USA > Indiana > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Indiana, from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 3
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29
SETTLEMENT OF WAYNE COUNTY.
In May or June following, the first entries were made. Andrew Hoover, father of David, entered several quarter sec- tions, including that which the latter had selected for himself on his first trip. John Smith entered on the south side of what is now Main street, cleared a small patch of ground, and built a cabin near the bluff. Jeremiah Cox purchased his quarter section late in the 'summer, north of Main street, of Joseph Woodkirk, who had bought it of John Meek. Wood- kirk having made a small clearing and planted it with corn, Cox paid him for his improvement and corn. Andrew Hoover had a number of sons and daughters, who settled around him as they got married. David had taken a wife in Ohio before coming to the territory. But he did not occupy his log cabin until the last of March the next year, [1807.] Here, on the west bank of Middle Fork, he resided until his death, in 1866.
The land in and about Richmond was settled chiefly by Friends from North Carolina; some of them from that state direct, others after a brief residence in Ohio. As the Hoover family were the pioneers of these people, but for the discovery made here by young Hoover and his fellow adventurers, the Society of Friends would probably not have had the honor of being the first proprietors of the land on which Richmond stands, and of naming the city. Indeed, the Judge, in his " Me- moir," modestly claims "the credit of having been the pioneer of the great body of the Friends now to be found in this re- gion."
Although the Hoovers had entered their lands in May or June, 1806, most of them did not bring their families until the spring of 1807. Jerry Cox says : " We were the first family of the Friends that settled within the limits of Wayne county. But soon after, [the same year, 1806.] came John Smith and family, Elijah Wright. and Frederick Hoover. In the follow- ing fall, several of the Hoover family came out to build cab- ins and to sow turnip seed. In the spring after, Andrew Hoover, Sen., David Hoover, and Wm. Bulla came. Some later in the spring came John Harvey and others not recollected."
The spirit of emigration prevailed strongly in the Southern States, especially in North Carolina. The Friends had settled
30
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
in that state before the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, which allowed the enslavement of the African race in this country. They were generally unfriendly to " slavery : hence, probably, their desire, in great part, to find homes on better soil and in more congenial society.
Soon after the families above mentioned, others of the Car- olina Friends began to arrive. Among those who settled in the vicinity of Richmond were, Jacob Meek, in 1806; Elijah Wright, in 1806 or 1807; Jesse Bond, 1807, on the farm where Earlham College now is; John Burgess, 1808; Valentine Pegg, 1809, 2 miles westerly from Richmond; John Town- send, (year not ascertained;) Cornelius Ratliff, 1810; John MeLane, 1810; and about the same time came families of the names of Stewart, Evans, Gilbert, Thomas Roberts, and others. On East Fork also a settlement was commenced early. Joseph Wasson, a Revolutionary soldier, settled there in 1806, and Peter Fleming in 1807, both having entered their lands as early as 1805; Benjamin and Robert Hill, 1806; Ralph Wright and John Hawkins, 1807; John Morrow, 1808; John Charles, 1809; James and Peter Ireland, (year not as- certained.) With the exception of the Fleming, Wasson, and Ireland families, who were Presbyterians from Kentucky, the most or all of those named above, were Friends, and came from North Carolina. The names of the places they came from became stereotyped phrases. When asked from what part of that state they came, the common answer was, " Guil- ford county, near Clemens's Store ;" or " Beard's Hat Shop;" or " Deep River Settlement of Friends;" or Dobson's Cross Roads."
Besides those above mentioned, many others settled on East Fork, some about the same time, and some several years later; but the dates of their settlement are not ascertained. Among them were David Wasson, a son-in-law of Peter Fleming, afterward known as Judge Fleming, who had entered several hundred acres, on which he settled his children, reserving for himself a homestead, since known as the " Barnes farm," and the " Woods place," and now owned by John Brown adjoin- ing the state line. The farm early owned by his son, Samuel Fleming, and now by James Smelser, was a part of the Judge's
Strobridge & Co. Lith Cin .0.
Hugh Moffitt?
