USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 39
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Methodist congregation of Liberty Mills in the erection of a building to serve jointly as a church and a lodge room-the latter being in the upper story. The Masons, however, did not organize, and shortly afterward their Grand Lodge issued an order prohibiting the joint occupation of lodge rooms with other societies. So the Odd Fellows became the sole possessors of the hall. Meshekunnoghquoh Lodge, of Liberty Mills, is still in existence-notwithstanding its name.
North Manchester Lodge No. 264, I. O. O. F., was organized in November, 1866, under a charter signed by T. B. MeCarty, grand master, and E. H. Barry, grand secretary. Its charter members were: A. C. Barnhart, J. F. Kinney, D. C. West, Isaac Garwood, S. A. Argerbright, J. Sheets, Wesley Bussard, Daniel Lutz, David J. Rupley and Reuben Abbott. Mr. Kinney was the first noble grand. In January, 1868, the lodge room was moved from the Haney Building to the second story of the ITeeter Building on the north side of Main Street. In 1875 the order added a third story to the Straw briek store on the south side of Main Street, where it provided handsome and complete rooms for its lodge and encampment.
Oakwood Encampment No. 97, I. O. O. F., was instituted July 7, 1869, in the hall of North Manchester Lodge No. 264. Its charter mem- bers were: M. S. Marshall, HI. Winton, J. F. Eichholtz, J. W. Williams, J. F. Kinney and William Peak. The first officers were: M. S. Marshall, e. p .; J. F. Eichholtz, h. p .; William Peak, s. w .; S. P. Young, j. w .; HI. Winton, seribe; J. F. Kinney, treasurer.
AMUSEMENTS, RECREATIONS, ETC.
North Manchester has always had the forethought to provide her people with good amusements, and in that regard has largely depended on home talent. It has had a band for a great many years. In 1876 the North Manchester Cornet Band was organized from a selected mem- bership of two other similar organizations. Prof. A. B. MeFann was long a musical director at North Manchester.
During the summer and fall of 1880 David Hamilton erected an opera house on Main Street, which has been the scene of numerous eredit- able theatricals and musical entertainments, and within later years a number of very creditable "movies" have been put in operation.
Such recreations, with lodge meetings, gatherings under the auspiees of the Woman's Club, and the continuous resort of a large portion of the community to the accommodations of the Public Library, leave nothing to be desired for those of conservative and superior tastes.
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LA GRO TOWNSHIP DISTRICT SCHOOL BUILDING
CHAPTER XXIII
LA GRO TOWNSIHP
THIE WABASH RIVER -- THE SALAMONIE AND ITS MILLS-CREEKS IN THE TOWNSHIP-NATURAL FEATURES-FIRST LAND ENTRIES-LEWIS ROGERS, FIRST REAL SETTLER-THE FAMOUS FERRY-ROGERS HOTEL RIVALS BURR'S WABASH INN-YOUNG SAYRE, THE "CROOK"-LEVI BEAN AND THE HURLEYS-JOSIAHI L. WINES-THIE MINNICK BROTHERS -SIX YOUNG MEN COME-A. A. PEABODY-THE FRESHIOUR FAMILY- SAMUEL WILEY AND DANIEL BALLINGER-ENOCH AND JOHN RUSSELL- SETTLERS AT AND NEAR HOPEWELL-THOMAS FITZGIBBON-WILLIAM T. ROSS-PIONEER POLITICIANS-THE IRISHI SETTLEMENT-RISE AND FALL OF TOWNS- LA GRO PLATTED-UTICA AND BELDEN-MAJENICA AND NEW HOLLAND-DORA AND URBANA-LINCOLNVILLE-CHURCHES AT LINCOLNVILLE AND ELSEWHERE-LA GRO TOWN OR VILLAGE-COR- PORATION AND SCHOOLS-AT THIE ITEIGIIT OF ITS PROSPERITY-JOHN AND GEORGE TODD-LA GRO OF THE PRESENT-THE M. E. CHURCHI- ST. PATRICK'S CATHOLIC CHURCH-THIE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHI- SOCIAL AND LITERARY.
As the reader knows, La Gro was one of the two original townships into which the county was divided soon after its creation in 1835. In 1836 it was first carved, eight miles square of its northern sections going to form Chester and the same erea of its southern territory being erected into Liberty Township. In 1846 La Gro regretted its gen- erosity and recovered two miles from the north of Liberty, and subse- quently favored Chester with a mile of its own territory. The other changes which have brought La Gro Township to its present irregular shape have resulted in donating about thirteen sections of land to Noble Township, leaving it with an area of about eighty-five seetions-which is a little less than that of Noble. That is the La Gro Township to which the following descriptive and historical matter applies.
