History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume I, Part 14

Author: Weesner, Clarkson W., 1841-1924
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1020


USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 14


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).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44


James D. Conner, born July 11, 1819, in Indiana; date of settlement, October, 1840.


Joseph Baker, born in 1818, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1840. MarEin Alger, born in 1819, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1848. Jesse Way, born in 1829, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1840.


William Carr, born in 1821, in Kentucky ; date of settlement, 1848. Benjamin Prince, born in 1824, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1842. James Stewart, born in 1814, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1846. William Pearson, born in 1826, in Tennessee; date of settlement, 1834. Jacob II. Boblett, born in 1822, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1844. Dr. Eden P. Peters, born in 1822, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1846. Ann Park, born in 1816, in New Jersey; date of settlement, 1846. John L. Baer, born in 1835, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1842. , John Reeves, born in 1811, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1851.


Ezra Hawkins, born in 1818, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1842. Garrison Baer, born in 1837, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1840. John L. Cowgill, born in 1826, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1844. Eliza Reeves, born in 1810, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1851. Alfred II. Stoops, born in 1831, in Indiana ; date of settlement, 1852. William T. Stone, born in 1824, in Indiana ; date of settlement, 1850. David Stoops, born in 1818, in Alabama ; date of settlement, 1853. Anna Stoops, born in 1836, in Indiana; born in county.


Moses Thrush, born in 1827, in Pennsylvania ; date of settlement, 1842. George J. Stephenson, born in 1831, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1851. John S. Pike, born in 1813, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1842.


Andrew R. Starbuck, born in 1807, in North Carolina; date of settle- ment, 1847.


Permelia Peabody, born in 1811, in New York; date of settlement, 1833.


Phebe MeKibben, born in 1833, in Indiana ; born in county.


Sarah E. Pratt, born in 1819, in New York ; date of settlement, 1843. Julia Conner, born in 1825, in Indiana ; date of settlement, 1835. Hannah Webb, born in 1829, in Indiana; date of settlement, 1847. Mary Fall, born in 1809, in North Carolina; date of settlement, 1843. Martha Weesner, born in 1824, in North Carolina ; date of settlement, 1846.


Druzilla Quick, born in 1817, in Indiana ; date of settlement, 1851. Samuel Long, born in 1829, in Pennsylvania; date of settlement, 1844. Elizabeth A. Ford, born in 1842, in Indiana; born in the county. Julia M. Hymen, born in 1819, in Germany ; date of settlement, 1868.


111


HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY


Lueinda H. Sivey, born in 1823, in Kentucky ; date of settlement, 1839. Jane King, born in 1836, in Indiana; born in the county.


Eunice Richards, born in 1822, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1842.


Marga Long, born in 1838, in Ohio: date of settlement, 1842.


Dr. Michael R. Crabill, born in 1817, in Virginia ; date of settlement,. 1847.


Eva Crabill, born in 1827, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1847.


Mary I. Brooks, born in 1832, in Indiana; born in the county.


Adelia Henley, born in 1840, in Indiana; born in the county.


Ephraim F. Keller, born in 1814, in Indiana ; date of settlement, 1828. Toliver B. Clark, born in 1839, in Indiana ; date of settlement, 1846.


Capt. Benjamin F. Williams, born September 29, 1830, in Indiana ; date of settlement, 1836.


Allena F. Williams, born in 1843, in Indiana; born in the county.


William Sweetser, born in 1806, in Vermont ; date of settlement, 1847. Robert B. Sweetser, born in 1842, in Indiana ; date of settlement, 1847.


Miles II. C. Morgan, born in 1815, in Kentucky; date of settlement, October 5, 1849.


Andrew Wilson, born in 1812, in Virginia; date of settlement, Sep- tember 19, 1840.


Francis M. Calfee, born October 18, 1838, in Indiana ; date of settle- ment, April 6, 1839.


Theodore W. McClure, born August 30, 1835, in Ohio; date of settle- ment, September, 1844.