31
SETTLEMENT OF WAYNE COUNTY.
purchase. Charles Moffitt, an early settler, lived on the south side of East Fork, near Richmond, where he built a mill. IIe remained there until his decease, many years ago. Hugh Moffitt, a son, still resides near the homestead. A little above, Amos and John Hawkins settled early with their families ; and a little further on, Wm. Ireland, long since deceased. Next, Benj. Hill, already mentioned, who remained there until his death, about forty years ago. His wife survived him until 1867. Adjoining on the east was Joseph Wasson, before men- tioned. Nathaniel McCoy Wasson built a cabin, in 1809. on the homestead near the banks of East Fork; married, and lived there until his death, in 1864. Near by was John Gay, an early settler, known as Major Gay, who early sold his land to Jacob Crist, still living on the premises. John Drake, with his numerous grown up sons, settled carly on their farms ad- joining the Ohio line. The Drakes were of the Baptist denomi- nation. During the prevalence of a malignant fever at an early period of the settlement on East Fork, a number of robust, middle aged men fell victims to it. Of this number were David and John Wasson.
On the Ohio side were John Wasson, David Purviance and his sons, several families of the Irelands, and some others, in the vicinity of where New Paris now is. The Purviances, Adamses, and Irelands were from Kentneky, where David Purviance had been a member of the legislature, and made himself conspienous by his opposition to slavery. After com- ing to Whitewater he became a preacher of a sect, called "New Lights," a body of dissenters from the Presbyterians. In the latter part of his life, he was a pioneer in the Anti- slavery movement.
On Middle Fork, near its mouth, was Wm. Bulla, an early settler and son-in-law of Andrew Hoover, Sen. He carly built a saw-mill on his farm, near the site of Burson's oil-mill. He lived there until his decease, some years ago, at an advanced age. Near the lands of the Hoover families, Jesse Clark, Ralph Wright, Alexander Moore, and Amos and Abner Claw- son settled. A little further up were the Staffords, Bonds, Bunkers, Swallows, Ashbys, Andrewses, and others; all of whom, we believe, were from North Carolina, and chiefly
32
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Friends. They had a small log meeting-house in the vicinity, and were subordinate to Whitewater Monthly Meeting.
William Bond had erected a saw-mill, and Joshua Bond a cheap oil-mill. Edward Bond, Sen., died a few years after he came. A little further up, JJeremiah Cox, Jun., settled, and early built a grist-mill, to the great gratification of the settlers. Above Cox's mill were a few inhabitants. Among these were Isaac Commons, Robert Morrisson, Barnabas Boswell, Isaac, John, and Wm. Hiatt, and John Nicholson, the farms of some of whom are now within the limits of Franklin township. Bladen Ashby settled near Cox's mill, and owned the land from which has long been obtained the lime furnished the builders of Richmond.
Among the early settlers, there was probably none poorer -- certainly none whose humble beginning and future condition in life present a wider contrast-than Robert Morrisson. Ile was a brother-in-law of Jeremiah Cox, Sen., and came in from Carolina in 1810. After lodging a short time in an out-house of Cox used as a sheep pen, he settled on Middle Fork, as above stated. Neither in the hut he had just left, nor in his cabin in the northern wilderness, nor when hunting and trap- ping wolves and taking bounties for their scalps, could he have dreamed of the success he achieved. In 1813 or 1814, he sold his new farm, and, as will be hereafter seen, made his second advent, and as a permanent settler, in the embryo town of Richmond.
On West Fork, above the lands of the Ratliff and Hoover families, already mentioned, was Joshua Picket, an early settler. Next above was the Addington settlement, on both sides of the stream. Further up, the first settlers were the Starbucks, Swains, Harrises, Turners, and others, who were nseful, enterprising citizens. Paul Swain and Wm. Starbuck wagoned produce of various kinds to Fort Wayne. Edward Starbuck, Sen., was an early justice of the peace. William died in middle life. Hester Starbuck, his widow, died within the last three or four years, having lived to old age.
An early settlement was also made, in 1806, about 4 or 5 miles south-east of Richmond, by Jesse Davenport, Jacob Fouts, and his sons William and Jacob, and his son-in-law,
Robert Morrisson.
33
LOG CABINS.
Thomas Bulla, natives of North Carolina, but immediately from Ohio. By the formation of Boston, the land of Daven- port was taken into that township. Other families came in soon after.