THE WABASH RIVER
The chief streams in La Gro Township are the Wabash and its branch, the Salamonie River, and it is mainly to them that the region owes its Vol. I-26
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early settlement and the most interesting features of its pioneer history. The Wabash River enters the township and the county nearly midway of the length of the township and flows in a general southwesterly di- rection to the City of Wabash, about a mile and a half beyond its western limits. The course of the stream is quite regular, having no extensive bends, one of the largest being just south of La Gro and west of the mouth of the Salmanonie.
The Wabash is a comparatively large stream in La Gro Township, with high, bluffy and sometimes rocky banks. Heavy freshets sometimes occur and the main portion of La Gro being on comparatively level ground the town has been a great sufferer from these overflows upon several occasions. The town was the most seriously under water during the ice jams and floods of 1883 and 1913. The only machinery in La Gro Township ever propelled by the Wabash proper was Lynn's mill, near old Belden postoffice, where the stream enters the county from Iluntington.
THE SALAMONIE AND ITS MILLS
Salamonie River, however, which enters from the southeast at what was formerly New Holland postoffice, has a considerable volume of water and as its channel is more confined than that of the Wabash, its derived power has been considerable. The banks of the Salamonie are high and often rise into bluffs. Mills have been built upon its margin, those of Robert English and J. L. Wines being the most important of early times. Considerably later, but, at that, three or four decades ago, were the saw and grist mills at Dora, about a mile northwest of New Holland, and the mills on the south side of the Wabash opposite the town of La Gro.
CREEKS IN THE TOWNSIHIP
La Gro Creek, the principal northern branch of the Wabash, rises in section 12, northeastern part of the township, runs in a generally south- west direction, and enters the parent stream about midway of the town. It is several miles in length, and is very useful as a water-supplier and fertilizer. Its upper course is through comparatively level land, but as it passes onward the surface becomes rolling and even bluffy, and within a mile of its mouth its banks are quite high and perpendicular, the ad- jacent lands being rough and hilly. The channel of the stream is a little east of old Hopewell Church, and it encircles the bluffs and high land upon which the old La Gro Cemetery is situated.
Enyart Creek heads in section 12, some four miles southwest of the
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headwaters of La Gro Creek, takes a course south-by-west, and enters the Wabash two and a half miles west of the month of the latter.
Besides Salamonie River, Burr and Ross creeks come in from the south. The chief tributary of the Salamonie is Rush or Deer Creek, which enters the township from the south through section 32 and joins the former at its big bend just west of New Holland. Rush Creek is a strong, rapid and very crooked stream, with high banks and a rocky channel.
NATURAL FEATURES
Above New Holland on the west of the creek and south of the pike are found deposits of gravel and sand, which have been largely utilized in road-building. Limestone is also plentiful in the vicinity of the stream, which, in its day, has furnished power to several mills at and near New Holland.
The surface of South La Gro, away from the streams, is rolling and beautiful. On the Salamonie, as on Rush Creek, it is very rough, with steep hills and banks, but the soil is uniformly good, consisting of a clay loam which inclines occasionally to sandy.
Originally the surface was heavily timbered. White and burr oak, ash, elm, hickory, beech, sugar, linn, walnut and poplar were abundant, but the old wooded tracts have been largely cleared without being re- placed by second growths.
There is a considerable amount of bottom land on Wabash River, but its bluffs, as well as those of La Gro Creek, are somewhat high and broken, and for some miles back the face of the country is rolling and somewhat rugged. Further north, the surface is level, and not unfre- quently low and marshy.
Aside from the period when the Wabash & Erie Canal was being con- structed through the township, the citizens of La Gro Township have chiefly depended upon the products of the soil for their sustenance and comforts. Its erops are usually good, consisting largely of eorn, wheat and oats, and forage grasses such as timothy and clover hay. As a live stock country it has made considerable progress, cattle, horses and hogs being raised with profit. The poultry interests are also becoming notiee- able.
FIRST LAND ENTRIES
Speaking in general terms, the first land entries and the first settle- ments in La Gro Township were made in a strip of country lying about a mile and a half either side of the Wabash River and along the Upper
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Salamonie to its mouth. Different parts of seetions 1, 2, 6, 12, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35 were entered in the period 1827-33 by Jeremiah Cox, Austin W. Morris, J. L. Wines, Israel T. Canby, W. Daniels, Samuel Hanna, Lewis Rogers, John Hurley, Robert Hurley, Samuel Wiley, A. N. Grover, Levi Bean, John Spray, John Townsend, Jacob Shappell and Edward B. Walker.
