USA > Indiana > Newton County > Newton County a collection of historical facts and personal recollections concerning Newton County, Indiana, from 1853 to 1911 > Part 4
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NEWTON COUNTY
when the thermometer stood below zero; De- cember, 1884, had seven days; January, 1885, had eleven days; February, 1885, had fourteen days; and March, the same year, had one day. January 22d was the coldest day of the winter, the thermometer standing at thirty-three de- grees below zero. December 19th was close to it, registering thirty-one below, but these were not stormy days.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION
A T the time the county of Newton was or- ganized, and while it was a part of Jasper county, it consisted of five townships, viz. : Iroquois, Jackson, Lake, Beaver and Wash- ington. Iroquois township embraced all of towns 27 and 28, range 8, and one mile off the west side of towns 27 and 28, range 9. Jackson township embraced all of towns 29, 30, 31 and 32, range 8. Lake township included all of town 30, ranges 9 and 10. Beaver township embraced towns 29 and 30, ranges 9 and IO. Washington township embraced towns 27 and 28, ranges 9 and 10, except a strip one mile in width on the east side of said towns 27 and 28, range 9, which had been stricken off and added to Iroquois township.
The first business transacted after the or- ganization of the commissioners' court was the following, as shown by the records :
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NEWTON COUNTY
"Monday, April 23, 1860. Commissioners met pursuant to adjournment and the first busi- ness in order was the petition of Ralph Swig- gett and others for the division of Washington township, so that all north of the Iroquois river remain as Washington township and all south of said river may be formed into a new township. Ordered by the commissioners that said township be divided, and that the name of the new township be called Jefferson, and that the boundaries of the township be as follows : Commencing at the Benton county line, at the southeast corner of section 35, town 27, range 9, thence north on the section line to the mid- dle of the Iroquois river. Thence westwardly, down the middle of said river to the west line of Newton county. Thence south on the west line of said county to the south line of said county. Thence east on the line dividing New- ton and Benton counties, to the place of be- ginning."
It will be noticed that at this time Jefferson township lacked one mile of running to the line dividing ranges 8 and 9. The division of
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TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION
the county into townships was not further dis- turbed until March 5, 1862, when John Frank- lin presented the petition of Thomas Griffith and others, asking to be set off from Iroquois township into the civil township of Washing- ton. It was ordered that said petition be granted and that the civil townships of the county should be as follows :
"That said civil township No. I, Iroquois, shall consist of towns 27 and 28, range 8; that Jackson township No. 2 shall consist of towns 29, 30, 31 and 32, range 8; and that township of Lake, No. 3, shall consist of town 31, ranges 9 and 10; that Beaver township, No. 4, shall consist of towns 29 and 30, ranges 9 and 10; that the civil township of Washington, No. 5, shall consist of town 28, ranges 9 and Io, lying on the north side of the Iroquois river; that the civil township of Jefferson, No. 6, shall consist of town 27, ranges 9 and 10, lying south of the Iroquois river."
"Tuesday morning, December 2, 1862. Z. T. Wheaton presented the petition of himself and others to be set off into a civil township
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NEWTON COUNTY
from the civil township of Beaver. Ordered that the prayer of the petitioners be granted and that the said township be called McClel- lan, and that it consist of the following terri- tory, to wit : all of town 30, ranges 9 and 10."
Afterward, on December 6, 1865, on peti- tion of R. C. Currens, Blake Wilson, F. C. Pierce and thirty others, Grant township was organized by striking off of Iroquois township all of township 27, range 8, and that "A. L. Martin be appointed to act as trustee of said township."
March 9, 1871. Philip Miller and others presented a petition for a division of Jackson township, said division to be made on the line dividing towns 29 and 30, range 8, setting off towns 30 and 31 and fractional part of 32, range 8, into a new civil township to be known as Colfax township. Ordered by the court that the prayer of the petitioners be granted, and that there be a new civil township formed em- bracing all the territory in townships 30 and 31 and fractional part of 32, range 8, to be called
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION 81
Colfax township, No. 9. And that Philip Mil- ler be appointed trustee of said Colfax town- ship.
June 8, 1872. M. D. Kay and fourteen others presented a petition for the division of Colfax township, to be divided at the town line, dividing towns 30 and 31, range 8, to be called Lincoln township. The commissioners not being satisfied with the petition it was con- tinued until the next term.
