History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections, Part 18

Author: Bradsby, Henry C
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : S.B. Nelson & co.
Number of Pages: 1032

USA > Indiana > Vigo County > History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections > Part 18

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Lucius H. Scott, "the lovely lad," with his bundle on his back, came on foot alone, from Vincennes, and who was destined so soon to become one of the leading men in the county, has told of his com- ing in fitting words. In a letter to a friend he said:

"June 6, 1817, in company with John W. Osborn, I arrived in Vincennes, after a journey of nearly two months, from St. Lawrence county, N. Y. Osborn being a printer, readily obtained work in Elijah Stout's printing office, in Vincennes, but after spending three weeks vainly looking for something to do, I determined to seek my fortune higher up the Wabash valley, and set out on foot for the newly laid out town of Terre Haute. In Vincennes I had met and formed the acquaintance of John Britton, who had been to Terre Haute, and was then making his temporary home at the house of Daniel Barnes, a small log cabin, situated on Section 16, at the edge of the prairie, not far from the present cemetery. Having walked the whole distance from Vincennes, and carrying my bundle, I made slow progress, and was nearly three days upon the journey. I found my new friend Britton as I expected, and was kindly re- ceived by him and his family, but as the cabin was small, and I found the family were not in condition to receive an additional boarder, I determined to make my stay as brief as possible. I had introductory letters from Vincennes to Maj. Chunn and his officers at Fort Harrison, and to Maj. Markle at Otter creek, which I de- termined to lose no time in delivering. Accordingly, the second day after my arrival I visited the fort, and found the officers at their quarters. Nothing could excel the kindness and hospitality with which they received me, the Major insisting upon my making my home at the fort until I found some kind of employment. Situated as I was, I most gratefully accepted the hospitality, and moved my scanty baggage to the fort. In a day or two I set out in the early summer morning to cross the prairie to deliver my letters to Maj.

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Markle. I missed the track, and went to Otter creek bridge. I was conscious of my error, but the beauty of the morning led me on un- til I found myself standing on an eminence in the midst of Otter creek prairie. On casting my eye over the broad expanse, not a tree or fence or other indication of home or civilization presented itself to view, but all was one boundless, magnificent bed of beauti- fully variegated flowers.

"I stood and gazed until my reason failed me, and when about to retrace my steps, my eye caught the glimpse of a thin column of smoke, curling up among the trees in a distant corner of the prairie. I made my way to it, and found a family in a small log cabin, which they had as yet occupied too short a time to have made any im- provements around them. I obtained directions which enabled me without further difficulty to find my destination. The Major was at home, busily engaged erecting his mill, and received me with that frank and graceful hospitality for which he was so widely cele- brated. * * I thought him the most magnificent specimen of manhood I had ever seen."

While stopping at the fort Mr. Scott made the acquaintance of Isaac Lambert and John Dickson, and proceeds to say: " This led me soon after, for the want of something better to do, to take a small school on Honey creek. The citizens built me a log cabin, and I opened my school in the latter part of July, but was soon afterward taken sick, and with such violence that nothing, under the provi- dence of God, but the kindness of the family (Mr. Dickson's) and the skill of my physician (Dr. Mccullough) saved my life. I lingered with various relapses until late in October, when I went to Vincennes to recruit my shattered health, in which I succeeded far beyond my most sanguine expectations. Soon as my health was restored I began to feel with painful anxiety the necessity of employment. I had now been six months in the country without earning a dollar, had brought little or nothing with me, and my sickness and other expenses had caused me to create a debt of fear- ful magnitude. Whilst ruminating on these matters one day at my room at Lasalle's, in no very pleasant mood, I was called on by Mr. George A. Wasson, of the firm of Wasson & Sayre, who explained the object of his visit as follows:

