USA > Indiana > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Indiana, from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 7
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In 1811, by order of the General Government, an expedi- tion was sent out against the Indians. In this campaign was fought the memorable battle of Tippecanoe, near the Wabash, on the 7th of November, 1811. But, although the Indians were compelled to yield to the superior force of the army under Gen. Harrison, their vindictive spirit was not subdued. And it was evident, before the Declaration of War against Great Britain in 1812, that some of the tribes were not disposed to remain at peace with the white people,
75
THE INDIAN TROUBLES.
and that in the event of a war with Great Britain, they would give aid to that power.
Scarcely had hostilities between the two countries com- menced before these apprehensions were realized; and it became necessary for the inhabitants to provide means of safety. The expedient adopted was the building of forts and block-houses by the people of the several settlements. These forts, or stockades, were made of two rows [sometimes but one row] of split timbers 12 to 14 feet long, planted in the ground 23 or 3 feet deep. The timbers of the second row were so placed as to cover the cracks of the first. Small cabins were erected inside of the stockades for the accom- modation of the families. "Usually," says the writer of this description, "one block-house was built in each fort. These block-houses were two stories high, the upper story project- ing over the lower, say two feet, with port-holes in the floor of the projection, so that the men could see to shoot the Indians if they succeeded in getting to the walls of the block-house. There were also port-holes in the walls of the upper and lower stories, through which shooting of much execution could be performed as the foe was advancing." -- [ W. C. Smith.]
It is said by those who assisted in their erection, and occu- pied them, that the block-house was at a corner of the fort, the second story extending on two sides several feet beyond the marked boundaries of the fort. The projection of the second story beyond the walls of the first, was generally between three and four instead of two feet. The block- house thus standing out a few feet beyond the walls of the fort, gave ample range to shoot any person approaching the fort on two sides. And, by placing another block-house in the diagonally opposite corner of the fort, the other two sides of the fort were similarly guarded.
During the war of 1812, Indian alarms were frequent, and the inhabitants were kept constantly in a state of disquiet. The lands purchased in 1809, called the "Twelve Mile Pur- chase," were settled rather slowly. A few settlements were commenced before the lands were surveyed. But during the war few ventured far beyond the older settlements. Notwith-
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
standing forts and block-houses were built for the protection of the inhabitants, many, especially those in the more sparsely settled places, left their new homes, and removed to places of greater security. Some took up a temporary abode among the denser population of Wayne township ; others passed the state line into Ohio.
After the series of successes which attended our arms against the British and the Indians, among which was the capture, by Commodore Perry, of the British fleet on Lake Erie in 1813, the Miamis, Pottawattamies, and other tribes, sued for peace with the United States. An armistice was. agreed on ; and in July, 1814, a council was held at Green- ville, Ohio, where a treaty of peace was negotiated by Gen. Wm. H. Harrison and Gov. Lewis Cass, commissioners on the part of the United States. There were present at this council about 4,000 souls, chiefly Miamis, Weas, Delawares, Shawnees, and Wyandots.
To the incidents connected with the war of 1812, related in the foregoing pages, it is deemed proper to add, that this war was a source of much trouble to the Friends. They were much harassed on account of their refusal to do military duty. Some were repeatedly drafted and fined; and their property was sold at an enormous sacrifice to pay the fines. A valuable wagon, for instance, was sold at auction for five dollars, and various other kinds of property in about the same proportion. Four young men were imprisoned in the county jail in winter; and to extort from them a promise of compliance, fire was denied them. Their sufferings must have been intolerable but for the partial relief afforded by Dr. David F. Sacket, the county Recorder, and Jesse Bond, then living where Earlham College now is; the former hand- ing hot bricks through the grates, and the latter blankets. " Suits," says Judge Hoover, "were subsequently brought against the officers for false imprisonment. The trials were had in Brookville, in Franklin county. They all recovered damages ; but I have every reason to believe that the whole of the damages and costs was paid out of moneys extorted from others of the Friends. To cap the climax of absurdity and outrage, the gentlemen officers arrested an old man
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CONDITION OF THE SETTLERS AFTER THE WAR.
named Jacob Elliott, and tried him by a court-martial for treason, found him guilty, and sentenced him to be shot ! but gave him a chance to run away in the dark, they firing off their guns at the same time." Many other instances of cruelty to these people might be given.
Condition of the Settlers after the War.