September 2, 1872. It was ordered that the prayer of the above petitioners be granted and that the territory be embraced in the follow- ing bounds, to wit: commencing at the south- east corner of section 36, town 31, range 8. Thence north on the line dividing Newton and Jasper counties, to the center of the Kankakee river. Thence westwardly following the mean- derings of said river to a point where the range line, dividing ranges 8 and 9, crosses the said river. Thence south along said line, dividing franges 8 and 9, to the town line dividing town- ships 30 and 31. Thence east along said town- ship line to the place of beginning. To be
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NEWTON COUNTY
known by the name of Lincoln township, New- ton county, Indiana, No. 10. And that Aaron Wilson be, and is hereby appointed trustee of said Lincoln township."
This completes the organization of the several townships in the county, ten in number, viz .: Iroquois, No. 1; Jackson, No. 2; Lake, No. 3; Beaver, No. 4; Washington, No. 5; Jefferson, No. 6; McClellan, No. 7; Grant, No. 8; Colfax, No. 9; and Lincoln, No. 10.
POPULATION
N EWTON COUNTY has maintained. a steady growth in population ever since the first census of 1860. In recent decades the towns have shown an aggregate increase, while the purely agricultural districts, such as Wash- ington township, have shown some decrease in population. Since the farm lands have been drained and can be worked at all seasons, and labor-saving machinery has been introduced, fewer laborers are needed in the agricultural regions. Many of the older residents have moved into the towns and the younger farm- ers have sought the opportunities of a newer country.
Also, as land is drained and reclaimed, the population has become more evenly distrib- uted throughout the county.
The census figures offered herewith were
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NEWTON COUNTY
obtained from the Department of Commerce and Labor through the courtesy of the Hon. E. D. Crumpacker. The townships are given in alphabetical order :
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
(Including the town of Morocco)
1860
501
1 870
637
1880
898
1890
1,052
1900
1,600
1910
1,524
The first census of Morocco was taken in 1890, when it had a population of 397. In 1900 it was 920 and in 1910, 927.
In 1863 a part of Beaver township was sei off to form McClellan township.
COLFAX TOWNSHIP
As indicated on a succeeding page, Colfax was taken in 1871 from part of Jackson and ir
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POPULATION
1872 part of it was taken to form Lincoln. The first separate census returns were obtained in 1880.
1880
150
1890
I28
1 900
27I
1910
297
GRANT TOWNSHIP
(Including the town of Goodland)
This township was taken from Iroquois in 1865, so that the first separate census was taken in 1870.
1870
699
1880
1,508
1890
1,624
1900
1,716
1910
1,762
The first report on Goodland, in 1880, showed 620; 1890, 889; 1900, 1,205; 1910, 1,105. 7
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NEWTON COUNTY
IROQUOIS TOWNSHIP
(Including the town of Brook)
1860
434
1 870
619
1880
818
1 890
1,003
1 900
1,590
1910
1,828
The first census of Brook was taken in 1900, showing a population of 677. By 1910 it had increased to 1,067.
JACKSON TOWNSHIP
(Including the town of Mt. Ayr)
In 1871 a part of this township was given to Colfax.
1860
412
1870
766
1880
795
1890
947
1900
913
1910
834
87
POPULATION
The recent census gave Mt. Ayr a popula- tion of 231.
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP
(Including the town of Kentland)
1860
304
1870
1,606
1880
1,964
1890
1,875
1900
1,816
1910
1,954
The town of Kentland was first enumerated in 1870 when it had a population of 802. In 1880 it was 982; 1890, 918; 1900, 1,006; 1910, 1,209.
LAKE TOWNSHIP
1860
173
1870
378
1880
593
1890
462
1900
489
1910
.
489
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NEWTON COUNTY
!
LINCOLN TOWNSHIP
This township was set apart from Colfax in 1872.
1880
18I
1890
518
1900
760
1910 .
701
MCCLELLAN TOWNSHIP
This township was set apart from Beaver in 1862.
1870
I4I
1880
155
1890
178
1 900
299
1910
·
227
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
1860
536
1870
983
1880
1,105
1890
1,016
1 900
994
1910 .
888
89
POPULATION
TOTAL POPULATION
The total population of Newton county, ac- cording to census records, has varied as fol- lows, since the first count fifty years ago :
1860
2,360
1870
5,829
1880
8,167
1890
8,803
1900
10,448
1910 .
. 10,504
THE BRANDON TRIAL
NE day in the summer of 1860 I heard that a murder had been committed in Jackson township and that the prisoner had been brought to Kent, he having been bound over by the examining justice. At that time the county officers were in temporary quarters in a store building fronting the railroad, near the present site of the Fletcher blacksmith shop. I went from my office to the room in which the prisoner was said to be under guard, and there I found three of my old neighbors and friends-Elijah Shriver, Calvin Hough and Samuel Brandon. From my knowledge of the men, I could not believe it possible that any one of them would be guilty of the crime charged, and I was so much surprised that I believe I left the room without speaking to any of them.