"The firm had a small assortment of goods at Vincennes, and another at Carlisle and another at Merom. That at Vincennes they wished to move to Terre Haute, and, if not otherwise engaged, would like to employ me to take charge of them. The store at Carlisle was under charge of young Whittlesey, a mere lad; the court was to meet there in a day or two, and he wished me to go up and take charge of the store during court and then pass on to Terre Haute, rent and fit up a room for the reception of goods which he

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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

would forward by water. I did all as directed, rented a room of Dr. Modesitt, employed an old man by the name of Bell to fit it up with counter and shelves, and had all ready for the goods before the first day of December, but the hard winter of that year had set in, the goods were frozen up in the river and did not arrive until the last day of the month. I had them opened and commenced sale on the first day of January, 1818. These were the first goods ever opened for sale in Terre Haute. John Earl did not arrive until the autumn of that year.

"I claim, then, to have established a permanent residence in Terre Haute in November, 1817, considered it my home, though for business purposes I spent nearly four years at Roseville, and with the exception of the Misses Modesitt and their sister, Mrs. Chaun- cey Warren, who were small children at that time, I know of no person now living who was as early a resident as myself. The store in which I was employed, unfortunately for the owners, was with- drawn in May, 1818.

" About the same time I received the appointment of county agent from the board of commissioners and of deputy sheriff from Sheriff Blackman. In August following I was elected sheriff of the county, and was the first sheriff elected by the people of Vigo. I served, with a re-election in 1820, four years in that office, at the close of which, in 1822, was elected a representative of Vigo and Parke in the legislature which met at Corydon.

In the fall of 1822 made arrangement with Josephus Collett and opened a small stock of goods at Roseville, Parke county, where I remained until the spring of 1826, when I returned to Terre Haute. In 1827 I erected my house on the corner of Ohio and Market streets, which was the first brick dwelling ever erected in Terre Haute."

The writer then proceeds to give important facts in connection with the city, which will be more fully referred to in the chapter on Terre Haute following.

This is a graphic account of the coming to the new country of a very respectable young man, as well as the generous hospitality that the few who were here stood ready to offer to all new comers. No matter how small the floorless cabin, nor how many families or people were already quartered in it, the latch string always hung out to the stranger and traveler without a question either as to his credentials or their ability to entertain any more. Such as they had was at the disposal of their guest, without price, and extended in such real cordiality that it made sweet the food and rest of the weary and worn. Young Scott was already familiar with this hearty cordiality of the pioneers before he came trudging on foot to Vigo county. Yet in after years, when writing of that occur-

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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

rence, he can not refrain from expressing the gratitude that never died in his heart for the marked kindness and hospitality he received on his arrival here. The ravishing beauties of the coun- try, the great sea and banks of rich and fragrant flowers of the prairie, is it any wonder that he wrote in long after years: "I stood and gazed until my reason failed." And of the people he evidently was nearly as deeply impressed, when in the same letter he says, on meeting Maj. Markle: "I thought him the most magnificent specimen of manhood I had ever seen."

Lucius H. Scott soon found employment, and soon became one of the most prominent men in the county. In the latter years of his life he removed to Philadelphia, where he died April 22, 1875.

When here, during all the prime of his life, he was a leader and pillar in the Congregational church. Concerning his death at his home in Philadelphia, one of his friends wrote to a citizen of Terre Haute:

" Your people will hear with deep sorrow of the death of Lucius H. Scott. Although his health had failed considerably, his death was unexpected; his physician saying that he was better and that he would rally with warm weather. A sudden bilious attack pros- trated him a day or two only before he died, and a few hours only before that was it evident he could not live. He did not suffer much, and died most peacefully and calmly * Retaining * his vigor of mind and body, as erect as in youth, and with only the gradual approach of age, his death seemed sudden, but he is at rest at last."

From the foregoing we also learn that John Britton came the same year and some weeks or months before Lucius H. Scott. He spent the most of his life in Terre Haute, and was one of the well- to-do, public-spirited citizens of the town.

