USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Steuben County, Indiana, together withbiographies of representative citizens > Part 28
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But God seldom brings judgment upon people without first warning them of their danger; and so at that time, while engaged in gathering up things preparatory to moving, there seemed to be a whispering, telling me not to go into that house. I said nothing of my impressions, but reasoned with myself, that as the house was ours and more comfortable to live in than the one we occupied I could see no good reason for not moving. I think from my hus- band's appearance that he had similar impressions, but he said nothing. At that time our family consisted of my husband and myself, my husband's mother, who was eighty years of age and quite feeble, and a nephew, Jonathan Wisel, youngest son of Ira Wisel, aged eleven years. His father having died in the army, we had taken him to live with us till he should be twenty-one. He was a good boy, and we had begun to feel that he would be to us as an own son. But we little realized that death even then stood at our door. The Sunday after we moved he went with me for the last time to meeting and Sunday-school.
That day I met with Calvin Brace and wife, from Burr Oak, Iowa. They seemed to enjoy the meeting; they staid with us Sunday night, intending to take Mother Wisel home with them the next day, but on Monday it rained, so they were with us another night in family worship. That evening we sang :
" The day is past and gone,
The evening shades appear,
-
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O, may we all remember well The night of death draws near."
But we little realized that death, even then, stood at our door. There was a cloud arising when we went to bed, but we observed nothing unusual in its appearance. We retired with a feeling of safety. The old people slept below, and my husband with me and Jonathan slept in the chamber above. Mr. Wisel had been hard at work in his grist-mill and was tired, and he and the rest of the inmates were soon in a sound sleep. Then a trembling of heart seized me and a foreboding of something dreadful came over me. Soon the rain poured down in torrents. I awoke Mr. Wisel and told him that I feared we were going to have a freshet. He answered but did not appear much troubled and was soon in a sound sleep again. The night was extremely dark, except when it lightened. I knew it would be very difficult to get our aged mother or old Mrs. Brace to a place of safety on the hill, so I re- solved to watch the rise of the water, and let the rest sleep, unless danger should be near. For two hours the rain continued to pour down. Again I awoke my husband, telling him that the water was rising; but before he could dress I threw a shawl over my head and went out a few rods from the house; it lightened and I discovered the water close to my feet. I hurried back, and throw- ing the door wide open, called to the sleeping inmates to awake, telling them that the water would soon be in the house. Our aged mother sprang up asking, "What shall we do?" I told her it was too late to get away, and that we must go to the chamber and trust in God. The head gate of the grist-mill race had given away and the water was pouring over between us and the mill, so that there was no chance of getting to our neighbors on the hills. All were soon dressed and the men removed the beds and trunks from the rooms below to the chamber above. Mr. Wisel and myself were the last to leave the lower rooms. The water was fast coming in, when I heard our three little calves rushing by, bellowing. With pity for the poor creatures, I sprang to the door to call them in, when my husband stopped me saying it would not do to open the door. We then went to the chamber and he opened the door, and, looking toward the grist-mill, told us that the small buildings were sweeping by! Soon he announced that the horse stable with the horses was going by; then I felt that the house must soon go.
Mrs. Brace proposed that we should join in prayer. The water
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continued to rise. We could hear the windows bursting in, and things dashing about in the rooms below. Often flood-wood would strike the house, racking it fearfully. Perhaps one-half an hour had thus passed when mother, who remained sitting on the side of the bed, spoke with a sigh, saying, " I don't know what will be- come of us."
The following words came into my mind, and I repeated them: " We all may like ships, be tempest tossed On perilous deeps, but we ne'er shall be lost "
With these words, there sprang up a little hope, that when the house should give way we might be washed to the hill, or get hold of a tree and be saved. I then began to prepare for the emergency as best I could. Getting mother's bonnet, I went to tie it on her head, but she refused, saying, "No," so I tied it on my own head, and then put on my thick shoes and woolen stock- ings. Then our house was violently racked. I supposed it was going immediately to pieces, but the shock passed off, and my husband, who was standing near the door which opened out from the chamber, spoke, saying, "The house will soon go now."
