USA > Indiana > Whitley County > History of Whitley County, Indiana > Part 29
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The following statement will show the strength of this bank at the close of busi- ness hours on January 26, 1907, and the names of the present officers :
Resources.
Loans $ 93.945.05
Overdrafts
2.081.91
Real estate and fixtures
3,600.00
Due from banks 35,096.80
Bonds 898.50
Cash and cash items
9,792.10
$145,414.36
Liabilities.
Capital paid in. $ 25,000.00
Surplus
2,861.85
Deposits
117.552.51
$145.414.36
President, O. C. Gandy ; vice-president, Mose Mayer : cashier, Louis Mayer.
THIE WHITLEY COUNTY BANK.
(Foust, Remington & Co., of South Whit- ley. )
On the 21st day of March, 1895, a deed to the Arnold Bank Building was made by Andrew Shorb to Franklin H. Foust, Fran- cis S. Remington and Iredell B. Rush, who had organized themselves into a partnership under the name of Foust, Remington & Co .. for the purpose of conducting a commercial banking business in South Whitley.
This building had been occupied by the Gandy bank, which now moved across State street into the Johnson building. The new firm remodeled the offices and built a splen- did large burglar-proof vault in the rear of the main office and added all of the modern conveniences necessary to complete a well ar- ranged banking house, and commenced busi- ness soon thereafter. The affairs of the bank were placed in charge of Mr. Remington,
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WHITLEY COUNTY, INDIANA.
who remained in control until his death. which occurred on June 27, 1902. After the death of Mr. Remington his son, James E., who had been an employee in the bank for some years, was placed in charge and the affairs were continued until the bank was reorganized into a state bank and a number of farmers and other business men were admitted to the new organization. Mr. Rush and the Remington interest retired at the time of the new organization.
The new organization is operated under the name of "The Farmers' State Bank" and is in the hands of careful and competent men and is doing a splendid business for its short existence, only having commenced op- erations in May, 1906. The last statement made by this bank upon call of the state will show its condition at the close of busi- ness hours on the 26th day of January. 1907.
Resources.
Loans and discounts $ 70.394.76
Overdrafts 2,884.03
Due from bankers and bankers. 14.394.76
Banking house. 4,280.00
Furniture and fixtures 1.755.00
Current expenses
Cash Currency. 1.560.68
2.357.00
Cash. specie.
3.592.87
Cash items.
134.54
$101.353.64
Liabilities.
Capital paid in. $ 25,000.00
Discounts, exchange, interest. . 2,398.09
Profits and loss
314.46
Deposits on demand 73,641.09
$101,353.64
The officers of this bank are as follows : President, John Swihart; vice-president, Harmon H. Warner; cashier, Robert Emer- SO11.
THE PROVIDENT TRUST COMPANY, OF COLUM- BIA CITY.
This institution is the only one of its kind in the county. The articles of associ- ation under which it is operating were filed with the secretary of state on the 22d day of December, 1899, and its opening was on the 18th day of January, 1900, thus it com- menced with the new century.
Its quarters are neat and commodious, located at No. 222 West Van Buren street, in the new Eyanson building.
It has a capital stock of $25,000.00 and arrangements have been made to double the stock after March Ist of the present year. All of its stock is held by citizens of Whit- ley county. The present officers are as fol- lows and have been in control ever since the original organization :
President, David B. Clugston ; first vice- president. S. J. Peabody; second vice-presi- dent. S. P. Kaler; secretary, Walter F. Mc- Lallen : assistant secretary, W. T. Binder ? general manager. M. L. Galbreath.
In the report made to its directors on January 16, 1907, at the close of business on that day the following statement was. made :
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WHITLEY COUNTY, INDIANA.
Resources.
Liabilities.
Mortgage loans $170.506.00
Capital stock $ 25,000.00
Miscellaneous loans
22,690.40
Surplus
5,000.00
Trust fund loans
5.400.00
Certificates of deposit 138,196.13
Furniture and fixtures
900.00
Current expenses 805.79
Savings 41.538.97
Interest paid .
1,303.06
Trust funds
6.490.95
Bond premium.
300.00
Tax and interest reserve.
2.589.67
Cash on hand
20.507.88
$222.413.13
$222.413.13
ETNA TOWNSHIP.
BY THOMAS W. BLAIN.