Malcom McFadden was here in 1817. His daughter, Mary A., was born in Terre Haute in 1818, said to have been the first white female child born in the place. She married Napoleon B. Markle, the youngest son of Maj. Abraham Markle, and died in this city December 18, 1880, and was buried from the residence of Mrs. Lester Tillotson, corner of Second and Swan streets.

The Durkee and Barbour families were the prominent settlers in Fayette township. They came together in 1817 and settled near New Goshen. The heads of these two families when they came were Daniel Barbour and Dr. John Durkee. They came from Olean, N. Y., and arrived at where is Terre Haute in the early part of November.

Corey Barbour, son of Daniel, was ten years old when they came. He was born at Champion, Jefferson Co., N. Y., in 1807, and died on the old homestead made by his father February 19,

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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

1879, at the age of seventy-two. He left surviving three brothers and three sisters.

Daniel Barbour died at his residence in Fayette township in 1876, at the advanced age of ninety-six years.

Truman Blackman, Jeremiah Moat, Judge Hopkins and the Durhams settled on Honey creek in 1817. George Jordan came the same year, also Isaac Pointer and John Blocksom and his sons Jerry and William, these settled near the Hull graveyard. Also Davis Pugh, who built a horse treadmill. George Jordan the same year put in a crop on Isaac Lambert's farm.

Pointer's daughter Gertrude married a Blocksom. Mr. Pointer died about 1867.

Elisha Parsons, Col. Baldwin, Mrs. Holmes and Joshua Martin, all from New York, came this year and located in what is now Fay- ette township-then called Independence. These were all of that class who came and bought land and determined to here make per- manent homes. They and their descendants became prominent and respectable citizens of the county.

As stated in a previous chapter, where is now Prairieton town- ship is one of the earliest permanent settlements in the county. In 1817-18 the additions to this settlement were Thomas Ferguson with a large family, who located on Section 2; Otis Jones, on Greenfield bayou; Elisha Bentley, on Section 34; George Southard, John Thompson, Sandford Haworth, the Montgomerys, Joseph Be- night, Joseph Thayer, John Cox-a very valuable man because he was a blacksmith, James Lee, the Paddocks, the venerable Moses Reynolds and his brothers, David and Robert, Amos P. Balch, Gen. Henry French, Henry T. Irish and Ralph White.

A son of Sandford Haworth was Samuel. He married Mary Myers December 25, 1849. He lived his life near where he was born, January 22, 1824, and died September 17, 1873, leaving a widow and five children surviving. He had been a regular minis- ter in the United Brethren Church.

Mahlon Stephenson was a native of Maryland, thence to Virginia, then to Tennessee, from which place he came to Vigo county in the early part of 1817. He improved a farm in Otter Creek township, on which his son, Mahlon was born in 1820. Mahlon, Sr.'s wife was Ruth Durham, a native of Virginia, who died in 1833. Mah- lon, Jr., married Mary Dean, a native of Ohio, born in 1821. By this marriage were four daughters: Anna T., Jennie, Melle and Cora.

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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

CHAPTER XV.

1818.

SOMETHING OF THOSE WHO CAME THIS YEAR.

TOHN, Sylvester and James A. Sibley, three brothers, came from their native place, Bennington, Vt., in the year 1818 to Vigo county. Their father emigrated from Vermont to New York, and was killed in 1812 at the battle of Queenstown, leaving a widow with a large family of children and but little means of support.

The young men came all the way to the Wabash country on foot, with their scant earthly possessions on their backs. Sylves- ter purchased a tract of land just north of the old canal, and dividing this with his brother, they laid off Sibley's addition, and for some years this was called Sibleytown. For more than forty-five years the brothers were in active business in this and Parke coun- ties. They retired in old age and had put their house in order when the great Master called. Mrs. Ann, wife of Sylvester Sibley, died in Terre Haute November 7, 1877, aged fifty-six years.

