History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections, Part 24

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 24

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HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.

ship 11, Range 10, June 26; William Smith to Anthony B. Conner, east half of the southeast quarter of Section 1, Township 13, Range 8, July 7; Terre Haute Company to Jonathan Lyon, Lot 195, 81 acres, Out-lot 1, June 15; same to Charles B. Modesitt, Lots 5, 15, 17, 105, 102, 114, 130, 152, 208, 219, 220, 246, 264 and 279, May 29; John F. Cruft to Joseph Kite, east half of the southwest quar- ter of Section 30, Township 11, Range 9, July 20; John E. Met- calf to Bradford Hale, 55 acres in the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 35, Township 11, Range 10, June 17; Jonathan Edney to James Mason, 23 acres in the northeast quarter of Section 36, Township 11, Range 10, July 23; Joseph Saunders to William Ray, southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Sec- tion 25, Township 10, Range 8, July 27; Joseph Bennight to Edwin P. Bennight, east half of Section 1, Township 10, Range 11, May 29; same to Guy R. Bennight, east half of the southwest quarter of Section 4, Township 10, Range 10, May 30; William Phillips to Zadok Reeves, southeast quarter of Section 17, Township 12, Range 8, August 11; Daniel Dawson to William A. Gans, estate of Isaac Dawson; Jonathan Rodgers and wife, same; John Bell and wife, same, June 25; John Stratton to William C. and D. Linton, half of Lot 139, April 13; William and Joseph Montgomery to W. C. Linton, Out-lot 40, August 22; William Ray to Joseph Saunders, southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 25, Township 10, Range 8, August 22; State to Samuel McQuilkin, Lot 89, and 20 feet south side of Lot 34, June 18; Curtis Gilbert, commissioner to Reuben Christy, Lot 80, August 26; Israel Price to James Cum- mins, north half of the northwest quarter of Section 1, Township 11, Range 9, September 1; Henry Allen, sheriff, to David S. Bon- ner, northeast quarter of Section 9, Township 11, Range 9, Sep- tember 2; Robert S. Reynolds to S. S. Collett, southeast quarter of Section 9, northwest quarter of Section 10, southeast quarter of Section 4, northeast quarter of Section 4, Township 11, Range 9, and northeast quarter of Section 19, northwest quarter of Section 19, Township 12, Range 8, and northeast quarter of Section 15, Town- ship 11, Range 9, and southwest quarter of Section 17, Township 13, Range 8, southwest quarter of Section 18, Township 12, Range 8, southwest quarter of Section 13, Township 12, Range 9, south- east quarter of Section 14, Township 12, Range 9, and Lots 103, 243, 124, September 2; Henry Allen, sheriff, to James Wasson, Lot 29, September 5; William N. Bullitt to Curtis Gilbert, Out-lot 50, August 31; same to James Farrington, George W. Wisenger, Alfred N. Bullitt, William N. and Neville Bullitt, power of attorney, Sep- tember 3; William N. Bullitt to Joseph Smith, east half of the northwest quarter of Section 1, Township 12, Range 9, September 26; Daniel H. Johnson to James Mason, 50 acres in the northeast

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quarter of Section 11, Township 10, Range 10, September 28; Cur- tis Gilbert to Reuben C. Smith, Lot 62, October 2; same to Will- iam C. Smith, Lot 61, September 2; C. Gilbert, commissioner, to Frederick Rapp, southwest quarter of Section 3, northwest quarter of Section 10, southwest quarter of Section 10, northwest quarter of Section 22, southwest quarter of Section 22, Township 12, Range 9, and northeast quarter of Section 6, Township 12, Range 8, and southwest quarter of Section 32, Township 13, Range 8, south half of east fraction of Section 4, Township 12, Range 9, September 10; Ormsby Greene to John F. Cruft, southeast quarter of Section 28, Township 13, Range 8, October 15; Amory Kinney, commissioner, to Redman Evans, south half of the northeast quarter of Section 19, Township 11, Range 9, September 22; David Colby to Ebenezer Richardson, west half of the northwest quarter of Section 17, Town- ship 12, Range 8, October 17; George Jones to Samuel Walker, northeast quarter of Section 2, Township 13, Range 9; Ormsby Greene to Anthony Creal, northeast corner of the southeast quarter of Section 28, Township 13, Range 8, October 15; Alex Moore to Samuel Moore, south half of the southwest quarter of Section 30, Township 11, Range 9, April 25; Jonathan Jones to Joseph Evans, south half of the southeast quarter of Section 7, south half of the southwest quarter of Section 8, south half of the southwest quarter of Section 13, south half of the southeast quarter of Section 13, Township 13, Range 9, March 28; Thomas Williams to Lewis Rodgers, 15 acres in the northwest quarter of Section 19, and 22 acres in the northeast quarter of Section 24, Township 13, Range 9, May 20; county to Brook Hill, Lots 192, 236, 57 and 104, No- vember 16; State to Joseph Jenung, 18 acres in the northeast quarter of Section 18, Township 12, Range 8, November 17; same to Reuben C. Smith, Lot 62, November 16; same to Curtis Gilbert, northwest quarter of Section 25, Township 12, Range 10, east half of the southeast quarter of Section 30, Township 12, Range 8, south part of the northeast quarter of Section 25, Township 12, Range 9, Out-lot 25, and 30 feet north side of Lot 245, and 40 feet north side of Lot 216, November 17; James Smith to Archibald Woods, north- west quarter of Section 7, northwest quarter of Section 30, Town- ship 14, Range 8, southwest quarter of Section 31, Township 12, Range 8, September 15; Cynthia Ann Rush to John Rush, power of attorney, July 30; William Foster to John Cox, north half of the northwest quarter of Section 13, Township 10, Range 10, May 5; Amory Kinney to Basil Champer, northwest quarter of Section 14, Township 10, Range 10, May 27; State to Demas Deming, west half of the northwest quarter of Section 20, Township 13, Range 8, and 80 acres in the northeast quarter of Section 25, Township 12, Range 9, December 12; same to Curtis Gilbert, 100 acres in the