Lewis B. Davis, born October 26, 1830, in New York; date of settle- ment, April 1, 1852.


Mary Baily Davis, born October 20, 1835, in Ohio.


Timothy Craft, Sr., born January 10, 1818, in Ohio; date of settle- ment, September, 1847.


Nathan Garrison, born January 6, 1831, in Indiana; date of settle- ment, 1835.


Richard Stoops, born August 7, 1811, in Indiana ; date of settlement, September, 1850.


Adam Graves, born January 1, 1820, in Tennessee; date of settle- ment, February, 1835.


Samuel G. Smiley, born July 17, 1825, in Indiana; date of settle- ment, October 11, 1851.


Daniel Sayre, born June, 1815, in New York; date of settlement, March, 1832.


John L. Stone, born November 16, 1815. in Kentucky; date of settle- ment, July 22, 1839.


1


112


HISTORY OF WABASHI COUNTY


Frederick Rickert, born October 2, 1825, in Germany ; date of settle- ment, August 10, 1854.


Mary B. Brewer, born February 7, 1815, in Indiana; date of settle- ment, February, 1849.


Lucy Carver, born April 1, 1828, in Ohio; date of settlement, Sep- tember, 1840.


Richard Tyner, born August 17, 1823, in Indiana ; date of settlement, October, 1849.


Sarah J. Tyner, born March 2, 1829, in Indiana ; date of settlement, October, 1849.


Eva Laey, born August 10, 1817, in Pennsylvania; date of settle- ment, 1845.


Thomas E. Charles, born July 11, 1829, in Indiana; date of settle- ment, March, 1853.


Mary Wampler, born September 4, 1839, in Indiana; born in the county.


Ilarriet Stewart, born July 6, 1819, in New York; date of settle- ment, 1830.


John F. Maurer, born March 21, 1840, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1845.


Nelson M. Quiek, born February 28, 1845, in Indiana; date of settle- ment, January, 1851.


Jesse Colbert, born February 5, 1836, in Ohio; date of settlement, 1845.


Jolin Ring, Jr., born September 15, 1837, in Indiana; date of settle- ment, 1846.


Noah Eekman, born September 7, 1817, in Maryland; date of settle- ment, 1847.


James MeGuire, born September 18, 1817, in Pennsylvania ; date of settlement, 1838.


Jesse Myers, born November 4, 1802, in Tennessee; date of settle- ment, December, 1838.


Ilenry C. Miles, born May, 1827, in Ohio; date of settlement, June, 1851.


Eliza C. Miles, born July, 1836, in Ohio; date of settlement, Novem- ber, 1851.


William R. Collins, born December 25, 1823, in Indiana ; date of settle- ment, April 11, 1843.


Ilenry L. Williams, born August 12, 1837, in Indiana ; date of settle- ment, 1840.


J. H. Parker, born August 8, 1817, in Pennsylvania; date of settle- ment, April 20, 1855.


معرف


113


HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY


Henry C. Beroth, born January 28, 1829, in Indiana; date of settle- ment, June 15, 1855.


Henry C. Sayre, born November 28, 1834, in Indiana; date of settle- ment, November 10, 1846.


Capt. Joseph M. Thompson, born May 28, 1828, in Indiana; date of settlement, June 15, 1842.


Naney Wohlgamuth, born January 20, 1828, in Ohio; date of settle- ment, April, 1845.


Jesse Fannin, born November 9, 1820, in Indiana; date of settlement October, 1838.


John Strickler, born August 20, 1826, in Pennsylvania ; date of settle- ment, February 28, 1836.


William Strickler, born August 12, 1833, in Ohio; date of settlement, February 28, 1836.


Alexander L. Tyer, born January 5, 1833, in Indiana; date of settle- ment, February, 1843.


Isophena Tyer.


C'apt. Alexander Hess, born September 10, 1839, in Ohio; date of settlement, November 26, 1849.


Laura M. Iless, born February 15, 1849, in Pennsylvania.


