USA > Indiana > Lake County > Lake County, Indiana, from 1834 to 1872 > Part 15
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LAKE COUNTY.
ing whites, genuine pioneers in civilization, rearing for themselves a cabin on choice hunting grounds, surrounded by some twenty laughing savages, show the difference be- tween the White and Red families of man, or rather between man now native and man instructed; and the moralist would read a deeper lesson, the difference be- , tween providing by effort for present and future wants and thriftless negligence. The log cabins have been re- placed by some stately mansions ; but where are now the laughing Pottawatomies ?
This same settler returning from the Wabash region with a wagon load of provisions, drawn by oxen, and ac- companied by one of his sons, having been absent many days longer than was anticipated, reached the bank of West Creek near night-fall, and found the water so high that his team could not ford the stream. Leaving the oxen to look out for themselves, and his son to sleep in the wagon, with some corn meal in a sack strapped on his head, he swam the creek and reached his home, dis- tant some half mile from the bank, and supplied the most pressing home want. The next day, trying in vain to borrow some good canoes from his Indian neighbors, who although not troublesome, do not seem to have been ob- liging, he brought his son over in a little "dug-out," and also an additional supply of provisions, and left the wagon for some two weeks, until the water abated.
LONG HIGHWAYS.
There is an old saying, " It is a long lane that never turns." Of the various wagon roads crossing the county in different directions, three are on continuous straight lines for many miles.
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
The north and south road, from near Hickory Top, through Winfield, on a section line one mile west of the Porter county line, is straight and continuous for about eight miles.
The north and south road on the east line of Sections Eight and Seventeen, passing along-side of Crown Point, is straight for more than ten miles.
The east and west road, the continuation of North Street, eastward towards Valparaiso, runs from the west side of Section Eight, on section lines, due east to the limit of the county, and continues on the same line till it reaches the Gates' place, from whence it bears northeast for a few miles into the city of Valparaiso. Length in this county, eight miles.
BRICK DWELLING HOUSES.
Of these there are few in the towns. Of farm houses :. built of brick, there are nine. Jacob Wise built in 1856 .. Thomas Hayward built in 1860. John Sturdevant . burnt a kiln of brick and erected a house in 1861 or 1862 : at a cost of $3000. It is now owned by W. T. Dennis .. Jabez Clark built a flat-roof brick on Lake Prairie in: 1861. Jonas Rhodes built about 1866. Dates of the others not known.
NORTH TOWNSHIP.
This portion of the territory of Lake is not productive in grain, nor in wool, nor has it any special manufactur- ing interest ; but its exports bring in a large amount of money. These exports are wild fruits, huckleberries, cranberries, and wintergreen berries; also wild game. It is asserted by good authority that the fruit crop of North amounts to more in a season than the whole grain crop
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of Centre Township. Its natural features, as formerly mentioned, are the sand hills, and marshes, and the wind- ing Calumet, and that great blue lake. The proximity of the northwestern part of it to Chicago, especially to South Chicago, is making the land quite valuable; and when Indiana City starts again into existence and sixteen or twenty miles of the Calumet River-a great inland lake harbor-are, like the Chicago River, dotted with the white sails of commerce, and plowed by the noisy little steam tugs, those waste miles of North, that we used to consider so dreary and desolate, will be worth thousands and even millions of dollars.
A glance at the map will suggest that, if the waters fail not, the ducks and the musk-rats, the hunters and trap- pers, must retire before the advancing interests and forces of commerce.
The first white girl born in Lake county, so far as is known, was Samantha J. Fuller, born May 5, 1837, a daughter of Oliver Fuller, who became a resident in Feb- ruary, 1837.
The first brick kiln, near Crown Point, was burned in 1841, by Dr. Farrington and C. M. Mason. Before this time the chimneys had been built of sticks and mud. Now brick chimneys began to appear.
The first regular 4th of July celebration at Crown Point, on record, was in 1841, and S. Robinson's memo- randum of it, connected with a notice of the Temperance Society, is as follows : "And the celebration of the 4th of July with cold water and a pic-nic dinner was the hap- piest one, to some three hundred men, women, and chil- dren, that I ever saw."
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
The first mapping in the county was done by Solon Robinson ; the maps being colored by Mrs. J. A. H. Ball, the first resident painter in water-colors. It seems strange that not a solitary one. of the hundreds of those first maps, colored at Cedar Lake, can now be found in the county.
