USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Steuben County, Indiana, together withbiographies of representative citizens > Part 26
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at its height, the clouds broke forth with sudden and heavy rain, and all further enjoyment was brought to a close. Hurriedly the meeting proceeded to elect George Harding, President, and Leland H. Stocker, Secretary, for the ensuing year, and then adjourned.
SIXTH REUNION.
Thursday, June 12, 1879, the pioneers again assembled on the square, and about noon, under the marshalship of A. S. Sherwood, they marched to McConnell's Park. The proceedings were opened in the usual manner, and an address of welcome was delivered by William B. McConnell. Then came recess for dinner. The after- noon was allotted to impromptu speeches by old settlers. The first speaker introduced was James W. Jefferd. He said he would soon arrive at the allotted age of man, threescore and ten years; and this was one of the happiest periods of his whole life, for now he could meet face to face with the few pioneers who are still liv- ing. Continuing, he said:
"I settled in this county in 1837. No one knows the hard- ships we endured. I earned ten or twelve dollars at Hamilton, and went to the prairies north of Lima for wheat." There was so much filth in it that the miller at Union Mills refused to grind it unless it was washed; so he cleaned it and then obtained some nice flour, but only sixty pounds. Mr. Jefferd exhibited a hoe he made in 1837. That and another he made weighed six pounds. They knew nothing then of cast steel. Mr. J., also related about the first surgical operation performed in the county. In closing his remarks, the speaker said: "This is the last time I shall ever be permitted to appear before you; but as long as I live, I shall hold these old settlers as my best friends. They are dearer to me than my own kindred are. We suffered here together. Some had more money than others, but I earned my bread by the sweat of my brow. I presume I cleared as much, if not more land than anybody else. If I had not been so foolish, and overtaxed my strength, I would not be as weak as I am now, and might have lived to be a hundred years old."
After Mr. Jefferd had been led to his seat, the audience sang "Come, thou fount of every blessing," after which music was furnished by the martial band present.
Winn Powers, nearly eighty years old, and the only survivor of four brothers who settled near the eastern boundary of the county, in what is now known as the Powers settlement, was next introduced.
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He said his brother came to this county in 1836, and entered some land for himself and many others, and while he was here he was on English Prairie and engaged twenty-five bushels of wheat to be had the next spring, in 1837, when he expected his brothers to be here in the wilderness. " It was the first of July before we arrived here, and we expected that the wheat would all be gone by that time. We went to the house of the man we had bought it of, but did not think he would have any, for wheat was scarce and high; but he had it. My brother asked what it was worth, and was told $1 per bushel. Another man who was there offered to give him twenty shillings, but he told him to go and get it of some
one else. He would not take any more. * * * Mr. Jefferd has spoken of hard times, but I never thought it was any hardship. The work had to be done. To be sure, it was rather difficult to get a living. We had deer's tallow, beeswax and honey, but were troubled sometimes to get anything to go with them. Bread was hard to get. My brothers hated hunting and dogs, but were very glad to get a venison ham occasionally; I used to provide turkeys and venison for them to a considerable extent."
James W. Lockwood came forward after the music ceased, and said he had formerly been a resident of Steuben County, but had been absent for many years, until quite recently. His niece mar- ried Robert L. Douglass, the prosecuting attorney at the time of the Doty trial. Mr. Lockwood arrived in the county June 8, 1837. He said he was poor when he came here, and had to depend upon some particular friends. His land was entered. He endured the hardships in early days common to all the old settlers. His wife died some time since, and now he had no home, but was waiting to be called " to that Eden home on high." At the con- clusion of Mr. Lockwood's remarks, Mr. Helme, of Orland, and his little four-year-old son Bennie favored the audience with some really good music, the father playing on the fife and the child using the snare drum. The little fellow was not much taller than the drum, but performed his part with credit.
G. W. McConnell then came forward and said that as the audience had had a specimen of "Young America," he would now intro- duce " Old America" in the person of Willard Dewitt, aged 104 years. [He was in his 104th year at this time but had not completed that age. He has since died, nearly 105 years old. A sketch of this centenarian is given in the Scott Township chapter.] Mr. Dewitt did not make any remarks, being too feeble. Mrs.