The heads of the pioneer families were generally of middle age, and robust, as were also their worthy wives, who were well adapted for the hardships and toils of a frontier life. They were on what they considered the extreme border of civiliza- tion; the average breadth of Government lands along the east line of the territory being only about seven miles, until after the "Twelve Mile Purchase " of the Indians was made. Few or no other settlements were known in any parts of the ter- ritory except Vincennes, and on the Ohio river. Some families settled on this Purchase before it was surveyed; but a large portion of these left their habitations, from apprehensions of molestation by the Indians during the war of 1812, and did not return until after the war was ended. After the return of peace, the Twelve Mile Purchase was settled rapidly.
Log Cabins.
A description of those early domiciles familiarly called log cabins, and the mode of erecting them, may be interesting to the younger readers, and especially to their descendants, who will never see a structure of this kind. The early settlers, after roads had been opened by cutting away the underbrush, came in on wagons, some of them drawn by four-horse teams. It is said that a few came with their Carolina carts, the wheels of which were banded with wooden tire and pitched with tar. This, however, needs confirmation. Their horses (probably not in all cases) were harnessed in husk collars and rawhide traces. They were wont to stop with their Carolina friends, and partake of their hospitality until a cabin was built. In this they were kindly assisted by those already settled herc. A patch of ground having been cleared, they would turn out en masse. Trees of uniform size were selected, ent into pieces of the desired length, and carried or hauled to the spot, which was generally selected near a spring of water, regardless of other considerations. Hence, many afterward found them- selves at an inconvenient distance from roads, and their cabins,
34
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
perhaps, hid away in some hollow. While the logs were being brought together, others were selecting a board tree, usually an oak of large size. This was cut into pieces about four feet in length with a cross-cut saw, if any were so fortunate as to have one. These pieces were, with a fro and wooden maul, riven into boards, called clapboards. Others, still, would be riving and slitting out narrow pieces for a chimney.
The cabin was in the meantime rapidly going up. At each corner was an expert hand with an ax to saddle and notch down the logs so low as to bring them near together. The usual height was one story. The gable was made with logs gradually shortened up to the top. The roof was made by laying small logs or stout poles reaching from gable to gable, suitable distances apart, on which were laid the split clap- boards after the manner of shingling, showing two feet or more to the weather. These clapboards were fastened by lay- ing across them heavy poles called weight poles, reaching from one gable to the other; being kept apart and in their places by laying between them sticks, or pieces of timber, called knees. A wide chimney place was cut out of one end of the building, and split timbers laid up for jambs, flat sides inward, extend- ing out from the building. This little structure supported the chimney which stood entirely outside of the house, and was built of the rived sticks before mentioned, laid up cob-house fashion, gradually narrowed in to the top. The spaces between the sticks were filled with clay of the consistency of common mortar. Hence the name of "stick and clay chimney." The inside of these wooden jambs was covered several feet high with a thick coat of clay or dirt to protect them against fire. The hearth also was dirt. For a window, a piece, two feet long, less or more, was cut out of one of the wall logs, and the hole closed with paper pasted over it. A door-way also was cut through one of the walls, and split pieces called door- cheeks, reaching from the bottom to the top of the opening, were pinned to the ends of the logs with wooden pins. A door was made of split clapboards, battons being nailed on with wrought nails made by a pioneer blacksmith, and was hung with wooden hinges. The interstices or cracks between the logs were closed with mud. The larger cracks or chinks,
35
LOG CABINS.
were first partially closed with split sticks before the clay or mud was applied. Some had wooden floors, which, before the days of saw-mills, were made of slabs split from straight grained timber, and called puncheons. They were generally hewed on one side, and fastened on log sills with wooden pins. Many a child performed its first locomotion on a puncheon floor, and came in contact, at full length, with the rough surface of those slabs. The cabin was now ready for the family, all the work having in some instances been done in one day.
Some of the Carolinians brought no bedsteads. A substi- tute was made by boring holes in the walls, into which the ends of strong poles were fitted, the cross pieces resting on forked upright pieces fastened to the puncheon floor, or to the ground, if there were no such floor. This rough frame, overlaid with clapboards, was ready for the feather beds the immigrants had brought with them.