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southwest quarter of Section 5, and 100 acres in the northwest quarter of Section 8, Township 13, Range 9, and 15 acres in the southwest quarter of Section 14, Township 11, Range 9, northwest quarter of Section 15, Township 13, Range 8, and 30 acres in the southeast quarter of Section 27, Township 11, Range 10, and north- east quarter of Section 6, Township 13, Range 9, December 15; Thomas Pound to Hiram Sparks, northeast quarter of Section 4, Township 10, Range 10, January 17; Robert S. McCabe to George Miller, 40 acres, Out-lot 72, December 26; John Robertson to James Robertson, 50 acres in the southwest quarter of Section 6, and 10 acres in the southwest quarter of Section 6, Township 11, Range 8, December 29; Catherine Markle to Demas Deming and Curtis Gilbert, northwest quarter of Section 25, Township 12, Range 9, December 8; Terre Haute Company to Demas Deming, Out-lot 14, December 16; David S. Bonner to Robert S. Reynolds and John D. Early, Lot 143, December 24 ; Demas Deming to Robert S. McCabe, Lot 223, June 18; John Peters to Samuel Jackson, Lot 79, Febru- ary 4; Handy Hudson to William McComb, northwest quarter of Section 19, Township 11, Range 9, October 26; Abraham Lindley to Amos Rice, east half of the southeast quarter of Section 35, Township 13, Range 9; same, guardian, John Lindley to Amos Rice, west half of the southeast quarter of Section 35, Township 13, Range 9; Alvah Hotchkiss to John F. Cruft, west half of the north- west quarter of Section 34, Township 13, Range 8, December 2; John Jackson to William H. Levitt, northwest quarter of Sec- tion 22, Township 11, Range 8, May 15; Joseph Benight to Samuel May, south fraction of Section 1, Township 10, Range 11, May 29; Elisha N. Huntington, commissioner, to Samuel Coloman, trustee for heirs of William Winter, southeast quarter of Section 35, southwest quarter of Section 35, southeast quar- ter of Section 25, southwest quarter of Section 25, northwest quarter of Section 25, Township 12, Range 9, and southwest quarter of Section 34, Township 13, Range 9, November 25; Isaac Cox to Benoni Trublood, east half of the southwest quarter of Sec- tion 13, Township 10, Range 10, October 12; Thomas W. Dawson to Peter and Betsey Nichols, Jonathan and Nancy Rodgers, John and Elenor Bell, Isaac M. Dawson, William A. and Mary Gans, Melinda, Asicke and Abigail Dawson, heirs of Isaac Dawson, east half of the southeast quarter of Section 11, Township 12, Range 9, August 11; county to Thomas Rodgers, Lot 292, June 8; Joel Dixon to Mahlon Stephenson, southeast quarter of Section 6, Town- ship 13, Range 8, December 11; Abigail, Eliza and Abby Packard, William G. Bowen and Susana C. Bowen to William C. Linton, south half of Section 2, and south half of the southwest quarter of Section 2, and south half of southeast quarter of Section 2, Town-

