USA > Indiana > Lake County > Lake County, Indiana, from 1834 to 1872 > Part 16
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CHARLES BARTON, a Methodist Episcopal local preacher, residing at Centerville, died in February, 1872, in the 85th year of his age. He had been quite active and vigorous, walked to Crown Point and back, a dis- tance of twelve miles, the summer before his death, was a man of strong constitution, a native of New England, and had lived in the county some twenty-five years. He was a man of decided and strong views, an exemplary and consistent Christian.
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OTHER LOCAL PREACHERS.
GEORGE W. TAYLOR came to Pleasant Grove in May, 1845, having a family of three sons and nine daughters, and opened a store in the grove where a villiage was be- ginning to grow. He was a Methodist Episcopal local preacher. Three of the family married in this county ; one is now residing at Crown Point, the wife of Hon. Martin Wood. In March, 1849, G. W. Taylor removed to Valparaiso, and September 13th, of the same year, died.
M. ALLMAN, a native of England, came from Michigan to Crown Point, in the summer of 1843. He was by trade a tailor, but soon entered official life, holding the office of County Recorder from 1845 to 1856, during two terms. He was instrumental in organizing the Methodist Sunday School ; with Rev. W. Townley, S. Robinson, H. Ball, and a few others, formed at Crown Point an evangelical library association ; and preached frequently. In April, 1856, he removed to Michigan, and died there in December, 1858, at the age of sixty-nine years.
D. CRUMBACKER, who was, in 1843, on the circuit, re- turned to the county in 1846, lived at South East Grove a few years, and then returned to Crown Point. He was clerk in the store of J. W. Dinwiddie, then a member of the Indiana Constitutional Convention in the winter of 1850 and 1851, and afterward County Auditor. He and Rev. M. Allman were for years associated together, and were influential men in the county. He died at Wash- ington City, March 17, 1865, and was buried in the Crown Point Cemetery. He had gone to Washington with his family, after the Civil War began, and was hold- ing a clerkship there at the time of his death.
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Both Rev. Mr. ALLMAN and Rev. D. CRUMBACKER were more than ordinary men. Much of their active life was spent here, and they were efficient aid in building up good institutions. They were efficient preachers, and very helpful co-workers with the preacher in charge. The former was short and thick-set, in person, was an ac- tive member and President of the Lake County Temper- ance Society, often acted as Chaplain on public days, at the gatherings of the people, and was noted for his evan- gelical prayers. The latter was tall and rather spare in person, enthusiastic in temperament, a popular speaker, and was a general favorite for preaching funeral ser- mons. Associated for a number of years together here in public and religious life, we may suppose them to be associated together now where men rest from labors and where works follow.
R. B. YOUNG, was on the circuit here in 1853. He soon after settled in Crown Point, kept a drug store for several years, and became the owner of a farm. He is a strong temperance man, a bold and fearless advocate of what he believes to be truth, an earnest preacher, and a man of firm Christian principle. Although past the me- ridian of life he is actively engaged amid the realities of our daily life, and enters heartily into any great moral or religious movement.
SMITH TARR came into Winfield Township about 1848. He resided there for several years, and has now for some years been a resident in West Creek, on the McLane or Belshaw place. He is a man of firm religious principle, and preaches occasionally, as duty seems to call. He
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has conducted the Sabbath School this summer at the Burhan's School House.
GEORGE A. EADUS, a Protestant Methodist preacher, came into the county about 1859. He resided for a time at South East Grove, afterward he lived near the McCarty mill, and now resides in Pleasant Grove, on the Cleve- land place, having married Mrs. Cleveland.
R. RANDOLPH came from Michigan last year, and now resides at Centreville. He is comparatively young, and enters earnestly into the duties of active life.
RESIDENCES.
The five most costly country dwelling-houses, I would name thus : the Dittmers mansion, the Sturdeyvant brick dwelling, the residences of George Willey, of J. A. Craw- ford, and of Mrs. M. J. Dinwiddie, buildings costing from twenty-five hundred to three thousand dollars each.
At first we built, without any iron, or brick, or lime, the small log cabins with " shake " roofs, mud and stick chimneys, and puncheon floors. Sometimes a few nails would find their way into a window frame or into a door, but none on the roof, and none in the floor. Less than forty years have passed, and neat $3000 houses can be found on the prairies. The $30,000 residences may be found in forty years more. The best building materials of the United States may now be quite readily obtained.