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THE BRANDON TRIAL
Shortly afterward I learned that Samuel Brandon was the one charged with the crime. He was taken to Lafayette and confined in jail to await the action of the grand jury. On Monday, August 27, 1860, agreeable to an order issued by Charles H. Test, judge of the 12th judicial circuit, the court met for the first time in Newton county, at Kent-Charles H. Test, judge; Zechariah Spitler, clerk; Elijah Shriver, sheriff ; John L. Miller, prose- cutor. After attending to some preliminary business the following named parties were ad- mitted as attorneys to practice in this court: William D. Lee, Albert G. Brown, George W. Spitler and Robert H. Milroy.
It was ordered by the court that Elijah Shriver, sheriff, go to Lafayette and obtain the person of Samuel Brandon from the jailor of Tippecanoe county and bring him before the court now in session. The following persons were sworn to serve as grand jurors for the term: Ransom Elijah, William Harriett, Al- len Park, Henry Rider, Young Thompson, Martin Crawn, George Stoner, Samuel Bard,
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NEWTON COUNTY
John Smith, Nathaniel Ford and James Cow- gill, who, after due deliberation, did on the 29th day of August, 1860, return an indictment against Samuel Brandon for murder.
Following is from the record: "Thursday, August 30, 1860-Court met pursuant to ad- journment. Comes now John L. Miller, pros- ecuting the pleas of the state. Comes also the defendant in person and by Mace, Lee & Spit- ler, his attorneys. Comes also a jury, to wit: Nathaniel West, John Padgett, James W. Dodson, John Smith, Josiah Howenstine, Amaziah Board, Hugh Warren, Thomas J. Smith, George Herriman, Joseph Louthain, Charles Prue and Peter Shaub."
The facts brought out at the trial were sub- stantially these: Samuel Brandon and David Handley were neighbors, living in Jackson township. Handley had a cornfield near the residence of Brandon, and one of Brandon's hogs got into the corn. In driving the hog out, Handley threw a stone at the animal and broke its leg. This irritated Brandon, who came running out to where Handley was, and, after
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THE BRANDON TRIAL
a few words, demanded that Handley get on his knees and beg his pardon. Handley re- fused and Brandon shot him, causing almost instant death.
The jury, after hearing the evidence, argu- ment of counsel and charge of the court, re- turned its verdict into court as follows :
"We, the jury, find the defendant, Samuel Brandon, not guilty as to the first and third counts of the indictment; and guilty as to the second; and that he be imprisoned at hard labor in the state's prison for life.
"NATHANIEL WEST, Foreman."
Whereupon the court did, on the following day, pronounce judgment against Brandon in accordance with the verdict of the jury and sentenced him to punishment at hard labor in the state's prison during his life.
Brandon was not what you might call a bad man, but was possessed of an ungovernable temper which brought sorrow and death to an innocent family and long years of confinement
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NEWTON COUNTY
and remorse to himself. In his case was proven the truthfulness of the statement, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."
During the progress of the trial Brandon seemed to be perfectly indifferent as to the re- sult, exhibiting no regret or sorrow for his deed. All those present at the trial remarked on this phase of his character. However, one evening during the progress of the trial, after the proceedings for the day were closed, he and I were by ourselves in a corner of the room, no others within hearing distance. He seemed to unburden himself. He told me he would give anything he had if he could only shed a tear, that he seemed to be burning up in- side and there was no way by which he could get relief. This satisfied me that we often mis- judge others by seeing only that which is vis- ible from the outside, not knowing what is go- ing on within their consciences.
In accordance with the sentence of the court, Brandon was taken to the state's prison at
-
-
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THE BRANDON TRIAL
Michigan City, where he remained some four- teen years, when he was pardoned by the gov- ernor and returned to his old home. Here he died several years later.
SOME EARLY SETTLERS
B EFORE the time when railroads began to open new territory for settlement, it gen- erally took three classes of citizens to open up and develop a country. The first class was made up of what might be called squatters- they were the adventurous frontiersmen who came before any lands were regularly offered for sale. They lived by hunting, fishing and trapping, and moved on farther west when the second class came in and purchased the land from the government at the uniform price of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. This second class generally held on to their land for a few years, making, as they supposed, a good, big profit on their investment, when they would sell out to the third class, who would put up permanent improvements and become the fixed residents of the country.
