USA > Indiana > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Indiana, from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 10
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The canal was finished, and boats commenced running in 1846. For a year or two an immense quantity of grain and other produce was purchased and shipped at Cambridge City, which was a principal shipping port for Rush, Henry, Ran- dolph, and Delaware counties. A daily line of passenger boats was also run to Cincinnati.
On the first day of January, 1847, a tremendous freshet damaged the canal so badly that it cost upward of $100,000 to repair it. A second flood in November, 1848, only a few weeks after the repairs had been completed, damaged it to the
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
amount of $80,000. It was, however, again repaired, and operated, to some extent, for several years, until superseded by railroads-one, the Whitewater Valley railroad, constructed along the tow-path, and part of the way, in the bed of the canal, which had been previously placed in the hands of a re- ceiver, and was subsequently sold for that purpose.
The canal constructed by the company extended north only to Cambridge City. Subsequently, in or about the year 1846, the Hagerstown Canal Company was organized, and the canal completed to that place in 1847. But a small number of boats, however, ever reached that place; and the canal soon fell into disuse, except as a source of water-power for Conklin's and other mills.
In 1838, authority was granted to the Richmond and Brook- ville Canal Company to construct a canal from Richmond to Brookville, but without the aid of the state. The length of the Richmond and Brookville canal was nearly 34 miles ; the estimated cost $508,000; whole lockage, 273 feet; Richmond taking stock to the amount of $50,000. Work was let to the amount of $80,000, and about $45,000 expended. The enter- prise was then abandoned. By the great flood on the first day of January, 1847, the value of nearly all the work that had been done, was suddenly destroyed. This is now regarded as a fortunate occurrence. Had the canal been finished-the fall being 273 feet in 34 miles-it would probably have been utterly destroyed.
Railroads.
. In the year 1853, a railroad was completed from Cinein- nati to Richmond, by way of Dayton, and another by way of Eaton ; and in the same year the Indiana Central, from Rich- mond to Indianapolis, which is now a part of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway. A railroad is completed from Richmond to Winchester, and is a part of the Cincin- nati, Richmond and Fort Wayne Railway. The Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central passes through Richmond.
The Whitewater Valley road from Cincinnati passes through Cambridge City to Hagerstown on the Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central. The Fort Wayne, Muncie and Cincinnati also passes through Cambridge City. This was formerly the
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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.
Cambridge City Branch of the Cincinnati and Indianapolis Junction road, from Connersville, on the Junction road, to Newcastle, on the Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central road. The railroad from Cambridge City to Rushville, on the Cincinnati and Indianapolis Junction road, was completed July 4, 1867. It is now a branch of the Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis road, and was originally a part of the Lake Erie and Louisville Railroad, extending from Fremont, O., to Rush- ville, Ind., and by connections, to Louisville, Ky.
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.
The first Agricultural Fair held in Wayne county is said to have been held in Centerville, about the year 1828; but no definite or reliable information in respect to its origin or appointment has been furnished. The writer has made some inquiry, but has found no person able to give any history of a regularly organized society at so carly a date.
First Society.
The late Agricultural Society of Wayne county, and prob- ably the first, was organized in the year 1850. Its first Fair was held in Richmond, on lands owned by Jonathan Roberts, now a part of the city. Probably few, even of the older cit- izens, have ever known how it was brought into existence. An old citizen, who assisted in its organization, gives an ac- count of it as follows :
" It was organized in 1850. I called a meeting at Center- ville for the purpose of securing an organization. Wm. T. Dennis and myself went over to the "hub" of the county ; but few attended-at most not exceeding half a dozen. We adjourned to meet at Richmond on the following Saturday. But two practical farmers were present. The mechanics took no interest in it. We adjourned to next morning, Sunday as it was. I sent for Dennis to come to my office. I proposed that he and I organize the society to give character to it. We elected Daniel Clark, an enterprising farmer, president of the board, and myself vice-president, and Den-
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
nis secretary. We then appointed one citizen from each township on the board of directors. We got up a premium Jist, and published it, appearing as the work of the directors. We subsequently rented about two acres of ground of Jona- than Roberts, and had it inclosed with a tight board fence, and held the Fair that year all on our own personal responsi- bility. From the receipts we paid all expenses, except for our services and individual expenditures, and had a surplus of several hundred dollars. In the following winter or spring, we called a county meeting at Centerville, which was largely attended, and handed over to the treasurer the profits of the first Fair. This was the beginning of our institution which subsequently reflected great honor on Wayne county.