The first cheese factory in our limits was started, in 1867, by Wellington A. Clark, on his large West Creek farm. In one season he has made 20,000 pounds of cheese. He is still carrying it on successfully.
In the fall of 1869, John Brookman, from Australia and England, came in with capital and enterprise, bought the thousand acre farm of W. A. Clark, north, of Crown Point, two miles from town, and erected a cheese factory. This was kept in operation for two seasons, and this year it has been lying still.
The first butter factory was erected by D. C. Scofield, of Elgin, Illinois, in 1869 and 1870. The factory has been in the charge of H. Boyd and family, and has been doing a good business.
This county has large tracts of excellent grazing land, and is well adapted for the raising of stock and for fur- nishing dairy products. The amount of butter exported from the county annually, is one of the large sources of profit to the farmers. When the Kankakee low lands be- come sufficiently dry for general pasturage, they can be dotted over with herds and factories.
SCHOOLS.
The first school in this county was kept by Mrs. HAR- RIET HOLTON, the mother of W. A. W. and J. W. Holton. She is still living, with one of her sons, about six miles
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from Crown Point, and is now in her ninetieth year. Her school was kept in a private house, near what is now the Crown Point Depot, in the winter of 1835-1836. Num- ber of scholars, three.
In the winter of 1836-1837, it is probable that two or three other schools were commenced, but concerning them I find no records.
In 1838 one of the largest, and one of the best log school houses of the county was built at Cedar Lake on the land then held as a claim by Hervey Ball. In this house, which afterwards became private property, and which is still standing near the stately mansion of Henry H. Dittmers, were organized the Cedar Lake Lyceum, the Belles-Lettres Society, and the Cedar Lake Church; and here for several years their meetings were held. The public use of this house extends from the spring of 1838 to the fall of 1848. Many associations cluster about that well-built log edifice.
June 10, 1839, Mrs. J. A. H. BALL opened a school at Cedar Lake, which became the first boarding-school of the county. Here were taught, besides elementary branches, elegant penmanship, drawing and painting, botany, natural philosophy, and "Polite Learning"-the name of a little valuable text-book which is now rarely seen-here, too, surveying and algebra, Latin and Greek were studied. A few students of this county, and from Porter and La Porte counties attended this school. In penmanship, drawing, painting in water-colors, and in botany, the teacher has had in this region no equal. The boarders here were, Maria Bradley, and John Selkirk, of La Porte county ; Ann Nickerson, and Melissa Gossett,
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of Porter county ; and Augustus Wood, Abby Wood, and Sophia Cutler, of Lake county. There were some self- boarders and many day scholars. During some of the winters the school was taught by Hervey Ball, and day scholars came from the east side of Cedar Lake, from Prairie West, and from the west side of West Creek. Schools being commenced at other points, regular winter schools were not continued after about 1849 or 1850; but summer schools continued till about 1855. The Cedar Lake school therefore continued some sixteen years. It sent six students to colleges and seminaries, and fitted many for the business and the duties of life.
The next boarding and academic school of the county was opened at Crown Point by Rev. WM. TOWNLEY, about 1848. This school was commenced in a room of the dwelling-house which he erected, the house on Court street, where Andrew Krimbill now resides, in which room for a short time Sabbath meetings were also held, and then it was transferred to the academy building, which has since become the Presbyterian parsonage. A num- ber of students attended, boarders and day scholars,- some well known names are among the list of students here-and this school achieved in its day a good success. In the winter of 1853 and 1854 this school was taught by Miss E. H. Ball, who had been teaching for some few years at the South, and returned to spend one more year of life in the home of her youth. In this school instru- mental music was first taught, a piano, probably the sec- ond one in the county, being obtained for the school and music teachers procured. One of these teachers was Miss Sarah Bloomfield, from New Jersey, a thorough
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music teacher, who afterwards married Almon Foster, who came in the fall of 1855. In 1856 this school closed, Rev. W. Townley soon after leaving for the West.
The next select and academic school at Crown Point was carried on by Miss MARY E. PARSONS. She was a graduate of the Mt. Holyoke Seminary, an earnest and enthusiastic friend of that system, following closely in the views and principles of Miss Mary Lyon; had taught one year at Oxford, Ohio ; some three years at Greensburg ; and came to Crown Point with the hope of founding a Holyoke school, in 1856. She did not find all the encouragement she desired, there were other and different interests then beginning to unfold, but she opened an excellent school in a room of the Townley building, then owned by Judge Turner, and afterward in the hall room of J. H. Luther. With the exception of one summer, during which she visited Iowa, this school continued till closed by her sickness and death. She died November 14, 1860. The school thus suddenly and sadly closed, accomplished much for the cause of Chris- tian education. By her death Crown Point and Lake county lost a most conscientious, devoted, self-denying, thorough, Christian teacher. Had circumstances favored her, and had life been continued, she might have accom- plished much more; but she did what she could. She was one of a choice few. She spent her last years among us ; and her name should not be forgotten.