Peace ended the Indian alarms, but it did not bring pros- perity to the settlers. They returned to their lands and re- sumed their labors; but their struggles against poverty were not ended. They were remote from market; consequently goods were high and farmers' produce was low. The day-books of an early merchant in Richmond, embracing the years from 1818 to 1822, show the following prices :
Philip Harter, the early tavern keeper, stands charged with cotton yarn at $1 per lb .; brown shirting, 432 cents per yard ; John McLane, by J. Albertson, 1 handsaw, $3; 2 pr. butt hinges, at 50c. Cornelius Ratcliff, 1 1b. powder, 62}c. ; 5 lbs. shot, at 182c .; 1 skimmer, 37}c. Stephen Cox, 3 yds. steam loom shirting, at 62}c. Francis Clark, 27 lbs. iron, at 14c. We find tea charged at $2.50 per lb. ; pepper, at 75c .; powder, 75c .; 1 set knives and forks, $3.75; 1 quart measure, [tin,] 31}c .; 1 pint measure, 182c .; window glass, [7 by 9 in those days,] 10 cents per light; knitting needles, 121c. [per set, probably ;] a Jews' harp, 12}c .; calico, at 50c .; 1 bot. opodel- doc, 50c. Adam Boyd, the early wagon maker and justice, is charged to camphor at 37gc. per ounce ; Nathan Hockett, to ginger, at 75c. per lb., and 2 oz. assafœtida, at 25c. per ounce.
Clerks and bookkeepers, in these later days of " business colleges," would, we imagine, be not a little puzzled to reckon, carry out, and foot up bills or lists of goods charged at 432, 373, 314, and 182 cents per yard or per pound. And they would perhaps wonder why these fractional prices were ever affixed to articles of any kind. The young reader will find the difficulty attending the old mode of reckoning greatly dimin- ished, if he should call 432 cent, 3s. 6d .; 37} cents, 3s .; 31} cents, 2s. 6d .; 182 cents, 1s. 6d .; 12} cents, 1s .; 6} cents, 6d., as in those states where the dollar was 8s. The Spanish silver coin, consisting of the dollar, half-dollar, quarter, eighth, and six- teenth, was well adapted to the custom of those times. For
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
example : 4 yds. cloth, at 3s. 6d., would cost 14s.,=$1.75; 6 yds. calico, at 2s. 6d., 15s.,=$1.87}; 4 lbs. shot, at 1s. 6d. 6s .;= 75 cents.
But the high prices of merchants' goods were but one-half of the farmer's misfortune; he had to sell the products of his farm proportionally as much lower than farmers now do, as farmers then paid higher for goods. The low prices of farm products at a very early day have been already stated. But they continued many years. Samuel K. Boyd, about the year 1826, started with a drove of hogs from Jacksonburg for Cin- cinnati. He left them at Hamilton, and went to Cincinnati, to contract a sale. He was offered but 60 cents per 100 lbs., dressed. Unwilling to sell at that price, he drove his hogs home, fed them two months longer, butchered them, and sold the pork for 80 cents a hundred. At another time he went with a four-horse team, taking 16 barrels of flour, the empty barrels having cost 623 cents. He sold the flour with the bar- rels for about 90 cents a barrel. He once went after a load of merchants' goods, and took for loading down about 1,000 pounds of corn meal, which he could not sell at all. He was about to throw it into the river, but concluded to give it to the poor, and actually peddled it about town among those willing to accept it as a gift. And he sold wheat in Richmond, at a still later date, for 333 cents a bushel. Lewis Burk, in 1830, bought 500 bushels of corn for $50.
In some families, more flax and tow linen was made than was wanted for summer wear, and the remainder was exchanged at the stores for calico or some other kinds of cotton cloth, to make dresses for women to wear to meeting, or for other necessaries. Many men, as well as their wives and children, went barefoot in summer. To procure their salt, several neighbors would join in sending a wagon to Cincinnati in the fall, carrying maple sugar, deer skins, raccoon skins, oats, etc., and perhaps a little money, and returning with a load, chiefly of salt, intended for the year's supply. The journey was made in about ten days, sometimes in a week.
The price of labor was nominally 25 to 30 cents a day, and of corn 10 to 12 cents a bushel. But even at these prices they did not bring money. When wheat was about ripe on the Miami, companies of men would be seen going on foot
79
CONDITION OF THE SETTLERS AFTER THE WAR.
to Butler Co., Ohio, where harvest hands were paid 50 to 62} cents a day. This, considering the distance to be traveled and the shortness of the harvesting season, was earning money dearly. Times at length changed for the better. Cincinnati became a market for fat hogs and cattle, which were sent thither in droves. And about the year 1830, mer- chants in some of the towns began to buy pork for packing, and farmers were hired to transport the meat to market, and returned with merchants' goods; and thus paid in part for family necessaries.