Demas Deming came this year. He was born in Berlin, Conn., in 1790, and died in Terra Haute March 3, 1865. At the time of his death he was one of the oldest and most esteemed citizens of the county. In the late years of his life his venerable figure was seen often on the streets moving about slowly and more feebly as the years sped by, and, although in feeble health for some time, yet his death came like a shock to the whole people at last.

The war of 1812 found Mr. Deming a young man full of life, hope and love of country, and following the impulse of duty he en- tered the regular army as a lieutenant. Like most of the young men of that day, he was enthusiastic in resisting the insolence of the ancient mother country in the impressment of our seamen and the preposterous claim to the right to search vessels on the high seas. He served actively his country during this three years' war. At the time of the treaty of Ghent he was one of the garrison of Fort Griswold, New London, in his native State. Peace declared he promptly resigned his commission in the army and sought new fields of occupation and enterprise. In 1816 he went for a short time to Baltimore, and there he formed the acquaintance of some of the leading merchants of that city, among others the eminent

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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

George Peabody, who afterward became the great London banker, whose fame has spread throughout the civilized world.

In the latter part of the fifties Mr. Peabody, being on a visit to Baltimore, happened to meet a gentleman from Terre Haute, and he inquired with much interest after Mr. Deming, if still living, and if not had he left any descendants. It had then been forty years since Mr. Deming had left Baltimore. The banker spoke of him as the " young man." When informed that the "young man " was not only still living, but was blessed with wife and family and abundant fortune and gave promise of many years to come, Mr. Peabody replied: " When you see Mr. Deming make to him my kindest remembrances; say to him that he has not been forgotten and that I have often thought of him and Mr. Cruft and of Solo- mon Sturgus, all of whom were about my own age; and should I . go west during my stay in this country, I will stop at Terre Haute to take him by the hand once more." A few months after Mr. Peabody came to Terre Haute and right heartily these men re- newed their friendship of forty years before.

Terre Haute had been laid out and Vigo county was just formed and this town had been made the county seat when Mr. Deming came to aid in building up the young city and developing the country. His strong judgment and prudent foresight anticipated the future, and upon his first arrival he began purchasing real estate in and adjacent to the city. His name for some years occurs more frequently upon the deed records than that of any other indi- vidual. He became the possessor of much of the choice property within the city, and his broad acres at one time included the most of the land adjoining and east of Terre Haute to the hills. To improve this large holding was to enrich himself and the com- munity. In all his vast acquisitions no taint ever shadowed any of his transactions. He gave and exacted even-handed justice from all. One who had known Judge Deming long and well thus wrote of him: "Mr. Deming was small of stature, always pleasant, ex- ceedingly active, wise and circumspect, and never ostentatious or supercilious. He was vastly rich, but no one would ever have supposed that to be so by any outward personal demeanor. His superb land, extending almost from the eastern confines of the city to the hills, was his idol. Almost any day during his life-time he could have been found on the way to or from or upon these lands. He seemed to have no anxiety about anything. He was emphatic- ally the best poised man of all his contemporaries.

Capt. Early, who was an orphan boy in Terre Haute, in his old age and from the opposite side of the globe pays this heartfelt tribute to him:

" Demas Deming was the best friend I had in all the young

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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

part of my life, and I always think of him with a sense of the deepest gratitude. He was willing to do almost anything for me, and time and again he offered me assistance in whatever I might wish to undertake. He did many acts of kindness for me, and would have done more had I permitted; but my heart yearned to see the world, and my desires have in part been gratified without being a burden to my friends. I have traveled far and wide, and have made many warm and true friends in different parts of the globe, but none whom I value so highly as Judge Deming."

This voluntary tribute under the circumstances to the memory of Judge Deming is worth more than the most gorgeous mausoleum that the wealth and cunning of man's hands ever builded to the dead.

