USA > Indiana > Whitley County > History of Whitley County, Indiana > Part 41
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was that the "ague." the terrible disease of that period, was not so severe in its ravages among the hills as it was around the swamps of Washington and Jefferson townships.
The first permanent settler was Moses Fairchild, who was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, July 19. 1811. When a young man. he worked by the month until he had ac- cumulated one hundred dollars, and in 1837 he joined the tide of western emigration and in his travels visited this part of Indiana and, being pleased with the appearance of the country, entered the west half of the southeast quarter of section 18, in what was afterward Jefferson township. He im- mediately returned to Ohio, where he re- mained one year, making money with which to begin life in the wilderness of Indiana. In September, 1838, he came west with his family, which consisted of his wife and one child, which he left at Lot Bayless's, who was living in Allen county, near the line, umil he couldl build a cabin for their re- ception. In order to reach his land he fol- lowed a road cut by William Plummer, who was located in the southern part of Union township, and from Mr. Plummer's he cut his way south to his land. Here, with the
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help of three men, he erected a rude cabin, sixteen by eighteen feet, into which light was admitted through one small window made by cutting a section from one of the logs. Into this shelter, with no floor or fire-place, he moved his family, and shortly after added a puncheon floor, a fire-place with a stick chimney, and a table made of split boards and fastened to the side of the building. At this time, two dim Indian trails were the nearest approach to a road in the township, and soon after his settle- ment he cut a road about seven miles east- ward, along the blazed section lines to Lot Bayless's, thus giving him a nearly direct route to Fort Wayne. This took twelve days of liard labor, was the first permanent road in the township, and has ever since been known as the "Fairchild road."
Mr. Fairchild's wife, Eve, died August 13, 1850, leaving a family of six children, an infant dying soon after the mother's death and a daughter, Ann, dying some years later. The husband and father sur- vived until June 3, 1879, when he died at the age of sixty-eight years and his remains lie buried in Oak Grove cemetery, three miles southeast of Columbia City. Moses Fairchild was an eccentric character, with no book education, but was a shrewd busi- ness man, a successful farmer and acquired considerable property. He owned the first combined reaper and mowing machine in the vicinity. The writer well remembers seeing him on horseback, sowing oats broad- cast, with a covering over his horse's head to keep the grain out of its ears. It was said that he could not be lost in the woods in the day time. When others became lost while in his company, he would point in a
direction and say, "That is the way to go." strike right out and soon it would be proven that he was right. Only two of his children are living at this writing and both are resi- dents of Jefferson township. They are Mrs. Mary Jane Brock, wife of Samuel Brock, and Solomon Fairchild, who enjoys the dis- tinction of being the oldest permanent resi- dent of the township, having been a con- tinuous resident since September, 1838.
About the time Fairchild settled in the western part of the township, or perhaps a year or two before, a man by the name of Dunlap settled in the eastern part on the county line in section 24, on the farm now owned by Michael Oser. He erected a small cabin and cleared a few acres. If the meager accounts concerning him can be relied upon, he remained in the township only about one year. During his residence here, he lost a small child which was buried in Allen coun- ty and was perhaps the first death of a white person in the township.
Nathaniel Decker became a resident of Jefferson township about the year 1840. and occupied the cabin vacated by Dunlap. He was a remarkable hunter and trapper and was known as "Hunter Decker," or "Bloody Decker." When he killed a deer, he would throw it across his shoulder and carry it home : thus his clothes would nearly always be bloody, hence his name, "Bloody Decker." His rifle was an old-fashioned flint lock, the barrel alone weighing eighteen pounds, and one pound of lead made only twenty bullets for his gun. He was an expert bee hunter and could look squarely at the sun and not wink an eye. He was a very tall man, and the stumps of the trees that he cut down were from twelve
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to sixteen inches higher than those cut by an ordinary man. He could stand erect and touch his knee-pans with the tips of his fingers. Mr. Decker was a man of family and it is said that if a stranger approached his cabin in the summer time, the children would scatter to the woods like so many pheasants. Among the children were two girls named Alabama and Louisiana. Mr. Decker and his family left Indiana in 1851, going to Illinois and afterward drifting to Missouri. It is said that during the war of the rebellion he and one son wore the gray, while two of his sons fought under the stars and stripes. Mr. Decker was an expert oarsman, and during the war he was hired to row some men across the Mississippi river. When he reached the opposite shore the wind was blowing so hard that he was afraid to undertake the return trip. He laid down in his boat to await the falling of the wind and being very warm from rowing, took cold while asleep, which developed pneumonia from which he died.