In 1827 three entries were made covering 174.47 aeres ; 1830, nine en- tries, 946.32 acres; 1832, two entries, 173.80 acres; 1833, ten entries, 1,842.28 acres, or nearly three sections. Most of these entries were for settlement or improvement. Jeremiah Cox, who made the first three en- tries in 1827, was a well known miller of Wayne and Randolph counties. They embraced about two hundred acres, east and north of the mouth of the Salamonie River, for a mile up that stream and half a mile up the Wabash, his idea being to secure favorable mill sites.
The three entries of J. L. Wines, made in 1830, gave him about three quarters of a mile on both sides of the Salamonie River in sections 1 and 12 just below Dora.
Messrs. Daniels and Canby, the same year, made entries about two miles northwest of La Gro, and Morris entered his land on the north side of the Wabash near the mouth of Enyart Creek.
HIanna's parcel of land, entered in 1832, was about three miles below the town of La Gro on the north side of the Wabash, and Roger's land on the south side, not quite a mile below the mouth of La Gro Creek.
The banner year for entries was in 1833. John Hurley selected a quarter of section 11 south of the Salamonie and half a mile distant, and Robert Hurley had an adjoining quarter in section 2. Samuel Wiley's tract, entered the same year, was in section 33, a mile and a half west of La Gro. Spray, Townsend and Bean made selections "several miles from nowhere."
Messrs. Spray and Townsend chose tracts up La Gro Creek in the neighborhood of what afterward became Hopewell Church, the former selecting a parcel in section 14 and Mr. Townsend all of section 23. They were three miles from most of the entries along the Salamonie. Levi Bean ventured several miles to the east, his entry of 200 aeres being about a mile west of Belden, or the eastern township limits.
Walker's entry, the last one made in 1833 (October 12) was the south- west quarter of section 27, northwest of the town of La Gro and La Gro Creek.
LEWIS ROGERS, FIRST REAL SETTLER
Now as to the actual settlers-the weight of evidence is in favor of ac- cording the honor of first "permanent eitizen" of the township to Lewis
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Rogers, who, in 1831, lived for several months in the brick house built by the United States Government for Chief Les Gros (La Gro) within the present corporate limits of the Town of La Gro.
Shortly thereafter Robert MeClure, brother of Samuel, obtained a lease from Gen. John Tipton of certain lands lying on the north side of the Wabash, opposite the mouth of the Salamonie, and built a cabin there. During the year he disposed of his lease to Mr. Rogers, who com- meneed to operate a ferry which had been started, not long before, by Joseph and Champion HIelvy, discontinued as an unprofitable venture and moved to Huntington.
THE FAMOUS FERRY
But Mr. Rogers was not of their opinion. The ferry was in line with the old Indian trail, which had beeome a favorite horse-baek route from Grant and Delaware counties, and other settled regions of the sonth, to Northern Indiana and the lake region at Michigan City. The mouth of the Salamonie, which was the southern landing place of the ferry, had always been a popular rendezvous for both Indians and white men. There was a ford across the Wabash lower down, but it was diffi- cult and not without danger when the water was high.
Therefore Rogers' ferry, which he commenced to operate regularly and as frequently as he had customers, proved a great publie convenience. When work commenced on the Wabash & Erie Canal in 1834, and the Town of La Gro on the northern banks of the Wabash sprung up in a day, Rogers' ferry was more than ever an indispensable institution. The ferry was, in fact, maintained at that point until the bridge was built across the Wabash about 1857.
ROGERS' HOTEL RIVALS BURR'S WABASH INN
Lewis Rogers also opened a tavern in two large double cabins, and had stabling accommodations for horses. As to lodging in the '30s, forty or fifty are said to have slept at his hotel in a single night. As many as could pack themselves on the floors of his cabins considered themselves well accommodated; it was far better than lying ont in the woods. As to horse lodging, after the stables were filled the remainder of the animals were tied to near-by fences and trees, or anywhere else they could be fed. The State Road from La Gro to Marion was surveyed in 1833 and opened two years later, which added to the business both of Mr. Rogers' hotel and ferry. ITis inn was a rival which gave David Burr and the Paradise Springs Hotel a hard tussle for the patronage of both man and beast.
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It is even elaimed by La Gro champions that the Rogers Hotel caught more travel than the Burr Inn, and that the combined receipts of the hostelry and ferry would amount to $50 during a single morning.