"At the next session of the legislature, David P. Holloway prepared and introduced a bill organizing a
State Board of Agriculture.
After a warm contest, the law was passed ; and we all know the result. At the first State Fair, citizens of Wayne county took as many of the silverware, or high class premiums, as all the rest of the state combined."
David P. Holloway was the first president of the county society, and held the office for several years. Gov. Wright, a friend of agriculture, attended the first fair, and ad- dressed the people on the subject. A lease of ten acres of land for ten years was obtained from a widowed German lady, just south of the city, where fences and permanent buildings were put up, and the annual fairs held. The last was held in 1866.
Cambridge City District Agricultural Society.
This Society embraces the counties of Wayne, Fayette, Union, Franklin, Rush, Shelby, Hancock, Henry, Delaware and Randolph. It was organized June 18, 1870, at Cam- bridge City. Its object is the promotion of the agricultural, mechanical and horticultural interests. It purchased of Gen. Solomon Meredith a beautiful, level tract of land of 60 acres, for the sum $12,000, or $200 per acre. The land adjoins the corporate limits of Cambridge City on the south, and was purchased on a credit of twelve years.
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The capital stock of the association is $10,000, about $8,000 of which has been taken and paid for. The land has been inclosed by a substantial fence, and the necessary buildings and stalls have been erected, at a cost of about $10,000, and a magnificent mile track has been constructed at a cost of not less than $2,000. The shape of the track is an oval, being some narrower at one end. The shape and extent of the track, and the excellent character of the soil for the purpose intended, make it superior to any other track in the West, and probably equal to any in the United States.
The officers chosen at the organization were the following :
President-Gen. Solomon Meredith. Vice-President-Capt. John Colter.
Secretary-John I. Underwood. Treasurer-Thomas Newby.
Superintendent-Sanford Lackey.
Assistant Superintendent-Robert A. Patterson.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS .- Wayne County-Gen. S. Meredith, John Callo- way, Charles Boughner, Henry Shinler, Wilson Jones, John I. Under- wood, John W. Jackson, Jonah Riesor, James W. Carpenter, Sanford Lackey, John Colter, Nathan S. Hawkins, Charles W. Routh, Robert A. Patterson, Nathan Raymond, Cleophas Straub, Joseph Morrey.
Fayette County-A. B. Claypool. Union County-R. M. Haworth. Franklin County-Hon. John Beggs. Rush County-Isaac B. Loder. Shelby County-W. S. Wilson. Hancock County-Dr. N. P. Howard.
Henry County-Simon T. Powell. Delaware County-Volney Wilson. Randolph County-Col. H. H. Neff.
Two annual fairs have already been held by the Society with great success. To Gen. Meredith, perhaps, more than to any other one man, is the Association indebted for the successful inauguration and completion of this enterprise.
The present officers are : President-A. B. Claypool, Fayette county. Vice-President-Isaac Kinsey, Wayne county. Secretary-John I. Underwood, Wayne county. Treasurer-John W. Jackson, Wayne county. Superintendent-Charles Boughner, Wayne county. Assistant Superintendent-J. Young, Wayne county. Marshal-H. Shissler, Wayne county.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Wayne County Joint Stock Agricultural Association.
This association was organized in August, 1867, for the purpose of holding fairs in Centerville. The first exhibition of the society was held in October following on their beauti- ful grounds adjoining the town; and successful fairs have been held annually since. The first officers of the associa- tion were: Rankin Baldridge, President ; Henry B. Rupe, Treasurer; Sylvester Johnson, Secretary ; Daniel S. Brown, Superintendent. Present officers : Rankin Baldridge, Presi- dent ; John P. Smith, Vice-President ; W. G. Stevens, Treas- urer ; W. Q. Elliott, Secretary ; Alfred J. Lashley, Superin- tendent.
Richmond Industrial Association. [See History of Richmond.] Richmond Horticultural Society.