Col. Ebenezer Paddock and his brothers, John and William, came in 1818 from Ohio. A large family of descendants came of these three brothers. The Colonel was one of the prominent men of the county, and all were noted as men of public spirit and enter- prise in developing the resources of the new country. Samuel Pad- dock, a son of Ebenezer, in 1848 purchased the old Truman Blackman farm one mile east of Terre Haute, on the National road, where he died.

At an old settlers' meeting in 1877 James Lee spoke as follows:

" I emigrated to Vigo in 1718" (a voice, 1818), disregarding the interruption he went on: " We went through many privations- we were here as a handful of people among the savages and beasts of the wilderness. I helped clear the public square, cutting timber that measured three feet at the butt. I was the first person who received marriage license in this county. The red men stole our stock, and we had many a scrimmage with them round about Terre Haute.

" Vincennes was the nearest point where we could obtain gro- ceries, and we ground our wheat and corn in mortars. I helped make the first road from here to Connersville, running through In- dianapolis, which was then a howling wilderness." Mr. Lee was at that time seventy-five years of age. He was born in 1802, and was only in his seventeenth year when he came to the county.

David Smith fixed at that time-1877-of his having been on the Wabash about sixty years, and in and around Terre Haute " about sixty-two years." It is, therefore, safe to say that he was a permanent resident of the county in 1817 or 1818.

From the Official Record, a little old book, one of the records kept by Curtis Gilbert, and that is so yellowed with age as to gaur- antee its being a genuine pioneer, has the names of very many of the heads of families, and especially the farmers who were here among the first. It is the records of " marks and brands " for stock. The book was opened as soon as the county was formed, and every-

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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

one who had stock that they might lose by straying could go to the clerk and record their " marks," and this made the recovery of stock lost easy enough if once found. The following is the complete rec- ord, commencing with 1818 and ending with 1823:

1818.

Isaac Lambert, 1816.

John T. Chunn.

John Dickuns.

John Cook.

Truman Blackman.

John Beard.

George Jones.

Duncan Darrock.

Robert Bratton.

Thomas Pucket, 1816.

Robert McCarty.

Robt. Bamford.

Samuel M. Young.

Isaac Stephens.

Elisha W. Brown.

George Rector, 1816.

Nancy McCarty.

Benj. Hayes.

Seymour Trealt.

Geo. Clem, 1816.

Robert Sturgis.

John Vanner.

Daniel Stringham, 1816.

Daniel M. Brown.

Alexander Chamberlin.

Alfred M. Rector, 1816.

William Winter, 1816.

Salem Pocock, 1817.

Freegift Northrup.

John Rector.

Ariel Harmon.

Geo. Kirkwood.

Abraham Markle, 1816. James Hall.

John Winter, 1816.

Louis Northrup.

Samuel Slaven.

Henry Redford, 1816.

John Robertson.

James Chesnut.

James Wilmir.

Elisha Bently.

David Wilson.

Otis Jones.

John F. Thompson.

Holden Tissend.

James Barns.

Joseph Shelby.

Truman Ford.

Caleb Crawford, 1816.

William Souls.

Peter Allen.

Henry Souls.

Salmon Lark.

Robert Phillips.

Orange O. Smith.

William Phillips.

Hiram Smith.

James Jones.

Hector Smith.

Harry Campbell. Joseph Dickson.

Ezra M. Jones. Benj. Budd.

Joseph Walker.

Joseph Lester. Caleb Trueblood.

John Campbell, 1812. Jeremiah Raymond. Joseph Bennett.

John Durkee. Alexander Barns, Joseph Evans.

Anthony B. Connors.

Elijah Robertson. William Odell.

Choumary Rose

HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

181

Louis Hodge. John Bailey. Richard Jaques, 1816. John Harris. Sylvester Barker.

Alamon Church. Charles B. Modesitt, 1816. Robert Graham. Wm. Mildholland. Collins C. W. Morgan.

1819.

Hartford Cargill. Owen Roach.

Michael Blair.

Andrew Brooks.

Joseph Eversole. Nathan Kirks.

Robert Hoggatt, 1816.

