts of Ohio. The distance to be traveled was from two hundred to two hundred and fifty miles, most of it through a heavy timbered country, level and swampy, the road narrow, and without bridges, and almost impassable in wet weather. Many, like us, came late in the fall of 1830, and were delayed by the bad roads until nearly winter. We crossed the St. Joseph river just below the month of the Elkhart, in the latter part of November. The ford was deep and crooked, but we managed to get over safely, and made our way up the Chris- tiana to Diamond lake. The creek was our only guide. There was no road, but the country was open and level. The reason for going to Diamond lake was because Young's Prairie lay close by, where there were abundant crops that could be relied on for the winter. We pitched our tent (made of the wagon cover) on the north side of the lake, and commenced building a cabin near that of another family who had preceded ns a few months. Before we
could get our cabin up and covered, heavy rains set in, winding np on the 5th of December with a fall of snow twenty-eight inches deep, which, with large accumulations, remained until the first of April. It was the coldest winter ever experienced in this country. This neighboring family that preceded us consisted of a linsband and wife, with six or seven children, all living in a cabin not over twenty feet square, total strangers to us and as poor as we were; but when they saw us (a family about the same size) exposed in our little tent to the cold, pelting storms of approaching winter, their generous hearts were filled with sympathy for their destitute and suffering neighbors. At their urgent request the two families were united in one cabin until our own was ready for use, all eating at the same table without a thought as to who furnished the most provisions or did the most of the housework. I shall always remember and fondly cherish the disinterested goodness of this unpretentious family. The father and mother have long since departed, and the children scattered I know not where. This inci- dent will no doubt awaken in the memories of the old settlers recol- lections of the heartiness of backwoods hospitalities. And while
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