While living in Jefferson township he and a brother, Levi Decker, who was stay- ing with him at that time, cut down a large oak tree for bees. The tree in falling bent down a hickory-elm tree until the top nearly touched the ground but it did not break it, and, becoming loose in swinging back, threw a large limb which struck Levi Decker and killed him instantly. This happened in the winter time, when a big snow was on the ground, and Octavius Phelps hauled the body to the house on an ox sled. He was buried on a knoll somewhere on section 24. near the reserve line, but the place is now plowed over and no one knows the exact spot where sleeps the unfortunate bee hunter.
The next on the list of Jefferson town- ship pioneers is Patrick Clark, of Irish na- tivity, who settled on what was afterwards the Illinois road, in the spring of 1839. It is well known that since St. Patrick's Day frogs and snakes have been unknown in Ireland, and a little incident which this fact explains is related of Mr. Clark. When moving west after his arrival in this coun- try. he passed a pond where a chorus of frogs were "singing," and he stopped to get "some of those young ducks," 'as he sup- posed them to be. He continued his efforts until a man came along and gave him a short lesson in natural history. A number of Mr. Clark's descendants still live in the vicinity where their ancestor first settled nearly sev- enty years ago.
It is to be regretted that the names and experiences of all of the old settlers cannot be given with greater accuracy and detail, but the following list contains the names, so far as obtainable, of those who settled in the township previous to its organization in the spring of 1845: Moses Fairchild, Pat- rick Clark, Nathaniel Decker, Jonathan Chadeayne, Israel Poinsett, Anthony Poin- sett, William Phelps, James Blee, Thomas Blee, William Blee, Latham Blee, Absalom Bayless, Thomas McGlaughlin, Robert Gage, Michael C. Crowel, Leonard S. Maring, Clement Deering, Henry C. Crowel, Chancy Hadley, Benjamin F. Davis, John Chandler, John McTaggart, James Mc- Dorman, James Kincaid, Daniel Barcus, Hiram H. Clark and Robert S. Bell. As near as can be learned, the above named pioneers are now all dead, Henry C. Crowel being the last to pass over. He died in Fort Wayne, Indiana, January 14, 1906, in his ninetieth year.
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Jonathan Chadeayne was a blacksmithi and erected the first forge in the township. which was located on section 34. Mr. Chadeayne afterward sold his property in the township and invested his all in a canal boat and a cargo of corn, but while on his way to Toledo with his load, the boat was sunk near that city and the corn lost. Soon after this, Mr. Chadeayne died in Toledo.
Anthony Poinsett was a noted hunter. He owned the northwest quarter of section 29, a portion of which he named the "Buck Patch." He had married in New Jersey, before coming to Indiana, but his wife had died and left a little daughter in the east. Mr. Poinsett made his home in Whitley county until the spring of 1884, when a niece came from the east and took him home with her.
William Phelps settled on the northeast quarter of section 25, in November, 1841. He emigrated from Franklin county, Ohio, ten miles north of Columbus, making the trip in a wagon in which he hauled his family and household goods and drove a number of cattle, hogs and sheep. Mr. Phelps afterward moved to Allen c ity, near Fort Wayne, where he died He was the first road supervisor in Jefferson township and his district included the whole township. His son, Octavius Phelps, still resides in Jefferson township, on section 25. where he has lived continuously since 1841, except a short time that he resided in Allen county. He was born June 8, 1825, has taught school and been an honored and use- ful citizen.
The Blee brothers settled in Jefferson township in December, 1841. They were born in Ireland and came to America in
1833. The brothers, James, John and Wil- liam, lived for many years in a large brick house on their farm in section 25. They never married and lived to be very old.