Little Etna came from Washington township, Noble county, to Whitley county, in 1859. The causes which impelled the separation, the facts and proceedings are so well set out in the chapter on organization that an attempt to detail them here would be useless repetition. Etna is the smallest township in the county, two miles by six, composed of sections 25 to 36, in towship 33, range 8. It was surveyed at the same time as that part of the county lying directly south of it. When Noble county was or- ganized in 1836, two years prior to the or- ganization of Whitley county, there were about a dozen settlers in Washington town- ship. The election organizing the township was held at the home of Joseph E. Adair, father of Hon. Joseph W. Adair, judge of the Whitley-Noble circuit, and was held April 3. 1837, and Mr. Adair was elected justice of the peace. His residence was in that part of the township remaining in No- ble county.
The first settler was Agard, who came late in 1833 or early in 1834, settling near the Noble county line, north of Albert Tucker's farm. Following him came Kin- ney, who domiciled on what is now the Tucker farm. Both these gentlemen were from Vermont. Kinney was well educated and quite intelligent. His word was taken on all questions as some great constitutional lawyer in the United States senate. He ex- pounded chimney corner law and was au- thority on ecclesiastical as well as secular and scientific questions. He taught the first school in the township in the winter of 1836 and 1837, in his cabin, near the present resi- dence of Albert B. Tucker.
Agard's wife died in a few years and was the first burial in the cemetery laid off by Stephen Martin, just west of Dr. Scott's present residence. Both Agard and Kinney sold out and left the country many years ago. After these, settlers came thick and fast and it is impossible to enumerate their
16
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WHITLEY COUNTY, INDIANA.
names in the order of their coming. Hugh Allison, Jacob Gruemlich, Abrahamn Goble, John Blain, Joshua Benton, James Campbell, Jacob Frederick, Robert Scott, John Scott, The weight of authority is that the Scotts were first after Agard and Kinney. These all came by or before 1836, and by 1841, all the land in the town- ship was entered and much of it set- tled upon. John Scott came in 1833 and settled on the spot where the hamlet of Etna now stands. He had a large family of boys and girls, among which were three grown men. The same year they made a dugout canoe and fished in a little nameless lake, finding fish in abundance. The next year they made another canoe of the same sort and put it on another little lake to the south. When they would talk about going fishing. they would ask "Are you going to the old lake or the new one?" and thus they un- consciously gave names to both these lakes. Jacob Scott, who lived many years on the farm now owned by Ambrose Keister, may be said to have given the lakes their names.
Benjamin Blair settled in the township in 1836, entering a piece of land south of Cold Springs, or Ormas. He partly cleared his forty-acre tract, grubbed it and built a cabin. In 1838, he went up to the Haw Patch above Ligonier to help harvest wheat. He was a most excellent cradler and could make big wages for several weeks. He re- mained in that locality for a couple of years. In 1840 he married Nancy Hunt and came back to his cabin. He soon sold and moved to Elkhart county. Mrs. Blair died in 1846, leaving two daughters. During their resi- dence in Elkhart county he was converted in a Wesleyan revival which was said to have
been the most powerful ever known in north- ern Indiana. From this time he was men- tally unbalanced. He was a man of good character, memory and natural ability, but very limited education. He soon felt him- self called upon to preach, but his church would not give him license and this disap- pointment disturbed him very greatly. The death of his wife soon after, in addition to his already unbalanced condition, made him hopelessly insane, and from that on "Old Ben Blair" was as frightful a scare crow to the children as the celebrated fabled "raw head and bloody bone." He neglected his children and became a roving, noisy maniac. One daughter lived with her grandmother, Mrs. John Scott, at Etna, until the age of fourteen, when she went to her mother's people in Elkhart county and died. The other lived until maturity, married and went away.
He made a great noise and frightful noise, but was never dangerous. His in- sanity took form in preaching. He was always talking scripture but all his harangues were without point. He would approach the house of friend or stranger preaching with his voice in the highest key and the children would scamper to cover. He would preach to a stump, a goose, pig, cow or stone as quickly as to a human being. He found welcome in many homes as an unfortunate insane, yet harmless wanderer and at times would talk intelligently for ten or fifteen minutes and again break out in noisy religious harangue, and if interferred with, would immediately leave the house. His favorite salutation on meeting friend or stranger was: "By the Grace of God!" He never begged but the people furnished
243
WHITLEY COUNTY, INDIANA.
him clothes and sustenance. He had several canes loaded full of coins of small denomi- nations, medals, buttons, etc., and made the late E. L. McLallen custodian of them. Some of these may still be seen in the First National Bank at Columbia City. Mr. Mc- Lallen was good to him and secured his undying friendship. He never belonged to any lodge but used to say that he and brother McLallen were the two highest Masons in the world. For nearly thirty years he was a wanderer over Elkhart, Whitley and No- ble counties, preaching, preaching, always preaching. He died in the early winter of 1873 in the Noble county poor house; his mind never having cleared, even in his last moments. He always requested to be buried ·beside his mother and when death came to his relief, kind friends laid him beside the dear one he so tenderly loved, in the Scott cemetery in Troy township, near the Etna township line.
