USA > Indiana > Perry County > Perry County: A History > Part 9
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
Digitized by Google
108
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
County, and the way thither from Vincennes might have puzzled a seasoned backwoodsman.
A few years earlier, however, the Rev. Maurice de St. Palais (of noble French lineage, and later third Bishop of Vincennes), had established a mission upon the banks of Patoka River in Dubois County, for the German families living near, so Father Bessonies at length found himself safely in charge of the Rev. Jo- seph Kundek, of Jasper, to whom he was recommended for instructions as to the final stages of his somewhat vague journey.
Father Kundek had had the advantage of ten years' forest experience and it is told that he had himself blazed an original trail from Jasper to the site which he chose in 1840 for a new town, naming it Ferdinand, for the Emperor then reigning in Austria-Hungary. He drew, therefore, with his own hand a map, indicat- ing by unmistakable natural landmarks such as rocks, creeks and hills, the route which Father Bessonies fol- lowed to his destination.
Nor was this the only instance wherein the revered Jasper priest marked out a path for his younger cler- ical brother, there being a distinct parallel in the ex- tensive work carried on by the two men, with a strenu- ous activity unsparing of personal strength. Ill health, developed through exposure, brought Father Kundek's earthly life to its end, December 4, 1857, and the mag- nitude of his labours lying altogether outside Perry County may not be herein dwelt upon.
Father Bessonies, however, was one of those "men- so strong that they come to four-score years," living until February 22, 1901, being at that time Vicar Gen- eral to the Right Reverend Francis Silas Chatard in Indianapolis, and an honourary Monsignor of the Vati- can household, a title conferred upon him January 22, 1884, by Pope Leo XIII.
Held in affectionate esteem by people of every re- ligion, or of none, for his many virtues, and for that winning disposition of bonhomie, which can not be
Digitized by Google
109
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
portrayed by an English equivalent, the fondest love of Monsignor Bessonies himself was always cherished toward the flock and field of his first twelve years' work, and Perry County was dear to his heart until the end; especially those parishes of Leopold, Cannel- ton, Derby, Oil Creek and Troy, where he was the first Roman Catholic who ever officiated.
He was, also, a veritable "circuit rider," with a weekly schedule which long read thus: Sunday, masses in Leopold and Derby; Monday, Leavenworth; Tues- day, Corydon ; Wednesday, Newton Stewart; Thursday, Jasper; Friday, Taylorville; Saturday, Rockport; and a volume could be filled with incidents thrilling and pathetic of his career in the wilderness.
An acquaintance with William H. English, formed during the presidential campaign of 1844, became a warm personal friendship, and it was through the in- fluence of English at Washington, whither he had gone to accept an important position in the Treasury De- partment, that President Polk established in 1847 a postoffice at Leopold, Father Bessonies receiving the appointment as postmaster.
A kinsman of the English family had already located in the tiny hamlet, Doctor William P. Drumb, its first resident physician, if resident be the correct term de- scribing a rural practitioner whose range of patients was scarcely narrower than the circle of Father Bes- sonies' parishioners. Doctor Drumb and William H. English were first cousins on the maternal line, grand- sons of Philip Eastin, "a Lieutenant in the Fourth Vir- ginia Regiment in the War of the American Revolu- tion," to quote the inscription on the tombstone mark- ing the spot of his burial, 1817, in the Riker's Ridge (or Hillis) Cemetery, a romantic spot overlooking the Ohio River, in Jefferson County, some few miles north- east of Madison.
William P. Drumb and his wife, Sarah A. Stevens, were the parents of seven children, the eldest son, Elisha English Drumb, born May 20, 1841, in Leopold,
Digitized by Google
110 HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
and educated for three years at West Point, becom- ing a successful lawyer and conspicuous politician in Cannelton, the father being the first County Clerk who lived there after it became the county seat in 1859. Through deaths and removals the children became widely scattered, none of the third generation now re- siding in Perry County.
The Drumbs were almost the only family of purely American stock coming into Leopold Township after the very earliest entries of Cunningham, Frakes, Mayo and a few others, but the French and Belgian immi- grants of the 'forties have left a numerous progeny on the lands then taken up. Among the many names, only few of whom can be here enumerated, are noted Andrew Peter, who felled the first tree in the heavy timber and thick underbrush on the site where Leopold stands today; Jerome and Gustave Goffinet; Jean Bap- tiste Marcilliat; Jean and Victor Goffinet; André Jo- seph Marcilliat; Gérard Joseph Collignon; Jean Fran- çois Allard; François Genet; Catherine Naviaux; Jean Baptiste and Josephine Nicolay ; Dominic Demonet and Joseph James, both early merchants; Joseph François Claudel; Auguste Reynaud; John A. Courcier, a vet- eran of the Second War with England; François Devil- lez; James Hanonville and Jean Joseph Maire. All these were pioneer landholders.
Almost equally early came Peter and Angeline (Em- ery) Casper, with their twelve children, from Wurt- temburg, the father having been a soldier under Na- poleon. They were among the few German settlers of the locality. Somewhat later Peter and Margaret (Devillez) George, who were natives, respectively, of Hachy and Nobresart, Luxembourg, arrived with a family of ten children, so both these names are now extensively represented.
To his own patron saint, St. Augustine, was dedi- cated Father Bessonies' first church, a small log build- ing at the southern edge of Leopold, eventually super-
Digitized by Google
1
111
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
seded by the present massive stone edifice on the same site, in the midst of "God's Acre" where
"Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."