Jacob Balding, 1816.

Jesse Higgins.

Thomas C. McCoskey.

Martin Patrick.

Samuel Blair.

John Price.

Henry T. Irish.

Russell Boyd.

Daniel Barbour.

Joseph Noblit.

Archibald Davidson.

Chauncey Rose.

Robert Hopkins.

John Ray.

Casper Weaver.

Daniel Jencks.

Isaac Hatfield.

Luther Franklin.

Caleb Arnold.

Squire Gregory.

James Perkins.

Richard Cox.

Isaac Pennell.

Mahlon Stephenson.

Benjamin Hicks.

Thomas H. Clark, 1816.

Richard Hicks.

David French.

Thomas Lakey.

John McCaw.

Abner Scott.

Jacob Kuyger.

Stephen Campbell.

Robert Taylor.

David C. Crerey. Henry Kuykendall.

Thomas Ramage.

Thomas Rodgers.

William Durham, 1818.

John Kuykendall, 1818.

David Barns.

Felix Addison Cunningham.

William Nelson.

William Hogue. Robert Davidson.

John M. Colman, 1816. William Arnett. Bradford Hancock.

William H. Durham.

John L. Walker. Macom McFadden.

John Chenoweth.

Melchi Gray. Joseph French.

Eleazer Aspinwall. Abraham A. Markle, 1816. Andrew Himrod.

Thomas Jefferson.

Henry Allen.

Thomas Durham.

Nicholas Stephenson.

James Redford, 1816. John Puckett, 1816. William Ray. Isaac B. Jackson. Mark Williams. Ira Allen. G. A. Adams.

Joshua Skidmore.

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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

William Thomas.

Sylvester Sibley, 1817.

George Hicks.

John Sibley, 1817.

Jonathan E. Green.

Eben B. Stone.

George Wright.

John D. Christy.

Loving Roots.

· Elisha Parrons. Valentine Swall.

James Sheilds.

James Bennett.

1820.

John Patten.

Alexander Eagleton.

James Beards.

Ashley Harris.

Demas Deming.

James Currey.

William Foster.

William Coltrin.

Charles Kellogg.

Isaac Balding, 1816.

John Richardson.

William W. Downing.

James B. Winter.

Benjamin Whaley.

James Button.

Parden Smith.

Horatio G. Collins.

Curtis Gilbert, 1815.

John Manwaring.

William H. Holmes.

Berryman Porter.

Cheesbrough Taylor. Daniel McCulloch.

Henry Balding, 1816.

David Lyon. Louis Rodgers. Joseph De Hague. John Cottrin.

William Armstrong.

Thomas M. Curry. Hugh Conners.

George Damon.

Otis McCulloch.

James Brooks.

Samuel McQuilkins.

John F. King. Samuel Cherum. Amos Rice. Geo. W. Dewees. Jeremy Boyanton.

David Swall. Elijah Turner. Hugh Conners.

1821.

James C. Turner. Henry Brasher. Fredrick Keys. Geo. W. Dewees.

1822.

Moses Burgett. Isaac Keys. John Woods.

Samuel W. Edwards.

John H. Watson. Henry Markle, 1816.

John Slaven. John C. Packard.

Elijah Bacon. Joseph Malcom. Joseph W. Richardson. William Comb. Gardner Hale.

Goodwin Halloway. Elias Depew.

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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

William Souls.

William Thompson.

Price Cheesman.

Israel Harris.

Isaac Anderson.

John Blocksam.

Charles W. Souls.

Geo. W. Dewees.

Nelon W. Souls.

Alvah Hotchkiss.

Stephen Hawley.

Louis Vansickle.

William Walker.

Jacob Hoffman.

Chandler Tillman.

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History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections, Part 18

Author: Bradsby, Henry C Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago : S.B. Nelson & co. Number of Pages: 1032

Author: Bradsby, Henry C
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : S.B. Nelson & co.
Number of Pages: 1032