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Stephen A. Powers, widow of a former county surveyor, was next presented to the audience, and then Mrs. Brown, sister of Major Wright, who settled on the Beaver Dam Lake, in Lagrange County, was introduced. She was nearly ninety years of age. She and her husband came here with Judge Gale. Mr. Brown built the first shanty in Angola. Mr. and Mrs. Michael Depue, of Hall's Cor- ners, Mich., who were among the pioneer settlers in Jamestown Township, were next introduced as being the only couple among the old settlers who were married when they came into the county, and who were still living. Their ages at this time were seventy- five and sixty-nine. They were married in 1831. Their daughter was the first child born in Jamestown Township.
Abel Craine next spoke, and closed by singing a verse of an Indian song. Harvey Olmstead, President of the Lagrange County Old Settlers' Association, was introduced and made a few remarks, which were well received. Nelson Newton, of Orland, then re- lated his experience of early days. K. Gould, eighty-seven years of age, next stepped forward and spoke for several minutes in a remarkably clear voice and said he could walk six miles in a day and not feel the effects at all. He said his health was better than when he was fifty years of age. Some thirty-seven years before this meeting he had a shock of the palsy which destroyed his speech to a great extent for many years. It was now over forty years since the denomination to which he belonged said he must go to preaching, and during the greater portion of the time since then he has been at work for the Master. Three times during his life he has been moved to where the Indians roamed through the forest. When he was quite young his parents moved from Washington County, N. Y., to Cayuga County in the same State. There were Indians there. In a few years they came to Sandusky County, Ohio, and found Indians again. A third time they followed the star of empire into the untrodden forests of the West and settled in Indiana, where he was once more brought face to face with the red men.
Moses Sanborn came to this country in 1841, but didn't arrive on the cars. When his party reached the river, they found it so high that they could not ford it. A raft was made, and the most valuable load (the ladies) sent over first. In about twelve hours they got everything across and came on to Steuben County. President Harding then made a few remarks. He said that in 1835 about 2,200 acres of land had been taken up in Jamestown Township, and
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in 1836 almost 7,000 acres were entered. When he first came here there were no houses between Mill Grove and Bean Creek, or Mo- rencie, Mich.
For the ensuing year the society chose G. W. McConnell as President, George Harding as Vice-President, and L. H. Stocker as Secretary. The exercises closed with music, and a farewell ad- dress by A. W. Hendry.
SEVENTH REUNION.
The seventh annual reunion was appointed for Thursday, June 10, 1880, at the court-house. Threatening weather forbade the exercises being held at McConnell's Park, as planned. At half past eleven the meeting was called to order in the court-house by President McConnell, and the usual opening exercises were per- formed, after which the address of welcome was delivered by Rev. W. P. Aylsworth. At the afternoon session a paper was read con- taining some recollections by Rev. Aaron Wood, at that time in charge of an asylum for feeble-minded children at Knightstown, Henry County, but who formerly was a pioneer preacher in this region, and who traveled through Steuben County as Presiding Elder as early as 1839. He wrote as follows:
"In the year of our Lord 1805 I first crossed the Ohio River at Marietta, Athens [now Washington] County, and though then but three years old I remember the river and town. This place was settled by educated Puritans and Huguenots, and was at the time the best educated society west of the Ohio. From 1806 to 1814 I lived near Chillicothe, then the seat of government for the State of Ohio. Governors Tiffin, Worthington, Meigs and McArthur were intimate acquaintances of my father at the age when, as a boy, I would admire great men. When ten years of age I read the news- papers and learned the incidents of the war of 1812, especially as all the able-bodied men were in the army, and only the old men and boys were at home.
" In 1814 the family moved to Champaign County, and as Ur- bana had been an outpost and Columbus was now the capital, it increased my acquaintances with the men of those towns. North of Piqua, Urbana and Columbus to the lakes was a wilderness, un- inhabited by American civilization west of the Connecticut reserve, but from 1815 to 1820 it settled up very rapidly. The same was true of the southern counties of the then new State of Indiana. But the garden of Indiana was still in the possession of the untu-
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tored savage. The first I learned of that country was in 1818. Our neighbor, Benjamin Cheney, collected a drove of cattle and grazed them from the plains of Darby to Green Bay (now in Wisconsin), for the army at that garrison. The neighbor boys, older than my- self, had what I envied, the privilege of that romantic trip around Lake Michigan to Green Bay.
