USA > Indiana > Perry County > Perry County: A History > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27
The earliest definite project for a railroad leading directly into Perry County came in 1871 from a com- pany organized as the Indiana Mineral Railroad, mag- nificently planned to run from Lake Michigan (at or near Chicago), through the block and cannel coal fields of Clay and Daviess Counties clear to the Ohio River, where a new manufacturing community was to be created under the name of Iron City.
No exact spot for this terminal was ever definitely fixed, as the preliminary survey led through Anderson Valley as far as Troy and whether the road should thence lead east or west appeared an open question, to be settled by the amount which Perry or Spencer
Digitized by Google
312
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
County should contribute to aid in building the road. Spencer County was already engaged on another line practically parallel, so viewed the new scheme with an equanimity bordering upon indifference, and the most strenuous efforts of the promoters were put forth to obtain a donation of $100,000 from Perry County.
A two per cent. tax was asked from Troy Township, but as the company only offered to build their road to Gutenberg Street at the southern extremity of Tell City, the proposition was not considered favourably by either Cannelton or Troy, each town wishing to become the terminus. At an election held Monday, October 9, 1871, the tax was voted down by a vote of 593 to 551, 472 of the ballots for the road being cast in Tell City, so the question was permanently settled and no portion of the road was ever built.
Immediately following this defeat a new project was launched from Evansville, the Ohio River Rail- road. It was proposed to run through Newburg in Warrick County, Rockport and Grandview in Spencer County, Troy, Tell City, Cannelton and Leopold in Perry County, following the valley of Deer Creek be- tween these last named points and ultimately reaching the St. Louis Air Line at some point near Hartford (English), Crawford County, or an independent line into New Albany. Forty miles of roadbed would thus have crossed Perry County, and $60,000 stock was voted toward its and January 13, 1872, by a vote of 1,311 to 826, but the tax was never levied.
Other elections were held later with results show- ing county sentiment as favourable to a railroad, but the plans invariably failed of fulfilment, so the tax levies voted were rendered void in each case and were never collected. In April, 1878, Troy Township voted $30,000 for the Southern Indiana Railway, and in July, 1879, $29,500 to the Evansville Local Trade Railway, a narrow-gauge project whose outcome was the New- burg dummy line, later transformed into an electric
Digitized by Google
313
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
suburban line and extended to Rockport and Grand- view in the present century.
Clark Township in April, 1881, voted against a tax to aid the Evansville, Dayton and Eastern, an exten- sion of the road built from Evansville to Boonville in 1876, and connecting in 1880 with the Rockport line at Lincoln City. This road, if built, would have barely crossed the northwest corner of Perry County, and its benefit to the citizens was felt to be negligible. Troy, Anderson, Clark and Oil Townships in April, 1884, by a vote of 1,312 to 529, voted $35,178 toward the New Al- bany, Leavenworth and Cannelton Railway, designed to run over the same general route as the former Ohio River line, but work never progressed further than a preliminary survey.
It was reserved for the shortest and most practical route ever suggested to be the first (and, up to 1915, the only one) built into the county, twenty-three miles filling up the gap between Cannelton and Lincoln City. The company was organized in 1886 as the Hunting- burg, Tell City and Cannelton Railway, but was from its inception practically a part of the Air Line system.
As a means toward an end so long desired, and that financial aid might be officially given, the municipal organizations of both Cannelton and Tell City were changed in the spring of 1886 from town to city cor- porations, the first city election in each place being held on the same day, the first Tuesday in May (4th), 1886. As mayor of Cannelton was chosen Samuel T. Platt, the councilmen being: first ward, Roan Clark, Alexander Quick; second ward, Jacob Heck, John J. McCarty; third ward, Joseph Whittaker, John Cum- miskey. Tell City's full corps of officials was made up of: August Schreiber, mayor; Albert P. Fenn, clerk; John Wichser, treasurer; Charles Grammberg, assess- or; William P. Kremer, marshal; John C. Harrer, An- ton Moraweck, John Hess, Valentine Ress, Henry Bader and Joseph Adam, councilmen.
