USA > Indiana > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Indiana, from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 6
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With produce at these low prices, farmers had to pay for goods at the highest rates. Common calico cost 37} cents a yard; other fabrics, as well as tea, coffee, etc., in proportion. It required about a bushel of oats to buy a pound of nails; a bushel of wheat, or two bushels of corn, to buy a yard of calico or a pound of coffee.
Smith's store, inside, would be regarded, by most of our readers, as a curiosity-shop. Here was a rude counter; there were a few shelves fixed up to the log wall. On these were seen packages of Barlow knives, with a sample knife outside for a sign; sheep-shears done up in the same manner; also gimlets, augers, etc. There were sickles wherewith to cut the first crops of wheat; hair sieves, trace chains, blind bridles, curry-combs, and numerous other necessaries for the farmers. Nor were the wants of their wives and daughters forgotten. They there found calico, fine cambric, cap-stuff, pins, needles, etc. Here were sold some of the first wedding garments for the settlers' daughters ; and here was kept also a small stock of imported broadcloth, but rather too fine for many to wear. Occasionally a young man who wished to appear in a coat of blue cloth, with yellow metal buttons, a high and rolling col- lar, and a forked tail, after the fashion of those days, got his outfit here. Smith increased his stock, from time to time, to supply the demand of the constantly increasing population ; and being for several years the only merchant in the county, he acquired an extensive and a lucrative trade.
Smith's place was considered the center of business ; and, with a town in prospect, he erected a frame store building. In this, it is thought, he made a slight mistake. Robert Morris-
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
son, a brother-in-law of Jeremiah Cox, having sold his farm on Middle Fork, bought of Cox a piece of land where was a spring. A part of this ground is the present site of the Rob- inson Machine Works. On this land he built a small frame house fronting on the road from Cox's house to his mill, and near what is now Main street. In this house he started a store. Smith soon perceiving that trade was gravitating toward Mor- risson's corner, put up a frame building opposite, on what is now known as Mason's corner, where Elliott & Co.'s furniture store lately stood, [destroyed a few months ago by fire.] Smith had now competition. But this was soon temporarily inter- rupted. Morrisson's house and household goods were destroyed by fire. His store goods, kept in the same building, had been removed to Smith's store, he having formed a partnership with Smith. The partnership, however, was dissolved immediately or soon after the fire.
Reflections on Pioneer Life.
The history of pioneer life generally presents only the dark side of the picture. The toils and privations of the early settlers were not a series of unmitigated sufferings. They had their joys as well as their sorrows. The addition of each new aere of their " clearings" brought with it fresh enjoyment, and cheered them on in the pursuit of their ultimate object, an uninenmbered and a happy home. They were happy also in their fraternal feelings ; or, as one expressed it, "the feeling of brotherhood-the disposition to help one another;" or, in the language of another, " Society was rude and uncultivated ; yet the people were very friendly to each other, quite as much so as relatives are at the present day."
We could hardly endure the thought of exchanging our splendid and comfortable carriages for the rude ones of our fathers and grandfathers, which served the various purposes of visiting, and of going to mill and to " meeting "-(churches they had not;) yet who doubts that families had a "good time" when they made a visit to a "neighbor" at a distance of several miles through the woods, on an ox-sled ? Our mothers were clad in homespun of their own make; and not a few yet remember the " glad surprise " when fathers, on their
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REFLECTIONS ON PIONEER LIFE.
return from market, presented to their faithful helpmates a six- yard calico dress pattern for Sunday wear. And we presume the wearer was in quite as devotional a frame of mind, and en- joyed Sabbath exercises quite as well, as she who now flaunts her gorgeously trimmed silk of fifteen or twenty yards, made up in a style transforming the wearer into "the likeness" of something never before known "above" or "on the earth beneath," and altered with every change of moon.