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ship 11, Range 9, December 17; Abel Bell to William Smith, east half of the southeast quarter of Section 1, Township 13, Range 8, February 17; Thomas Whaley to Elijah Overton, 50 acres in the southeast quarter of Section 14, Township 10, Range 10, November 5; George Jones to Daniel Justice, 40 acres in the south part of Sections 2 and 3, Township 13, Range 9, January 21; William Lindley, executor, to Jonathan Lindley, northeast and northwest quarters of Section 33, Township 12, Range 9, November 28; county to John McCray, Lot 290, August 10; James Wasson to Enoch Dole, Lot 88, January 5; Joseph and William Montgomery to John Brit- ton, Lot 145, September 30; Thomas Manchester to Alvah Hotch- kiss, west half of the northwest quarter of Section 34, Township 13, Range 8, January 24; Leonard Crawford to William Coltrin, Lot 213, January 19; S. S. Collett to William Musgrove, northwest quarter of Section 13, Township 11, Range 10, December 24.

Sixty years have now elapsed since the very latest of these trans- actions were had, and seventy-four years since the first, as contained in the first year's record. Soon it will be a century, then two cent- uries, and then two centuries and a half, which is drawing closely upon the life of the written records that were made nearly a century ago. The inferior paper made in that day then begins to decay and become so tender and brittle that, with the least handling, it is defaced, and falls in broken bits.

Of all those mentioned of the many names given of the early comers to the county, you could count them all on the fingers of one hand. They have moved on to the silent city, and the most of their bodies are again mingling with the elements from which they originally came.

It is only the lowest or meanest order of human beings that feel no regret at the idea of immediate and utter forgetfulness with the passing away of life. When you are away from home, you gain your chief pleasure from the reflection that there are those who ever bear you in mind and who so frequently think and talk of you. There may be those who not only have no home, but no place nor person in all the world who would wish for their return, or their present welfare, or even bear with them the memory of the past. But such people are so rare, even if there be any, that they are unnatural.

When another brief eighty years have come and gone, all this animate life that is now so noisy, so busy, so rushing along the great highway, struggling, fighting, helping, crying and laughing, will, in their turn, be as silent as are the dead who are herein- before recorded. Let us hope that we then may be done by as we have tried here to do by our ancestors.

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CHAPTER XVII.

LOOKING BACKWARD.

PARTICULARS OF MANY OF THE PIONEERS-MRS. SOPHIA RAMSDELL FUL- LER-OLD SETTLERS' SOCIETY-CAPT. EARLE'S RECOLLECTIONS-ETC.

W E have now passed over, in the chronological order of their coming, the first years from the first arrival of Joseph Lis- ton and his little colony to the year 1818, when there had gathered enough people in the neighborhood of the beautiful spot around Fort Harrison to justify the people demanding and receiving of the State a separate county of their own, which, in a spirit of patriotic pride, they chose to name in honor of Col. Francis Vigo.

In these accounts it is not claimed that a full and complete list of all who came within the years mentioned has been obtained. This, while greatly to be wished, that is, a full and accurate list and some- thing about them, as well as their posterity, is wholly impossible of attainment now. And another thing, unless one has faithfully tried it, he can not well conceive the extreme difficulty in fixing with any absolute certainty the exact year of the coming of a few-and how few that number is-that can with certainty be known as arriving at a fixed time. Where they did not tell themselves in their life- time, and where there is no one who came with them, or through some circumstance has had the day fixed with any absolute cer- tainty, and you are then left to dim recollection, to surmises or to second-hand information, then you will find, if you accept all your information, that there are many whom to your surprise came every year to the new country from the first arrival in 1811 to probably 1820. And still more often in looking over the old files of papers for the published obituaries, the writer was content to say that the deceased was "one of the earliest settlers." Again will be found, perhaps in the published funeral sermon, the general asser- tion that the dead was "one of the very first of those who made a home in Vigo county." Indeed, when you find in even historical sermons statements that give day and date with positive certainty, and you note that as a well-established fact, in the course of further investigation you may stumble on the incontestible evidence that the man was wrong by two, three, or, in one case, as I found, five years.

As large as is the number of names mentioned in the preceding chapter, that gives the years in their order of coming, I would not

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have it understood that in every case, every instance of the many mentioned, that it is absolutely correct. In a few cases it may be that parties came earlier than that given, and in others later. I can only say that after long and the most dilligent search, I have written conscientiously, and as near the truth as to dates as it was possible to get.

Nor above all do I wish it understood that all who came in the years mentioned are named in the preceding chapters. This will more fully appear in the progress of this chapter, especially of those who are known to have come in 1817 and 1818.