The first mill in the township was a saw-mill built by Hugh Allison at Cold Springs, in 1837. It was of course the old up and down saw and ran by water. Crude though it was, it was considered a great im- provement. Hall's mill, in Noble township, Henshaw's in York township, furnished the early supplies of lumber to the township. There were grist mills at Oswego and North Webster at a very early day, antedating the Etna township settlements and the people of this part of the county were more fortu- nately situated than those in other parts. The Ryder mill at Wilmot, just across the county line, was built in 1848 and for many years was the most up-to-date mill in the country for many miles adjacent.
The first white birth in the township
was a son born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Scott.
The first death was Mrs. Agard, the sec- ond was Jacob, son of Robert Scott. The third was Sarah Elizabeth Long, daughter of James WV. and Katharine Long in 1838. The first marriage was Elisha Moore to Nancy Scott, in 1837, at the Scott home on the site of Etna town. The first wedding in the township after it became a part of Whitley county was Adam C. Johnson to Margaret Long, in 1860.
The Scotts, Longs and Blains have from the earliest settlements constituted a large and respectible part of the community.
The first steam saw mill was built west of the village of Etna and the next on the Hartup farm in the west part of the town- ship. Abraham Goble conducted a tannery at his home in a very early day. The first school building was a log one built on the corner of Goble's farm and was first 11sed the winter of 1837 and 1838.
The first church built in the township was right on the then county line, being in Noble county, now Etna township, on the south line of the southeast quarter of sec- tion 31. It has been known for many years as the Snodgrass church. It was built in 1840 and was on the farm of John Blain. The first burial in this cemetery was Thomas Long, brother of William C. Long, still in the township. The first services were held at the homes of John Blain and John Snod- grass. The church building yet standing. was built more than sixty-five years ago. The first worshipers here were the families of John Blain, John Snodgrass. Joseph Scott, James Scott, Thomas Kirkpatrick. Levi Belch and others. The denomination
244
WHITLEY COUNTY, INDIANA.
was called Associate Reform, and was re- form from the old seceeder. It is from the old Scotch Presbyterian stock. No religious organization had a more noble parentage, better record or better people. They were old psalm singers. The church organization has gone down but the building never went to any other denomination. The so- ciety was organized by Rev. Robert Kerr. who lived at Oswego.
One of the very earliest burying places was on the Emanuel Fashlaugh farm in the southwest corner of section 30. It was called the Grumlick cemetery. Most of the bodies have been removed to Salem. across the line in Noble county, and to other places. Most of the bodies remaining are of the Grumlick and Goble families.
The town of Etna was surveyed Septem- ber II. 1849. by John H. Alexander, for Lafayette Lamson, who was in business at the place. It consisted of eighteen lots, num- bered from one to eighteen. The plat was acknowledged by Lamson, and recorded in Noble county. September 29. 1849. Though laid out by Lamson the land was owned by John Scott, and on the 2d day of October. 1849. John Scott and Elizabeth, his wife. conveyed to Lamson the entire surveyed town of Etna for the sum of forty dollars. Lamson named the town Etna in honor of the place he came from in Ohio, and when the township was stricken from Noble coun- ty it also took the same name. The lots are four and a half by nine rods.
November 19, 1878, Dr. S. S. Austin platted and recorded an addition to the town consisting of twelve lots, numbered consecu- tively I to 12. Levi Adams was the sur- veyor. Lots i to 6 are ten rods by four
and four twenty-fifths; lots 7 to 12 are nine by four and four twenty-fifths rods. The streets are West, Line and Mechanic.