The people were happy in their families. The boys, having labored hard during the day, sought rest at an early hour. Parents had the pleasure of seeing their sons acquiring habits of industry and frugality-a sure prognostic of success in life. The "higher civilization " had not yet introduced,
"In every country village, where Ten chimney smokes perfume the air, Contiguous to a steeple,"
those popular modern institutions-the saloon and the billiard- room, in which so many youth now receive their principal train- ing. Fewer parents spent sleepless nights in anxious thought about their " prodigal sons," or had their slumbers broken by the noisy entrance of these sons on returning from their mid- night revels. They saw no clouds rising to dim the prospect of a happy future to their children. Never were wives and mothers more cheerful than when, like the virtuous woman described by Solomon, " they laid their hands to the spindle, and their hands held the distaff';" or when, with their knitting- work or sewing, and baby, too, they went-unbidden, as the custom was-to spend an afternoon with their "neighbor women," by whom they were received with a hearty, uncere- monious welcome. The "latch-string was out " at all times; and even the formality of knocking was, by the more intimate neighbors, dispensed with.
Nor did they lack topics of conversation at these visits. Prominent among them were their domestic affairs-their manifold industrial enterprises and labors-and the anticipated rewards of their toils and privations. Their conversation, some may suppose, evinced no high degree of intellectual culture; yet, as an indication of such culture, surely it would not suffer in comparison with the gossip of many of our modern educated ladies at their social gatherings.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Life on the Twelve Mile Purchase, 1810 to 1814.
The following letter from Mrs. Rebecca Julian, widow of Isaac Julian, and sister of the late Judge Hoover, was pub- lished, in 1854, in the Wayne County Journal, printed at Center- ville :
" The country around us was an entire wilderness, with here and there a small cabin, containing a small family. We were nearly all new beginners at that time, and although we had to work almost day and night, we were not discouraged.
" We were in fine spirits until the battle was fought at Tip- pecanoe by General Harrison and the Indians. After that, we lived in continual fear, and passed many sleepless nights. Well do I recollect how I kept my head raised off of my pillow, in listening, expecting the savages to come and take our scalps. We had every reason to believe that such would be the case, as they were frequently to be seen scouting all around us. At length the time arrived when two men were stationed at our fort for our protection. My husband also enlisted and served three months as a soldier, but was not called out from the fort. We were truly thankful that there was no fighting to be done, as we were then few in number, and completely in the power of the enemy. But it is evident they intended harming only such persons as they thought hostile to them. A young man by the name of Shortridge was killed by the Indians about three miles from our fort. Ile had on at the time a portion of the dress of another man, who had made threats against them, and it is supposed they mistook him for the latter. In the spring following Charles Morgan and his two half-brothers were killed at their sugar-camp, scalped, and one of them thrown into the fire. This happened about six miles from our residence. This was quite alarming ; we knew not what to do ; we gathered ourselves in small groups in order to hold coun- sel. Finally, we concluded to leave our new homes; which we did, time after time, for the space of two years. We were grateful, indeed, to see peace returning, so that we could again enjoy our homes.
" There were many and serious trials in the beginning of this country with those who settled amid the heavy timber,
" il.
Strobridge & Co. Lith.lin . 0.
Rebecca Jelica.
67
LIFE ON THE TWELVE MILE PURCHASE.
having nothing to depend on for a living but their own indus- try. Such was our situation. However, we were blest with health and strength, and were able to accomplish all that was necessary to be done. Our husbands cleared the ground, and assisted each other in rolling the logs. We often went with them on these occasions, to assist in the way of cooking for the hands. We had first-rate times, just such as hard-laboring men and women can appreciate. We were not what would now be called fashionable cooks; we had no pound cakes, preserves, or jellies ; but the substantials, prepared in plain, honest, old-fashioned style. This is one reason why we were so blessed with health-we had none of your dainties, nick- nacks, and many fixings that are worse than nothing. There are many diseases that we never even heard of thirty or forty years ago, such as dyspepsia, neuralgia, and many others too tedious to mention. It was not fashionable at that time to be weakly. We could take our spinning-wheels and walk two miles to a spinning frolic, do our day's work, and, after a first-rate sup- per, join in some innocent amusement for the evening. We did not take very particular pains to keep our hands white; we knew they were made to use to our advantage ; therefore we never thought of having hands just to look at. Each settler had to go and assist his neighbors ten or fifteen days, or there- abouts, in order to get help again in log-rolling time-this was the only way to get assistance.
