USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Remington > History of the town of Remington and vicinity, Jasper County, Indiana > Part 3
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ness, and the amusements of the evening were continued, with the play-
"Happy is the miller who lives by himself, As the wheel goes around he is gaining his wealth," etc.
We will have more to record of the history of this Williams house after progressing a little farther.
The next new comer to put in an appearance in Rem- ton was Samson Sheeks, who came to this place from Boone county, Indiana. He appeared to think it a great credit to have been a citizen of Boone county. He came here to relieve Mr. Lott of the railway station agency. He was a strong believer in christianity and urged the peo- ple of Remington to assist him in improving the morals of the town. He was physically a weak man, being afficted with a cancer on his cheek, which finally carried him away. Mr. Sheeks brought with him a man by the name of McDaniel, who was his brother-in-law. McDaniel appeared to have all kinds of ill luck. Domestic troubles with his wife until they separated, their children siding in with their mother, and against him. The family was composed of two boys and one girl. Mr. Sheeks took a great interest in these children, and made a place for the elder boy, "Neil," in the railway office, where he soon became quite proficient in the details of the office, and with the pen, and very soon he performed nearly all the duties of the office. Mr. McDaniel labored around town at anything he could find to do, which afforded him only a scanty living, and finally was run over by a car and had one of his legs broken. Dr. Longhridge of Rensselaer, Dr. Miller, Dr. Pierce and another doctor from Wolcott, were called to Mr. Sheeks' house, where the patient had been taken, to either set the broken member or remove it. He was placed under the influence of chloroform, and either the chloroform or the great shock to his system resulted in his death. Mr. McDaniel had built on the lot now owned and occupied by Walter Gunn, our hardware man. Mrs.
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McDaniel lived there with her family for several years after the death of her husband. Shortly before the death of Mr. Sheeks, he had turned the station agency business over to his nephew, Neal McDaniel, who, although being quite young, made an excellent agent. In 1862 the tele- graph line was established here, and the railway company sent an oparator here to instruct Neal in the art of telegra- phy. This man was a cripple, and his name was Eaton. Neal mastered the art of telegraphy in about six weeks, to such a degree that he could receive and dispatch messages, with as much facility and ease as many an older and more experienced operator. His younger brother, William, had no aspirations to work or make himself use- ful in any way, for some time, but finally he did to some extent learn the telegraphers' business, and in later years he became an expert operator.` Mary McDaniel, their sister, was also an expert with the pen, and took first prize in a penmanship contest at the close of the writing school of Elden E. Lockwood. This writing school was the first ever taught in Remington. Other members of the school were dissatisfied, on account of the prize having been awarded to Miss McDaniel, arguing that inasmuch as she did not commence taking lessons until the school was about half over, that she was not entitled to it. Yet she received it. This prize was simply a fancy bit of penmanship con- taining all the names of members of the class, and was the work of the teacher, Mr. Lockwood. This writing school was taught in the then new school house, in Reming- ton, in the year 1864. The first day school that was ever taught in Remington was in the winter of 1863-4, and we will speak of this school more particularly, further on.
The next man to locate in Remington was one Cain Marion. He had no particular avocation, but was consid- ered merely a day laborer. Daniel C. Viers bought a quarter section of land cornering with our town plat on the southeast. He built a small house on this land just across the creek. He was an excellent citizen, and a firm
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believer in christianity. He labored faithfully to lead our people from their errors and into the path of righteousness. His arrival here was timely, and much good was accom- plished by him in leading sinners to repentance. He com- menced to improve his farm at once, and the following spring he engaged also in herding cattle south of his farm, which was all an open prairie at that time. He appeared to be quite prosperous, and he enjoyed the good will and esteem of all with whom he had become acquainted. He arrived here in 1863 and his labors continued without interruption until after the building of the Methodist Episcopal Church edifice.