Clarkson W. Weesner, born August 12, 1841, in Henry County, In- diana ; date of settlement, 1844.


Anna E. Weesner, born December 31, 1846, in Henry County, In- diana ; date of settlement, 1856.


HENRY NUSBAUM, 105 YEARS OLD


The oldest person to sign the constitution was Henry Nusbaum, who was born in Maryland, November 5, 1776, and died at Wabash, Indiana, October 28, 1882, aged 105 years, 11 months and 23 days.


PRESIDENTS OF THE ASSOCIATION


The following persons have been elected presidents of the association : William T. Ross, Allen W. Smith, Judge James D. Conner, Elijah Hackle- man, John S. B. Carothers, Capt. Benjamin F. Williams, Samuel L. Gamble, Nathaniel Banister, Henry Lew Groninger, Johiel P'. Noftzger, James D. Commer, Jr., Warren G. Sayre, Thomas McNamee, Fred I. King and Clark W. Weesner.


RICH HISTORICAL STORE HOUSE


A rich store house for material in the painting of pioneer pictures is found in the proceedings of the Wabash County Pioneer Society, a Vol. 1-8


91


114


IHISTORY OF WABASHI COUNTY


sketch of which has just been given. Not a meeting was held at which some of the old settlers did not make contributions to local history which are worthy of permanent preservation ; so that what selections are made must be made rather at haphazard, and because space is limited. rather than because the editor considers them the very cream of the rich supply. Ie is self-evident, however, that Elijah Hackleman is the dominating contributor.


JUDGE COOMBS' PIONEER PICTURE


At a meeting of the society, held August 23, 1883, Judge William II. Coombs, the pioneer attorney of Wabash County, drew this verbal pic- ture: "Forty-eight years ago this month I came to Wabash on horse- back, then the only mode of conveyance, and put up at Burr's Hotel on the Treaty Ground. At that time south of Wabash the Indian Reserva- tion presented an unbroken wilderness, inhabited only by Indians, and on the north there was not a house as far as Eel River. The settlement was located in a little clearing below the bluffs. There were a few log houses and shanties for canal hands. There were one or two brick houses ; one of them, a one-story briek structure, was built by Dr. Findley. There were from one to two hundred inhabitants, mostly canal hands. Across the creek was the log cabin and clearing where Little Charley, the Miami chieftain, lived. In 1835 a resident built a house on the top of the hill, and on the first night after taking up his residence there shot a wolf in his dooryard.


"The county had been but recently organized when I came. In the winter of 1834-35 the county seat was located and I assisted in the organ- ization of the first court. Colonel Steele was selected clerk and William Johnston sheriff.


TRIAL OF TWO HUNDRED CANAL LABORERS


"I happened to strike Wabash a few days after the Irish war which had taken place at La Gro. The Fort Wayne brigade was sent for, to quell the riot, and it is said they fought nobly; they certainly captured many prisoners, as I found abont two hundred locked up. I had been undecided whether to locate in Fort Wayne or Logansport, but finding so much criminal business here decided to remain. An amusing incident occurred when those two hundred prisoners were tried. Associate Judge Ballinger was missing when the case came up, and so Judge Jackson ordered the clerk to issue an attachment for his body and bring him into court. This was carried out to the letter. The two hundred prisoners were found guilty.


T


0


115


IHISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY


RATTLESNAKES


"There were a great number of rattlesnakes hereabouts in those days. One day in going to La Gro on the tow-path I killed six large ones. On July 4, 1837, we celebrated the opening of the canal. I was called on to make a speech Saturday, and as the celebration was on Monday, the time for preparation was short. I wrote out the speech and on Sunday took a walk in the woods to commit it ; when I nearly stepped on a rattle- snake and was considerably frightened at first, but managed to kill the reptile. A den of them was subsequently discovered along the canal while blasting.