"I have thought proper to mention these matters, in order that people now may know what the first settlers had to un- dergo. We, however, did not complain half as much as people do now. Our diet was plain ; our clothing we manufactured ourselves; we lived independent, and were all on an equality. I look back to those by-gone days with great interest. Now how the scene has changed ! Children of these same pioneers know nothing of hardship; they are spoiled by indulgence, and are generally planning ways and means to live without work."
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Education ; Schools.
Though struggling under the pressure of poverty and priva- tion, the early settlers planted among them the school-house and the church at the earliest practicable period. So important an object as the education of their children they did not defer until they could build more comely and convenient houses ; they were for a time content with such as corresponded with their rude dwellings. The first school-houses were built of logs, and with fire-places and chimneys like those of log dwelling-houses, and were roofed in the same manner.
An old resident of Franklin township thus describes the first school-house built in Hillsborough, and the first in which he ever attended school: The floor of the school-room and that of the loft were both made of split puncheons; the door of split clapboards, and fastened by a wooden latch raised by a string hanging outside. The fire-place was made by cutting an aperture in one side about ten feet wide, and building the place out about four feet with logs up to the mantel; then with poles instead of split sticks, drawn in to about 3 to 5 feet at the top, and daubed with clay, the chim- ney being outside. The back wall and sides of the fire-place were made by beating down clay about 18 inches thick, and 2} feet high. The hearth was made of the same material. A large, green back-log, requiring the united strength of teacher and several large boys, was rolled into the fire-place, and a small one was put on the top, and another before, and the middle filled up with small wood.
Rough benches of split logs extended from one side of the fire-place around through the room to the other side of the fire-place. On these the scholars were seated, facing the fire, the teacher standing at one end of the circle. Sometimes boys, to get near the fire without standing before others, would step up on the bank of clay and walk around behind the fire, leaning their backs against the logs of the chimney, putting their feet forward over the back-log to the fire, and studying their lessons by the light coming down the chimney.
69
EDUCATION ; SCHOOLS.
The writing-desk was a long slab hauled from a distant saw-mill, fastened on long pins driven into auger holes in the logs, and slanting downward from the wall. The window was made by cutting a hole through the logs just above the writing-table, and putting in an old newspaper greased with lard for window-lights. In a cold day ink would freeze in the pen before a line was written. Pens were made of goose quills.
The school books used were Webster's American Spelling Book, some reading book, and an arithmetic. A grammar book, a geography, or an atlas, the scholars had never seen.
The children's dinners, too, were very unlike those of chil- dren at the present day. Their frozen corn-bread was some- times thawed on the dirt hearth. This bread, or " corn dodger," as it was called, in one hand, and sometimes a piece of wild turkey or deer's meat in the other, were eaten for dinner.
Schools were not then regulated by law. A subscription paper, stating the price of tuition per scholar for the term pro- posed, was circulated, and each person affixed to his name the number of scholars he would send. If a sufficient number were obtained, the school would commence. Teachers were often paid in produce, many of their employers being unable to pay in money.
Not only was the course of instruction limited to those few primary branches, spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic; the qualifications to teach even these successfully were gener- ally wanting. Only the simpler parts of arithmetic were taught by most of the teachers ; and the mathematical ambi- tion of many pupils was satisfied when they could " cypher" to the end of the " Single Rule of Three," which, in the old arithmetics, came before Fractions. Nor did some parents think any higher attainment in this branch necessary for their sons, except the knowledge of computing interest, which some of them might possibly, at some time in their lives, have occa- sion to practice.