His blacksmith shop had been driven against the addition, which was joined to the lower eaves of our house, working it off. For one moment we all waited in breathless silence, then the house began to plunge over, and as the lights went ont I saw my husband jump out of the door, and caught a glimpse of his mother flying with the bed over the stairway. So I sprang to prevent her from going below. I heard her head strike! She, groaning, fell with the bed through the stairway, but the bed- stead having high posts stopped, and I clung hold of a foot post, while Mrs. Brace got hold of a side-rail, and her husband grasped the other foot post. I called to Jonathan to eling tight to the bedstead. He said, " Yes, mamma;" that was the last I heard from him. The house was immediately broken to pieces in such a manner as to free us from timbers, and we three went plunging down stream elinging to the bedstead. After being twice im- mersed, as I again rose to the surface, struggling to keep my hold on the bedpost, it seemed that the waves or something else took me with force and set me across the foot-board, I still eling- ing to the post. I was no more plunged under water, but kept that position till I stopped the bedstead. Some to whom I have related the circumstances have said that doubtless an angel placed me on that foot-board, and guided my course down that crooked 20
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stream, through the woods and past the rocky bluffs. And, truly, it would seem almost impossible for one to be carried by a raging torrent, filled with the debris of mills and other buildings, to- gether with fences and torn up trees, down a winding stream, along whose banks, in places, were perpendicular rocks of fifty feet and more in height, also woods to pass through; yet I was not scratched or bruised from coming in contact with either. My bonnet, which I had tied so snugly on my head, was suddenly snatched off by the limbs of a tree. We had not gone half a mile down the stream before Mr. Brace was dashed against the rocks or trees, I could not see which in the thick darkness. His poor wife hearing him groan called to him, saying, "Calvin, are you gone?" But we were rapidly carried on, leaving him in his death struggle. The next day his body was found, two miles below, a little way from the stream, his skull broken, one foot off and his coat torn from him. Our poor old mother lay near him terribly bruised, and her clothes mostly torn off. A Norwegian by the name of Dueland had a farm two miles below our place. His house was built on the flat, near the hill. He had a flourishing cornfield between his house and the creek; the rocks were torn from the bluffs and thrown over his land for twenty rods square, but, fortunately, a heavy body of timber stood just above his house which prevented the flood-wood from coming against it. My course was directly over those rocks, and then through that piece of timber.
As we passed Mr. Dueland's house I saw a light at their win- dow, and called to Mrs. Brace, telling her there was a house, for I could see the light; but the darkness was so intense I could see no house, and supposed the light must be at some distance the other side of the creek; yet I was so near that Mrs. Dueland, who was in the chamber, heard me speak to Mrs. B., and she called to her husband, telling him that somebody was passing, for she heard a woman's voice. Mr. Dueland was below, standing in water up to his waist, holding the door from bursting in. . I heard Mrs. Brace's voice in prayer, as we floated down the stream, but it grew faint, and soon after we had passed Mr. Dueland's it ceased and she gave me no answer when I called to her, so I supposed she was gone and I was left alone. Four miles below our place a little stream called Trout Run emptied into the main stream from the west, and I was carried on my bedstead across this stream and be- side a piece of timber which grew on the left bank of the creek.
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY.
There the bottom lands widen out, extending forty rods between the bluffs, so I went on more gently, and in passing under a tree felt a limb strike my head; reaching up, I grasped the limb with one hand while I held the bedpost to the body of the tree. My bedstead swung around to the lower side, and directly the flood- wood that was following down lodged against the upper side of the tree, so that I climbed upon it, and remained there till day- light. The rain had ceased, and a chilling wind came across the water. Being exhausted, I felt inclined to sleep, but feared to do so lest I fall into the water, so I stood on my feet, and exercised what I could to get warm, holding on to the limbs of the tree. The morning was foggy; no sun appeared to warm the atmosphere or cheer the gloom.
The cattle that had fled to the hills to escape the flood were seeking their way homeward, bellowing as if in fear of the still foaming waters. I, too, felt anxious to return, hoping that I might find my husband yet alive, flattering myself that he might reach some floating timber when he jumped from that upper door, and so have reached the hill; if so, I knew that he would be nearly distracted till he should learn the fate of his family. I knew not how far down the stream I had been carried, nor how long I might have to wait for some one to find me. I could not stay here in suspense; I must get to the hill and go far enough back to shun the ravine. But how should I get to the hill, which was separated from me by twenty rods of water? A board lay on the floodwood where I had rested and I resolved to try to raft my- self across to the hill, if I could find a pole long enough for the purpose. But through the mercy of a kind providence I found none, for I should probably have been drowned in the undertaking. On the right hand, between me and the creek, were woods filled with flood material, among which I saw drowned animals, and one poor creature struggling to liberate itself from the logs which confined it. With anxiety I looked for some of my own dear friends but found none. Some of my neighbors in hunting for the lost reached the place at sunset, and found Mrs. Brace; she was on her knees, and her hands clenched in the grass, a few rods below my bedstead; doubtless she was alive when I stopped at the tree, and was soon after knocked off by the floodwood.