But besides supporting their families, their lands were to be paid for. Lands were at first bought principally on time. The price was $2 per acre. A person could " enter " a quarter section [160 acres] by paying $80; the remainder to be paid in sums of $80 yearly. If the whole were not paid in five years, the claim was forfeited. The land was not liable to taxation before the expiration of the five years. As Congress sold to no person less than a quarter section, poor men joined in the purchase, and divided the land. During the hard times that succeeded the war of 1812, in consequence of the depreciation of paper money and other causes, many were unable to make further payments, and forfeited their lands. For the relief of such, Congress passed an act making the certificate of entrance receivable on the land it covered, or on other Congress land. By a later act, the price of land was reduced to $1.25 per acre, cash. Another act allowed the division of quarter sections into half-quarters, or lots of 80 acres each ; so that, with a certificate for the payment of $80, and $20 in cash, a person could buy 80 acres. This enabled some to save their homes and improvements. Others, unable to raise the $20, lost their lands. Speculators, finding that certificates were transferable, taking advantage of the necessity of these poor settlers, bought their certificates at a large discount. Two or more persons were sometimes gathering money to buy the same piece of land, which, if it became known, would cause a race to the land office at Cin- cinnati, to secure the land. Some who had saved one-half of the land they had entered, and were striving hard to pay for the other half, were defeated by men who had gone to the land office and got possession of it.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
CIVIL HISTORY.
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Formation and Organization of Wayne County.
WAYNE COUNTY was formed in 1810. It was composed of that part of Dearborn county lying east of the Twelve Mile Purchase and between the north and south lines of the new county, together with that portion of the Purchase lying be- tween those lines. The strip west of the Purchase was not ac- quired until about the year 1820. The county business was done by the county judges, who were Peter Fleming, Aaron Martin, and Jeremiah Meek. George Hunt was clerk; John Turner, sheriff; and James Noble, prosecuting-attorney.
The first court was held February 25, 1811, at the house of Richard Rue, three miles south of Richmond. No judicial business seems to have been done at this court. The court divided the county into two districts or townships, and ap- pointed officers for them. For the first district. David Rails- back and John Shaw were appointed overseers of the poor; Abraham Gaar, John Collins, and Lewis Little, fence viewers. For the second district, David Galbraith and George Smith, overseers of the poor; Wm. Fouts, Nathaniel MeClure, and Robert Hill, fence viewers. A committee was also appointed to adjust the accounts of the overseers of the poor, viz : David Carson, Timothy Hunt, Samuel Jobe, Jacob Meek, Elijah Fisher, and George Holman.
The next session of the court was held at the same place, the next month. A grand jury was for the first time im- paneled in the county. The names of the jurors were : Jesse Davenport, David Fonts, Joseph Cox, Charles Wright, John Burk, Wright Lancaster, Robert Galbraith, Isaac Williams, John Smith, Benj. Small, John Townsend, John Burgess, Wm. Blunt, Michael Snider, Peter Weaver, Benj. Harvey, Joshua Meek, John Beard, Benj. Jarvis, James Gordon, Harvey Miller, Lewis Little, Wm. Graham. The court consisted, it is
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LOCATION OF COUNTY SEAT.
said, of Jesse L. Holman, circuit judge ; Peter Fleming fand Aaron Martin, associates. It is said, also, that the court was held in the woods, and the seats consisted of family chairs and logs; and that the jurors retired for deliberation to logs at a suitable distance. Judge Iloover says, in his Memoir : " One of the first courts convened under the shade of a tree, Judge Park presiding." The two statements differ as to the presiding judge. Probably they refer to courts held at different times. The names of the jurors, who are said to have sat on the first petty-jury trial, are John Benton, John Drake, John Arm- strong, Nathaniel Scire, Thomas Bulla, Samuel Hunt, Harvey Druley, David F. Sacket, Joel Ferguson, Benj. Smith, Jesse Davenport.
Location of the County Seat.