This Society was organized December, 1855, by some half- dozen persons, most of them amateurs. For the first two years, the progress of the society was slow. It was not till after the first exhibition that any great interest in horticul- ture was manifested ; since which time it has been constantly on the increase. By the energy and perseverance of mem- bers, the leading new varieties of fruits, flowers, and vegeta- bles have been obtained and brought to public notice and general cultivation in this locality. The skill and judgment of the members have been the subject of encomium by the press, and high praise has been given to the society by the large numbers of citizens attending its meetings. The exhi- bitions have also been almost invariably financially successful. It is said to be now the oldest existing horticultural society in the state.
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OLD SETTLERS' MEETINGS.
OLD SETTLERS' MEETINGS.
Several years before the breaking out of the late war, the citizens of this county instituted the custom of holding annual pienies. The excitement during the progress of the war took away the interest in those meetings; but after the return of peace they were resumed. The meeting of 1869 was held on the fair ground at Centerville, on the 18th of June. It was represented in the newspapers as a successful one. Since the first meeting, held ten years previously, there had not been so large an attendance as there was at this meet- ing. The following report of its proceedings and of the re- marks of the speakers, is taken from the newspapers :
Hon. James Perry, of Richmond, was chosen president of the meeting.
The President, on taking the chair, made an appropriate address, in which he briefly compared the state of the coun- try and the county fifty years ago with their present condi- tion. There can not be a more beautiful contrast than that between the county as it was in the days of the red man, and the county as it is now. Then all was wilderness ; now we have turnpikes and railroads, cultivated farms and splendid mansions, and the fields are decked with grain and flowers. After a few remarks on the propriety and good results of this association, he concluded. The organization was then com- pleted by the election of Oliver T. Jones and Isaac N. Beard, as Vice-Presidents, and Dr. Samuel S. Boyd, Secretary.
On the stand were Colonel James Blake, Hon. J. S. New- man, and Hon. Oliver P. Morton, former residents of Wayne county, now of Indianapolis ; Joseph Holman, John Peelle, Barnabas C. Hobbs, Colonel Enoch Railsback, Jacob B. Ju- lian, Noah W. Miner, John Green, Dr. Mendenhall, and others.
Hon. Oliver P. Morton was introduced by the President as
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
the first speaker. He said he was a native of Salisbury, the old county town which has passed out of existence, the house of Colonel Railsback being the last and only one. A half century ago, Indiana was called the extreme West; and a trip from the Eastern states took as much time as it did now to go to the Sandwich Islands, or to Japan. Indiana is not now in the West at all. An Omaha paper claimed that that city was in the East ! He spoke of the progress of the coun- try in wealth and population, and its moral and intellectual improvement. He did not believe there would be another rebellion; the country, a hundred years hence, would be bound together by stronger ties than ever of affection, of honor, and glory.
Joseph Holman was then introduced. He said he was the sole survivor of two events ; of the first emigration party of eight, who came to Wayne county in 1805, and also of the body of men who framed the first constitution of the state in 1816. When he came, Knox, Clark, and Dearborn were the only counties in the territory. Mr. Holman read a sketch of his early reminiscences which he had prepared. [As a large portion of the facts alluded to in the sketch are mentioned elsewhere in this work, they are here omitted.] While he was reading, the emigration train passed by, with their pack horses, hominy kettle and bell, all in the order they started sixty-four years ago. This exhibition excited a good deal of interest. Mr. Holman was born near Versailles, Woodford county, Ky., and was married November 22, 1810, and went to housekeeping two days afterward in a log cabin built by himself. He served in the war of 1812, and built a block-house on his farm near Centerville.
The meeting next adjourned for dinner. A reporter of the proceedings, alluding to the ample supply of provisions for the occasion, wrote: "We heard of one poor family who only made way with thirteen chickens; and from the appear- ance of the ground, this may be taken as a fair average of the way the barn-yards suffered all over the county." The first thing done by the President was to offer a set of knives and forks made by Henry Hunter, of Richmond, to the oldest person on the ground. The prize was carried off by William Bundy, aged eighty-two.
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Colonel James Blake, of Indianapolis. When he came to Marion county, Wayne was called " Old Wayne," being six- teen years ahead of Marion. Between Centerville and In- dianapolis there were not a half-dozen inhabitants. The peo- ple of Wayne and Marion were neighbors, and were familiar with each other. The citizens of Indianapolis got their mail from the Connersville post-office, taking two days to go and two days to get back. In carly times there were two parties in the state, the Whitewater party and the Kentucky party, trained in all sorts of tricks by the controversy over the re- moval of the county seat from Salisbury to Centerville.