With much effort I succeeded in climbing from one pile of flood-wood to another, until I got out of the water, and soon after reached Trout Run, which was swollen to a river, with a swift cur-
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY.
rent. I followed up the bank till I came to a tree that had fallen across the stream, and lay two or three feet above the water. I was enabled to cross over with steady nerve, and soon after was glad to find a road which I supposed would lead me out to the house of Mr. English, which was one and a half miles from my desolated home. With them I resolved to seek shelter. But I had not trav- eled far when I observed the fresh tracks of a company of wolves that had gone that way since the rain. I followed on for a mile or so when, seeing a dark ravine in front of me and fearing I might meet the wolves, I left the road and climbed a hill to my right where there were only tall grass and weeds, hoping that I might see a house and find some one to assist me. On I traveled, from one hill to another, till noon, sometimes feeling so exhausted that it seemed I could go no further. Then I stopped and asked the Lord for strength and guidance, and in mercy he enabled me to pursue my way to a Norwegian's cabin. Although my labor and fatigue had been so great I was still shivering with cold; while the women prepared me warm refreshments, the man went and called a neighbor who could talk English. They were surprised to learn of the disaster as there had been no uncommon rain there. The two men took an ax and accompanied me through the woods to Mr. English's. His wife met me saying, " My dear lamb, I did not look for you to come alive." To my grief I then learned that Mr. Wisel had not been seen. He must have been drowned. They also told me that Mr. Wellington, who lived half a mile below us, was swept away with all his family and buildings. Their house, after going a few rods, broke up, the roof and chamber floor settling together. On raising the roof, Mrs. Wellington was found with her little grandson, Charley Gage, in her arms; they were in bed, looking as if in a sweet sleep. They had come to their death without any warning. Mr. Wellington had arisen and dressed himself. His body was found in the timber where I had lodged. He was buried under the drifted sand only one boot sticking out in sight. They were from New Hampshire. The next day the remains of our poor old mother were brought to me. With the assistance of a few neighbors I had just got her laid out when Cyrus Wellington called to see me; he was at work from home at the time of the freshet and so escaped being drowned with the rest of the family. It was decided to take the bodies as fast as they were found to the school-house to be kept until the burial. With sadness, Cyrus told me that his mother and Charley had not been laid out, but were at
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY.
the school-house. I was then reminded of a singular request that his mother had made of me but a few weeks before, as she stood admiring my flower-beds. She said she believed she would sleep sweeter in the grave with flowers around her, and requested me to see to laying her out, if I should outlive her, and place flowers about her grave. I told Cyrus that I would go and attend to their bodies immediately and soon had a carriage to take me to the school-house, where I was assisted by two Norwegian ladies. We had but few American neighbors, and they were unable to render any assistance. On the afternoon of Wednesday my poor husband was found and brought to the school-house. Mr. Brace and wife were taken home to Burr Oak for burial. On Thursday, Mr. Wisel and his mother, Mr. and Mrs. Wellington and Charley Gage were borne to their silent graves, followed by only five relatives. On Friday a few neighbors volunteered to go with me down the stream hoping we might find Jonathan. We searched a day in vain and returned home in the evening sad and weary. Jonathan was found on the following Sunday five miles below my place. He had floated down the stream and lodged in a clump of willows. He was buried that evening without funeral services. * * *
Mrs. Wisel, after the terrible experience related above, returned to her friends in Steuben County, where she still lives.
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CHAPTER IV.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
STRONGLY WHIG, AND LATTERLY REPUBLICAN .-- EARLY MAJORITIES. -- CURSORY VIEW OF PRESIDENTIAL VOTES FROM 1840 TO 1884 .- POLITICAL COMPLEXION OF THE SEVERAL TOWNSHIPS. -- TOTAL VOTE AT EACH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION .- LOCAL INDEPENDENCE OF PARTY FETTERS .- PERSONAL CAMPAIGNS. - LUCE AND DAWSON .- IMPORTANCE OF ONE VOTE. - " UNDERGROUND RAILWAY" STATION AT ORLAND .- ABSTRACT OF OFFICIAL VOTE AT ALL GENERAL ELEC- TIONS FROM 1839 TO 1884 .- OFFICIAL LIST .- JUDGES OF CIRCUIT COURT. - ASSOCIATE JUDGES .- PROBATE JUDGES. - COMMON PLEAS JUDGES. - CIRCUIT PROSECUTORS. -- COMMON PROSECUTORS. -- COUNTY COMMISSIONERS .- STATE SENATORS .- REPRESENTATIVES. - CLERKS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. - COUNTY AUDITORS .- COUNTY TREAS- URER .- COUNTY SHERIFFS. - COUNTY RECORDERS. - COUNTY SUR- VEYORS .- SCHOOL EXAMINERS AND SUPERINTENDENTS.