THE KANKAKEE DETECTIVES.
A number of years ago it became necessary for the in- habitants along the marsh to secure themselves against depredators whom the locality seemed to invite. One hundred men were organized in a band under the above name. These met with a number of adventures, brought
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several men to justice, and established law and order in the community.
Andrew Moore, who came in September, 1838, had quite a new country experience in going to mill. He went in November to Vale's mill, near Michigan City. The roads were very bad. His load was fourteen and a half bushels of wheat and one of corn. He was gone ten days. Spent fourteen dollars. Returned home, and, in a few days, the flour was all loaned to neighbors.
WELLS AND SPRINGS.
Nearly all of the early settlers used "surface water." That "spring" besides which Solon Robinson first pitched his tent was not living water, and the first set- tlers did not suppose there were, in this prairie region, any real springs. Probably the first well of which any- thing can now be known, was dug by Warner Holton, in 1835. He lived on what is now "Railroad Addition," near the present depot. He dug four feet. Water came in which supplied other families. When the water failed he dug deeper, and finally reached a depth of about twelve feet.
Probably the same season, Judge Clark, who lived on Section Eight, near Dr. Pratt's place, dug some sixty feet and failed to obtain water. A well of some depth was not long afterward dug on the Pelton place, now Dr. Pet- tibone's, and water obtained.
At Cedar Lake, on the Russell claim, a well was dug to quite a depth, and mineral water reached. It was used by different families, but was not pleasant to the taste. Other families therefore dug shallow wells, ten or twelve
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feet in depth, in the low places. In the dry seasons the hooks or poles with which the water was drawn would sometimes be hidden, and some were actually compelled to steal water in order to quench thirst. But as the sur- face wells failed and brick began to be made, permanent wells were dug. The depth of these wells varies from some fifteen to seventy feet.
At Shererville the wells are driven. The sand comes to the surface. The wells are shallow but the water is good. At Ross and Tolleston, and other villages on the sand ridges, the wells are also shallow.
The dry weather of the last two years has caused many new wells to be dug. Some of these and a few others, possess some peculiarities.
Thomas C. Goodrich, in the fall of 1871 dug, on the side hill of that broad ridge south of Turkey Creek, and near the base of the hill, twenty-seven feet, and then bored eighteen feet and reached water. The brick were then laid up about three feet, the bored orifice having been closed, and the workmen rested for the night. The next morning the well was filled with water to within ten feet of the surface, the supply seemed inexhaustible, and the walling up was abandoned. A second was dug, about ten feet up the hill, rise of ground about one foot, to the depth of twenty-seven feet. On boring twenty inches water was reached, the brick were laid, and the water came up to about eleven feet from the surface. The water is excellent in quality and abundant in quantity.
A well on the Dittmers' place is impregnated with some mineral resembling Epsom salts. It is a very agree- able, healthful water.
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The well at the cheese factory, north of Crown Point. was dug sixty-five feet, then bored twenty-seven feet. The water came up to within some fifty feet of the sur- face.
J. H. Ball has lately dug two wells on his lots in Rail- road Addition. The first is twenty-four feet in depth, in which the water rose eleven and a half feet and there re- mains. The second is fourteen and a half feet, furnish- ing a supply, but no rise of water. These are about two hundred feet apart. Water is reached at different depths, but will generally rise several feet on Railroad Addition.
The first springs discovered by the settlers were prob- ably on the west bank of Cedar Lake. One was on the Brown claim, and furnished sufficient water for one fam- ily for several years. The water was clear, pure, cold, and good.
A second was known as the Gray spring. It furnished a large amount of water, which was sometimes carried more than a mile in barrels, conveyed across the lake in boats, and supplied several families. This water was cold and good, but strongly impregnated with iron.
Springs were afterward discovered in various localities. Along West Creek, along Deep River, and even on the prairie. Some of these are quite large, but they send forth no bold streams. This is not a region of running waters and gushing fountains ; the streams are often slug- gish, yet are there among the grassy meads some sunny brooks, and quiet rivulets.
SOUTH EAST GROVE.
