USA > Indiana > Steuben County > History of Steuben County, Indiana, together withbiographies of representative citizens > Part 44
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SPELLING MATCHES.
Every one remembers the rage for spelling schools that swept over the country in the winter of 1874-'5. The movement reached Angola rather late in the season, but when it came it took a " good grip. " The first match of importance was held April 2, 1875. Concert Hall was well filled with spellers and spectators. Messrs. Mc Connell and Bodley were captains, and chose sides according to the ancient approved method, except that perhaps they paid rather less heed to the assortment of boys and girls for their hearts' sake than for spelling. Webster's Elementary, so familiar to those who attended school a generation ago, was adopted. Prof. John W. Cowen was selected as pronouncer, and E. B. Glasgow as scorer. The contest continued until nearly eleven o'clock, when Mrs. Eldredge, the last of Captain Bodley's force, succumbed on the word " horizontal, " leaving six of the Mc Connell side pos- sessors of the field.
One week later, a smaller audience assembled at the Congrega- tional church, and Mrs. Carlin and Hale Day. acted as captains. After choosing about twenty-five on each side, the captains divided the house by the central aisle, inviting all who would to take their places in line. The spelling was very creditable for an hour or more, although a victim fell now and then. To quote from the ac- count given in the Republican: "We had for several days prior to the match assisted in giving Butler a special training for this contest, but he didn't doo well at all. Elder Andrews, although familiar with types and shadows, tipified his own fall by the use of an 'i' in the first syllable. Dick Baxter spelled the name of his infernal majesty, Satin, but ashamed of his want of familiarity with family names, changed it to 'Satan ' in time to save his repu-
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tation. Glasgow, notwithstanding his long practice in his pro- fession, and his experience in the Indiana Legislature, pretended that rougery was right. Prof. Carlin has never given very close attention to millinary signs, and therefore went down. Law- renee Gates injected an 'i' into tassil. Dell Day kept his eye peeled for jaw-breakers, but the schlerotic coat became too hard for clear sight and down he went. Elder Aylesworth's better half evidently pays for fancy goods when purchased, for if his sight had been disturbed by milleners' bills as often as some poor mor- tals we know of he would never have forgotten the word. Joe Moore is usually a very modest and mannerly young man, but for once he forgot his etiquet. Stevens didn't get the jist of his word and died easy. Jo Butler will doubtless make a good county clerk, but he is a poor critereon at a spelling school. Mr. Cline has read the first and last books of the Bible, but has neglected that doubtful portion called the Apocraphy." The battle continued until about half-past nine o'clock, when eight or ten were left stand- ing on each side. At this juncture, the cry of fire was raised in the streets when the victors and the vanquished "stood not upon the order of their going, but went at once."
SILAS DOTY.
One of the most noted criminals in the Northwest, and the only one who has claimed a home in Steuben County, was the notorious Silas Doty, who passed most of his life in prison. Much as we dislike to notice such " black sheep," this history would be incom- plete withont a sketch of this man. An elaborate biography has been published, and is now on sale, but it is of rather a sensational character. We have selected for our purpose a series of articles written in 1878 for the Angola Herald, by Dr. D. B. Griffin:
The same spring that I arrived in this county (1839) Silas Doty also came. He was a very industrious man and worked hard early and late. He got a breaking team and commenced breaking tor himself and others. He would work all day and start off to go to English Prairie, Orland or Coldwater in the evening. The neigh- bors thought it was because he wanted to save time, and no one suspected him of dishonest motives until he was arrested for steal- ing some carpenter's tools from Colonel Alexander Chapin, of Or- land. The officer came with a search warrant and found the tools at his place. He gave them up at once and went with the officer. I think he gave bail at that time, but was soon arrested for other
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thefts. There was a merchant in Fremont who had missed an ax, which had been gone for a number of weeks, Doty trading with him all the time, and was so friendly that he had never mistrusted him. One day there came two or three men from English Prairie. They said they were going to Doty's to search for some carpenter and joiner's tools. Gilbert, who had lost the ax, went with them. They found all the tools they were in search of. Gilbert saw his ax in a box of old irons and told Doty he thought that was his ax. Doty told him to take it, if it was his, so Gilbert took his ax along home with him. Doty went with the officer and had his examina- tion, and was bound over for trial at the next term of court. Doty was so accommodating in the neighborhood and so industrious that all his neighbors had a good deal of confidence in him. One neighbor told me he wanted a small plow on one occasion, and went to Doty to see if he had one. He told him he had not, but he knew where he could get one, as he had some talk of trading for one; it rested with him to trade for it or not. " You come here in the morning, as early as you please," said Doty, "and the plow will be ready for you." The man went and found the plow ac- cording to agreement. He asked no questions but took the plow.