In that same year of 1856 Dr. W. C. Farrington, with some others, was arranging for the founding of an acad- emy on East street, but he died, and that plan was not carried out.
1
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
The next schools, therefore, coming into this record, were those of 1865, which have been elsewhere men- tioned.
The growth of the public schools, from one to eighty- four, has been indirectly noticed.
Several of the teachers of these have taught select schools in the public buildings, when the public schools. were not in session. ,
A primary select school in Crown Point, conducted by Mrs. Sarah J. Robinson, deserves special mention. Mrs. Robinson was one of the best teachers of children that we have ever had in Crown Point ; kind, patient, loving, unselfish, and truly Christian. Her neatly furnished room was on Court street, north of the Rockwell House. She closed her labors here and, in July, 1864, went to Nashville, and entered the hospital in the service of the Christian Commission. She was also at Memphis, Vicks- burg, New Orleans, and again at Memphis. She returned to Crown Point in September, 1865, in company with Miss E. Hodson, of our county, who had been for nine months in the same service in the hospitals at Memphis. These two, among the noblest of the Christian women of the land, were our only representatives in the Christian Commission service among the hospitals of the Union army. Mrs. Robinson disposed of her school furniture to the Crown Point Institute, married Dr. Wm. H. Harri- son, an army surgeon, in 1866, and went with her hus- band to Mexico.
One other school remains to be mentioned. About 1866, A. Vander Naillen, a French mathematician, opened a school near Tolleston, in which he taught Civil Engi-
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LAKE COUNTY.
neering. In December, 1869, he removed to the City of Chicago, transferring to that place his school interests.
FIRST NORMAL CLASS IN LAKE COUNTY-OPENED
AUG. 19, 1872.
NAMES OF MEMBERS.
Ida Toothill, Inez Wilcox, Emma G. Sherman, Louisa Hornor, Olive Kenney, Herbert S. Ball, Myron B. Smith. Course of instruction included thirty lectures on import- ant subjects, besides an outline of United States History, notes on Orthography and Geography, and some text- book recitations. Instruction was given in Physiology and English Analysis, and about one thousand selected words were written in spelling exercises. Length of ses- sion, thirteen weeks; teacher, T. H. Ball.
WOLVES.
For many years the prairie wolves were abundant and annoying. The early settlers became very familiar with some of their habits and their depredations. Genuine inhabitants of the prairies, as their name denotes, they were also found in the neighboring woods ; and were often seen by day and quite regularly heard by night. Pigs, lambs, and sheep, melons and green corn, suffered from their voracious appetites. Although not considered very dangerous to human beings, the boy alone upon the prairie after nightfall, when he heard the quick, sharp, bark which he had learned to know so well, would nat- urally quicken his homeward pace. These troublesome, but romantic neighbors, were hunted down with dogs and horses, and shot, and trapped, as opportunity offered. But opportunity for trapping did not occur every night. After many trials one was securely caught on the west
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INCIDENT AND ITEMS.
side of Cedar Lake. The trap was dragged quite a dis- tance, but the wolf was found in the afternoon of the next day, killed and scalped, and a bounty obtained. The dead body was taken off by living wolves a night or two afterwards, but what they did with it could never be ascertained. No more were trapped in that vicinity. One was aftewards shot, in the early morning, by a Cedar Lake hunter boy, who was taking his morning ramble, rifle in hand, and he returned home to report, quite elated with his success. He was accustomed to carry a trusty rifle and was noted for his unerring aim. Large quantities of game fell by his sure hand.
A more successful wolf-trapper lived in the Myrick Settlement, south of Crown Point, SMITH SNYDER, who says he caught in a trap several prairie wolves, one of them, having learned to spring the trap, being at last cap- tured, when human thoughtfulness, more than a match for wolfish sagacity, set the trap bottom upwards. The wolf turning the trap over, it is supposed, as usual, to spring it, found to his astonishment that it sprung the wrong way.
THE WILD CAT.