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SOME EARLY SETTLERS
About the time I arrived in Newton county, this region was beginning to fill up with the settlers who were to become permanent resi- dents and carry forward the work of develop- ment and improvement.
The following is a list of names, as they come to me, of persons who were living in this territory prior to its organization as Newton county, in 1860, with the date of the arrival of each :
John Lyons 1831
Aaron Lyons
1832
Joshua Timmons
1835
Jacob Kenoyer 1834
John Myers, Sr. 1836
Henry Rider
1836
Ransom Elijah
1836
Philip Earl
1837
John Murphy
1838
Otey Anderson
1838
Zechariah Spitler 1838
Amos White
1839
Daniel Mock
1839
Samuel Lyons
1840
Thomas R. Barker
1842
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NEWTON COUNTY
John S. Roberts 1843
Daniel Dearduff 1844
Benjamin Roadruck 1844
Thomas Starkey 1844
John Whiteakker .
1847
Thomas Peck
1847
Jacob Ash.
1842
Dempsey Johnson
1848
Andrew Doty
1849
Ephraim Bridgeman
1846
Levi Bridgeman
1846
Silas Johnson
1846
Washington Dearduff 1844
Robert Archibald
1846
William Archibald
W. C. Lester 1850
1850
Joseph Chizum
1850
David Pulver
1850
William R. Handley
1850
James Dodson
1850
Charles Frankenberger
1851
Joseph Staton
1851
Daniel Ash
1851
John Darroch
1851
James Kay
1851
Edgar Hawkins 1852
James Martin
1852
SOME EARLY SETTLERS
99
Isaac V. Speck 1852
David Creek 1852
John Franklin 1852
John Padgett 1852
A. W. Bebout
1852
John Smart
1852
Morris Lyons
1852
David Hess
1853
A. V. Gard
1853
Joseph Law
1853
Young Thompson 1853
Joseph Kennedy 1853
Joshua Ponsler 1854
James Archibald
1854
Christian Jessen
1854
Philip Brown
1854
Andrew Hess
1855
George M. Herriman
1855
Ezra B. Jones
1855
Amos Clark
1855
Thomas Griffith
1855
Charles T. Triplett
1856
Jacob Brenner 1856
James Pierce
1856
George W. White
1856
Bluford Light
1856
William Russell
1856
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NEWTON COUNTY
William Littlejohn 1856
John F. Johnson 1857
C. A. Wood
1857
William Best
1857
A. J. Kent
1858
Abel Thompson
1859
ROADS AND MARKETS
W HEN roads were first made in this country they went by the most direct routes from one point to another, without re- gard to section lines. Travel was seldom guided by any roadway, the traveler steering for some landmark, such as the cut-off for the crossing of the Iroquois river, indicated by a gap in the timber at what is now known as the Strole bridge, or else the lone trees standing northwest of where the town of Brook is now located. The "north timber" and Pilot Grove also showed prominently from the prairie.
But, as the country settled up, roads began to be located, usually on established lines, such as section or quarter-section lines. After a time, as the travel was confined to lanes, the roads in the spring of the year would become almost impassable, and it was thought at the
IOI
8
I02
NEWTON COUNTY
time that one of the great drawbacks to the im- provement of this whole region was the ad- mitted fact that we could never have any per- manently good roads on account of not having, within easy reach, any material, such as gravel or stone, with which to construct good roads.
At this time (1910) Newton county stands in the front rank for the number of miles of good stone roads within its borders. And al- though it has cost. a large sum of money to make these roads, they have added much to the comfort and pleasure of life. After they are once built, no one would have them removed for many times their cost. The number of miles of good, finished stone roads is as fol- lows :
Jefferson township 36 miles
Grant township
33 miles
Iroquois township
.
28 miles
Beaver township 23 miles
McClellan township 8 miles
Lake township 8 miles
Lincoln township
14 miles
This makes a total of 150 miles at an average
103
ROADS AND MARKETS
cost of about two thousand dollars per mile. The old prairie roads in the fall of the year were, however, the model roads, and we will never have anything again to equal them for easy traveling. There was a yielding of the sod, so that a horse would not tire as he does on a hard road. Horses brought here in a lame condition, or with tender feet, would get entirely sound again in time.
Prior to the year 1853, at which time the railroad between Indianapolis and Lafayette was completed, and the Illinois Central be- gan to run trains between Chicago and Kanka- kee, there would be in the fall of each year an immense amount of travel on the roads be- tween Lafayette and Chicago, mostly farmers' teams hauling wheat to Chicago or coming back loaded with salt and groceries of all kinds, either for their own use or for the mer- chants who had purchased stocks of goods east and shipped the same to Chicago by way of the lakes. To accommodate this travel, camping-places, and, in several instances, "tav- erns," as they were then called, had been estab-
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NEWTON COUNTY
lished a few miles apart all the way between Lafayette and Chicago.