Cold Spring's was laid out and surveyed May 9, 1856. by Jacob Keefer, and was surveyed on that day by D. W. Myers, sur- veyor of Noble county. It consists of lots I to 16, seventy-four and a quarter by one hundred forty-eight and a half feet. Keefer did not acknowledge and record the plat until November 19, 1856, and on that day he and his wife, Maria Jane Keefer. conveyed lots 7 and 12 to the Free Will Baptist church, the consideration being that they should erect thereon a church for the worship of Almighty God and allow any and all other evangelical denominations to hold services therein, without charge. when they were themselves not using it. This church is called "The First Church of Noble, Free Will Baptist Church." It was organized in 1837, by Elder Pullman at the residence of John Prickett. in Washington township. Services were held in dwelling- houses and schoolhouses until 1853. They began building the old frame church in Cokl Springs in 1851, but as the people were poor and it was built entirely by donation, was not finished until 1853. It was built when the town was platted and three years before the deed was made to the organiza- tion by Keefer. . The congregation continued to worship in the first building until 1888, when they erected the present brick veneered church. The charter members were John Prickett and wife, Nicholas Prickett and wife, Paul Beezly and wife, Mr. Graham and wife, Andrew Humphrey and wife, and Mrs. Piper. The present trustees are B. F. Cooper, M. W. Bristow and E. E. Knapp.
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WHITLEY COUNTY, INDIANA.
The first cemetery was laid out by Stephen Martin in 1835. he being himself a surveyor. No plat of it was ever recorded and but little of it is now left. It was di- rectly west of Doctor Scott's farm residence. There were quite a number of burials at the place, but quite early it was abandoned and the greater part of the bodies were taken up and moved to the Scott cemetery at the southwest corner of section I, Troy township, and some to other places. As early as 1838, Robert Scott dedicated a plat on his farm for a cemetery. This is west of Cold Springs and in the center, on the east line of section 26. A number of bodies were removed from Martin's to this place. There are still a few burials of old families at the place.
The people of Etna have always been morally and peaceably inclined. If there were no more litigation in the county than in this township the courts would close and the jail remain empty. The township has always been well supplied with churches and never had a saloon. Three different at- tempts have been made to run quart shops, but they soon suspended for want of patron- age.
The change from Noble to Whitley count- ty disarranged the school districts and while Etna is exactly the right size for three schools the roads are and always have been wrong for the arrangement. Soon after the change five school houses were erected and five districts were maintained until the con- solidation three years ago.
These school districts were oddly ar- ranged and no one seems to know when or how they came by their location. one of them being right on the Noble county line. Until
very recent years the five schools were al- ways as full as in the neighboring town- ships where four square miles constitute a district. Many pupils were from time to time transferred from Troy township and also from Noble county, their share of the tui- tion fund being paid to the trustee of Etna township.
Three years ago a large central school building was erected at a cost of about twelve thousand dollars, just west of the town of Etna with four rooms and main- taining a high school with good standards. All the children of the township now go there. and from maintaining five schools and five school houses where there should have been only three, the township has changed to one central school building with four rooms and four teachers. Quite a number of pupils from Troy township and from Noble county are each year trans- ferred to this place and materially assist in furnishing the revenue. This move has put the township deeply in debt, but ten or twelve years will pay the debt which leaves the township in better financial shape than most town and city school corporations. The outlay was great in the start, but was fully justified by the economy in the present system, together with the greater efficiency. Three school transfer wagons are run to carry the children from the remote parts of the township to school. All the school houses have been sold.
Olive Chapel. United Brethren church. was organized in 1844. The first members were the Grumlich family, John .A. Miller and wife and Joseph Welker and wife. The first minister was Rev. Todd. Other early ministers were Snepp, Hiker, Shomas, Had-
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WHITLEY COUNTY, INDIANA.
ley. Richeart, Fast. Forbs, Freeman, Slight. The following are the ministers of later years in their order :
J. F. Martin, Seithman, Simons and Wood, each one year; Cleaver, two years; Eby, one year ; Cummins, three years ; Bell, two years ; W. F. Simons, two years; Butler and Miller, each one year; Byrer, Riley, Mattox and Showley, each two years; Fet- ro, three years ; Sickafoose, two years ; Dun- kle, one year; Hill, two years. Rev. G. H. Hutchinson is present pastor.
Services were first held in homes and school houses. The present building was erected in 1880 at a cost of two thousand two hundred dollars. There are at present forty members. The present trustees are A. C. Brosman. H. Batz and A. Hines. The cemetery is known as the old Grumlich ceme- tery and a Mr. Grumlich was the first burial.
The Etna Methodist Episcopal church was organized in 1867 by Rev. A. Lacey. The first members were Virgil Barber and wife. Jacob Bowlby and wife, William Blain and wife and Hannah Scott.