The manner of teaching and conducting a school in those days is also worthy of note. Writing, in some schools, was not required to be done at any fixed hour, nor by all at the same
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
time. Children could hardly be expected to be able to make their own pens-none but goose-quill pens being used-nor, indeed, were many teachers competent to do it properly. These pens also required frequent mendings. To make and mend the pens and " set copies " for ten, twenty, or thirty pupils, took no small portion of a teacher's time, and was often done during reading and other exercises, in which the worst mistakes escaped the observation of the teacher. To avoid this, some teachers did this work before or after school hours. The in- troduction of the metallic pen and the printed copy-book is a valuable improvement, saving to the teacher much time and labor, and furnishing the pupils with good and uniform copies.
Nor had the blackboard been invented; or, if it had, it was not known in the rural districts. Nor were scholars taught arithmetic in classes. They got the attention and assistance of the teacher as they could. Voices were heard from different parts of the room : "Master, I can't do this sum ;" or, " Please show me how to do this sum." These, with questions asking permission to "go out," to "go and drink," etc., which, in some schools, were, to use a parliamentary phrase, "always in order ;" the teacher going about the room to "help" the scholars, or to do their work for them; and scholars running to the teacher to ask him how to pronounce the hard words in the spelling and reading lessons ;- all these, and other things that might be mentioned, kept the school-room in a continual bustle. There were, however, some good teachers then; and there are many now who answer too nearly the foregoing de- scription ; yet a comparison of the schools of the present time with those of fifty years ago shows a vast improvement.
Where, when, or by whom the first school in the county was kept, is not easily ascertained ; it was probably within or near the present limits of Wayne township. There was in Indiana territory no school system established by law. All was done on the "voluntary " plan. The men of each neighborhood would join in putting up a log house. Every man paid only for the tuition of his own children-of such number as he was pleased or able to send. There was then no grumbling by any one at being obliged to pay for " schooling others' children."
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RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
There are still, doubtless, not a few in every place who would rejoice at the re-adoption of that part of the old plan-who have never yet been able to see how their individual interests have been promoted by the general diffusion of learning. The General Government acted wisely in setting apart a section of land in every township, the proceeds of which are to be appro- priated to the support of common schools in the township. And the state has, with equal wisdom, provided to supply the deficiency by taxation, thus making the schools free to all who wish to avail themselves of their advantages.
Religious Societies.
The early establishment of religious institutions in new set- tlements is a prominent feature in the history of this country. The school-house and the house of worship are erected almost simultaneously in every community. Of the different religious denominations in this county, the Friends were at first the most numerous, and are so still in some townships, though the first church. organized in the county is said to be that of the Baptists on the Elkhorn creek, formed in 1806 or 1807, about 6 miles south of Richmond, now in the township of Boston. The Friends next established a meeting, and built a log meet- ing-house in 1807, near the site of the present large brick house in the north-east part of the city of Richmond. The first meeting-house in nearly every settlement was built of logs. Some of them were warmed by placing in the center a large box or iron kettle filled with dirt, and making on it a fire of wood or charcoal. A second house was sometimes built of logs, generally improved in appearance by having the logs hewed on the outside and inside.
[A particular notice of the several religions organizations in the county may be found in the historical sketches of their respective townships.]
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
The Indian Troubles.
The war spirit which had been excited, and kept up for a long period, by conflicts between the whites and the Indian tribes in the North-western Territory, had not long slum- bered-perhaps had not been entirely allayed-when the former began their settlements in the valleys of Whitewater. This warfare, there is reason to believe, was not, as some have supposed, wholly a " conflict between civilization and barbarism." Many acts of savage barbarity recorded in the history of the early settlements, were the outbreaks of resent- ments transmitted by those who had suffered injustice at the hands of half-civilized white men, or were provoked by some evil-disposed white men at the time. Judge Hoover, re- ferring to some of the depredations and murders committed by the Indians, says : " Candor, however, compels me to say, that, as is usually the case, we Christians were the aggress- ors." It must be confessed, however, that many of these Indian atrocities appear to have been committed in cold blood-at least without any immediate provocation.