No really ferocious animals have been known in this region, but a true wild-cat or lynx was caught in 1837 or 1838, in an alder thicket, then almost impenetrable, at the head of Cedar Lake. It was a fierce and formidable looking animal; the fur was taken East by Job Worth- ington, then living at H. Ball's claim, on the lake; and the thicket was long know as the Wild Cat Swamp. Its recesses seemed almost impervious to the sunlight, and in mid summer it was covered with beautiful running
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roses. It has been, by its last owner, all cut down, and no trace is left of the wild-cat's ancient lair.
THE WHITE OWL.
During one of the very cold and snowy winters of our early times, a large white owl, not a native of this region, was shot on the west side of Cedar Lake. The bird seemed, from its appearance, so thoroughly protected was it from cold, and so white, to be a mountain or an Arctic denizen; and it was agreed to call it a Rocky Mountain Owl, brought out of its usual range and haunts by the great westerly storm. I think no such owls have been seen in this longitude since that severe winter.
THE BALD EAGLE.
In 1857 a bald eagle was shot on the west side of Cedar Lake by David Martin, which measured from tip to tip of the wings, some seven and a half feet. These Ameri- can birds, formerly frequent visitors at that lake, have been rarely shot, and are now seldom seen. This is sup- posed to have been the last one killed around that lake.
THE SWAN.
In 1869, HERBERT S. BALL, a boy thirteen years of age, coming up to his home at Crown Point, through the woods east of Cedar Lake, met a magnificent water-fowl which he captured and killed. The plumage was of snowy whiteness, very pure and beautiful. The wings extended from tip to tip nearly eight feet. The head was almost twice the length, and some three times the magni- tude of the head of a wild goose. Its neck was very long. Its wings were broad and strong. The long bone of the wing was in length nearly eleven inches. When examined at Crown Point this majestic bird was unhesi-
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
tatingly pronounced to be an American Wild Swan, of which a few individuals were shot in Cedar Lake by Al- fred Edgerton, a number of years ago. This is supposed to have been the last swan killed in this county, only a few flocks ever having been seen by the earliest settlers at Cedar Lake.
The regular yearly visitors and sojourners at this sheet of water were various species of ducks, gulls, brants, wild geese, sand-hill cranes, blue herons, white cranes, mud hens, pelicans, loons, and, around it, fish hawks, and bald eagles. It is no figure of speech to say that some of them darkened the waters, and that others cov- ered it with snowy whiteness.
PERIODICALS.
The first printing in the county was done by Solon Robinson, who obtained a small press and some type and issued a little sheet occasionally. Some hand-bills and extras were also printed. The name of this occasional sheet is supposed to have been The Ranger or Western Ranger. No effort was made to establish this as a paper.
In 1857, perhaps as early as 1856, Rodney Dunning commenced the publication of a weekly sheet called The Crown Point Herald. After issuing it for six months he sold to J. S. Holton, who discontinued its publication. He, in 1857, sold to John Wheeler and Z. F. Summers, who resumed the publication, changing the name to Crown Point Register. In 1862 Wheeler and Summers sold to B. D. Harper and A. E. Beattie. In April, 1867, Harper sold to Samuel E. Ball, who Septemder 19, 1869, sold his interest to F. S. Bedell ; Bedell and Beattie continued the publication of the Register until the death of A. E. Beattie,
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in October, 1860, when F. S. Bedell purchased the remain- ing interest and has since been sole editor and proprietor. The Register has a circulation of nearly 800, and the number of subscribers is rapidly increasing. It is Re- publican in politics. Its motto is, "With Malice toward None-With Charity for All."
While J. Wheeler and Z. F. Summers were publishing. the Register in 1860 or 1861, B. D. Harper commenced editing and issuing a Democratic paper called The Jef- fersonian. It was printed on the south side of the public square, then removed to the "Chapman House," on the west side, and soon after was discontinued, the editor purchasing a half interest in the Register.
In November, 1867, the Pierian Society of the Crown Point Institute commenced the publication of a literary journal called The Pierian. In April, 1868, the name was changed to Castalian, and the publication was con- tinued by the Institute. It became an eight-page monthly, size of page sixteen inches by eleven, printed at first at the Register office, and afterward at Chicago. Its literary character has been elsewhere mentioned. It exchanged with some of the best college papers in the land. Its last issue was March, 1870. At the next Teachers' Insti- tute a proposal was made to revive this publication, and the following circular was sent to the teachers of the county :
"TO THE TEACHERS OF LAKE COUNTY.