" The raw materials essential to an agricultural and mechanical population are distributed over Indiana more than in any other State in the Union. Soil, water, rock and lumber are better distrib- nted over the entire State than in any of the other States. There are no precious metals, but the useful is inexhaustible-iron, coal and lime; of forest trees I have seen fifty varieties; of medical plants there are many, too tedious to mention.
"It seems strange that forty-two years have passed since I went as a Presiding Elder to a camp-meeting near Shallow Lake. But I have a distinct recollection of its social standing. The church members and campers were not homogeneous. Each preacher and member had a veneration for the manner of conducting the meet- ing according to his own experience in the country from whence he came, and they were there from as far north as Troy, N. Y., and south as far as Virginia. There was a stand large enough for a buz- zard roost and high enough for a gallows. The altar was enclosed by a pen of poles inside the cross aisles. Knowing as I did that a promiscuous crowd could not be controlled with such scaffolding, I took official charge, had the poles carried away, the stand reduced in size and lowered nearer the seats, and promised if the preachers and the members would do as I told them we would have good order throughout the meeting.
"To the few acquaintances remaining I would say, be content with your evening of life in your well-chosen homes; and to the young I would say, utilize the resources that are within your reach. There is no better country than Indiana."
Rev. C. H. Blanchard, of Wolcottville, a member of the La- grange Pioneer Association, appeared as a delegate from that organization and related many incidents of pioneer life in Mill Grove Township, this county.
Russell Brown, of Orland, father of Hon. E. Brown, who came west from Onondaga County, N. Y., and settled in Lagrange County in 1836, was introduced. He was once a strong, healthy man, but he was now tottering with age. He reviewed some of his early experiences and hardships of the early settlers of the
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county, and referred with pride to the churches, free schools and benevolent institutions of our State to-day. He also told of at- tending the State pioneers' meeting the year previous.
The next speaker was Eben Thayer, of Union City, Mich., who came from the Empire State in 1836; and after music the next one introduced was Mr. Kimble, of Orland, who came from the East and settled near Coldwater in 1832.
Rev. E. Holdstock, who was a "circuit rider" in the wilds ot Indiana as early as 1839, related some experiences. He came here when a young man, and so delicate in frame that the people predicted he would not live to come around again, having thirty appointments to fill. He told how his horse was stolen by Indians -he remembered it well, for he had important business on hand; walked to Angola, got his license, and went to Orland to be mar- ried. This was June 15, 1840. He endured many more hard- ships worthy the early pioneer, but outlived them all; had grown fat and felt like a young man yet. His salary was in the early days about $40 a year.
The centenarian of Scott Township, Willard Dewitt, was then introduced, and Rev. Mr. Carpenter delivered the closing address. For the ensuing year the following officers were chosen : Presi- dent, A. S. Sherwood; Vice-President, Jesse M. Gale; Secretary and Treasurer, Stephen A. Powers.
EIGHTH ANNUAL REUNION.
The next meeting was held Aug. 18, 1881, at the court-house. Threatening weather and competing attractions caused the attend- ance to be rather small. The opening address was delivered by Elder Blanchard, of Wolcottville, Lagrange County. He was one of the first settlers of Steuben County, and helped raise the first log cabin. He toiled hard on harder diet. He shared the ague of 1838. He was by the dying and helped return earth to earth. George Harding gave an account of the time the first land entries were made in Jamestown Township. A few of them still own their farms, he being one. Cephas Mccullough was at the meet- ing and stated that he still resided in Jamestown, on the land he bought at the United States land-office, Fort Wayne.
Winn Powers, of York Township, gave an account of himself and brother moving from Allegany County, N. Y., to this county, the wagons being drawn by oxen, with a stock of cows, a journey of 500 miles. A. W. Woodworth was with the earliest settler of
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York Township. His ax and muscle let the sun shine where there was too much shade. He also made roads, bridged mud and morass. He obtained the sobriquet of the "racking pony," on Jackson Prairie, because of his beating others in cradling wheat. After York Township was divided, he lived in Scott Township; but he was now arranging to move to Kansas, and took this op- portunity of saying good-by to the old settlers. A number of others made short speeches. For the ensuing year Jesse M. Gale was chosen President, and S. A. Powers was elected Secretary and Treasurer.
NINTH ANNUAL REUNION.