The next on our list of new arrivals we note Mr. Thomas Murphy, who had resided in this locality prior to this, his second coming. He had moved to Kansas, but returned here in 1861, and in the spring of 1862, he built a house, which is now the residence of William Draper. Mr. Murphy was a brother-in-law of William and John Jordan, Sr., and was an uncle of the Jordans who are still living in this neighborhood. He was also a chris- tian gentleman, but judging from a financial point of view he was not a success, probably owing to his over indul- gence in the "ardent." He had also one son who became a citizen of our town, who built a residence of small dimen- sions just west of the present home of Mr. William H. Shaw. His christian name was Marion. Both of the Murphy families removed again to the State of Kansas many years ago, having concluded that Kansas was a much better country than this.
The reader should bear in mind that Remington was not, during these years, lacking for whisky and other intoxi- cants, although the parties dealing in liquors had no retail license, nor even a Government license; they simply carried on a kind of moon-shine business. There were plenty of places where it could be had, in the west, north and south side of the town; thus it is clearly to be seen that the first settlers of Remington, and the surrounding community,
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were not obliged to go thirsty, yet there was a very strong feeling of temperance among the ladies of Remington, although they were quiet for the first six or eight years, but finally they awakened to the necessity and importance of the occasion, and formed a temperance club, framing a constitution and adopting by-laws, and vows for the reformation of the people of the place which was to be accomplished on lines understood only by them, the club or temperance order being in the main a secret institution.
Mr. Timothy O'Connor moved to Remington in the year 1862. He was an assistant section foreman on our railway, and his coming here was to assume charge of the section; he had previously been employed by the company. At the time he moved here the railway track was in a very bad condition, and it required several men to keep the track in such condition that trains could safely pass over it. Mr. O'Connor lived in the section house for some years, and attended promptly to his duties as section foreman. He appeared to prosper, and finally he quit the railway business and engaged in the grocery and liquor busi- ness. Mr. O'Connor secured the trade of all the railway employes, and he enjoyed the patronage of a great many other people residing in Remington, and for many miles in the surrounding country. He was fairly prosperous finan- cially, and he built a grocery store room, on the southeast corner of the block lying immediately north of his private residence. He saved his money and invested it in other lots in the village, upon some of which he built small but substantial houses. The first house he built was his dwelling, which he built in 1865, on the same lot on which the section house was located; he next built his grocery store, just north of his dwelling, as above stated, and in a few years he built two dwelling houses west of his grocery store, and on the southwest corner of the same block. He afterward bought a small tract of land adjoining Reming- ington on the west, on the Goodland road. He engaged in raising cattle and hogs, and farmed in a small way. He
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was well fixed to live, having made the most of his money in the railway business. In the year 1878 he moved his store to the corner of Ohio and Railway streets, where it still remains. Mr. O'Connor was taken suddenly ill about the first of May, 1887, and about three days after- ward he died, and was buried in Logansport, Indiana. His two sons, Daniel and Dennis, have, since his death, car- ried on the business, and are one of the most prosperous firms in the town of Remington.
During the year 1862, the War of the Rebellion being now in active progress, our people were in great doubt as to the result, and were sorely troubled because of their inability to raise their quota of soldiers for the service, as required by the army officials. Our people were continu- ally asking each other why he did not enlist into the service of his country, and, to be sure, every man had an excuse which he considered reasonable, why he could not go. All were hoping and praying that the war would speedily close, none even dreaming, that it would continue so long as it did. Yet some one would occasionally locate in Remington. The next to come being a Thomas White, who located a hotel on the ground upon which the Ex- change Block now stands. In 1863 he had his building completed, and it was at once thrown open for the accom- modation of the traveling public, etc. It was convenient to the depot, and much needed. He built a barn on the lot west of his hotel, and leased it for a livery barn to William Haver, the old auctioneer, who had moved to town. Mr. Haver had a short time previous to this, established a livery business in a small way, in a barn on the lot where Esq. Miller then lived. He had built during the summer there, just north of where Moses French now resides, but moved to this barn built by Mr. White, in order to be near the hotel. Mr. Haver was the first man to engage in the livery business in Remington. He also bought and shipped the first car load of hogs ever shipped in a car from Remington. He did this in 1860.