Work was begun on the roadbed from Lincoln City
Digitized by Google
314
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
in the summer of 1887, and an unusually dry season permitting it to be carried on with few interruptions, the first passenger train into Perry County came on January 1, 1888, bringing a special party of Louis- ville business men and railway officials over the Can- nelton Branch to the county seat.
Cannelton's first mayor, Samuel T. Platt, Sr., was a native of England, born about 1822 near the city of Liverpool, and before coming to America was married to Hannah Britton, by whom he was the father of two sons and two daughters. They located in Cannelton about 1851, and his earliest business venture was in association with James Lees and several others in a foundry and machine shop. Later, he became connected with the Indiana Cotton Mills and afterward postmas- ter for some time. For many years, however, he was mail agent on the old Louisville and Evansville packets, at a period when the trade was at its height, only losing this position in 1885 when the Democracy came back into power, as he had always been a prominent Republican.
His election as mayor was a personal recognition of his efficient citizenship and not a partisan issue, and he gave eminent satisfaction during his brief administra- tion, brought to a premature end by his death, Sep- tember 24, 1886, when Peter Clemens was selected to fill out the unexpired term.
Peter Clemens was of Prussian birth and parent- age, born May 8, 1829, in Recklinghausen, Westphalia, near the River Lippe, a son of Henry and Anna Maria (Ochel) Clemens. The region was rich in iron ore, and his father was engaged in the smelting business until seventy-five years old, living to the advanced age of eighty-seven.
The son, who had learned the same business in his father's factory, came to America when twenty-three years old, landing June 21, 1852, at New York, but went on to Pittsburg as a center of the iron industry, where he worked for six months. As the extreme
315
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
strain of labour began to tell on his health, he made a change in 1853, to the shoe and leather business. Mastering it by a two years' apprenticeship, he then located in Cannelton, where on May 19, 1856, he mar- ried Anna Maria Schneider, a native of Perry County. He died May 17, 1899, and by a singular coincidence his requiem mass was sung in St. Michael's Church on the forty-third anniversary of his marriage. Another coincidence, one without parallel in the county, was the circumstance that out of the nine children born to the marriage, two of the sons-Henry M. and Anthony P .- also held the same office of mayor of the city of Cannelton.
While always a stanch Democrat, Peter Clemens was never a machine politician or office-seeker. Though several times elected a trustee under the old town cor- poration, he served as such from a sense of actual duty toward his fellow citizens and from a public spirit which the rising generation might profitably emulate.
Besides the fact that his term as mayor saw the first railroad built into Perry County (an enterprise toward which he had given much valuable assistance), a purely local Cannelton improvement also completed while he held the office was the stone culvert over Cas- selberry Creek, which replaced the dangerous and un- sightly covered wooden bridge at the foot of Congress Street and endured until washed out by the cloud-burst of July 27, 1910.
In the county seat strife of 1891, Peter Clemens took an active part toward building the new sheriff's residence and jail at Cannelton, and was equally con- cerned in the erection of the present beautiful Court House in 1896, which was the city's free gift to the county. One of his latest public projects, about 1896- 97, was the extension of Seventh Street into a road above high-water mark (now a turnpike) leading over Brier Hill into Tell City at Fourteenth and Washington Streets. He had personally staked out a route, months
Digitized by Google
316
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
before the county authorized the survey which, when made, followed very closely the line he had suggested.
In religious circles he was among the foremost members in organizing St. Michael's Roman Catholic parish, and one of its original trustees. He loved the church "from turret to foundation-stone," and its ornate high altar is a fitting memorial of his uniform liberality, although his singular modesty forbade any inscription being placed thereon in his name. A mu- sician of cultivated taste, possessing a bass voice of un- uual volume, it was as a choral director that he pecu- liarly excelled, and with Peter Clemens as kapell- meister the compositions of Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Lambillotte and other great masters were rendered on festal days by the choir of St. Michael's in a style rarely heard outside the larger cities.