The next meeting was held Aug. 17, 1882, at McConnell's Park. It was called to order by President Jesse M. Gale, and the ad- dress of welcome was delivered by Elder A. S. Hale. Russell Brown, of Orland, also made a speech before dinner. In the afternoon the speakers were Dr. McConnell, A. S. Sherwood, Russell Brown, L. B. Eaton, Rev. H. J. Carpenter and others. At the business meeting, Dr. G. W. McConnell received the honor of being elected President of the society "to serve during the re- mainder of liis natural life." Henry P. Hathaway was elected Secretary for the ensuing year. Russell Brown, of Orland, and Myron Powers, of York, were appointed delegates to the Lagrange County pioneers' meeting, and F. Macartney and A. S. Sherwood were appointed as delegates to De Kalb County.
TENTH ANNUAL REUNION.
The tenth annual reunion of the old settlers of Steuben County was held Aug. 16, 1883, and was largely attended. The opening address was delivered by General Lewis J. Blair. At dinner, a space at one end of the long table was reserved for those who had set- tled in the county previous to 1836. Next came those who settled between 1836 and 1838, then those in 1838-'40, and lastly those in 1840-'5. In the afternoon the first speaker was Hon. Andrew Ellison, of Lagrange County, who has been for more than forty- eight years a resident of Northern Indiana. In the course of his interesting speech he gave a brief biography of himself, stating that he was born in Ireland and when but two and a half years old came with his parents to New York. While off the banks of New- foundland their vessel was wrecked and beached upon the shores of that inhospitable island, a large number of the passengers being lost. Up to the time Mr. Ellison was twenty-four years old, he was
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a hard worker, helping to clear two farms in New York before coming to Indiana. When about twenty-five years old he com- menced the study of law, since which time he has followed that profession.
Dr. Griffin, of Angola, next made a few remarks, and he was fol- lowed by George Harding, of Orland. In early days the latter named gentleman was engaged in teaming, hauling the first loads of goods into Hamilton, Lexington and Lima. For a number of years he traveled over the territory as far east as Cleveland, Ohio, and west to Rock Island, Ill.
For the ensuing year Alanson W. Hendry was elected President, and Francis Macartney, Secretary.
The 1884 meeting was held Aug. 21, at the usual place. The first speaker was Bart. Bigler, who held the attention of all by an excellent address of welcome. He was followed by Nelson Prentiss, of Noble County, who gave what was pronounced one of the finest addresses ever delivered in Angola. Forty-six years had passed since Mr. Prentiss had been in the capital of Steuben County. John Paul Jones, the pioneer preacher, and present Auditor of Lagrange County, was present and made a speech. Rev. Caleb H. Blan- chard, of Lagrange County, was also present. In his early years he was rail splitter, carpenter and preacher. He built the first house in Jamestown. He has preached not less than 1,500 funeral sermons, and in 1883 he married twenty-two couples.
Russell Brown, of Orland, seventy-nine years old, next made some interesting remarks. He was followed by George W. Hard- ing, who referred to the condition of the cemeteries wherein most of the pioneers are buried, and suggested that the Legislature be petitioned to enact a law empowering the townships to purchase and keep them in repair, showing that the expense would be very small. Other speakers followed, among whom was Cyrus Fillmore, of Lagrange County. Among the pioneers present were Demary Tillitson, Harvey Olmstead and William Carver. For the ensuing year Alanson W. Hendry was chosen President, and Francis Ma- cartney, Secretary.
REMINISCENCES. BY D. B. GRIFFIN.
I first came into Steuben County when it was quite new, in March, 1839. I stopped first at Willow Prairie. Brockville was the name of the postoffice, and the site for the village which was laid out and recorded, and which is now Fremont. The village
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then consisted of six or seven small houses, part of them frame and the others log cabins of humble mien.