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In 1860 Mr. Haver was a well-to-do farmer, and in 1863 he moved into Remington, and in connection with his livery business, he engaged in shipping stock, and trading in horses and buggies, and also followed the profession of an auctioneer. He was always ready for a trade of any kind. He finally sold his livery business to Thomas Harris. He had previously built a barn of. his own. This barn is occupied by Jacob S. Barnes & Co., for the purpose of storing hay. It has heretofore been used for various purposes. It has been occupied by Mr. J. Lock for general purposes, by Mr. O. B. McIntire as an ice house, by Mr. John Pugh as a blacksmith shop, by Robert S. Shearer, as grist mill, and by Royalty & Ryan as a grist mill, it now being occupied, as stated above, by J. S. Barnes & Co., as a hay barn.
Mr. Jacob Shew built a house here in the year 1862, on the first corner of the Durand block. He was sawing wood for the railway company when he built this house. In this house was held the first religious services ever held in Remington, the minister's name being John Wood, who preached the first sermon. Uncle William H. Shaw organized the first Sabbath school ever organized in Remington. It was held in the railway depot, and the writer was a regular attendant at this Sabbath school. Mr. Shaw was, and still is, strong in the faith of Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind. When the school house was built Sabbath school was held there, and Mr. Shaw took a great interest in this Sunday school and the pupils. We trust that through his example and teaching, that many . persons have been made better men and women.
In the spring of 1862 a Mr Charles Crompton, who was a shoemaker, located in Remington; he rented the front room of Joseph Lewis' business house and started in to making and repairing boots and shoes. He was a young man and unmarried-he was the first shoemaker to locate in Remington-he did not remain a great while here, and was succeeded by one Vinal Williams, who was
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a married man, with a family of children. His wife was a picture artist, and they thereby established themselves in the two different branches of business. This was the first picture gallery in Remington, and was located up stairs in the building built by John Fisher, which was near the present site of Cheek's meat market, and was built about 1864. D. V. Garrison, who was also an early arrival, started a harness shop. He was a good workman and had his shop upstairs in part of the Donnelley house; Donnelley had, however, started the first harness shop. We had Mr. Garrison to strap a pair of skates for us about the first work he did after locating here. From time immemorial it has been the habit of young people, at least a great majority of them, instead of improving their opportunities for usefulness in middle and later life, to idle their time away, or pass it away in useless and frivolous sport. The early history of Remington proves that it was no exception to this rule. Myself, with perhaps half a dozen other boys of the town would, instead of being engaged in some use- ful avocation, or reading useful books, in the summer sea- son, spend our time in idleness along the creek, and in the winter season we still would be found there, skating, or loafing in the business houses of the town. This was all time worse than wasted by us, and we can all now appreci- ate our failures. We should remember that time is very precious, and that there is never but one moment at once, and when that is gone it never returns. We should improve this time as we journey along life's pathway, thereby gaining a knowledge of many things, for we are taught that knowledge is power. The young should improve their time. The opportunities offered the young people, for strong useful knowledge are now an hundred fold greater than they were in the early history of Reming- ton. The school term then was only of three months duration, and only one teacher was employed to teach the entire school. Then only four or five branches (being all common branches) were taught. There were only six
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branches taught in the first so called high school, and these all taught in one small room. In 1870 there was an addi- tion built to our school house, and the school was then graded and three teachers were employed. This was accomplished about the time the town of Remington was incorporated-up to 1870 the school was merely a town- ship school, and under the control of the Trustee of Carpen- ter Township. After incorporation of the town and the selection of Town and School Trustees of the town, the schools were graded and put under the control of the Board of School Trustees. The first School Trustees were Samuel C. Maxwell, William Railsback and Geo. B. Clark. In the summer of 1863 the people of Carpenter Township built a frame school house in the town of Rem- ton, across the street in a southwesterly direction from the present site of our beautiful and commodious school build- ing. That old school house contained just one room. In the fall of that year the patrons of this school employed Geo. W. Hascall to teach the first school ever taught in Remington, some of the pupils coming from the country. This school had an average attendance of about twenty scholars. Their names, as we now remember them, were as follows: Jacob A. May, Sarah May, Mary Shaw, Frank Shaw, James Royalty, William Royalty, Maggie Miller, John Curry, Martha Curry, Jane Curry, Henry Lewis, Jane Lewis, Eliza Ravenscroft, Henry Lipprant, Sophronia Lipprant, John Jordan, Samuel Jordan, Josephine Jordan, Maggie Oyler, Gertrude Troutman. These constituted the first school of Remington, and it was conceded by all that George W. Hascall was a success as a teacher. He was firm and sufficiently qualified to make a success. When the teacher happened to be absent for a short time we generally did as we liked. We got along very well up to that cold New Year's day (January 1, 1864), but on that day we did not have school, as it was too cold for any one to get to the school house. That was said to be the cold- est day ever known in the county.