Doty would steal from strangers, or rich people, and give to the poor, or to friends. During the summer there came to Doty's a young man from Lenawee County, Mich., by the name of Lorenzo Noyes, who was an old neighbor and acquaintance of Doty's. Now, this Noyes was said to be rather odd, and, it was claimed, lacked judgment, told all he knew, and volunteered advice to older and wiser people than himself. He was out of health and his folks did not expect he would live long. He went to Doty's, as he knew he was welcome, and Doty would give him work when he was able to work. As this Noyes was a great talker, he soon got acquainted with all the people around and confided many secrets to them. He told them that Doty stole cattle in Michigan and butchered them and took them to Toledo in the night, where he sold them; that he had been detected and had to get out of the State. Noyes was telling all the while that he was going West, sometimes to Illinois and then again he was going somewhere else. After awhile Noyes was missing. He had frequently traded clothes and anything he could trade. When inquiry was made of Doty as to where Noyes was, he replied that he had gone West, to Illinois, etc. When Doty offered to trade or sell Noyes's clothes, most of which he seemed to have in his possession, he claimed that he had traded
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with Noyes for them. So the folks thought it was all right, know- ing well Noyes's propensity for dickering. Finally there came an officer from Michigan, either with a requisition or he had found Doty across the State line; at any rate Doty was taken to Michi- gan, where he was tried and sent to Jackson for three or four years.
In about three years after the sudden and somewhat mysterious disappearance of Lorenzo Noyes, Wm. A. Bliss came to the village and told Esquire Tillotson and myself that his boys, the day before, while looking for turkey's nests, had found something which he took to be a human skull, and requested us to go with him and see what we could make of their discovery. I took a bag with me and Esquire Tillotson and I went with Bliss. We went to a tamarack swamp a little west of his house, and there we found the skull and all the bones of a man. The ribs and breast-bone were out of the ground; the vertebra were covered; the bones of the feet and hands we had to dig for a little. We found the hair of the head and nails of the fingers and toes, and every bone of the body was found. There had evidently been an attempt to hide the body, as it had been put under a large tamarack log and brush thrown over it, and a splinter that lightning had split off a tree had been carried a number of rods and put over the body. I took all the bones and put them into the bag and took them home with me. The people wondered who it could be. Finally they began to think of Noyes, and the stories Doty had told when asked about him. A coroner's jury was impaneled and an inquest held over the remains. Many believed the bones were the bones of Lorenzo Noyes and that Silas Doty had killed him. The verdict of the coroner's jury was that the man came to his death by violence, at the hands of some person to them unknown. Doty was in prison at Jackson at that time and his term was not yet out. Accordingly a writ was put into the hands of Sheriff Beall, commanding him to take the body of Silas Doty and bring him before the court of Steuben County, State of Indiana. When Doty's time was out in Jackson, therefore, Sheriff Beall was ready for him, and they came home together and Doty was lodged in jail at Angola, to await trial for the murder of Lo- renzo Noyes. I was summoned to appear as a witness, and to have said bones then and there. I went on the appointed day and the jury's verdict was: "Guilty of murder in the second degree," the penalty of which was imprisonment in the State prison for life.