Among the settlers who then resided in and about Brockville, I call to mind the following: Jeremiah Tillitson, Demary Tillitson (a nephew of Jeremiah), Joseph Terry, Ichabod H. Burdick, Jared Burdick, Beriah Burdick, Jacob Roop, Abraham Walters, John McMahan, Newman Havens, Elijah Salisbury, Chester Salisbury and Peter Beam. Matthew Coffin was Postmaster at the village, and Truman P. Gilbert kept the tavern. The latter afterward went to Hillsdale, where he carried on business for some time, and finally put an end to his existence by committing suicide. Enos Beall, afterward Judge Beall, and his brother Rufus, who afterward served two terms as Sheriff of this county, and two terms in the same capacity in Hillsdale County, Mich., were both living in this vicinity. Peter Cluck was the village blacksmith, though he re- sided a mile and a half from town. His son Peter succeeded him in the same business at Fremont. Joseph Cluck, a brother of Peter, was a carpenter and joiner. He subsequently moved back to the East. Thomas N. Brown, afterward known as Judge Brown, was a farmer. He was the father of Mrs. Joseph A. Woodhull (since deceased), and his widow and son Myron are at present resi- dents of Angola. Avery Farnham, father of Erastus Farnham, now a grain speculator in Chicago, resided on the old homestead near the site of the village until his death, the last few years bring- ing feeble health. His son-in-law, William Hopkins, had charge of the farm, and he, too, is in Chicago. Erastus Farnham, brother of Avery, afterward filled the office of County Surveyor. He died some years ago.
Just outside the limits of the village Jeremiah Tillitson, Esq., had erected a neat two-story frame house with a large "L" a story and a half high, which added much to the appearance of the village as it was approached from the east. There was no blacksmith, wagon, shoe, tailor, tin, or any other shop of any kind at that time in the place. There was a blacksmith a mile and a half south, and a tailor one mile east. A man named Richard Gaines had just traded for a few goods at Lima, Lagrange County, and put them up in a small room at Brockville, and he sold his merchandise out readily at fabulous prices, so that in the course of the season lie built a good-sized two-story building, the front part of which was done off into a store, and the remainder into a dwelling. This building is there yet. He went East that fall and got his father to
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help him to $1,000, with which he purchased and brought on a fine stock of goods for that time and place. More of him hereafter.
The improvements were some ways apart. The land was much of it oak openings, the trees were some distance apart and the fire ran through them every year and kept down the young trees so that one could see a long ways in the smooth, level ground, and I frequently saw large herds of deer running through these openings, which was a splendid sight. Wild turkeys were also quite common, and I have seen large flocks of them many a time. If I had been a hunter I could have gotten all I wanted, but I was no hunter and never killed a deer or a turkey.
The Pottawatomie Indians were all over this country, and fre- quently centered around Brockville. They would encamp and build their wigwams, then come to the village with their deer- skins, furs, and fresh venison, and if they could not get what whisky they wanted for these commodities, they would sell a pony for a few gallons of that beverage. Then if the pony was not taken away or secreted, they would steal it the next night, or as soon after as they could. There was a case in Brockville of that kind, that I knew of. The young man who bought the pony was much pleased with his good luck. He was told by men who knew the habits of the Indians that they would get the pony again if they could. He kept watch so closely, however, that they did not get it while they were there. But they did get it soon after; at least the pony was missing and he had to stand the loss.
The Indians were quite peaceable when sober, but if they could get whisky they would fight among themselves sometimes. There was an Indian by the name of Johnese, an under-chief, who was very quiet and dignified when sober. He came to town one day much intoxicated and greatly excited. He had a large wound on the side of his neck and about three on his head-all long, deep gashes. He came up to me and said an Indian had killed a squaw and that he was going to kill the Indian, as he was a chief. Another Indian, talked to him in their own language, then he turned to me and said all he had told me was a lie; that there had been no kill- ing, and that he was not going to kill the Indian. At the time he had a number of bars of lead in his hand, and powder, which he had just bought for that purpose, so he said. It was currently re- ported that they put an Indian to death and burned him, where they were encamped. At another time an Indian came riding into town on a run, all excitement, frothing at the mouth-the most
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frightful looking object I ever saw-and said they were all fight- ing, and he wanted us to go out there and stop them from killing each other. But the man was crazy drunk and we kept away. A man came to town soon after, from the same direction, and said the Indians were trying to kill each other, or at least were having a general row; that he saw a squaw running and screaming, her hair streaming out behind her, and an Indian running after her. He thought the Indian meant to kill her if he could. The other In- dians were talking very loud and were apparently excited, and he thought they were all quarreling, being divided into two parties. It was believed that the squaw was killed and buried there, and that the Indian who killed her was punished with death also, and buried near the scene of the tragedy.
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