Digitized by
-
CHAPTER XXXV
NEWSPAPERS AND FRATERNAL ORDERS.
NOTWITHSTANDING the extremely creditable military record made by Perry County soldiery in the field or in defense of home during the war between the states, and the numerous resident veterans who "beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into prun- ing-hooks" when peace was restored, it was not until sixteen years after the first National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic had been held at Indianapolis, November 20, 1866, that any steps were taken toward its organization in the county.
As the first full company of men enlisting had gone out from Cannelton, it seemed altogether appropriate that the association designed to bind together the sur- viving boys in blue during the remainder of their lives should also be first formed at the county seat.
Hence, in the spring of 1883, the nucleus of a local post was assembled in Cannelton, for which was chosen, by a graceful vote of all the eligible members, the name of a deceased soldier, a lieutenant in the original company leaving the county, whose dis- tinguished personal gallantry under fire had won for him a series of promotions to the final rank of major- Thomas James de la Hunt.
On March 18, therefore, Captain Keller, of Evans- ville, formally instituted de la Hunt Post, No. 152, De- partment of Indiana, with the following roster of charter officers and men: James A. Burkett, com- mandant; Titus Cummings, senior vice; Joseph C. Richey, junior vice; John T. Patrick, quarter-master; John Zimmerman, sergeant-major; Rev. D. T. Davis, chaplain; Jacob B. Snyder, adjutant; John R. Weath- ers, officer of day; Will N. Underwood, William J.
Digitized by
318
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
Quick, Alexander Quick, William H. Harding, Leon- ard May, Eugene Devillez, Isaac Reed, J. W. Hill, W. H. Cummings, Anton Schmuck, Charles Kahler, John J. Bristow, William S. Lamb, Anderson Bolin, Robert Devers and Thomas Kiefer.
As this membership represented Tell City, Rome, Leopold, Derby and other localities as well as Cannel- ton, an awakening of patriotic interest all over the county was a logical consequence. Memorial Day, May 30, was for the first time formally celebrated in a fit- ting way, and its observance has never been discon- tinued, although somewhat of its original significance has perhaps been lost sight of by the rising genera- tion, through the pathetically diminishing number of comrades who muster in for the annual march.
On July 4, 1883, Independence Day was celebrated once more in a manner recalling similar demonstra- tions of the "sixties" in Cannelton, the exercises tak- ing place at "Lion Park," a riverside pleasure resort kept by Anton Schmuck in the former grounds of "Elm Park," the old Francis Y. Carlile homestead.
Under the skilful direction of Mrs. Charles H. Rose (Rose Moore) a chorus of voices rendered "The Star Spangled Banner" and other national songs. Further evidence of feminine talent was the expressive read- ing of the Declaration of Independence by an accom- plished young elocutionist, Miss Blanche Combs (Mrs. Charles B. Tichenor). The Hon. Heber J. May, joint- Senator from Perry and Spencer Counties, was orator of the day, and an original poem was read by Comrade John R. Weathers. A brief address was also deliv- ered by a former Confederate, Dr. John S. Bemiss, who had been a surgeon with Morgan's command. Doctor Bemiss had been one of the mounted marshals in the parade preceding the exercises at Lion Park, and showed his loyalty to a reunited country by the grace- ful tribute of wearing interwined his own old Southern sash with that of a Northern officer, his devoted per- sonal friend, the late Major de la Hunt.
Digitized by Google
319
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
From that time to the present, many encampments and reunions have been held by de la Hunt Post, and of these the most notable on account of the famous veterans present-was that of September 4, 5 and 6, 1886, also at Lion Park, which became for the time a tented city. General James C. Veatch, of Rockport; Colonel David Rodman Murray, Jr., of Cloverport; Colonel Charles Denby, of Evansville, afterward Am- bassador to China for twelve years, each lent individual distinction to the occasion, but it was absolutely unique among all demonstrations ever witnessed in Perry County through the presence of two Indianians who later attained the supreme honours possible for state or nation to bestow, Alvin P. Hovey and Benjamin Harrison.