The internal arrangements of one of these rude dwellings is thus described : The door is opened by pulling a leather string that lifts a wooden latch on the inside. [The inmates made themselves secure in the night season by pulling the string in.] Ou entering, (it being meal time,) we find a por- tion of the family sitting around a large chest in which their valuables had been brought, but which now serves as a table from which they are partaking their plain meal cooked by a log heap fire. In one corner of the room are two or more clap- boards on wooden pins, displaying the table ware, consisting of a few cups and saucers, and a few blue edged plates, with a goodly number of pewter plates, perhaps standing, single, on their edges, leaning against the wall, to render the display of table furniture more conspicuous. Underneath this cup- board are seen a few pots and perhaps a Dutch oven. Not many chairs having been brought in, the deficiency has been supplied with stools made of puncheon boards with three legs. Over the doorway lies the indispensable rifle on two wooden hooks, probably taken from a dog-wood bush, and nailed to a log of the cabin. Upon the inner walls hang divers garments of female attire made of cotton and woolen
36
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
fabrics, and perhaps one or two blue and white calico dresses which had done long service in the Carolinas before their transportation hither.
Among the different ways of lighting log cabins, Rev. Wm. C. Smith, in his " Indiana Miscellanies," gives the following : " During the day, the door of the cabin was kept open to afford light ; and at night, through the winter season, light was emitted from the fireplace, where huge logs were kept burning. Candles and lamps were out of the question for a few years. When these came into use, they were purely domestie in their manufacture. Candles were prepared by taking a wooden rod some 10 or 12 inches in length, wrap- ping a strip of cotton or linen cloth around it, then covering it with tallow pressed on with the hand. These 'sluts,' as they were sometimes called, answered the purpose of a very large candle, and afforded light for several nights. Lamps were prepared by dividing a large turnip in the middle, scraping ont the inside quite down to the rind, then inserting a stick, say three inches in length, in the center, so that it would stand upright. A strip of cotton or linen cloth was then wrapped around it, and melted lard or deer's tallow was poured in till the turnip rind was full, when the lamp was ready for use. By the light of these, during the long winter evenings, the women spun and sewed, and the men read when books could be obtained. When neither lard nor tallow could be had, the large blazing fire supplied the needed light. By these great fireplaces, many cuts of thread have been spun, many a yard of linsey woven, and many a frock and buekskin pantaloons made."
Living in houses like those here described, must have been attended with serious discomforts. A single room was made to serve the purposes of kitchen, dining-room, sitting-room, bed-room, and parlor. In many families were six, eight, or ten children, who, with their parents, were crowded into one room. In one corner was the father and mother's bed, and under it the trundle-bed for the smaller children. The larger children lodged in the chamber, which they entered by a ladder in another corner; and sometimes made tracks to and from their beds in the snow driven through the crevices by
37
CLEARING LAND.
the wind. Nor did their roofs, made of bark or clapboards, protect them from rains in the summer. How visitors who came to spend the night were disposed of, the reader may not easily conceive. Some, as their families increased, added to their houses another room of the same size and manner of construction as the former. Such were the domiciles and the condition of many of the early settlers of Whitewater valley. A few of these men still remain among us, in pos- session of ample fortunes, and in the enjoyment of the con- veniences and improvements of the present age-the reward of their early privations and toils.
Clearing Land.
The land in this region was covered with heavy timber and a profusion of undergrowth of various kinds, some bearing wild fruits, as grapes, plums, gooseberries, pawpaws, crab apples, &c. The custom of cutting down all the timber at first, as was done in some states, did not prevail here. The bushes were either cut down or grubbed out; and the smaller trees, including all under about eighteen inches in diameter, were chopped down, and their bodies cut into lengths of twelve to fifteen feet, and their brush piled in heaps. The large trees were left standing, and " deadened " by girdling. This was done with an ax, cutting through the bark into the wood all round the trunk, thus causing the death and decay of the tree. After the brush heaps had become sufficiently dried, they were burned. As a "good burn " was desirable, a dry time was generally chosen when the whole surface of the ground would be burned over by the old dried leaves covering it. Soil thus scorched over, would be sure to yield abundantly. Next followed the process of log-rolling, or, as it was in some places called, "logging." The neighbors, having been previously invited, were present with a full supply of handspikes. These were strong poles, about six feet long, of proper thickness, and flattened or tapered at the larger end, in order to its being more easily put under or between the logs. Logs too large to be taken up by hand and carried to a heap, were put upon a number of hand- spikes, and by one or two men at each end of every hand-
38
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
spike, carried to the heap. Logs too heavy to be carried, were hauled to the heap by a team and log chain, and rolled up on the pile on skids, handspikes being generally of suffi- cient strength for this purpose. The heaps were then burned, and the ground was ready for tillage.