This grove is one of the largest and finest in the county outside of the Kankakee Marsh. In form it is
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circular, covering about one section of land. The cor- ner of sections One and Two, Eleven and Twelve, Town- ship 33, Range 8, is not far from the school house, in the southern half of the grove. The timber is mostly hick- ory and oak, much of it at present young and thrifty. Some of the earliest settlers here have been already men- tioned. There were two Flint families, the families of O. · V. Servis, Gibson, Parkinson, Orrin Smith, - Morris, and some few others. In the spring of 1840, Alexander F. Brown came to the grove, from the State of New York. He brought with him three hired men. He secured a choice location and commenced extensive improvements. While carrying on his plans, and having the ambition and resolution which would have been likely to have secured a large success, his prosperous course was suddenly ter- minated by an accidental death. At work one day, his horses took fright, he was thrown from his wagon, and died in about a week, October 21, 1849. His sons, John Brown, and W. Barringer Brown, at their father's death, boys of nine and six years of age, are now among the most intelligent and enterprising business young men of the county. The former is now county treasurer, the other remains at the grove, on the farm.
Other energetic business men settled at and around South East Grove. Wm. Brown, late a County Commis- sioner and now Township Trustee, came in 1843. John A. Crawford in 1844. H. Kingsbury came about 1847- James Doak came in the spring of 1852. George Doak came April 21, 1855. He taught at Plum Grove, West Creek, Orchard Grove, and again at Plum Grove. He married a daughter of H. Kingsbury, and now resides on
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the Kingsbury place, one of the best winter wheat farms in this region.
Several other families reside in the neighborhood who have bought farms in later years, and the congregation meeting at the Grove School House for Sabbath worship is noted for intelligence, good order, and generous hos- pitality.
ORCHARD GROVE
Is smaller than the one named above ; is pleasantly situa- ted near the edge of the marsh ; and gives a name to the post office, store, and school house, of an intelligent, prosperous, farming community. The two Kenney, the Woodruff, the Handley, and Warner families, have long resided here; and a number of other families in easy circumstances are living on the choice farms of this locality.
PLUM GROVE
Is east and a little north from Orchard, distant about two miles. It is small, is near the marsh, and now contains more crab apple than wild plum trees. The families of the neighborhood are the following : Mrs. M. Pearce, J. Pearce, O. V. Servis, Sen., W. Buchanan; Mrs. M. J. Dinwiddie, J. Dinwiddie, F. Westman, H. Deters; J. Hamilton, M. Nichols, J. Hildarbiddle, Mrs. Hale; W. V. Fuller, J. Filsinger, J. Alyea, Earl Brownell, Charles Brownell ; A. Mitch, C. A. Hale, C. Emmerling, M. Jor- dan, S. Hogan, and A. J. McCann.
LOST ON THE PRAIRIE.
Two have been mentioned who perished on the prairie from exposure to the cold. Many others were lost, but their wanderings and hair-breadth escapes are for the most part also lost.
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T. Fisher was returning in the spring of the year from Door Prairie, with a load of broom corn, and was over- taken by the darkness of a cloudy night on the prairie between Hickory Point and South East Grove. Some dangerous sloughs lay in that region. Missing the course in the gathering darkness, the horses soon came to a halt. To urge them forward into the slough that lay before them was risky, and he turned back and endeavored by careful examination to find some safe passage across the barrier. Leaving his wagon, to ascertain, if possible, his bearings, he barely succeeded in finding his way back in the darkness. Again driving onward, the horses once more stopped. Giving up at length the hope of reaching home that night, he unharnessed the horses, tied them to the wagon, and spreading a buffalo skin on the ground, waited for the morning light.
In the thick darkness of the spring and summer it is not pleasant to be lost all night; but amid the piercing wind and freezing cold of a winter night, to wander, as some have done, on the trackless prairie, is terrible.
In the winter of 1838 or 1839, H. Ball was returning from Michigan City to Cedar Lake, the night-fall found him on the open area of Twenty Mile Prairie. The snow clouds obscured the sky, the wind blew, the horses missed the track, and he was lost. No houses were near. It was to him a night of suffering and danger. Two or three circumstances combined to save his life. A star shone out for a moment and kept him from taking a di- rection that led yet further away from human abodes. Finding it useless to continue wandering around on the bleak prairie, having with him fortunately a bolt of sati-
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net, and having a pair of large and powerful horses, one of which was remarkably sagacious, he wound the cloth around him and stood between the heads of the horses to seek some shelter from the wind and to share some warmth from their breath. To grow weary and seek rest, or to lie down in the sleigh there and become benumbed, was to perish. And so he remained between the heads of those noble horses amid the bitter cold, until a shrill sound, the distant crowing of a rooster before the morn- ing dawned, indicated the direction of a human dwel- ling. Proceeding toward that cheering sound he reached a house, and found shelter, and warmth, and rest. It was a night which he never forgot, the winter night spent on Twenty Mile Prairie.