I have before me an immense mass of notes on every variety of subject relating to the history of Vigo county-the most of them to its early history, but many that come to recent times, and it is for the sole purpose in this chapter that I have dropped the plan of giving more of the record year by year, and given it the more gen- eral title of "Looking Backward." This will enable me to clear off the huge conglomorate pile of notes and data, and at the same time, I hope, make one of the most interesting chapters of the book, as I will feel free to introduce nearly any important or disconnected fact as I may come to it.

William Naylor was one of Harrison's soldiers who came with him on the expedition and helped build Fort Harrison; was in the fight, and was also one of the brave men at the famous battle of Tippecanoe. The widow of his son George is now a resident of Terre Haute. William Naylor, when the cruel war was over, became a resident of Vigo county, and was one of its prominent citizens, and the name of Naylor, through those now here and the dead is as well known and as respectable as any in the county.

In the late years of his life he wrote and published in a Terre Haute paper some very interesting reminiscences of those early times. He expresses the greatest admiration for his old gallant leader, Gen. Harrison, and bitterly denounced his detractors. He was a Ken- tuckian, and also defends the names of several of the officers in the command, and pronounces them true Kentuckians and "real born heroes," although he can not help a little pleasanty at the numerous Kentucky "colonels" there were in the little army. He mentions especially " the brave and gallant Maj. White of Shelby county, Ky., who received five wounds in the battle " of Tippecanoe. He says these Kentuckians, most of the command being from that State, "were all distinguished military men at home, such as generals, colonels, majors and captains."

He, referring to a once well-known citizen of Terre Haute, Capt. Hite, says that he volunteered when a boy about seventeen or eighteen years of age, in Jefferson county, Ky., and of him it was offi- cially said, " he acted bravely in battle." This man lived to an ad- vanced age in Terre Haute, and was noted, old as he was, as one of

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the active Union men in the late war. He enlisted the first men, organized the "Silver Grays," and drilled them from day to day, and was active in both sending recruits and aid to the brave soldiers at the front.

Mr. Naylor then mentions the names of Daniel Emmerson, Thomas Emmerson, Benjamin Backus (a lieutenant, he thinks), Capt. Wilson and Thomas Robbins, as men who were in the terri- torial militia in Harrison's army and expedition. He especially speaks of the cool bravery and daring of a little Yankee named Lucius Kibby, who killed an Indian in the battle."

At this point he branches off into another eulogy of Gen. Harri- son and a philippic against his detractors, whom he sinks " deep in the vortex of scoundrelism," and then says: " In taxing my recollection of past events, I find I have left out the names of some persons whom I will here notice: William Polk * Joseph * Liston was with us while Fort Harrison was being built, and the army bought corn of him. He claims the credit of breaking the first piece of ground on Fort Harrison prairie in those perilous times in the spring of 1811. As to his being in the battle of Tip- pecanoe or not, I can not say, as my recollection does not serve me now."

He then mentioned an incident of his return to his home, which is illustrative of those times: " I will here mention one incident on our travel home from Busseron creek; at Shakertown, when two fellow soldiers, myself and a wounded soldier left this place for home. We had to travel very slow, not more than ten or twelve miles a day, our wounded brother soldier not being able to travel farther. So we wore the distance of about 140 miles slowly and for the most part we were treated with great kindness and respect, and were charged not a bill for our entertainment; but one evening at a place not far from the Half Moon spring, now in Orange county, we put up with an old Friend Quaker, who did not seem very will- ing to keep us all night. We told him he must, because we could not go any farther with our wounded soldier. He consented, but intimated that the Indians had given us about what we deserved. He made us pay a small fare."

He then enters into some general reflections about the expedi- tion, and thinks it remarkable that the little army was not all de- stroyed by the savages, because, as he says, when we reflect that this little army penetrated into a wilderness country in the vicin- ity of a community of savage tribes of Indians who had been stim- ulated by British agents to acts of hostility toward the whites and the fanatical prediction and incantations of the Shawnee prophet, and the great distance that the army was then from any aid or succor-a distance of not less than 160 miles to the nearest point,

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Vincennes, at any other point not less than 250 miles. At that time the Indians could have raised 2,000 warriors in a few days at most, and have exterminated our little army, and why they did not do it is mysterious to me. He then mentions some strange inci- dents that came under his knowledge: One soldier had a presenti- ment a few days before the battle that he would be killed. Although this was some days before the fight, he told his comrades, and re- quested that when he was dead they should " pull off his shoes and wear them home." He had made no mistake, and his wishes in re- gard to the shoes were faithfully carried out. The young man killed was named Fisler, who was shot dead at nearly the first fire in the action. He says there were others who had presentiments they would be killed before they got home, and their presentiments in each case were true. He then proceeds:

" A few reflections on my own individual case: When I went on this campaign I was skeptical on the subject of the Christian re- ligion. I had figured out a system of this kind: The Almighty had made the universe and affixed to it laws which were unalter- able, and those laws would govern it according to His will so far as inanimate nature was concerned, and that it had a power to con- trol the mental and moral worlds. That, indeed, it fixed the des- tiny of both, that so far as as our actions were concerned, they neither were good or bad, intrinsically, that we might call one good and another bad and affix punishment to the one and reward to the other, but that in the Divine mind both were equally right, having been produced by the unalterable laws of Jehovah."