In the fall of 1843. a company of emi- grants left Richmond county, Ohio, with ox teams, with the intention of making homes in the western wilderness. Their first stopping place in Indiana was at An- derson, in Madison county, and a part of the company spent the following winter at Marion, Grant county. Leonard S. Maring and his brother, Calvin, and two brothers-in- law, Ira Jackson and Robert S. Bell, pushed northward to Huntington, where they were induced by Charles Lewis to visit some land that he had for sale in the southern part of Whitley county. Mr. Lewis accompanied them on their prospecting tour, and after looking at several tracts of land, they re- turned to Huntington, not very well pleased with the looks of Whitley county. How- ever, after some further prospecting, they returned to Whitley county and each pur- chased land in what is now Washington and Jefferson townships. Mrs. Leonard S. Maring drove the oxen and wagon, while her husband and companions cut the road through the woods to their land. Mr. Mar- ing erected a log cabin on the piece of land purchased by liim, being a part of the south- east quarter of section 24, in Washington township, and moved into the same. January I, 1844, in the meantime, camping out. sleeping in the covered wagon and cooking by a log heap. The vicinity was known for many years after as the "Maring's settle- ment," and is located about one mile south of the village of Forest. Several other fam- ilies soon located here and in 1847 the set-
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tlement had increased to quite a colony. Mr. Maring soon disposed of his land to his brother Jacob, and purchased the west half of the northeast quarter of section 18, in Jefferson township, which was ever after his home and where he died February 22, 1892.
Up to this time the township had not been organized for the transaction of busi- ness and at the presidential election of 1844 a number of the residents went to Washing- ton township to cast their votes. In the spring of 1845 a number of the residents of the territory petitioned the board of county commissioners to organize the township for civil purposes, and when the petition was be- ing circulated several names were suggested. Some proposed "Raccoon," in honor of Rac- coon Village in the southeast corner of the township on the Wabash & Erie Canal ; others favored "Polk." as James K. Polk was then the newly elected President of the United States; Moses Fairchild, the first permanent settler of the township and who was a native of Fairfield county, Ohio, wanted the' township named "Fairfield." Chancy Hadley was the last to sign the pe- tition and after writing his name, he wrote the words "Jefferson Township" on the out- side of the paper. He and his family had recently moved from Jefferson township, Richland county, Ohio, and in remembrance of his old home he desired that the new township be called "Jefferson." When the petition was presented to the board of com- missioners the name "Jefferson" was adopted. and it was ordered that "the cit- izens of said township meet at the dwelling- house of Michael C. Crowel, in said town- ship, on the first Monday in April, 1845, then and there to open and close an election
according to law, and elect a justice of the peace and all township officers that the law requires ; that Michael C. Crowel be in- spector of said election and that they do their civil business under the name and style of Jefferson township."
Pursuant to the above order, ten voters met at Mr. Crowel's on Monday, April 7, 1845, and set running the political machinery of the township. Mr. Crowel's residence was on the northwest quarter of section 8, on the Illinois road. The ten voters, as nearly as can be learned, were: Michael C. Crowel. Henry C. Crowel. Moses Fairchild, Patrick Clark. Jonathan Chadeayne, Leon- ard S. Maring, Latham Blee, James Blee, Chancy Hadley and Robert S. Bell. For justice of the peace, Leonard S. Maring re- ceived nine votes and Jonathan Chadeayne one vote. Latham Blee was elected one of the board of trustees, but the names of the other officers elected could not be learned. Mr. Maring soon after filed his bond with Michael C. Crowel and Moses Fairchild as sureties thereon, and qualified as the first justice of the peace of Jefferson township and held the office three years: he was also a member of the township board of trustees from 1848 to 1851.
In 1844 Benjamin F. Davis and his brother-in-law, John Chandler, settled on the farm now known as the Samuel Braden farm, which is the southeast quarter of sec- tion 23. They erected a double log cabin, Davis occupying one room and Chandler the other. Mr. Davis and his wife were well educated, and here in the spring of 1845. in the room occupied by the family. Mrs. Davis taught the first school in Jeffer- son township. She was paid by subscrip-
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tion and had a school of about seventeen small scholars. Mr. Davis came from Cam- den, Jay county, Indiana, where he had an interest in a nursery and it is said that he propagated the celebrated "Ben Davis" apple. Mr. Davis soon left Indiana and it is said he went to Arkansas, where he died.