The Whitewater party always beat the Kentucky party, and virtually controlled the state. He remembered the first United States mail that came to Indianapolis, in April, 1822. The news came one day that the next the United States mail was to come; and at the appointed time all In- dianapolis gathered, to the number of thirty or forty families, to see the mail come in. Presently, through the woods was seen a young man riding his horse at a gallop, now and then blowing his horn; and that was the United States mail. The saddle-bags were opened, and there were about a dozen letters. It was a great day for Indianapolis. The young mail carrier's name was Lewis Jones. [At this instant, Mr. Jones, still residing in Center township, arose.] That young man carried the mail for two years, swimming all the creeks. He was once so far frozen, that it required two men to take him off his horse into a store to thaw him out. In 1821, when the speaker came to Indianapolis, there was no prop- erty held except by the government. It was one great forest, through which they could not see the sun and sky. Once the people got so famished to see the firmament, that they made up a party, and rode eighteen miles to William Con- ner's prairie, and spent the day roaming round. When they first saw the sun, the whole party took off their hats and cheered for half an hour! Colonel Blake also complimented the people of that day for being so honest, that notes for borrowed money were never thought of. People helped each other as a matter of course, and borrowed money without in-
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terest. Nothing was known of usury until 1834, when the banks started up, and a bank aristocracy was created.
John S. Newman was introduced. He had been a long time a resident of Wayne county, and his mind was crowded with recollections. He remembered letters addressed to his grandfather, "Andrew Hoover, Dearborn County, Indiana Territory." In the audience before him he recognized many old friends, and not a few he might call "chums." He re- membered many of the incidents related by Joseph Holman ; but one Mr. Holman had forgotten to tell. At the election held in 1814 to elect members of the legislature, James Brown received one vote more than Holman; and as they voted rita voce, when one man came up and voted for Brown, some one said, " I thought you intended to vote for Hol- man ?" "So I did," was the reply, " but let it stand now." That vote elected Brown; but Brown died when he was within a few miles of the capital at Corydon, and Holman was elected at a special election to fill the vacancy. [Mr. Newman here omits a fact. Brown had voted for himself; and had Holman voted for himself, he would have prevented the election of his rival, which he was unwilling to do.] There were then about six hundred votes cast in the county. In 1818, John Sutherland got 888 votes, and it was thought nobody would ever get so many votes again. Mr. New- man's folks landed in Wayne county March 29, 1807. At that time the land belonged to the Indians. The line be- tween the red and the white men's grounds then ran about two and a half miles west of Richmond. In 1809, a strip of land twelve miles wide was purchased by Gen. Harrison, west of the Wayne purchase of 1785; and the west line of the purchase ran near Cambridge City. It was a great thing then to go to the new purchase. The price of land was $2 per acre ; but for cash down the Government made a reduc- tion of 373 cents.
He remembered the old path by Cox's mill, built in the year 1807, to Richmond, down the Whitewater. When he was old enough to sit on a horse, his uncle and himself used to go to mill ; and the pathway was so narrow that they had to push the bushes on either side to allow their animals to
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pass. That is now the most thickly settled part of Wayne county. Ile concurred with Gov. Morton in the belief that the world was growing better intellectually and morally, but doubted it a little as to muscular strength. Handling the ax, splitting logs and rails, developed a strength of muscle supe- rior to that enjoyed by the men of to-day.