The famous ferry was a rude scow made by Mr. Rogers himself, and was propelled across the stream by a rope stretched from tree to tree on either bank. The boat itself was tied to a huge elm on the bank of the Wabash. A spring burst from the foot of the bluff on the east side of La Gro Creek, in the east part of town, and was a welcome sight in the early times, both to horses and men.
Of the three HIelvy brothers, Richard came to La Gro soon after Rogers and occupied the old chief's brick dwelling. He was an Indian trader on a small seale, and about 1834 moved his store to North Man- chester.
YOUNG SAYRE, THE "CROOK"
In March, 1832, a young man named Daniel Sayre came to La Gro in search of a location and was put to work by Mr. Rogers, in connec- tion with the growing business of hotel and ferry. In time Mr. Sayre became prominent both at La Gro and Wabash, being long postmaster of the city named. An interesting account of the coming and settlement of the young man was thus written in the early '80s, when Mr. Sayre was postmaster of Wabash City: "Daniel Sayre was an early comer into the Wabash region, whose settlement therein was determined by chance rather than by intention. Ile was a lad, who like many another in those days, had set out on foot to 'spy out the land,' having a little (and only a little) Ohio money and none besides. Some rogue, on seeing his Ohio money, had told him that that kind of paper would not do in Indiana, and had kindly given him in exchange for his last $5 bill, another all right, cheap and new, but, alas ! counterfeit.
ยท "When Daniel, poor lad ! innocently offered his shining and beautiful note to Mr. Lewis Rogers in payment for his bill for supper, lodging and breakfast (6216 eents), the landlord ernelly pronounced it bogus, with an intimation, moreover, that men who carried that sort of stuff were already too 'plenty in these woods.' Our young traveler explained how he eame by it and declared it to be all he had, good or bad. offering, however, to 'work out his bill,' which was done instanter.
"Daniel quartered a large, knotty black walnut so vigorously and so rapidly, so promptly and so nicely, that the mollified landlord hired the lad at once, and kept him at good wages for two years. Out of these wages Daniel saved enough to enter land, first purchasing 107 acres of eanal land and afterward 154 aeres of the same, on usual terms. The
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price of the former pieee was $3.50 per aere, one-quarter down and the balance in seventeen years with interest at 6 per cent paid annually in advance, which was certainly reasonable enough. The second tract was $2.50 per acre, upon the same condition.
"In the spring of 1834, Mr. Sayre, then about nineteen years old, went upon his land, building a cabin, girdling and elearing and fencing twelve acres, and cutting and piling (eighteen inches and under) eighteen aeres more; and letting the whole to a renter for two years to finish the clearing. He married Mary N. Grover in 1836, and they have had nine children. Seven of them grew up; one son died in the army, and six have been married and are still living.
"Mr. Sayre first resided upon the elearing above described. two and a half miles above Wabash, changing his location after a few years to a farm near Hopewell Church, northeast of La Gro. After many years he moved to the town of La Gro and spent two years there, coming then to Wabash, where he has since resided, except two years spent at La Gro. Mr. Sayre has for some time been postmaster of Wabash, having been closely identified with the business and prosperity of Wabash County for more than fifty-one years."
LEVI BEAN AND THIE HURLEYS
Levi Bean was the first white man to settle in North La Gro Town- ship at a distance from the Wabash River. It has been noted how in 1833 he made entries in section 30, about a mile west of Belden, and it is stated that he moved to his land during that year. IIe was a citizen of Fayette County, but at onee became prominent in his new home, being chosen a member of the first board of county commissioners in 1835.
John and Robert Hurley, who entered lands in sections 11 and 2, south of the Salamonie River on what afterward became the Marion Road; settled thereon about 1833 and were the pioneers in the southern part of the township.
JOSIAHI L. WINES
The only settler to dispute priority with them would be Josiah L. Wines, who had also made claims in those sections in 1830, and it is not known positively whether he located on any of his traets in 1832 or 1833.
THE MINNICK BROTIIERS
Michael Minnick, who selected mill sites at Dora in 1834, wrote long afterward in regard to Wines: "We (his brother John and himself) stayed two days (December 12 and 13, 1834) at Leonard Wines' cabin,
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who had located one and a half miles below Dora on the east side of the river and was putting in his dam for a mill." The Minnick brothers had come on foot from Clark County, Ohio, after having en- tered land at Fort Wayne for a mill site above the Wines location. They leveled their site December 13th, stayed that night at Mr. Wines' dwelling and set out the next day for home. In 1836 they built cabins at Dora in which to reside with their families.