The early settlers were much annoyed by the Indians. They were often frightened by their suspicious appearances and open menaces; and these fears were strengthened by actual murders committed in various parts of the territory, one of which is related by Rev. Mr. Smith in his " Miscel- lany," in substance, as follows: A man named Jones, re- turning from hunting, found his wife terribly frightened by the menaces of an Indian who was plundering the house. The Indian, on the approach of Jones, rushed out and made off, and Jones shot him as he ran, inflicting a severe, though not mortal wound. The Indian escaped and reached his people. In a few days a delegation of Indians came to the white settle- mentand demanded redress. The whites were so well acquaint- ed with the Indian character, that they knew an amicable set- tlement must be made, or the Indians would take vengeance ; and perhaps some of their women and children would be the sacrifice. The white men met for consultation, and appointed Esquire Rue, Wm. L. Williford, and George Smith, as com- missioners to treat with the Indians. The Indians demanded
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THE INDIAN TROUBLES.
blood from the white man. The commissioners pleaded that the Indian had been the aggressor. In view of this fact, the Indians proposed to take a horse. A horse was accord- ingly purchased for them, and they were pacified.
Mr. Smith recolleets having heard an Indian relate the first one of several instances of his taking the lives of white persons. At the age of about fourteen, he was permitted to accompany a party of " braves " going to a white settlement to scalp and plunder, on a promise that he would be brave. The first night, he and another young Indian were sent to reconnoiter a cabin. They returned and reported that there were in it but a man and woman. They were ordered to go back and kill them. They returned to the cabin, and shot them through an opening of the jambs, entered the cabin and scalped them, and returned to their comrades with their bloody trophies. This young Indian was thenceforth a brave among the warriors.
Many of the depredations upon the early. settlers of Ken- tucky were committed by Indians from what is now the state of Indiana. At their village in Old Town, in what is now Delaware county, about five miles from Muncie, and near ' White river, white men were tortured to death at the stake by a slow fire, while their fiendish captors danced around them. Mr. Smith says he visited the spot after the Indians had left the village, and saw the stake still standing, and some of the firebrands were yet to be seen.
In 1811, John Shortridge was shot by an Indian south of the present town of Germantown, and about a mile east of Milton, while riding on horseback in company with George Ish. This, however, is said to have been done by mistake. The Indian had had some difficulty with a man by the name of Isaiah Drury. Shortridge, having on Drury's overcoat, was mistaken for the owner, and shot on his white horse. He was carried about a mile to a fort which had been built half a mile south of where Germantown now is. Word having been sent to the fort north [Boyd Fort], Samuel K. Boyd and Larkin Harding went down, and attended Shortridge until his death, the next day. For the want of boards to make a coffin, puncheon floor plank were used for the purpose.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
Charles Morgan, residing near the stream now called Mor- gan's creek, and two boys, or youth, his half-brothers, named Beesly, were killed near a sugar-camp by Indians in the evening. The leader, or principal in this murder, is sup- posed-perhaps generally-to have been the notorious In- dian, John Green. This supposition is probably based upon the fact that a mutual hatred existed between him and Mor- gan. The writer has been informed upon authority which he can not doubt, that Morgan, under the apprehension that Green was meditating his murder, intended to take the life of Green in order to save his own, and that he once started from home with the avowed intent of waylaying his adver- sary for this purpose. Although Green probably had evil designs against Morgan, and perhaps was accessory to the murder, there is strong presumptive evidence that he was not present when it was committed. The suspected murderers, four in number, were traced toward Muncietown and over- taken, and one of them was shot; the others escaped. Mor- gan and his brothers were all scalped. The murder was committed in the spring of 1813. This occurrence induced many families to take shelter in the forts erected for their protection.
Horses were sometimes stolen by the Indians, and other depredations upon the property of the white inhabitants committed ; but it is believed that the only murders com- mitted by them are the two here mentioned. In a few instances, the lives of Indians have been taken, or assaults have been made upon them for that purpose, by way of retaliation for injuries.
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