As a delicate courtesy to the widow of their name- sake, the only woman whom they ever elected to hon- ourary membership, Mrs. de la Hunt (Isabelle Hucke- by) was invited by the Post to drive in an open barouche, seated between these two brigadier-generals, and on arrival at the camp they were received with full military honours.
Just a year later than the Cannelton post was or- ganized, a charter was issued for Tell City, and the same memorial was there paid one of the town's earliest heroes in selecting his name for the post, and on March 12, 1884, Captain Louis Frey Post, No. 287, was in- stituted, with George F. Bott, P. C. Rothley, Joseph Molinari, H. A. Grabhorn, Jacob Boyer, G. Zscherpe, Joseph Hauser, John Haerle, Peter Rossman, Edward Schultz, Alexander Gasser and Albert Jehle as its charter members.
With the number of volunteers who had early en- listed from the eastern portion of the county, an or- ganization of survivors in Tobin Township might na- turally be expected, and in November, 1884, at Rome, Commandant James A. Burkett, of de la Hunt Post, in- stituted Charles B. Wheeler Post, No. 392, under charter date of November 22, with the following offi-
Digitized by Google
1
320
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
cers and members: John Arnold Hargis, commandant; Robert Thompson Huckeby, quarter-master; Elias J. Kaid, quarter-master sergeant; Edmund Connor, sergeant-major; J. F. Connor, chaplain; Jacob Paul- man, surgeon; William H. Kyler, officer of day; John D. Kroush, officer of guard; Andrew J. Earles, A. P. Wheeler, J. W. Wheeler, L. P. Rollins, D. A. Wheeler, Elijah Stroads, A. J. Bryant, John L. Baker, H. B. Mc- Coy, Abraham Crist, R. W. Robinson, H. P. Robinson, William R. Polk, W. R. Gardner, Calvin Sampley.
The Ancient Order of United Workmen had en- tered the county a few years earlier, Cannelton Lodge No. - being organized in October, 1879, with Will N. Underwood, P. M. W .; Robert Payne, M. W .; Thomas Hollerbach, G. F .; Alexander Quick, O .; Dr. Charles Heady Beard, R .; Christian Kielhorn, F .; Dan- iel Mueller, R .; William W. Scott, G. W .; August Hoch, I. W .; Peter Bauer, O. W.
Franklin Lodge, No. 94, was instituted December 9, 1882, at Tell City, and its original officers were August Schreiber, P. M. W .; Henry Nimsgern, M. W .; L. Greiner, G. F .; John Herrmann, O .; Leander Yarito, recorder; D. Charles M. Brucker, F .; Richard Wind- pfenning, R .; J. Gimbel, G .; A. Gasser, I. W.
These lodges have had the usual career of the small- er fraternal and benevolent societies and their earliest years were their best, but William Tell Grove, No. 7, Druids, which was chartered July 7, 1864, to Christian Uebelmesser, Frederick Rass, John Hoby, John Ehret and J. J. Walters, of Tell City, is still in existence, as is also a thrifty Swiss Benevolent Society (Gruetli Unterstuetzungsverein), founded by the earliest col- onists and whose membership is limited to Switzer descendants.
Tell City Lodge, No. 206, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was chartered May 17, 1859, to A. Pfaefflin, E. T. Reis, Philip Meyer, Gottlieb Mann, John H. Noel, John C. Schuing, Michael Hafling and Daniel Mueller. Odd Fellowship has always been strong in Tell City
Digitized by Google
321
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
and, May 22, 1873, a charter was issued to Perry Lodge, No. 418, with John S. Whitten, August Men- ninger, Andrew J. Smith, Sylvester Rainey, John Buehler, G. W. Lyon, John and Peter Herrmann, C. R. and A. P. Mastin as its first members.