Caldrick took exceptions, wherever he could, to the decisions of the court, and upon some of these the Supreme Court granted a
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new trial, and Silas Doty, after serving one year, was taken to Logansport jail for safe-keeping, as they did not consider the jail at Fort Wayne sufficiently secure, where so much was at stake. The next summer we were all subpoenaed to attend another trial at Fort Wayne. It was in July I think. We arrived there on Satur- day evening, and on Monday morning went to the court-house, ex- pecting to see Doty come in with the Sheriff. The Deputy Sheriff soon made his appearance but without the prisoner. His explana- tion was: He had Doty on a canal-boat and was on his way from Logansport to Fort Wayne; that as they were going through a tamarack swamp Doty jumped off of the boat and made good his escape. Of course the court could do nothing without the prisoner, and we could not go to trial. The judge therefore discharged the witnesses and we started for home. We stopped at Brushy Prairie to dine and while we were at dinner we heard a hurrahing about a quarter of a mile away and on our way toward home. Very soon some one came in and said they had just got Doty. He had come out there to inquire the road to Fremont. It was a four corners and he did not know which road to take. But, alas for him! the bill with a description of him and the reward offered was there. " He was put into a wagon between two good stout men well armed, and started for Fort Wayne.
Doty was taken back to Fort Wayne and lodged in jail awhile But the jail being thought unsafe, he was returned to Angola for safe-keeping, and remained here until the following summer. In the spring the news went forth that Doty had made his escape, and that he had stolen Douglass' horse. About daylight, the morning after Doty's escape, Mr. Isaac Estlow heard some one call his name, from the road. He got up and went out, and there was Doty, his old neighbor. He had Douglass' horse and had immense shackles on his ankles and hand-cuffs on his wrists. He told Eetlow he wanted him to get those things off his ankles and wrists, and wanted that horse taken to Sumner Stimpson's and hitched at his gate, all of which was done.
Stimpson had a cold chisel, and holding an iron ax, or some such thing, under the shackles, with the cold chisel and hammer he soon had Doty free as any man. Doty then went home a little while, partook of some refreshments and started for the seat of war in Mexico. He went as best he could until by dint of perseverance he reached Mexico. He found the American army and forthwith went to General Scott's headquarters. He soon ingratiated him-
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self into General Scott's favor and became his groom, staying with him until the war was over. Then he came home with the nicest pair of ponies I ever saw. Doty also had gold enough to buy forty acres of improved land, and had money left. He told his neigh- bors if they would let him alone he would guarantee that there should not be anything stolen of anybody within twelve miles of his place. No one made any move against him, and there was nothing stolen anywhere in the vicinity, but the gang, of which he had evidently been a leader, needed something to live on and they would importune Doty to help them, and he, being honorable toward his clan, would go out and make a raise, but it was obtained outside of the twelve miles. Officers came from Michigan, some ways off, in search of some evidence of a load of wheat which had been stolen, bags and all. They found the bags with Doty, having their mark on them. Other men had got the money for the wheat, but Doty had in his possession the evidence that would convict him of the theft. They took Doty to jail in Hillsdale, I think, and he had his trial, and the bags being found with him, it was prima- facie evidence of guilt. The Judge asked Doty how old he was. He said he was fifty-three years old. " Well," said the Judge, " I will send you to Jackson seventeen years, and by that time you will be seventy years old and will not be able to do much more harm." Doty went to prison and he worked so faithfully and behaved so well that the officers of the prison liked him, and he had many favors shown him on that account. He would get his stint and by being industrious would gain time. He was set at liberty before his time would have been out by his sentence, but they have some rule in the prison that a prisoner can gain time by good be- havior, and Doty availed himself of the benefit of that rule. He came home with the most flattering recommendations from the officers of the prison, as to his good behavior. After visiting his family, he went to Coldwater, where he met with the warmest reception by his former acquaintances and was made more of than the Governor of the State would have been. The aristocracy of Coldwater seemed to vie with each other in doing Doty honor. After Doty had been out a few months a lawyer in Coldwater by the name of Parsons had his horse stolen.
Parsons advertised his horse and offered a reward for him and the capture of the thief. In the course of two or three days Doty made his appearance in Bryan, Williams Co., Ohio, on the horse of Parsons. There the bills were in advance of his arrival, and it
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seems as though he must have known all about it and wanted to get back to Jackson. I understood that he told the keeper of the prison at Jackson to keep his cell ready for him, and not let any dirty or lousy fellow occupy it, for he would be back in a little while, and wanted it neat and clean.