The hardy New Englanders who settled Mill Grove Township brought their politics with them, and made Vermont settlement a center of Whig and Free-Soil strength. Through sympathy, other townships were settled by kindred spirits, so that in the early days Steuben was generally safe for the Whig party. Chester Stocker, elected County Clerk in 1843, himself a Democrat, wrote on the fly leaf of one of the record books now in the court-house, that previous to his election the county usually gave a reliable ma- jority for the Whigs of about 100; and that he himself was only elected by a combination of peculiar circumstances. His figures seem to be rather high, and not warranted by the official returns. At the August election of 1839, the Whig majority was thirty-six. A year later it was twenty-three. At the presidential election of 1840, the first after the organization of the county, General William Henry Harrison (who was elected) received 245 votes, while 183 were cast for his Democratic rival, Martin Van Buren, the former's majority being accordingly sixty-two. Harrison carried all the townships except York, Jackson and Otsego, which gave two, seventeen and sixteen majority, respectively for Van (314)
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Buren, and Richland, whose vote was a tie. Mill Grove gave forty- nine votes to Harrison, and nine to Van Buren. Fremont's Whig majority was fourteen; Pleasant, twenty-three; Salem, twelve; Steuben, eight.
In 1844 Henry Clay, the unsuccessful Whig leader, received 328 votes to 303 for James K. Polk, nominated by the Democratic party, a plurality of twenty-five. The Free-Soil party, which had just sprung into existence, was in the field with its candidate, James G. Birney, who polled forty-two votes in this county, twenty- three of them being in Mill Grove Township. The Whig plurality in Mill Grove was eight; Jamestown, two, Fremont, twenty-seven, Pleasant, twenty-three; Steuben, thirty-one. Five townships gave Democratic majorities, as follows : York, five; Jackson, thirty- four; Salem, ten; Otsego, fifteen, and Richland, five.
In 1848 the veteran General Zachary Taylor, who was the Whig nominee, and who was elected, received 315 votes; and General Lewis Cass, the candidate of the Democracy, received 352 votes, a plurality of thirty-seven. The Free Soil party, led by Martin Van Buren, polled a very large vote in this county-194, and carried Fremont Township by a plurality of twenty-four. Five townships gave the following Democratic pluralities: Pleasant (previously Whig, and this its only Democratic year), twenty-one; Jackson, twenty-four; Salem (Democratic only in 1848 and 1852), twenty-four; Otsego, fourteen; and Richland, nine. Taylor carried four townships by the following pluralities: Mill Grove, four ; James- town, six; York, sixteen; Steuben, thirty-two.
In 1852, the Democracy nominated Franklin Pierce, the Whigs chose Winfield Scott, and the Free-Soilers, John P. Hale. Never was a party which had hoped for success so overwhelmingly de- feated as this year, when Pierce received a triumphant majority of both the popular and electoral votes. In this county, for a second time, a Democratic victory was achieved, the vote being as follows : Pierce, 543; Scott, 487; Hale, ninety; Pierce's plurality, fifty-six. The Democrats carried the following seven townships by the pluralities indicated : Jamestown, seven; Fremont (for the only time since its organization Democratic), three; York, six; Jackson, twenty-three; Salem, thirty-seven; Otsego, twenty-six; Richland, fourteen. The Whigs carried five townships-Mill Grove by ten; Clear Lake by eleven; Scott, nine; Pleasant, thirteen; Steuben, seventeen.
The causes of the defeat of the Whigs in 1852 are well known.
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY.
The anti-slavery people were alienated, and the party of Clay and Webster was, having by their death fallen into weaker hands, not only defeated but killed for all time. During four campaigns, it had carried Steuben County twice, and lost it an equal number of ยท times. In 1854 and 1855 a new party arose on its rnins, and ab- sorbed the strength of both the Whigs and the Abolitionists. From that time on Steuben County has given decisive Republican majorities, the figures varying from 662 in 1856 to 1,242 in 1876.