Robert S. Bell was a successful hunter and during the early days of the settlement killed many deer and it is said that he killed the last one seen in the vicinity. This was killed during the winter of 1865-66, in Moses Stewart's corn field on the farm now owned by Dr. S. R. White in Washington township. Once the people of Maring's set- tlement were out of meat and Mr. Bell un- dertook to supply their wants. In the evening he and a companion made their way to a pond nearly a mile away where the deer often gathered and soon the report of a rifle told of his success. Soon it became quite dark and there was danger of the hunt- ers getting lost unless they had some guid- ance. This was given by Mrs. Philip Mar- ing, who blew a conch shell until the men came, one carrying a deer and the other the gun. Mr. Bell is the hero of a wolf story that is worth relating here. He was roam- ing through the woods one day with his gun when he found a hollow log in which he discovered some young wolves. At the risk of an attack from the old wolves, Mr. Bell crawled into the log and secured the young ones. The county offering a reward for wolf scalps at that time, he took them to Columbia City but was told that he must kill them before he could collect the bounty. This he did, but they were such innocent looking little creatures that to kill them Mr. Bell declared was about the hardest work
he ever did. Mr. Bell claimed to have killed four hundred and eighty-four deer: some of them, however, were killed in Ohio before he came to Indiana. He raised a family of eight children and the game killed by his trusty rifle was a great help in supplying their wants. Mr. Bell's home was the south- west quarter of section 30, which was his home until his death. January 18. 1878.
Absalom Bayless, who died in August, 1843. was among the very first of the pio- meers to pass away. His remains were buried in a lot on the southeast corner of section 24, which was made a family burial ground and some tall evergreen trees mark the spot to-day.
When the township was first settled, Indians were quite numerous and were fre- quent callers at the settlers' cabins. One of their trails passed near the cabin of Mr. Fairchild. where they frequently called to beg a little meal or salt, or to borrow a ket- tle to do their cooking. He always treated them kindly and in return they would some- times bring him a piece of venison or some fish, and they sometimes stored their hides at his house until they were sold. Leonard S. Maring related that at one time he had killed a deer which he had hung up near his cabin. He had a large dog which he left to watch the deer. Soon an Indian approached and Mr. Maring had hard work to keep the dog from attacking the Indian, who stood his ground and kept saying: "Good dog. good dog." He evidently admired a dog that was so faithful to his trust.
Patrick Clark was not so friendly with the Indians, and regarded them as a worth- less, good-for-nothing set for whom he had no use. They would roam over his land with
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their dogs, cut down trees for bees and coon, which became very annoying to Mr. Clark. At one time a band of Indians had camped in a deserted cabin on Clark's land and he concluded that the best way to get clear of them would be to tear down the cabin. Accordingly, he took his axe and commenced to demolish the building when forty Indians came out and slunk away in the woods. Mr. Clark's son, Thomas, afterward. in relating the incident, declared that he would not have done what his father did for all of Jefferson township.
The Indians that were here when the first settlers came, generally were harmless and were rarely known to steal, although their begging proclivities were equal to those of our modern gypsies.
In the early days of the settlement the roads or trails were so obscure that they were easily lost and many a belated traveler has been obliged to camp out and build a fire to keep the wolves away. Moses Fairchild and Patrick Clark once attended a conven- tion at Columbia City, where the excitement and enthusiasm were so great that it was near sun-down when they started for home and darkness was on them before they had gone many miles. When they separated to take different trails, it was not long before they both became lost. Mr. Fairchild finally tied his horse to a tree, built a fire and lay down to wait for coming day, with the wolves howling all around him. When day- light arrived and revealed his situation, he found himself near the edge of his own clearing.
Game of all kinds was plenty and the early settlers would many times have faced starvation had it not been for the deer.
turkeys, squirrels and other game that was brought down with the trusty rifle. Wild honey was in abundance and added a luxury to the homely fare, while maple syrup and sugar were depended upon not only to sup -. ply the sweets, but to exchange for clothing and other supplies for the family.