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In 1863, John N. Beal and his brother, William Beal, both built houses, and moved into the town of Remington, from the country three or four miles northwest from the town. One of their houses stood on the lot now owned and occu- pied by John E. Hollett, and the other on the lot owned and occupied by Mrs. C. Hardy, west of the Presbyterian church. John Schaffer, a carpenter, came to Remington in 1863. He commenced work at once at his trade. He built more houses in Remington than any other one car- penter that ever worked in the town. He was a contractor with a gang of helpers, being all excellent mechanics. He had as assistants, Esq. Miller and H. Ravenscroft. He was a good man and easy to get along with. It took him only a short time to put up a fair sized house, but the majority of the houses built then were on the smaller order. He built a house for Geo. B. Chappell as his residence in the grove, and he also built one for Esq. Miller, being the second house for Esq. Miller in the town. He built one also for Dennis Wiggins. J. H. Miller sold his first house and Mr. Shaffer built him a second one. When Mr. Wiggins built, he moved into his new house and his son- in-law, Mr. Christian Hensler, moved into his old one- this about the year 1866. Mr. Hensler remained there a short time, or until he moved out into the country on his farm, where he still resides. While Mr. Wiggins lived in Remington he was engaged in the lumber trade. He took hands from here and went to the town of Walton and cut the timber, and had the logs sawed into lumber there, which he had shipped to Remington. This was Reming- ton's first lumber yard. Up to this time all the lumber brought here was ordered as it was required to build with, and perhaps some for fencing purposes. A Mr. Searight did a small lumber business here, his modus operandi being to take orders for lumber and then go to Walton and purchase what his order called for and ship it back here. He also handled coal to some extent, and did a grain business, in the Fordyce elevators' for a short time.
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But Mr. Shaffer still continued in the carpenter business. He built the house formerly .owned by Mr. E. L. Dibell, in the south part of the original plat of the village. He next built the house formerly known as the M. E. parsonage, now owned by Mr. P. H. Lalley. He then again built for his own occupancy the residence now owned and occupied by Mr. John J. Porter, at the north end of Ohio street, in the year 1871. He was the leading house builder and con- tractor of the town. His shop was on the lot where the Bank of Remington is now located. This shop was built in 1864. Shaffer was elected as a member of the Board of Town Trustees in 1877. He took an active interest in the welfare of the town, and labored zealously for its im- provement; he was re-elected Trustee for several succeed- ing terms, and held the office for a longer continuous time than, perhaps, any other man who has held the office of Town Trustee. He built more houses for himself, and others, and made more improvements in Remington than any other carpenter that ever did business here, up to the year 1888. Soon after his arrival here, he wrote for his brother-in-law, Mr. John K. Stoudt, to come and assist him in his work. Mr. Stoudt consented to come, and in the year 1866, he arrived here and commenced work at once with Mr. Shaffer. Mr. Stoudt was a wagon maker by trade, but was a carpenter as well. He quit the car- penter business finally, and confined his labors to the making and repairing of wagons, buggies, farm machinery, etc. Mr. Stoudt has at this time amassed a competency of this world's goods, but he is still engaged at his trade. He has also held the office of Town Trustee for several terms. John K. Stoudt built a small shop on Indiana street, in 1868, in which to work, and in 1871, he bought a dwelling house from his brother-in-law, Mr. Shaffer. Mr. Stoudt sold the residence he had purchased, and bought again on the north bank of the creek, in the south part of town, and a good residence house there, during the year 1876. He lived there from 1876 to the present time.