For its first campaign, which was unsuccessful, the new Republi- can party put in nomination General John C. Fremont; the De- mocracy put forward James Buchanan; and the American, or Know-Nothing, party ran as a candidate ex-President Millard Fill- more. The result in this county was as follows : Fremont, 1,215; Buchanan, 553; Fillmore, nineteen; Republican plurality, 662. Jamestown gave a Democratic plurality of one, and every remain- ing township gave pluralities to Fremont, as follows: Mill Grove, 119; Fremont, ninety-seven ; Clear Lake, ten; York, sixty-six; Scott, seventy-one; Pleasant, nineteen; Jackson, fifty-nine; Salem, ninety- six; Steuben, 102; Otsego, fifty-four; Richland, thirty.
In the memorable campaign of 1860, just before our civil war, the voters of the United States were called upon to choose between Abraham Lincoln (Republican), Stephen A. Douglas (Democratic), John C. Breckinridge (Democratic), and John Bell (Union). Through the disagreement of the northern and southern wings of the Democracy, Lincoln was elected though receiving but two- fifths of the popular vote. The campaign was unusually exciting in this county, where the successful candidate received 1,560 votes; Douglas, 547; Bell, eighty-two; Breckinridge, eight; Lincoln's plurality, 1,013. Every township in the county helped to swell the Republican vote, the pluralities being : Mill Grove, 136; Jamestown, one; Fremont, ninety-two; Clear Lake, twenty-four; York, ninety-eight; Scott, ninety-five; Pleasant, 116; Jackson, 100; Salem, sixty-eight; Steuben, 108; Otsego, ninety-nine; Richland, seventy-six.
In the last year of the war was held the next presidential elec- tion. The Democracy placed in the field the popular soldier George B. McClellan in opposition to Lincoln, who was renomi- nated. The sentiment of the North being decidedly with the administration, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected. In this county he received 1,642 votes to 609 for McClellan. The Republicans carried all the townships, the pluralities being, in Mill Grove, 154;
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Jamestown, thirty-four; Fremont, seventy-four; Clear Lake, nine; York, sixty-two; Scott, 129, Pleasant, 136; Jackson, 101; Salem, 132; Steuben, 107; Otsego, 125; Richland, seventy.
The next campaign occurred during the reconstruction era. The Republicans nominated their war hero, General Ulysses S. Grant, while the Democrats selected as their standard bearer the eminent New York Governor, Horatio Seymour. The result was a Repub- lican victory. In this county the vote was: For Grant, 1,881; for Seymour, 830; Grant's majority, 1,051. Clear Lake Township this year went over to the Democracy giving Seymour a majority of nine. The remaining townships, eleven in number, gave the following Republican majorities : Mill Grove, 147; Jamestown, seventy-two ; Fremont, eighty-two; York, seventy-three ; Scott, 153; Pleasant, 123; Jackson, 103 ; Salem, thirty-four ; Steuben, 129; Otsego, eighty; Richland, 164.
Dissatisfied with Grant's administration, a number of Repub- licans, calling themselves Liberals, held a convention in 1872, and nominated Horace Greeley, Grant having been renominated by the regular Republican convention. Disheartened, or rather hoping to achieve success by fostering a division in their rival party, the Democratic leaders, in convention assembled, endorsed Greeley. This was very unsatisfactory to a large proportion of Democrats, who accordingly refused to vote on election day. A few voted for Charles O'Conor, the "straight-out" Democratic candidate, but not enough to influence the result. Grant received an overwhelm- ing plurality of the people's vote, not by his own popularity, but by Greeley's unpopularity. While in 1868 the Democratic vote in Steuben County was 830, in 1872 it fell to 714, a decrease of 116. Allowing for increase of population, there should have been an in- crease of 100 or more, so that it is likely that 200 or more Demo- crats refused to vote. Grant received 1,877 votes, and O'Conor thirty-two, in this county; Grant's plurality over Greeley, 1, 163. Excepting Clear Lake, which gave eighteen plurality for Greeley, the Republicans carried all the townships by the following figures: Mill Grove, ninety; Jamestown, seventy-one; Fremont, twenty ; York, 106; Scott, 157; Pleasant, 157; Jackson, 118; Salem, ninety- four; Steuben, 136; Otsego, sixty-seven; Richland, ninety-eight.
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