An old settler briefly describes the manner of clearing land, as follows : "Where the timber was mostly beech and sugar-tree, the common way was to grub the spice and other bushes, and pile them around the large trees, and ent up the old dead logs. All the trees under 18 or 20 inches in diam- eter were then cut down, and large brush heaps made around all the rest. The brush, when dry, were burned, scorching the trees some 15 or 20 feet high, and killing them sooner than if they had been girdled with an ax. Thus most of the first fields cleared were left with many dead trees. Oak, poplar, and walnut trees would stand many years; but the beech and sugar maple would begin to fall about the third year; and the field must be cleared a second time by taking off the dead timber. After a few years, the trees were dead- ened by hacking them round [girdling] before the land was cleared, and all taken off at once. This was the casier way; but the first settlers could not wait for the trees to decay when they cleared their first fields."
Another mode of clearing, confined chiefly to the removal of the deadened timber, may be mentioned. Trees that did not fall were cut down. Instead of chopping their bodies into pieces, a mode was adopted requiring less strain of muscle. It was called "niggering." The smaller logs or broken limbs and other rubbish, were thrown across the fallen trees; and fire was applied to them. Once a day, or oftener, it would be necessary for a man to revisit his field to rebuild or renew his fires ; or, to use a common phrase, to " right up my niggers." How this use of that word originated, is mere matter of con- jeeture. It has been suggested that, as many of the early settlers came from states where labor was performed for men by the power of muscle other than their own, they naturally associated the agency employed in this process, with the servile labor of the South.
In some of the states, deadening or girdling is not practiced.
39
FARE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
All the timber is cut down at once, chopped into logs, and the ground cleared and planted or sown the same year, if the crop is so soon desired.
We subjoin the following from a letter received from an old settler past fourscore: " The principal business in those days was the clearing of land, making fences, &c. Those who hired their land cleared, would pay by the acre for cutting the timber, taking all that was 'a foot or under,' or 'eighteen inches or under,' as the contract might be, and get it ready for rolling. He that could clear an acre the quickest, and cut and split the most rails in a day, was accounted the most hon- orable. Another test of a man's standing in the estimation of his fellow-men, was the choice made at log-rollings. It was common to choose two captains, who would divide the ground containing the logs to be rolled, one taking the choice of hands, the other the choice of the ground. The men would then stand in a ring fair to be seen, when the captains would proceed to choose, turn about; the first chosen was the most honorable ; the last chosen, the reverse."
Fare of the Early Settlers; Bread and other Provisions.
Not the least of the hardships of the pioneers was the pro- curing of bread. The first settlers must be supplied at least one year, sometimes longer, from other sources than their own lands. Many who settled in the eastern part of this county, were obliged, for several years, to make a two or three days' journey to Ohio, going and returning, for their grain and meal. And after they had raised grain for themseleves, they had to get grinding done there, until mills were built here. Thomas Bulla, already mentioned as a settler four miles south-east of Richmond, in a " Pioneer Sketch," in the Richmond Palladium of March 13, 1856, says he took a grist of his first crop of corn to Bruce's mill near Eaton, O., 12 miles. Having been badly frost-bitten, it was found unfit for bread, and was fed to his cow. Having no money to buy with, he went to his father- in-law in Ohio, and got nine bushels of corn, for which he was to pay when able. He bought of his brother William 2} bushels of wheat which was all he had the first year.
40
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Settlers had to pack all their grain from the settlements in Ohio on horseback, until they raised a supply at home.
Jeremiah Cox, son of the elder Jeremiah, gives an account of packing grain from Ohio, in substance as follows: His father brought some breadstuff with him from the Miami country. This, with the corn he bought with his land from Woodkirk, carried him through the first winter. The corn was ground with an iron hand-mill they had brought with them. It was constructed on the principle of a coffee-mill, but was much larger, and was propelled by two cranks; and he says : " It was believed that it never ground the meal too fine."
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