NATIVE WILD ANIMALS.
Most of our wild animals have been incidentally named. Of the fur-bearing tribes there originally were musk-rats, mink, otter, and beaver. The latter disappeared before the white men came. Of other quadrupeds there were deer, and wolves, and wild-cats, fox squirrels, and rabbits. On one island in the marsh, black squirrels are found. Chipmunks, gophers, and ground squirrels abounded. There was found in Cedar Lake a pair of large horns, supposed to be elk, indicating that they were once in this region.
The wolves were very abundant here, as were most of the other animals, when the settlers came. Two boys out from home one day saw as many as a dozen, and two followed them within half a mile of their home. On winter mornings the new fallen snow would be marked with a multitude of their tracks. Men would chase them
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sometimes with horses, and, among the grubs, the wolf has been known to look saucily up at the rider, as much as to say, "Catch me if you can." A physician, on his rides, has sometimes given them chase; and even a well-mounted pioneer minister, on the way from one ap- pointment to another, has been tempted to follow the unscared wolf, and only missed capturing him by his wolfship at length taking refuge in a marsh where the swift horse could not follow.
A few large gray wolves have occasionally visited our prairies, even as lately as this present year ; but they are not considered to be native.
Of feathered animals, the grouse, or prairie chickens, were those that gave character to the prairies ; the water- fowls have been named in connection with Cedar Lake; the usual varieties of little birds were in the groves; and the crow, the hawk, and the eagle, were native inhabi- tants.
Of wild life, without ferocious animals, there was no lack. The waters swarmed with fish; and the groves, and the prairies, and the marshes were alive with their appropriate inhabitants. The larger marshes, and even small ones, in the midst of the dryest prairie, contained some fish, and multitudes of small shell-bearing animals, called snails or periwinkles. The prairie crawfish abounded. The rattlesnakes and other venomous and harmless serpents were on almost every rood of land ; and ox flies and horse flies seemed to drive the domestic cattle nearly to distraction.
But these smaller animals, and the venomous serpents, and many of the other denizens of the region, have al-
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ready disappeared ; and few comparatively remain amid our present civilization. It is ever so, that the children of nature retire before the cultivated races. A few more years and we may scarcely have anything that comes un- der the name of game.
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I close the items in this chapter with some specimens of our Fine Arts. From the amateur painters, musicians, and gardeners, nothing can be obtained capable of being set up in type; but the amateur poets furnish me with some specimens of their art which I transfer to these pages. It is not to be expected that in a region where forty years ago the Indian hunters were sole occupants, and where the squatter and the settler have toiled early and late to secure the comforts of life, there should be- without any city growth-the wealth, or leisure, or talent even, to accomplish anything in this line which would attract the attention of a connoisseur. Nevertheless I place on these pages for preservation a few specimens from true children of Lake.
" TO THE WHIP-POOR-WILL.
"Strange bird of the evening, we love thy pure tone, That comes over valley and hill, When the wind from the southland utters its moan, And Winter's chill wings from the wild wood have flown ; Thy voice in the dark hours then, plaintive and lone, Sings ever its clear whip-poor-will.
" Shy bird, dost thou know how we list to thy note. When sounds of the day are all still ?
The deep chords of feeling are touched when there floats On the still evening air from woodland remote,
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Thy voice, sad and mournful, yet strong, that denotes Thy true faith, thou lone whip-poor-will.
" But why dost thou sing, all through night's lonely hours ? Hast thou too, a mission to fill?
Does earth's gloom, through sympathy, call forth thy powers, And when from our hearts are gone sunshine and flowers, While night-dews are chill, and star-beams gem thy bowers, Canst cheer with thy shrill whip-poor-will?
" Ah ! brave heart and true, that can hopefully beat, Though sorrows earth's chalice doth fill,
And find 'mid the dark hours of life a retreat, And sing, "songs in the night," with deep joy replete, And with sunshine of soul the morning, can greet, Like the night-bird, the loved whip-poor-will.
A. A. A."
" THE SEASIDE RECLUSE.
[Lines suggested by an Engraving in Mrs. - 's drawing-room, and to her respect- fully dedicated.]