He then proceeds to tell how the whistling bullets about his ears in battle separated him on the spot from his " fashionable infi- delity," and from that moment on he regulated his every action in the implicit faith of the ever-ruling providences of God.

These presentiments were very common in the late war among the soldiers when about to go into their first battle, but they wore off in time after passing unhurt through many. It is only a natural apprehension of danger liable to come to any man.

William and Daniel Durham, brothers, were natives of Vir- ginia, that stopped a time in Kentucky and then came to Vincennes in 1816 and the next year came to Vigo county. Daniel was the elder of the two. Daniel died about 1840. William died in 1848, aged seventy-eight years. Daniel settled one and a half miles south of Terre Haute, and William about the same distance north of the town. They both brought families to the State. William and Jane Beasley were married in 1793 and had children: Thomas, William, Sarah, Daniel, Gabriel, Jane and Pleasant-all dead. Pleasant, the last one, died in 1888 at Kankakee, Ill. Thomas was the father of William Durham, a resident of Terre Haute. Thomas

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Durham was married twice, first to Mary Lindley, daughter of an early settler, and the second time to Rebecca Bales. William is the only survivor of this family. The only other descendants of the first William Durham being Milton S. Durham, attorney, and Mrs. Mary Dickinson, of Terre Haute.

Daniel Durham's children were John, Thomas, William, Daniel, David, and Mrs. Martha Chestnut, Mrs. Catherine Baird and Mrs. Rebecca Dickson, the latter the only survivor. George and Lyman, the sons of Daniel, Jr., are prominent farmers in Prairieton town- ship.

The children of William, the son of Daniel Durham, are Mrs. Samuel C. Roger, and Will C. Durham, of the firm of E. H. Bindley & Co., Terre Haute. The eldest now living of all of Daniel's descend- ants is Mrs. Mary Hayworth, the daughter of Susan. There were two sisters, Mrs. Ruth Stephenson and Mrs. Mary Jones. Of the latter there are now none in the county, and of the Stephen- sons there are Mahlon and Thomas.

In 1875 there was a movement set on foot to organize an old settlers' society for the county. This was warmly advocated by nearly all the oldest settlers then living. Preliminary meetings were had that year and the proper steps taken which resulted in a meeting in 1875 and 1876, the centennial year, the year in our national history that first awakened any general interest on the sub- ject of the history of the pioneers. A permanent organization was effected. From the records of the society is extracted the following: Henry Ross, Thomas Dowling, George K. Steele, Henry Fairbanks, Charles Thomas Noble, being present at the office of Mr. Dowling in Dowling Hall, July 8, 1875. Mr. Dowling acted as chairman. Mr. Fairbanks, secretary. They were ordered by the meeting to give notice in the daily papers of a meeting to be held in Dowling Hall for the purpose of organizing an " Old Settlers' Association." A meeting convened Saturday July 12, 1875, and elected the fol- lowing officers : President, R. W. Thompson; vice-presidents, James Hite, Chauncey Rose, John Scott, Curtis Gilbert, Joseph East, Beebe Booth, Sylvester Sibley, Perly Mitchell, Thomas Dowling, Henry Ross, Dr. Ezra Reed, George K. Steele, Alexander McGregor, Samuel B. Gookins, Charles T. Noble, Joseph S. Jenckes, Henry Fairbanks, T. C. Buntin, Harvey D. Scott, R. N. Hudson, Samuel Archer, John H. O'Boyle, Samuel Milligan, Thomas Pugh, Lucius Ryce, N. F. Cunningham, Martin M. Hickox, C. Y. Patterson, Lynus A. Burnett and Joseph O. Jones, and for Nevins township, Josiah Lambert and Tilghman High; Pierson township, William Littlejohn and Joseph Liston; Riley township, John Ray, Nathan- iel Lee and Henry Christy; Honey Creek township, Joseph Greggs and Jesse Jones; Prairie Creek township, Samuel E. K. Fisk and

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History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections, Part 24

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