Doty was taken back to Coldwater after his arrest at Bryan, Ohio, and the horse was identified as the property of Parsons. Doty said he did not take the horse himself, but would not tell who did take it. Doty's counsel advised him to plead "guilty, " which he did, and he was again convicted and sent to Jackson for a term of years, I think. He served his sentence and was discharged with the same report as to his good behavior as before. When his time was out he came back, visited his son and daughter and then went to Coldwater, the place from whence he was sent to Jackson, and there they made the same fuss over him they had done before. He was out of prison but a few months before he was again taken up for stealing and was sent back to Jackson. He had told the keeper as he did before, to keep the cell clean for him. He went and served another short term and came back to his old home and friends. He was still spry and active. After being out of prison a few months he was taken up and sent back to Jackson for another term. I did not hear just what he was sent for that time, but he served his time out and came back to his son's.
He said to me he thought he was about as honest as mankind will average .. Said he: "I have always paid my honest debts, and never took anything that did not belong to me to better my own condition, but for somebody else. I have taken from the rich and given to the poor and needy." He said he had tried to distribute things equally among mankind as far as he could. He said there were plenty of men who claimed to be honest who would sell an unsound horse for a sound price, to a man whom they knew was no judge of horses, and take half the price of the horse out of the one who bought him. Then they would boast of it and think it was smart. The man cheated was not able to lose. " Now " said Doty, "which is the worst, to cheat a poor man out of half the worth of a horse, or to take that amount from a man who had a plenty, but would not give a cent to save a poor person's life, and give to a person who was needy and had no way of paying for the things he wanted ?"
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Doty died in the winter of 1876, I think, at the residence of Mr. William Doty, his son, in Reading, Mich., of pneumonia. I believe he was very near, if not quite, eighty years old, and he ap- peared to be as vigorous and active as men commonly are at fifty years. I understand by people who knew Doty's folks-parents and relatives-that they were highly respectable and honest, and that he was brought up to believe in religion and morality.
CHAPTER XII.
MILL GROVE 'TOWNSHIP.
GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE. - LAKES .- FIRST SETTLEMENT. - ORLAND .- JOHN STOCKER AND COMPANIONS. - ARRIVALS IN 1835 AND 1836 .- NAMING OF ORLAND .- LUCK IN THE HYMN-BOOK .- FIRST MILL AND DWELLINGS .- FIRST STORE. -- OTHER PIONEERS .- FIRST BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS. - RECORD OF PIONEER DEATHS .- CAPTAIN BARRY .- UNDERGROUND RAILWAY .- EARLY SCHOOL- HOUSES AND RELIGIOUS MEETINGS .-- TEACHING SCHOOL . FOR $1.25 PER WEEK .- BAPTIST CHURCH. - OTHER DENOMINA- TIONS .- FIRST HOTEL. -- EARLY PHYSICIANS. -- EARLY STORES, SHOPS, ETC. - NORTHEASTERN INDIANA LITERARY INSTITUTE .- ITS INCEPTION, PROSPERITY AND DECLINE. - ORLAND'S BUSINESS MEN. - CHURCHES AND PASTORS. - MASONIC AND ODD FELLOWS' LODGES. - POPULATION .-- AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. --- PROPERTY AND TAXATION .- POLITICAL .-- VOTE FOR PRESIDENT SINCE 1840 .- DETAILED VOTE IN 1884 .- LIST OF TOWNSHIP OFFICIALS SINCE 1850 .- BIOGRAPHICAL.
Situated in the northwestern corner of the county is Mill Grove Township, which is bounded on the north by Branch County, Mich., on the east by Jamestown Township, on the south by Jackson Township, and on the west by Lagrange County. It con- tains nearly twenty-four sections of land, being nearly six miles east and west, and a trifle over four north and south, and therefore contains more than 15,000 acres of land, including the lakes, of which there are a number. The largest are Lake Gage, a part of which is on section 35, on the south line of the township, and Lake Pleasant, which covers a part of section 13. The northeast- ern corner of the township is in this lake, a part of which is in the State of Michigan. Belle Lake is on sections 25 and 36; Tamarack Lake is on sections 22 and 27, and there are several smaller bodies of water, many of which are connected with Crooked Creek, flow- ing westward through the middle of the township.