The act of the territorial legislature which formed Wayne county in 1810, named John Cox, John Addington, and George Holman, as commissioners to locate the county seat, on or be- fore the first Monday of the following May, and the house of Richard Rue as the place for holding courts until a court- house was completed. The late Dr. Plummer, in his " Ilis- torical Sketch," quotes from John B. Stitt as follows :
" At the June term, 1811, the commissioners appointed by an act of the legislature, having failed to discharge their duty ac- cording to law, in selecting a seat of justice for the county, the court declared their duties ended, and appointed in their stead Samuel Walker, Richard Maxwell, and Benj. Harris."
The natural inference from this statement is, that the first commissioners were chargeable with negligence. A different version of this matter, from a reliable source, is as follows :
Richard Rue and Ephraim Overman were members of the territorial legislature of 1810, from the county of Dearborn, of which the present county of Wayne formed a part. There were then but three counties in the territory, Knox, Clark, and Dearborn. Residing within the limits of the present county of Wayne, these gentlemen were active in support of the act authorizing its formation. The commissioners to locate the county seat were Jolin Addington, George Holman, and John Cox. The law prescribing their duties and fixing the time and
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
the place of their meeting, did not reach the court, then held at Rue's, until about a month after its publication. On its recep- tion, the commissioners were promptly notified to meet. They appeared and were qualified, and proceeded to the discharge of their duties.
Instructed by the aet to fix the county seat near the geographi- cal center, Addington and Holman designated a quarter section about three-fourths of a mile north of the present town of Cen- terville. Cox dissented, alleging that they were not authorized to select land not yet sold by the Government; though it had been advertised for sale in the coming October. The court sus- tained the views of the minority, refused to receive the report, and appointed three other commissioners, as above stated, who reported, "That the permanent seat of justice is and shall be on the donation of Samuel Woods of 65 acres in the 13th township, range 3d, with a small reserve." And the court ordered, " that the town in Wayne, or the seat of justice, shall be called Salisbury." Smith Ilunt, Samuel Woods, and James Brown were appointed trustees to lay off the lots, and Andrew Woods and John Meek, Sen., to superintend the building of a jail and an estray pen.
This action of the court was denounced by the friends of the central location. The land being within the bounds of the county as fixed by the law of the state, they regarded the ob- jection that the unsold lands were out of the jurisdiction of the court, as utterly invalid, and the decision as a flagrant out- rage. A paper was circulated to take the sense of the citizens in respect to the legality of the action of the court, designed to be presented to the court. The result showed 330 in favor of the report of the legislative committee, and 150 approving the action of the court.
A log court-house for temporary use, and a jail of hewed, square logs, were built, and were soon followed by a brick court-house.
Salisbury having now become an incorporated town-the earliest in the county-and its citizens having secured-per- manently, as they supposed-the public buildings, they an- ticipated a long and prosperous career. In this, however, they were disappointed. Efforts were soon made for the removal
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ORGANIZATION OF TOWNSHIPS.
of the county seat to Centerville. In the midst of the bitter strife between the Salisbury and Centerville parties, originating with the action of the court before mentioned, and lasting several years, an act was passed, in 1816, authorizing the re- moval of the county seat to Centerville; provided, however, that the citizens furnish, without expense to the county, public buildings as good, and of the same dimensions, as those at Salisbury.
After the removal of the county seat, Salisbury was rapidly deserted. The few frame and brick buildings were taken down, and some of them moved to Richmond. The bricks in the building on the south-east corner of Main and Pearl streets, known as Ham's corner, were formerly in the court-house at Salisbury. There remains nothing on the site indicating that a town was ever there. The ground on which it stood is now a part of the farm of Enoch Railsback.
The early records of the county are incomplete ; and none are to be found of a date carlier than 1812. The claims allowed that year for wolf scalps amounted to the sum of $12.75, the bounty being $1 cach. In 1813, the amount was $13. Among the names of persons receiving wolf bounties, were those of Robert Morrisson and George Shugart.
The receipts into the treasury in 1815 were as follows: For town lots, $34.68. Store licenses, $86.86. Tax on horses, $7.39. Slaves, $20. Men of color, $15. First rate lands, $23.59; second rate, $292.63; third rate, $53.34. Total, $1,265.10, not including fines for breaches of the peace, assault and battery, swearing, etc., which were lodged in the hands of the sheriff and clerk. In 1816, wolf claims amounted to $84.
Organization of Townships.
The first Constitution of the State of Indiana was adopted in 1816. Certain duties which had been performed by the county judges, were by the constitution devolved upon a board of county commissioners. The first board, composed of Thomas J. Warman, James Odell, and Thomas Beard, met in Febru- ary, 1817.