Six YOUNG MEN COME
The year 1834 witnessed not a few arrivals in La Gro Township, many young men having been drawn thither by the promise of work on the new canal, with good wages which they planned to invest in lands. In April of that year six active, strong young men walked from Indianapolis to La Gro, with that object in view; they were John Russell, Samuel Layser, Michael Inshaw, Thomas Nelson and Adam Nelson. At first they se- cured employment in erecting shanties for the laborers and afterward obtained work on the ditch itself.
A. A. PEABODY
In the fall of 1834 Augustus A. Peabody came, accompanied by Samuel Abbott, then a youth in his sixteenth year ; he was an orphan and Mr. Peabody was his guardian. Both became well known in the affairs of the community. Mr. Peabody's family joined him in the following spring.
THE FRESHIOUR FAMILY
Andrew Freshour arrived in the La Gro region looking for land, in the winter of 1834-35. On account of a heavy snow which covered the country he was obliged to take a tract on "trust" lying three miles north of La Gro. Fortunately, the land proved to be as good as if he had had the opportunity to carefully select it. The Freshour family consisted of the parents and an infant (Calvin), and in the fall of 1835 they passed Mr. Peabody's cabin afoot, on their way to their new home. Andrew Freshour is described as "a first rate citizen and a great ac- quisition to a new county."
SAMUEL WILEY AND DANIEL BALLINGER
Samuel Wiley and Daniel Ballinger settled about a mile below La Gro in the early spring of 1835. In June of that year, Mr. Ballinger commenced to serve as one of the first two associate judges of the Circuit
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Court for the newly organized county. He became quite prominent in public affairs and was a leader in everything good which concerned the township and county.
Mr. Wiley, with his family of nine sons and three daughters, settled a short distance west of La Gro. The entire dozen were married and reared families.
ENOCH AND JOHN RUSSELL
After working on the canal through the summer of 1834, John Rus- sell returned to Indianapolis and induced his father, Enoch, to accompany him to La Gro. In December of that year they rode through the wilder- ness on horseback, and in January, 1835, entered three eighties in sec- tion 13, not far from what became Hopewell Chapel or Church. On March 12, 1835, John Russell married Elizabeth Ballinger, daughter of Judge Daniel Ballinger. He obtained his license at Huntington and his marriage at the home of the bride's parents in La Gro is generally pro- nounced the first ceremony of the kind in the township.
SETTLERS AT AND NEAR HOPEWELL
East of Hopewell meeting house John Nelson had settled in 1834, and John Reed and James Payne in 1835. John Barrett located north of the Russell place in 1835, and in that year a number of German families also settled in the vicinity, viz. :- Those of John Young, John Bitzer, Samuel Harter, John Harter, Samuel Boon and John Boon.
THOMAS FITZGIBBON
Among the best known contractors on the canal was Thomas Fitz- gibbon, who came in 1834 and while continuing his work in connection therewith entered a section of land south of the Wabash and southwest of La Gro. Portions of this tract he afterward improved, dying upon his estate in 1865.
WILLIAM T. Ross
William T. Ross was one of the first settlers of South La Gro, build- ing a cabin for his mother and himself in August, 1835. At that time there were not more than half a dozen houses between La Gro and Marion.
PIONEER POLITICIANS
In 1835, when the county was created and divided into townships, the following officers were appointed from La Gro Township, which then was
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the eastern half of the county; several of them will be recognized as residents of the township as we know it today: Robert Hurley and James Wiley, constables; A. H. Keller and J. Galahan, overseers; A. II. Keller, inspector of elections; William B. Caldwell and John Harter, fence viewers; James Darrow, supervisor of District No. 1; Daniel Bal- linger, supervisior of Distriet No. 2.
At the first sitting of the Board of County Commissioners, La Gro Township was ordered to eleet two justices of the peace and for that purpose an election was directed to be held at the house of Jacob Shap- pell, on Monday, July 8, 1835.
But even before Wabash County was organized and its territory was attached to Huntington County for eivil and political purposes, the old Indian village of La Gro was the scene of an election. In 1832, when the IIelvys and Lewis Rogers were trying to get settled at that point, the presidential election was held at which Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay were candidates. The twenty-six votes there east, of which Jackson re- ceived a majority of two, represented the electors of La Gro precinct, which then embraced Huntington County and nearly all of the present Wabash County.
The first ineumbents of offices among the citizens of La Gro Town- ship, as it now is, were as follows: Daniel Ballinger, associate judge; J. Leonard Wines, sheriff; Levi Bean, county commissioner; William Moody, justice of the peace.
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