Mill Grove Township was first settled in 1834. The early pio- neers were attracted by the rich burr-oak openings and thought
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it would be easier to obtain a home and attain comfortable circum- stances here than it would be in the unbroken forests in other portions of the country. The highly cultivated farms in the township at the present time show what has been done in the way of improvements during the last fifty years. Fine farm mansions and barns replace the log cabins and stables of the early days. Peace and plenty reign on every hand and everything shows the inhabitants to be in comfortable circumstances and contented. They have no desire to go West in search of new homes, for they well know that it would be impossible to find a place with fewer drawbacks than this section of Steuben County.
The first settlement was made on the site of the village of Orland. This village is situated in the western part of Mill Grove Township, on sections 20 and 29, about a mile and a half south of the boundary line between the States of Michigan and Indiana, and the same distance east of the Lagrange County line. Its dis- tance from Angola is about thirteen miles in a northwesterly direction. It is near the little stream of water called in Michigan Fawn River, more commonly known in this county as Crooked Creek. The immediate location of the village is on a level plateau of what was called burr-oak openings in early times, there being also on the southern border of the town a little scope of prairie land. The land in the whole region about Orland, for miles each way, was and is the richest and most fertile of any lands that at- tracted the attention of the pioneers of the country. It is not surpassed in value, all natural qualities considered, by any land elsewhere in the West.
In the spring of 1834 John Stocker, father of L. H. Stocker, Esq., prospected for a Western home for himself and family and for a number of others who wished to "locate" out West. Mr. Stocker and the families who were interested in the prospecting tour were from Windham County, Vt. They forthwith, upon the representation of Mr. Stocker in regard to the country, started with their households, and in the summer and fall of 1834 settled on the very inviting tracts comprising what is now Orland and vicinity. It was in June or July of that year that Benjamin Pierce and wife, Abel Blanchard and family of five children, including his son who became afterward the well-known Elder Blanchard, of Wolcottville, accompanied by John Stocker and wife and four chil- dren, George D. Palmenter, wife and one child,and S. A. Palmenter, came from Vermont and " located."
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The Palmenters built a log cabin on the prairie at a point some sixty rods south and thirty rods east of what is now the center of the village. Mr. Stocker built his cabin directly south about the same distance, and on the west side of what is now Sonth or Wayne street. At the time the first cabins were built there was not another white man's residence within the limits of Mill Grove Township, although there were a few settlers in Jackson Town- ship, to the south of Vermont settlement.
During the following year, 1835, other settlers came from the same section in Vermont and joined their fortunes with the pio- neers. Among those who came in that year were Chester Stocker, wife and two children, Nelson Newton, wife and two children, S. C. Sabin, Elisha Sabin, wife and one child, Miles Coe, wife and three children, and Alexander Ward, wife and three children, from Vermont; Eliza Eaton, from Massachusetts; Henry Depue, wife and nine children, from Ohio; and J. C. Cutler, from New York City. About the same time Levi Depue settled on a homestead four miles east of the new settlement. None of the heads of families who came in 1834 are still living. The first white child born was a daughter of Benjamin Pierce; she afterward became Mrs. Sarah Townsend. The first death of an adult among these settlers was that of Mrs. Abel Blanchard, who died early in 1835. The first deaths among the children occurred also in 1835, and were the two children of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Newton. They died of scarlet fever, within a few days of each other. Of those who came to Orland in 1835 only one, Nelson Newton, yet survives here. Stephen C. Sabin went to Oregon a few years ago.
"Vermont settlement " grew rapidly in 1836. Timothy Kim- ball, wife and seven children came from Michigan; Alexander Chapin, wife and three children from Vermont; Josiah Chapin and wife, Cyrus Choate, wife and four children, S. U. Clark, Polly Choate. from Vermont; Lewis Barnard, wife and four children, Eliphalet Warner, wife and two children, from Ohio; all these came early in the season and swelled the population of the settle- ment, whose enterprise and importance thereupon became widely noted. It was during that year, also, that Walter Luce, wife and six children came from Ohio; Samuel Cutler and wife, from Massachusetts; John Cutler, wife and five children, also from the Bay State; Josiah Chapin and wife, from Vermont; William Wilder, wife and six children, from New York; George Gray, wife and three children, Abraham Gray, wife and five children,
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and Cyrus Gray, from Ohio; all of whom settled on the other side of the river, to the eastward of the "settlement " about a mile and a half.
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