" Permit us to call your attention to the proposal made, near the close of our late session as an Institute, in regard to our adopting the Castalian as our periodical and organ of communication with each other. You will remember
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INCIDENTS AND ITEMS.
the vote was taken to accept the proposal as there made. After a consultation held on Saturday afternoon, January 7th, we propose to change the name Castalian to Teach- er's Repository, to have a change made in the character of the paper corresponding to its new relations; to intro- duce Educational, Literary, and Scientific Departments ; a story for children in each number, and Queries, and to make it the organ of the teachers and schools of our county, and an efficient aid in cultivating our literary® taste, and our capabilities as teachers. We also propose to make it of general interest as a literary paper for fam- ily reading. We now request you to take an active inter -- est in the enterprise, to send your own name and the names of as many subscribers as you can obtain, accom- panied by the subscription price, to Mr. J. W. Youche, according to the following rates :
SINGLE COPIES FOR ONE YEAR.
To teachers and students -50 cents ..
Other subscribers .75
Teachers of Lake, remember your mottoes, act with diligence, and let us do something worthy of ourselves. and of our enterprising age.
J. W. Youche, Jas. T. Herrick,
A. J. Beatie,
Mary Martin, N. A. Sturges, O. F. Benjamin
Jennie Belshaw, C. R. Jarvis, . F. McDonald,
M. A. Foster,
Clemmon Granger, Anna Wilcox,
Helen Granger, L. R. Thomas, Charlotte Holton,
M. L. Clark,
Jas. M. Wise,
E. McCaulay, S. S. Erb,
W. E. Abbott,
A. L. Thompson,
E. Lathrop, Henry Sasse, Jr.
A. F. Coffin."
A sufficient number of responses failing to come, the publication of the Teacher's Repository was given up.
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LAKE COUNTY.
At Hobart a little sheet was published for a short time by Moses Hull, in the years 1868 and 1869. Its circula- tion was confined to the vicinity of Hobart, and it was probably not designed to be a permanent publication.
In this year, 1872, E. R. Beebe started a weekly polit- ical and local paper, at Lowell, called The Lowell Star. It is an eight-page sheet. one side printed in Chicago, neat in its appearance, well edited, and apparently well sustained. It is Republican as to politics, and bids fair to live and prosper.
In this same year, also, W. H. Ingram came to Crown Point and started a weekly political paper, under Demo- cratic patronage, called The Crown Point Herald. This paper advocated earnestly the election of Horace Gree- ley for President of the United States ; and soon after the result of the election was known it was sold to T. Cleveland, Esq., who is now carrying it on as a Republi- can paper. The size of sheet is the same as the Register, twenty-four inches by seventeen, four pages, and its motto is, "Independent in all Things-Neutral in Noth- ing." T. Cleveland, editor and proprietor.
No records have been kept concerning the annual mor- tality in the county. The following persons, however, were known to have died between the spring of 1846- the sickly season-and the spring of 1847 : Isaiah L. Bee- bee, David Currin, Dr. Joseph F. Greene, Thomas Hen- derson, Myiel Pierce, John R. Simmons, Thomas Gib- son, Jeremiah Green, John Hack, Jr., Cornelius F. Cooke, Judge Samuel F. Turner, - Hollingshead, S. C. Bee- bee, David E. Bryant, - Miller, Royal Barton, John Smith, Ambrose Williams, -Livinggood, - Simons.
INCIDENTS AND ITEMS. 253
MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL ORDAINED IN LAKE COUNTY.
N. Warriner, at Cedar Lake, in 1840; T. H. Ball, at Crown Point, in 1855; G. Lewis, at Lowell, in 1865.
MINISTERS DYING IN LAKE COUNTY.
Thomas L. Hunt, died July 21, 1853. He was pastor of the Baptist Church at Cedar Lake, and afterwards pastor at Crown Point. He was very self-denying and earnest in efforts to do good, and overtasked his powers of physical endurance. He was highly esteemed by all who knew him, and was the first and only pastor dying in the county. He died at the residence of his brother, James Hunt, and was buried in the Sanders Burial Ground in West Creek Township. His age was thirty- one years.
PHILIP REED, died January 3, 1863. He was an excel- lent man, a minister of the Moravian or United Brethren denomination, had a farm near Lowell, and often preached at that place. He went into the Union army and was First Lieutenant, Company A, 73d Regiment Indiana Vol- unteers. His dust also reposes in the Sanders Burial Ground in West Creek.
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