John Peelle was the next speaker. He said : I have so often told you the same old story, that you know it by heart. You know I was born in the year 1791, near Beard's hatter shop in old North Carolina. You remember the plow made of a forked stick, the cotton rope traces, my tanning leather, or pretending to, and making my wife's shoes out of it, which hurt her feet to this day. You know, for I have told you before, that after I came to this State, I often got up from the table hungry, and sighed, with tears in my eyes, for my mother's milk-house in North Carolina. But we soon raised plenty of corn and squashes and pumpkins, on which we fared sumptuously. We used to hand round a basket of turnips to company in the place of apples. I remember once at a neighbor's house, I did not scrape the turnip as close as the good lady of the house thought I ought to ; so she scraped it over again and ate it herself. I believe I have seen as hard times as the next man. I made two farms from the green. One day, going to Moffitt's on a borrowed horse, he fell down fourteen times, but he got the bag off only once. Let me say a word about my nephew, Judge Peelle. I believe he is present. Well, whether he is or not, he was as bad a child as I ever knew. He cried nearly all the way from North Carolina, for which I often wanted to thrash him. Yet after all, the judge is quite a man now. Mr. Peelle exhibited a shill- ing once owned by John Wesley, and a mate to the one he paid to the 'squire who married him. Being about to leave the stand without alluding to his pantaloons, some one re- minded him of his forgetfulness. Turning to the audience and laying his hand on his pantaloons, he said: These are the identical " overhauls " for which I swapped another pair at a log-rolling shortly after I came to this country. We went into a log meeting-house close by to make the ex- change.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Barnabas C. Hobbs, Superintendent of Public Instruction, was the next speaker. He was born in Washington county. When the emigrants started to North Carolina, they parted company in Kentucky, a portion going to Wayne county, the other to Washington county. He remembered the laying off of the city of Indianapolis. When the people got home and were asked the name of the new town, they replied, " Indian no place." He remembered Judge Parke very well, who used to stay at his father's house when on his circuit, which ex- tended from Vincennes to Richmond, taking in all the in- termediate country, Lawrenceburg and all. Mr. Hobbs told a story of the courtship of Gabriel Newby, of Washington county, who was in love with the daughter of John Harvey, of Wayne county. It took the lover two days to go to and from Harvey's house, requiring him to spend one night in the woods on the journey. On one occasion, after Newby had encamped for the night, the wolves came around him; and through the darkness until daylight he had to fight the beasts with fire-brands. Such was the trouble young men had then to get wives. Although Mr. H. omitted to tell it, Miss Harvey finally became Mrs. Newby. He closed with an interesting examination of the old constitution of 1816, and the school laws of that time, to show that the men of that day had the most expanded ideas of the advantages of a thorough education of the youth of the state.
The exercises were now relieved by the band playing the air, " Auld lang syne," after which
Col. Enoch Railsback made a speech crowded with interest- ing facts. He came to Wayne county on the 17th of March, 1807, when the land belonged to the Shawnee and Delaware Indians. Polly Whitehead, daughter of the Baptist preacher, was the first white woman married in the county. [Mrs. Hunt, the lady named, was present, and came upon the plat- form.] She was then one of the finest women in the settle- ment; and although now eighty-one years of age, she steps off as lively to-day as almost any one can. The first Methodist Epis- copal church was established by Hugh Cull and old Mr. Meek, in 1808. The preaching places were at John Cox's, Ilugh Cull's, and at the speaker's father's. The first mill was built
Strobridge & Co . Lith. in. 0.
Enoch Railsback.
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OLD SETTLERS' MEETINGS.
November 30, 1807, by old man Hunt, on the Elkhorn. Squire Rue and Squire Cox, the first justices of the peace, were as much revered as a judge is now-a-days. The first doctors were Dr. David F. Sackett and Dr. Davis; but the first of a higher order of physicians, as the people believed, were Drs. Pugh, Warner, Pritchett, and Mendenhall. He had worn as many, if not more leather breeches than any one else on the ground, and was just as happy then as he was now, worth a hundred times as much. Ile recollected John Green very well, a gentlemanly old Indian, who lived on Noland's Fork. He had often seen Indians pass his father's house, sometimes fifty or sixty, going to Hamilton, Ohio, to trade; and they were very friendly. The last crowd of Indians he saw was when Gen. Harrison reviewed the eight regiments of militia just south of Richmond, where he had come to warn the people of danger. There were about fifty sitting on the fence looking at the review. Mr. Railsback related several interesting inci- dents connected with the Indians, one of which was their stealing Lydia Thorp, a little daughter of Boaz Thorp, near Milton. The Indians were tracked by men and dogs, but they escaped, and nothing was seen of the girl until, about ten years after, they saw her at the forks of the Wabash, the happy wife of an Indian. The mother and father did not dare to speak to her, and she soon left, and was seen by them no more. Jeptha Turner is the oldest native born inhabitant of Wayne county living, and is about sixty-three years of age. Mrs. Railsback was the first white child born in the county. She came into the world October 5, 1806.
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