Going to market and to mill was no pleasant task in those early days, as the roads were but wagon tracks through the dense woods and the streams all had to be forded. The women and children were often left alone for days while the husbands and fathers were gone. Most of the settlers went to Fort Wayne for their milling and other supplies, and would often have to wait a day or two for their turn at the mill, and in coming home would sometimes be obliged to camp out two or three days until the subsidence of the swollen streams would allow them to cross. Sometimes they would plunge through with cattle partly swimming and wagon and grist completely under water.
Excepting the ague, the settlers generally had good health, but sometimes the children sickened and the anxious parents worried in the rude cabins until relieved by returning health or by death. If the latter, a father would sometimes be compelled to dig a grave in the woods for the body of his own child. Who can describe the burial scene when the parents are the only mourners ? But these scenes were not numerous; for although the neighbors were few and widely scattered. in time of sickness or death there were will- ing hands to assist.
Sometimes, perhaps, a sturdy pioneer would be laid low by the falling of a giant oak, or by the accidental discharge of a gun, and some spot must be selected in which to
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bury the dead. A number of such places were marked in Jefferson township in early days which, sad to say, are unknown to-day, and where once a mound of fresh earthi designated the sacred spot, now grass and grain are growing unmolested.
Three permanent cemeteries are in use in Jefferson township at the present time. an account of the beginning of which will perhaps be of interest here.
About 1850, Samuel Braden, who lived at that time on the southeast quarter of section 23. lost a small child which was buried near the southeast corner of said section, and soon after Mr. Braden deeded to the public for a burying-ground about one acre of ground. A child of William MI. Gillespie was the next to be buried there, and Mrs. David Aker was the first adult person to be interred in the new cemetery. There are perhaps between two or three hundred graves in the place to-day and it is known as the "Broxon Cemetery." A large monument marks the grave of Samuel Braden, the donator of the ground, and there is also a nice monument at the grave of Andrew Scott, who was accidentally killed at a wolf hunt on February 1, 1854, an ac- count of which will be found at another place in this history.
The body of Mrs. Albert Hatfield. mother of James M. Hatfield, of Hunting- ton, has lain in this old cemetery for more than forty years, and a few feet from her grave is the grave of her mother, Jane Dyer. who was born in Virginia in 1784, and a few feet further away lies Sarah Jeffries, a half sister of Mrs. Hatfield, who was born on the first day of the nineteenth century. Jane Dyer had a brother, Robert Buckles, wlio
was a soldier in the army of General An- thony Wayne in his campaign in 1793-4 against the forces of Little Turtle, when that great Indian chieftain was defeated and routed, but the life of Robert Buckles, given up on the banks of the Maumee, was a part of the price paid for that victory.
Elza Roberts, one of the pupils at the old red schoolhouse near by, became a sol- dier in the war of the rebellion, but died in the service and his body was brought back and buried in this cemetery.
On Saturday, May 24, 1856. Flora Catharine Maring, daughter of Leonard S. Maring, died, aged eight years and one month. The parents decided to bury their child on the home farm for the present and perhaps in the future the remains could be removed to a more desirable spot. Accord- ingly, after a funeral service at the old family residence, on a beautiful spring Sab- bath morning, conducted by Rev. Keplinger, she was buried in what was then a corner of the woods. Jackson Ihrig dug the grave and this was the beginning of Evergreen cemetery on section 18. Soon after, James Dunfee and several others were buried there and it was decided to make the place a per- manent burial ground, and Mr. Maring and Minard Lefever each deeded to the public one-half acre of ground for that purpose. Some bodies were removed from other places and re-interred there and the city of the ‹lead has steadily grown until it now contains several hundred graves.
Four soldiers of the war of 1812 were buried in Evergreen cemetery. They are, John Ihrig, who died April 19. 1867, Zephaniah Bell, died March 29. 1876, Philip Maring, died September 17, 1879, and David
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Jackson, who died in August, 1883, aged ninety-seven years.
Many years ago, Anderson Smith laid off a plat of ground near the northwest corner of section 15, and donated it for a public cemetery. A child of Mr. Smith is said to have been the first person buried there, which was the beginning of what is known as Sand Bank cemetery. Among the pioneers buried there may be mentioned : James Broxon. Thomas Kemp, Rev. Heze- kialı Maddox, John Saures, John Robinett, Henry Londt, Oliver Smith, etc.
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