The commissioners laid off the following six townships, which then composed the county :
Washington, in the south-west corner of the county; elec-
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
tion to be held at Waterloo. Harrison, east of Washington, to the Ohio state line; election at John Williams's. Jackson, north of Washington ; election at Jacksonburg. Wayne, east of Jackson, to the state line; election at Thomas Lamb's. Perry, north-west part of the county. New Garden, east of Perry, to the state line. Elections were to be held in June, for the election of justices of the peace in the several townships.
The commissioners appointed for the several townships the following officers :
Inspectors of Elections-Train Caldwell, Washington ; Renne Julian, Jackson; Abraham Elliott, Perry; Benj. Harris, New Garden ; John Stewart, Wayne; Joseph Cox, Harrison. Con- stables-Reason Davis, Washington; Samuel D. Lothian, Jackson ; John Bailey, son of Hugh, Perry; John Whitehead, Harrison; Thomas T. Lewis, Wayne; Tense Massey, New Garden. Listers-Stephen Griffith, Washington; Major Dod- son, Ifarrison; Ezekiel Leavel, Jackson ; Henry Hoover, Wayne; Pleasant Harris, New Garden. County Treasurer- John Beard.
At the meeting in May, the commissioners fixed the rates of tavern-keepers' charges as follows: For a meal, 25 cents ; lodging, 6} ; Cognac brandy, rum, or wine, 2 pint, 50; whisky, ¿ pt., 121; eider, qt., 12]; strong beer, gt., 25; horse, night, hay and grain, 50; hay only, 25; single feed, 123. These rates were altered from time to time. In 1820, lodging was judged worth 123 cents. Peach brandy was added to the liquor list at 25 cents the } pint, just one-half the price of the imported liquors. And in 1822, the price of a meal had fallen to 182 cents; whisky to 6c., and peach brandy to 12}c., the ¿ pint. Some young readers may wonder why these fractional parts of a cent were annexed to the price of an article, and how, in paying for it, the exact "change" could be given. Those wishing to know are referred to those who lived when the circulating coin consisted chiefly of the Spanish silver dol- lar, half-dollar, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth. Or, let them divide 100 cents by 2, 4, 8, and 16, and they need make no in- quiry.
John C. Kibbey was " appointed to clear the old court-honse, hang the doors, and keep the same in repair;" and John C.
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LOCATION OF COUNTY SEAT-AGAIN.
Kibbey and John Sutherland were continued " commissioners to superintend the building of the court-house in the town of Salisbury with the same authority they had by virtue of their appointment by the court of the county."
In August, 1817, the commissioners met for the last time at Salisbury. It was "ordered, by James Odell and Thomas Beard, that the board adjourn to Centerville; the other con- missioner, Thomas J. Warman, dissenting, on the ground of the invalidity of the papers accepted at the special meeting in July, and executed by the citizens of Centerville, conveying the county grounds and buildings; the conditions of the law authorizing the removal of the site not having, in his opinion, been complied with. At the meeting of Odell and Beard, at Centerville, a new bond was executed, signed by twenty-one citizens, binding themselves to furnish the county a court- house equal in value and convenience to the one then at Salis- bury. Their names were, Joseph Holman, Wm. Sumner, Isaac .Julian, Levi Jones, John Maxwell, Lewis Thomas, Na- than Overman, Patrick Beard, James Jenkins, Larkin Rey- nolds, Wm. Harvey, Wm. Hosier, Greenbury Cornelius, John Harvey, Francis Culbertson, Jacob N. Booker, Shubael Julian, Thomas Jones, Jeremiah Meek, David Galbraith, Robert Cul- bertson, Jacob Griffin, Jesse Ross, David J. Wood, Samuel King. [Robert Galbraith's name does not appear among the signatures.]
In the spring of 1818, the court was held at Centerville. The next year the question was brought before the court whether Salisbury or Centerville was the county scat. Says Dr. Plummer : " The presiding judge, John Watts, was ab- sent. The associate judges, William McLane and Jesse Daven- port, were of the opposite opinion in this matter. Their de- cision was, 'that the seat of justice was permanently estab- lished at Salisbury ; that the act of December 21, 1816, not having a sufficient repealing clause, has not removed it; but that the act of Jannary 28, 1816, authorized the court to hold their pro tempore session in the town of Centerville, until the legislature should otherwise direct.'" As the legislature has never otherwise directed, the legal county seat, according to the decision of these judges, must still be at Salisbury !
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