After leaving Lafayette the first would be Oxford, at that time the county-seat of Benton county. Parish Grove was the next point; then Sumner's Grove, between Mud Pine and Sugar Creek; then Bunkum, at which point there were two taverns, one on each side of the Iroquois river. The next was the Buck Horn tavern, located near where the present town of Donovan, Illinois, stands. This was kept for many years by the father of John Donovan, the latter now living at Watseka, Illinois, and one of its most prominent citizens. The next tav- ern was at the crossing of Beaver Creek, and the next was known as the Big Spring, about half-way between Beaver Creek and Mo- mence. Then, on to Momence, at the crossing of the Kankakee river. The next general stop- ping-place was called Yellow Head Point, said to be named after an Indian who lived there, by the name of Yellow Head. The next point on the road was Blue Island, and then came Chicago, a distance of about one hun-
105
ROADS AND MARKETS
dred and thirty miles from Lafayette and tak- ing six to eight days to make the trip.
I think it was in February, 1858, that John Darroch, John Smart, Daniel Ash, Elias At- kinson, myself, and possibly one or two others, each with a wagon loaded with twenty-five or thirty bushels of shelled corn in sacks, started from Morocco for Kankakee to dispose of the grain and bring back merchandise. The roads had been frozen enough to bear up our loads, but the weather had turned warm and the roads thawed quite rapidly during the day. When we reached the Kankakee river at Aroma (now Waldron) we could not cross be- low the dam. Above the dam the river was frozen over, but it was doubtful if the ice would bear up the team and load together. So we led the teams over and pulled the loads across by hand, and arrived at Kankakee some · time after dark, putting up there for the night.
The next morning we disposed of our corn at twenty-four cents per bushel, laid in our supplies, and in the afternoon started for home. Owing to the fact that the warm wea-
106
NEWTON COUNTY
ther had continued and it was considered un- safe to cross the Kankakee on the ice, we re- turned by way of Momence, where there was a bridge across the river. We spent our sec- ond night there. The next morning after breakfast we struck out for home. Elias At- kinson, however, had got up early and started out a couple of hours ahead of the rest of us. We had made but a few miles, however, when we caught up with him. He had started across a slough and had stopped on a big cake of ice -was afraid to go ahead and could not turn around to come back. So there he stood, wait- ing for the rest of the company to come up and relieve him, which we did, and he remained with the crowd the rest of the day.
We stopped to feed and eat our mid-day meal at what was known then as the outlet of Beaver Lake. In a wet time, Beaver Lake would overflow and the water run down through the willow prairie, emptying into Beaver Creek near the state line.
After dinner (I can not say just what it con- sisted of, but I have it stored away in my mem-
---
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ROADS AND MARKETS
ory as one of the best meals I had tasted for a long time) we started for home, reaching there about night of the third day. At that time it was not thought the trip was anything strange or remarkable, but it is a fair illustration of the conditions under which this county began its history.
A FEW STORIES
O UR history, thus far, has consisted of rather dry statements of facts, and it may not be entirely out of place to rest a while and give a little spice to the story by reciting a few personal incidents in the lives and characters of some of the prominent citizens living in the neighborhood of Morocco during the time the writer was a resident of that place.
I presume every neighborhood has had some few men who, by reason of their pecul- iarities, were different from the common run of their associates; who, because of their talk and actions, deserve to be remembered. Mo- rocco had its fair share of this interesting class of individuals. The country store was the meeting point, or clubroom, where they had opportunity to meet with others and give to a limited audience the benefit of their peculiar ideas on politics, religion, or whatever sub-
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A FEW STORIES
ject might be up for public discussion. If our legislatures, state and national, only had the knowledge and ability possessed by these coun- try store assemblies, questions that often take them months to settle could be disposed of in a very short time. Many of the mistakes made by our army officers in the field could have been obviated, if the officers had taken the advice of these rural experts.
The first of these persons that comes to my mind at present is 'Squire Harrington, who lived in Jackson township, about four miles east of Morocco. He moved there about 1851 from Williamsport, Warren county, Indiana, where he had acted as justice of the peace for several years with great credit to himself as well as to his constituents. He had a fair com- mon-school education, was a constant and per- sistent reader of the general news of the day, and kept well posted. His strong forte was to be ready with an answer to any question that might be put to him, and any one starting an argument with him seldom came out better than second best.
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