FIRST DANCE FOR WHITE FOLKS


"Times were dull and there was little society for young people. The one store in town was kept by Hugh Hanna in a log building. There were no saloons, drug stores or churches in the place. The spring follow- ing my arrival we had some fine fishing, as Colonel Ilanna built a dam in the river. I remember hauling out as high as ninety-three in one day. The night of the Fourth of July celebration I spoke of, the first dance ever given in the place by white folks, was held on the second floor of Colonel Ilanna's store."


Such little pictures as these are clear miniatures of the infant town of Wabash. When Judge Coombs thus spoke before his fellow-pioneers he was a white-haired, serene old gentleman.


Every year thereafter something interesting was occurring, both for the pioneers, and the later comers who were enjoying the fruits of their rough but effective work.


THE STAR MEETING OF 1888


The meeting of 1888 was a star day, and Elijah Haekleman told about the Early Roads so well and thoroughly that we shall transport some of it bodily to our text in the near hereafter. Miss Anna Parish also elec- trified the boys, both old and younger, hy her recitation, "Beautiful Recollections of Fifty Years Ago." As Secretary Hackleman enthus- jastically put it : "The style, manner and felicitation in the delivery of this recitation by Miss Parish cannot be surpassed and has been rarely equaled."


FROM CABIN TO PALACE


Further, the Old Log Cabin was tendered a hearty welcome by Capt. B. F. Williams. He said those okl Log Cabin days were always con-


.


116


HISTORY OF WABASHI COUNTY


sidered by him as the happiest, and he had noticed at the late Art Loan Exhibit (by the G. A. R.) that the primitive manner of living as rep- resented by the Log Cabin, with its attachments, had attracted more at- tention than almost anything else. He added that there sat before him Jim Jackson, who came to this county almost half a century ago and settled down in Liberty Township as one of his neighbors. Mr. Jackson lived in one of the most diminutive log cabins in the township, probably twelve by sixteen feet, and at that time he had hardly enough of this world's goods to offer to divide breakfast with a hungry negro. But he was healthy and contented and by economy and industry hewed him- self out a home that would now be the envy of any prince of the old world. And of a like character were most of his neighbors of that day. "They built a school house where the old Boundary Line Christian Church now stands. The pioneer schoolmasters were as bright and intelli- gent as they are today and understood the philosophy of real teaching and real life, as well as those of any country; and many of those old teachers-Bowles, Fulton and Hackleman-were the peers of any educa- tors of any age."


JUDGE BIDDLE'S RECOLLECTIONS


Two of the old-time judges, Horace P. Biddle and N. O. Ross, sent their letters of regret and remembrance to Capt. B. F. Williams, as they were unable to attend the meeting of September, 1893, of which he was president. Judge Biddle wrote: "I first saw Wabash at the spring term of the Circuit Court in 1840. The first man I saw to know was old Johnny Smith, the odd old tavern keeper, who entertained us very well. During the term I became acquainted with many of the citizens of the town and from the country. Old Colonel Steele, with whom I afterward served in the constitutional convention-somewhat eccentric, but an hon- est man ; Colonel IIngh Hanna, main proprietor of the town ; old Colonel Sayre and Joseph Ray, excellent men.


"Wabash has always been one of my favorite counties. I feel a warm gratitude toward it and for the best reason-it gave me a full clientage during seventeen years while I was at the bar, notwithstanding the local ability and eminent talent that came there to practice from other places. The people respected my decisions while I was on the bench of the Circuit Court during nineteen years; and they supported me almost unanimously for the Supreme Bench ; and I have thousands of friends there belonging to that sturdy, honest class that supported the nation quietly in peace and bravely defended it in danger. In my old age I daily feel grateful for these benefits so much needed in my earlier life."


٢


117


HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY


JUDGE N. O. Ross


And from Judge Ross: "It would have given me great pleasure to meet the survivors of those who lived in the town and county of Wabash when my father moved there in the fall of 1829. I remember the prom- inent men who lived there at that time, Colonel Hanna, Colonel Steele, William Steele, John Smith and his son Allen, Joseph H. Ray, Jacob D. Cassatt, Elijah Hackleman, Judge Barlow and his brother, and Judge Lowry of La Gro, Judge Jackson, Mr. Thomas, the father of Enos Thomas, and his family, Esquire Ford, Dr. James Ford, old Jonathan Keller and his sons, Ephraim Keller, old man Farr, old man Beckner on Eel River, and there are many others whose names I do not now recall. Most of them have passed over to the other side. How few remain to connect the past with the present, and what a change fifty-five years have wrought in your town and county !