The present church building was erected in 1888. Rev. S. B. Stuckey is present pas- tor.
The Baptist church two miles west of the town of Etna, called the First Troy Bap- tist church because it was organized near Troy Center in 1847, was organized with the following persons: Samuel, Sally, Al- mond and Katharine Palmer, Joseph and Martha Walton. James Grant, Samuel El- der, J. H. Sowerman, Elisha S. and Lucinda Havens, Alfred and Betsy Jordan, Hiram, Sarah and Sarah A. Lambkin, Harvey and Mary Orcutt, Samantha Trumbull, Jemima Palmer. Elizabeth Campbell, James and
Eunice Latson, William James, Henry and Frances McLallen and Phebe Barnes, Field- ing, Eliza and Zachariah Barnes. Among the early ministers were Revs. D. Scott, Ira Gratten, E. Barnes, Worth and Coyle. There was never a church building in Troy. services were generally held in the Troy Center schoolhouse.
The church was reorganized as the Etna township Baptist church December 20, 1862, with the following members: Harvey and Mary Orcutt, Joseph S. and Sarah Palmer, Saruch and Anna Benton, Anna Jones, Se- mantha Trumbull, J. L. and Mary McLeod. The present church building was erected in 1869 at a cost of twenty-four hundred dol- lars.
The towns because of their isolation have never made much headway. About all there is of Cold Springs is the church, a general store and a few dwelling houses.
Etna has two general stores, drug store, meat market, barber shop, hotel and black- smith shop. Dr. J. William C. Scott is the only physician. The Grand Army of the Republic and Independent Order of Odd Fellows have each a hall and lodge. The lodge of Modern Woodmen use the Grand Army of the Republic hall. There are about sixteen dwellings. The township has five lakes, all in the east half of the township. Loon lake. the largest, covers the greater part of the east half of section 36. the south- east corner of the township. It also skirts corners of both Troy and Thorncreek town- ships and a great part is in Noble county. Dollar lake. about the center of the south half of section 25, is small and almost round, thereby resembling a silver dollar from which it takes its name. It used to be said
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WHITLEY COUNTY, INDIANA.
it had no bottom, but it has been found to be comparatively shallow, from twenty to thir- ty feet deep, with a few quite deep places. Old lake covers about fifty acres in sections 36 and 35. We have already shown how it came by its name. It has an average depth of twenty-five to thirty feet. Brown lake, covering some ten acres, is in the cen- tral west half of section 26. It is shallow with muck margins and marl bottom. It takes its name from the owner of the adjoin- ing land. Indian lake, about the same size as Brown lake, is near the center of the northeast quarter of section 27, and is also a shallow marl muck lake.
On Wednesday, the 21st day of August. 1878, Mr. Halderman, who had a saw-mill near the west bank of Old lake. desiring a hired girl, Joe Nickerson, son of Elder Nick- erson, of Wolf lake, who was working for him, offered to go and get one. The offer was accepted and Nickerson said he would stay till he found one. He went at once to Hills, about three-quarters of a mile north- east of Loon lake, and secured Katie Hill
and started with her a little before dark, going in a boat across Loon lake and thence through the channel between Old and Loon. When near Old lake a dog began barking terribly and the owner listening heard a woman scream and a man trying to pacify her. This was about nine o'clock Wednes- day evening. Nothing was thought of their absence, Hills supposing Katie was at work at Haldermans and Halderman supposing Nickerson had not got the girl and went else- where. On Friday afternoon some boys fishing found the boat they had used, Nick- erson's coat and a paper of tobacco being in the boat. Search began on land and water and it was now first discovered that they were gone. On Saturday evening the bodies of the two were found in ten or twelve feet of water twenty-five or thirty feet from the outlet of Old lake. There were no marks of violence on either body. The two had been engaged at one time, but owing to the dissolute character of the man she had brok- en the engagement.
THE WHITLEY COUNTY GRANGES.
BY HENRY H. LAWRENCE.
The Grange had its origin in that period of general depression of the early 'seventies. Not only was there a great slackening of the commercial pulse but it extended everywhere and the unrest was perhaps greater in the rural districts than anywhere else. Farmers felt they were not having what is now termed the "square deal" and that they were getting the worst end of the bargain in all
lines. This culminated in the establishment of a great farmers' alliance called the grange and it spread with lightning rapidity all over the land.
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