Allemania Encampment, No. 156, was chartered May 18, 1881, to August Schreiber, Anton Moraweck, Louis Koch, Henry Fruehwald, Jacob Epple and Henry Grab- horn.
The sister order of the Rebekah degree was insti- tuted some years later, its installation as Columbia Lodge, No. 314, taking place October 8, 1889, with the following as its first officers: John M. Kreisle, noble grand; Rose Althof, vice-grand; Katherine Hugger, secretary ; Frederica Bader, treasurer.
Early in the following summer (June, 1890) a sister lodge, Ohio No. 329, was instituted at Cannelton, mem- bers from Columbia participating in the installation of its first officers: William A. Wilson, noble grand; Mrs. Sarah (Cleveland) Henning, vice-grand; Mrs. Clara (L'Argent) Huston, permanent secretary; Ella May Henning (Mrs. William Ellsworth Richey), recording secretary; Ella Wheeler (Mrs. Oscar Myers), treas- urer; Mrs. Eliza (Fairhurst) Chilton, warden; Mrs. Amelia (Johann) Plock, conductress; Mrs. Katherine (Klein) Loesch, inner guard; Philip Fuchs, outer guard; Mrs. Ella (Reed) Truempy and Margaret Chil- ton (Mrs. Charles A. Loesch), supporters noble grand; Mrs. Dinah (Platt) May, supporter vice-grand.
The Knights of Pythias were introduced to the coun- ty by the institution of Tell City Lodge, No. 203, Knights of Pythias, on December 17, 1888, with twen- ty-two members and officers. Harry Delany, of Hunt- ingburg, acting as special deputy, conducted the cere- monies, assisted by brother knights from Huntingburg Lodge, No. 161, Lodge No. 64 and Uniform Rank Divi- sion No. 46, from Boonville. The original officers in- stalled were: Charles M. Brucker, past chancellor; Gabriel Schmuck Dusch, chancellor commander; Henry
(21)
Digitized by y Google
322
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
D. Stuehrk, vice-chancellor; Albert P. Fenn, prelate; Robert Huelsman, master of exchecquer; John Begert, Jr., master of arms; Henry J. Stuehrk, keeper of rec- ord and seal; Philip Zoercher, master at arms; Charles Ebersold, inside guardian; Charles Meckert, outside guardian; William J. Becker, Gustave Walter, John Hartman, trustees.
"Founded on naught but the purest and sincerest motives," as reads the opening sentence of their by- laws, Pythianism in Tell City has maintained a steady career, and despite the lapse of years several of the foregoing names remain on the roll of active Knights.
George R. May, Henry H. Wilber, Jacob B. Snyder, George W. Pohl and Francis W. Feagans, of Cannelton, were among the charter members of this lodge, and with the increase of interest which their own town came to feel, an organization was effected there some fifteen months later. Ambrosia Lodge, No. 250, was instituted March 25, 1890, at Cannelton, with the fol- lowing officers: William F. Lees, past chancellor; Frank G. Whitacre, chancellor commander; James R. Lees, vice-chancellor; Benjamin F. Hemphill, prelate; Julius Peters, keeper of record and seal; John D. Mitchell, master at arms; W. B. Spurlock, inside guardian; John Heubi, outside guard; John T. Hay, Charles F. Breidenbach, Shubal C. Little, trustees. Some few years later, a Uniform Rank Division was instituted, but removals and deaths so far reduced the resident membership in course of time that it was de- cided to surrender both charters and disband as an organized body.
Freemasonry in Tell City had its beginning in the middle seventies, when Tell City Lodge, No. 507, was instituted, with Simon Jaseph, Jr., worshipful master; James Clark, senior warden; August Schreiber, junior warden; Frederick Voelke, treasurer, and August Men- ninger, secretary, but the membership was never large and its existence was not of long duration.