" Wabash was then composed mostly of log houses located between the bluff on the north and the canal on the south. I do not remember definitely as to the population, but there could not have been more than four or five hundred inhabitants at that time. The country was a vast forest, with here and there a log cabin and a small clearing, where the sturdy backwoodsman had started a farm.


"The woods were full of deer and some bear.


"One of the hardships that all had to endure was the difficulty to get bread-stuff. Flour was scarce and corn bread was used largely in- stead. I remember that in the fall of 1838 my father paid one dollar a bushel for corn and I took it on horseback to a mill on the Salamonie two or three miles above La Gro to have it ground. That winter I taught school in a little schoolhouse on the hill and the wife of IIon. J. D. Con- her was one of my pupils.


"My father moved out on a tract of land he owned about two and a half miles northwest of Wabash. and my brothers and myself com- meneed clearing up the deadening to put in corn. I made rails during the day and at night read law by fire-light made of the bark of shell-bark hickory. Boys do not study law that way now."


TRENTY BUILDINGS (BY HUGHI W. IIANNA)


One of the interesting features of the 1895 meeting was the receipt of a letter from San Francisco, written by Hugh W. Hanna, son of the old colonel and one of the first children born in Wabash. It is written to Mr. Hackleman, "My dear old friend" and "one who has known me from my youth." The extract relating to the Treaty Ground is repro-


118


HISTORY OF WABASHI COUNTY


duced : "In speaking of the obliteration of the old Treaty Grounds, the pride of my father, you bring sad news to my heart. I remember well, as if it were yesterday, how the log buildings put up for the use of the treaty looked. One row was built running parallel with the old State Road near the canal. Years after Uncle Peter Every lived in one of these buildings. Another row of buildings run north and south and part of them was afterward used by father for stables; that was before he put up a large frame barn. How well, also, I remember the old spring house where mother kept the milk, and the days I helped her churn but- ter in the old fashioned up-and-down dasher."


DOMESTIC STANCHINESS


The gathering of 1902 was a remarkably interesting one, not the least of its attractions being the outcome of the $5 prizes awarded for various virtues mostly founded on stanchness, which is so much admired by the old settler and his children, and grandchildren, and so on to the last generation-in other words, the virtue which appeals to everyone at all times.


From the goodly gathering of old people at City Park the following prize-winners were selected: Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Abbott, of La Gro, as the couple married in Wabash County who had lived longest as man and wife. They were united August 30, 1840, and had kept the road to- gether more than sixty-two years.


Mr. and Mrs. Joe Lautzenhiser, of North Manchester, represented the natives of the county whose married life had been the longest, their union having occurred September 25, 1873.


The prize for the mother who had reared the largest number of chil- dren in the county had to be divided between Mrs. Phil Hipskind, Mrs. Christian Clupper and Mrs. Richard Elward, each having brought twelve children into the world, faithfully stood by them and "brought them up" in the true mother-sense. They were the central figures of the meeting, which may be said to have been an object lesson for those of the present, of married men and women remaining loyal to each other and their chil- dren through the years-"until death do them part."


OLD FIDDLERS' CONTEST


Old Settlers' Day for 1906 had a number of unique features. Per- haps the one which caused the most merriment was the Old Fiddlers' con- test, in which were entered Felix Fourgeres, William Brown, William Patterson, Frank Owen and Jerome Wellman. As each contestant made


.