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He was also the undertaker here for fifteen or twenty years, but has been succeeded in that line of business by John F. Major.
In the year 1888, some of the sports of Remington conceived the idea of organizing a boxing club, which was done, and H. Paxton was selected as teacher for the amateurs. The members of this club were-Phil. Conrad, Charles Harrington, Mala Garrison, Charles Shew, Brit. Hawn, Andrew W. Hawn, James Frame, Charles Smith, Edward Lock, William Morris, Frank Haver and Edward Royalty. The object of this organization was to acquire the science of pugilism, and for the amusement there might be found in it. Some of the boys became quite proficient in this science, and were ready to put on the gloves at any time. Mr. Paxton claims to have commenced his training as a boxer in 1868, just for the sport attached to it, and that he followed it up until he came to Remington, and as before stated he organized this club in 1888. In a short time this club, or most of the members of it, consid- ered themselves experts, and were willing to be recognized as scientists in this line by the outside world, and were ready to meet any person or other club in a friendly con- test of skill with soft gloves.
Mr. Harris, father of our townsman, Thomas Harris, came to this place from Maryland in an early day, and located two or three miles north of Remington. He died in 1868, leaving surviving him a large family of children, nearly all of whom were grown, consisting of three sons and six daughters. He was well to do, and left the family a good farm, which the heirs sold, and moved into the town of Remington, in 1878-that is, the widow and all of the unmarried children; some were married and doing business for themselves. The oldest daughter was married to Mr. George Sage in 1862. Mr. Sage died several years ago, and the widow has married a Mr. Fenwick. They now reside in Jordan Township, about ten miles northwest of Remington. Mr. Harris' second daughter married Walker
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Sage, a brother of George W. Sage. Walker moved into Remington in 1867, and built a house on the west side of the Range Line Road the same year, and moved into it. He continued to live there until his death, which occurred in 1884. His widow became wedded again in the year 1888 to a Mr. Spurgeon. After their marriage they sold their property and moved to Fort Wayne for a while, when they again returned to Remington, where Mrs. Spurgeon soon afterward died. The third daughter of Mr. Harris married Isaac Westfall, who was a farmer at the time, and lived on a part of the Harris farm until his eyes failed him and he became so blind that he could see to do nothing, when he also bought a small place in, and moved to Remington. Thomas Harris, the oldest son, was a farmer in his youthful days, but he married young, and after his marriage he bought out the livery business of William Haver, and moved into Remington. He made this purchase from William Haver in the year 1868, and sold it out again to Messrs. Patton & Shipman during the year 1870.
During the years 1872 and 1873 the liquor dealers of Remington carried on their business through many trials and tribulations. The temperance people, being generally composed of the ladies of the town, came to the conclusion that the sale of liquors should ceases in Remington, and accordingly they organized a temperance club consisting of twelve or fifteen people, with Mrs. Martha Cherry, as the leader. This club was composed of Miss. M. P. Bolles, Miss Mary Blood, Mrs. Wm. Draper, Mrs. Lycurgus Rawls, Mrs. Geo. B. Chappell, Mrs. Mary Haver, Mrs. Samuel Bowman, Mrs. Samuel Black and Mr. Samuel, Black and Mr. Samuel Bowman, with several more, but the above took the lead in the matter. These parties called on the saloon men and requested them to close their places of business, but their request was not heeded, and therefore, armed with axes, they proceeded to the front of J. H. Fountain's saloon, broke it in and emptied all his
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