Under the old name, but with a new number, work
Digitized by Google
323
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
was carried on for a time by dispensation, some years afterward, and May 23, 1899, a charter was granted to Tell City Lodge, No. 623. Its officers then were Fred- erick G. Heinzle, worshipful master; Philip Zoercher, senior warden; William H. Schaeffer, junior warden; Albert P. Fenn, secretary; Joseph N. Dodson, treas- urer; Henry J. Stuehrk, senior deacon; William S. Webb, junior deacon; August Schreiber, senior senti- nel; John T. Patrick, junior sentinel; Casper Gloor, tyler. The present society now embraces many of the community's most valuable and representative citizens, both young and old.
Derby Lodge, No. 1631, was the first Knights of Honour organization in Perry County, instituted in May, 1879, by Dr. Emanuel R. Hawn, of Leavenworth. Its charter members were Marion Fite, Dr. James B. Bennett, S. N. Badger, Scott Cunningham, Joseph Yates, Robert Brodie, John W. Davis, John S. Wil- liams, Matthew Cunningham, W. H. Richardson, W. H. Jones, J. T. Gilliland and Solomon Snyder.
During the next year, or September 16, 1880, James W. Jacobs, grand protector of Indiana, organized a lodge at Cannelton for which a charter was issued June 8, 1881, as Excelsior Lodge, No. 2293, with John Zimmerman, dictator; Caleb W. Knights, reporter; Leonard May, treasurer, and twenty-five additional names upon its charter roll.
Practically contemporary, and marking a period of growth among societies for fraternal insurance on the mutual plan, was the organization, January 18, 1888, in Cannelton, of Father Book Branch, No. 519, Catholic Knights of America, whose first officers were: Tim- othy T. Whelan, president; John J. McCarty, vice- president; Joseph P. Clemens, recording secretary; Isaac C. Dunn, financial secretary; Lawrence Keenan, treasurer; John Hayes, sergeant-at-arms; Edwin B. Latimer, sentinel; Dr. Charles W. Ladd, examiner; Frank Gerber, Sr., Timothy E. Sweeney and Emil E. Haering, trustees.
Digitized by Google
324
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
As spiritual director was chosen the Rev. John W. Book, then the joint pastor of St. Patrick's and St. Michael's congregations, the bestowal of whose name upon the society was but one mark of the affection in which he was held by his own people an esteem shared by many outside his flock. Of German descent, though a native of Clark County, Indiana, October 21, 1850, he was the son of William and Mary (Engel) Book. Entering St. Meinrad's Abbey at the age of fif- teen, his religious education was completed there, with the exception of two years' study at old St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, Kentucky.
Elevated to holy orders on All Souls' Day (Novem- ber 2), 1873, by the Right Reverend Maurice de St. Palais, Bishop of Vincennes, he was given his first charge in the following January, St. Bernard's parish at Rockport, also serving St. Martin's, Centerville, and St. Rupert's, Yankeetown, as rural missions. In the summer of 1885 he was transferred to Cannelton, where he remained until the close of his earthly la- bours, October 1, 1898.
He was a contributor to various magazines and peri- odicals, besides the author of several books gaining wide circulation, making for him a reputation which his personal diffidence never allowed him to claim. During his lingering illness he was constantly visited by warm friends of every creed, whose welcome at his bedside met no shade of difference, each caller leaving with a sense of benediction, whether spoken or un- uttered. The imposing obsequies in which twenty-five priests participated, October 4, in St. Michael's Church, marked a day of respectful veneration to his memory among all who had known him as a fellow-citizen of southern Indiana.
St. Paul's Branch, No. 557, at Tell City, was insti- tuted a year later than that founded at Cannelton, forty-two names comprising its charter membership, which has increased (1915) to one hundred and eighty. Anton Paalz, president; Michael J. Dosch, vice-presi-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.