1


119


HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY


his effort, the park shook with applause. Then J. HI. Lefforge, Dr. P. G. Moore and S. J. Payne sat in judgment and awarded the honors as fol- lows: (1) William Patterson; (2) Felix Fourgeres; (3) William Brown. The judgment was gracefully accepted, although some of the oldest of the boys were inclined to bestow first honors on Brother Fourgeres-not that he had out-fiddled Brother Patterson, but he came to the county first !


DESCENDANT OF THE GREAT GODFROY


From a purely historical standpoint, perhaps the paper by Gabriel Godfroy, on "The Indian Race," was the most significant, as the author is a descendant of that great war chief of the Miamis, Francis Godfroy.


FORTIETH, THE MOST SUCCESSFUL REUNION


The fortieth annual reunion of the old settlers was held at City Park, September 1, 1909, and was perhaps of more general interest than any which had gone before, as it was the occasion of the dedication of the Lincoln Centennial Log Cabin. The year marked the passing of a een- tury since the birth of that Great Soul whom we call Lincoln, so that the celebration and dedication had a double signifieance. The log cabin was a monument to a rugged soul, as well as to the rugged pioneer period of which the society was so close a part. The weather was ideal, the oc- casion was impressive and absorbing, and the attendance the largest in the history of the association.


LINCOLN CENTENNIAL LOG CABIN


President Weesner's address on Lincoln was warmly applauded and the history of the cabin, which is considered to be a permanent museum building, was thus told by Capt. Benjamin F. Williams :


"The story of a people is best told by their habitations and their domestic and industrial implements.


"After a lapse of seventeen centuries we correctly read the history and habits of the people of disentombed Pompeii.


"The epic of old Homer is interpreted and verified by the excavations and explorations of Dr. Schleimann after a period of 2,500 years.


"The life and story of the pioneer is revealed by the home in which he lived, and the implements which he used, mechanical and otherwise, are witnesses of his vocation and industrial advancement at the time in


120


HISTORY OF WABASHI COUNTY


which he lived, and of the comforts and conveniences which he enjoyed, and the privations and hardships which he endured.


"For this reason it has long been the desire and the purpose of the Old Settlers Society of Wabash County to reproduce a substantial memorial of the home life of the pioneer, so that when our children shall ask how the rude forefathers lived when this, now bounteous, happy land was the home of wild animals and wild men, they may be shown this reproduction of a pioneer's palace, in which were reared and lived more people than the patriarch Jacob took down to Egypt. A home where a family of sixteen children were reared, where all the hopes and fears, and all the joys and sorrows of pioneer life were shared : where


LINCOLN CABIN, CITY PARK, WABASH


the toils and privations incident to pioneer life were borne with heroic fortitude. and where the blessings of a bountiful Providence were thank- fully received and enjoyed.


"The president of this society (Clarkson W. Weesner) fortunately found and secured this real home of the pioneer, around which cluster so many memories of the early days, and by his energy and wisdom, has, as a permanent object lesson, constructed out of the materials of the old home this new one.


" The hewed log cabin from which the walls of this cabin are con- structed was built by John Cornell in the year 1848 on the south half of the northwest quarter of Section 6, in Township 26 north, Range 7 cast. in Liberty Township, one mile south of White's Institute.


121


IHISTORY OF WABASHI COUNTY


"Cornell entered this land March 30, 1848, and soon thereafter began the erection of a two-story hewed log house, eighteen feet by thirty, modeled after the house built, the same year, on the same section by Jacob Wohlgamuth.


"Cornell sold to John Spradling August 17, 1849. Spradling died in this house September 20, 1850, leaving a widow and two children, one of whom was born en the day of the father's funeral.


". The house was occupied by several families until July 4, 1873, when the top story was blown down by a hurricane, at which time it was oceu- pied by Joseph MeKinley's family and other persons who took refuge from the storm. Among the occupants was a babe two weeks old, but none were seriously injured. The house was then bought by Josephus Morrison and moved and rebuilt on the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 8, Township 26, Range 7 cast, and occupied by him and his family of sixteen children for several years, and after him by various tenants until October 14, 1908, when Clark W. Weesner pur- chased it for the use and purpose you now see it.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.