BY J. H. B.
" Lovely vision ! maidens fair ! Unbound tresses ! flowing hair ! By the rocks, and by the sea ; Emblems sweet of purity ! Painter's hands portray you well ! Is it here you ever dwell ? Or come you to hear the beat Of ocean throbbing 'neath your feet ?
" Mountain nymphs or water naiads, Tell me how long here you've staid, If indeed of human mould What sad sorrows all untold May have crossed your pathway bright ?
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For if now I judge aright, Anxious cares once filled your breast, Though now so calm, serene, at rest.
" Imagination tunes her ear ; I listen now and seem to hear. Voices blending, sad and sweet, As echoes in the woodlands meet, Plaintive, mournful, soft and low, Like purling streams that gently flow ; Noting words while still I may, Much like this they seem to say :
" ' I have found your retreat, by the surf-beaten shore,
Ah ! these cold granite stones look too sombre and grim, Here the sea breeze is damp, much too damp for you more, Hasten home with me then, ere is sung our night hymn. 'Melia, gaze not so sad on the ocean's dark crest, There is much yet in life, although mixed with alloy. Then dismiss your dark thoughts, bid your moaning heart rest, There are pleasures still left, if you would but enjoy.'
" Oh ! Theresa, dear friend, I'm resigned to my fate, All repinings long since, have departed my breast, Vet I love to sit here, by these gray rocks, and wait, While one faint ray of light lingers still in the west. Yes, 'tis here, while in listening to the waters' low moan, My brow fanned by the sea breeze that nightly sets in, That I care not for life, all I'd live for seems flown, All earth's joys set for me when I parted with him.'
" ' Now I think of the Past, and my mem'ry goes back To the time when we wandered here, free from all care, . Treading lightly our path, by yon rivulet's track, In the eventide cool, or by morn fresh and fair, All unconscious of sorrow, of suffering, of pain, Fearing naught, dreading naught, knowing naught of life's ills,
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Fondly dreaming these pleasure would ever remain,
Drank the full cup of bliss, and yet sighed for it still.'
"'Now the Present looks dark, very dark to my eyes, And each purpose in life seems vague, dim and uncertain, On the grandeur of ocean, on the blue-vaulted skies, I find solace in musing, while night spreads her curtain, I people the mists, with gentle forms, and sweet voices, Now the sad, and the gay, I commingle together, And oh ! with what a thrill my heart often rejoices, That there's one at my bidding, that comes to me ever.'
"' Wrap this mantle around you and sit down awhile,
For the dark clouds are breaking, the sunset is bright, And perchance from old sorrows my mind 'twill beguile, Should I tell you a vision I saw but last night. It was later than this, I had gazed long, so long, On the waters' weird face, after twilight's last ray, The darkness had deepened, and the night-breeze blew strong, And beneath moaned the surge, as it dashed its wild spray.'
" ' A lone ship seemed to move, phantom-like on the wave, I could plainly distinguish the sails and the shrouds, As a transient light seemed the sea's surface to lave, Like the moon breaking forth out of dark-rifted clouds. A group on the deck were peering out on the gloom, With anxiety descrying the face of the land,
Now awaiting in silence and with fear the sad doom, Should their vessel on some of these unknown rocks strand.'
"' At the helm there stood one with lips firmly compressed, Self-reliant and calmly he guided their way,
And each movement he made close observed by the rest, As all waited his nod or command to obey. All so perfect, so real, it then to me seemed, The proud bearing, the mien, was Brusabo's alone,
Could there be but truth in it, and though I have dreamed, Might I think he still lived, that he yet would come home
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"'Six long years have now passed since that wild, gloomy day,
Years of longing, and hoping, and watching, and prayer, When they called him a convict, and bore him away,
And my heart seemed to sink in the wildest despair. One thought then sustained me, is upholding me still- When in agony's calmness he bade me farewell.
' Oh ! believe me,' he said, 'and I trust that you will, All this dark tale is false that against me they tell."
" ' Oh ! I knew 'twas so false to charge him with a crime, It was jealousy, malice ! 'twas envy or hate, He could do nothing wrong with a spirit so fine !
Ah ! they drove him to madness, then laughed at his fate ! His proud spirit soon sunk 'neath the blow and the chain, As in bondage awhile with the chained-gang he trod, Then he sickened and died, and was laid in the main, As the ship passed in sight of our own native sod.'
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