St. Mary's on the hill overlooking Derby, was his next mission established, followed by St. Croix, on Oil Creek, near what is now Branchville, and St. Pius, in Troy, at about the same period relatively from now.
The growing village of Cannelton could not be dis- regarded by the zealous pastor, who found among its newcomers many who were the spiritual children of his own faith and craved its ministrations. Only one place of public worship had been built, the Unitarian meeting-house at the corner of Washington and Third Streets (later becoming St. Luke's Episcopal Church), and since by the extreme liberality of its donors the edifice was open to every shade of belief, it was within its walls, on Sunday, June 10, 1849, following a service held by Father Bessonies, that the first Roman Catho- lic organization in Cannelton was effected.
Most of the ten or twelve families composing the pro- posed congregation were Irish by nativity or descent, so the trustees then elected, Dr. J. B. Smith, John W. Lyons, Anthony Clark and Michael Connor, were chosen as "trustees of a church to be erected in Cannel- ton, to be called St. Patrick's." From the American Cannel Company came the gift of an excellent lot in Seventh Street, facing the head of Madison Street, suf- ficiently large to accommodate future parochial build- ings, besides a small parish cemetery. Such a donation had been customary with the company toward all re- ligious and educational projects, with further liberal contributions of stone and other building materials.
Work was not begun until the following summer, but by the end of August the small stone edifice was under roof, and on September 22, 1850, the Eighteenth Sun- day after Pentecost, mass was said for the first time in the church. Father Bessonies officiated, and con-
Digitized by Google
112
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
tinued to serve the congregation for some three years, or until his removal from Perry County to Jefferson- ville. The parish had grown to a size demanding a resident clergyman, so the Rev. Bede O'Connor, one of the Benedictines from St. Meinrad's Abbey, was placed in charge.
On Low Sunday, April 15, 1855, he was succeeded by the Rev. Michael Marendt, the third pastor of St. Patrick's and its last as an independent parish, the new, affiliated body of St. Michael's being separated from the mother-church by mutual agreement, Febru- ary 28, 1858.
Seventy-eight German-speaking families then erected St. Michael's Church, still standing at the corner of Washington and Eighth Streets, leaving St. Patrick's Church to the English-speaking members of the con- gregation; the priest's house to belong to both, for the use of the clergy serving the two parishes. The Rev. Chrysostom Foffa, O. S. B., laid the cornerstone of St. Michael's Church, June 13, 1858, Peter Clemens, Nich- olas Kasper, John H. Spieker and Jacob Wiss being trustees.
One year later, or June 19, 1859, the massive stone building, a handsome type of Perpendicular Gothic architecture, was solemnly blessed by the Rev. Bede O'Connor, though the graceful spire, rising to a height of 156 feet and a landmark to every traveller approach- ing Cannelton, was not finished for more than another twelvemonth. On September 30, 1860, however, the bell which still strikes the hours as a town-clock for all the citizens (three others, purchased ten years later, marking the quarters) was raised to the belfry after benediction and rang out for the first time its Angelus.
Digitized by Google
------
CHAPTER XIII
RONO AND NORTHEASTERN PORTION OF COUNTY
TROY was the second community in Perry County to become an incorporated town, the enactment being the work of Dr. Robert G. Cotton, a resident of the place, who represented the county in the Legislature of 1837, and later in the same year the first board of trustees was elected, consisting of Jacob Protzman, James B. Worthington, John Bristow, John Daniel and John Huff. This organization lapsed after a few years, however,-perhaps three or four-and an attempt to revive the corporation about ten years later resulted in failure. In the spring of 1859 the town was rein- corporated, with Dr. Magnus Brucker, Cullen C. Cot- ton, Samuel K. Connor, Jacob Daunhauer and William T. Washer as trustees; David R. Hubbs, clerk, treas- urer and assessor. Their first meeting was held May 4, 1859, when town ordinances were adopted, a cor- porate levy fixed, and the municipality has maintained a continuous existence thenceforward.
Investigation having discovered around Troy a de- posit of brown marly clay of the quaternary epoch, from which it was believed that the finer white wares so extensively manufactured in England could be pro- duced, in 1838 a charter was granted the Indiana Pot- tery Company "to manufacture at Troy, from the fire- clay beds there, Rockingham and other stoneware."
Among the stockholders were Samuel Casseday, John Bell, William Garvin, E. T. Bainbridge and Per- ley Chamberlain, of Louisville, besides Reuben Bates of Troy, who subscribed as his portion of the invest- ment a tract of 160 acres of land adjoining Troy, under which lay the clay. Means to erect the required build-
(8)
Digitized by Google
114
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
ings and purchase the necessary apparatus were fur- nished by other members of the company.
By way of insuring success to the new enterprise, it was regarded as essential to import experienced la- bour, and potters of supposed skill were induced to come in considerable numbers from England. While some few of these brought out were trained men of in- dustrious character, the majority arriving were the cast-off idlers and worthless scum of the Staffordshire potteries, who came to America merely as a holiday, having nothing to lose; or to evade the unsavoury reputation they had earned for themselves in the Five Towns.
The Troy pottery started up with flattering pros- pects, but in a short while the impossibility of making white ware from the clay was demonstrated, and the labourers showed themselves in their true light, spend- ing over half their time in sheer idleness when pre- sumably at work.
After a year of anxious effort by the company, busi- ness suspended, and the plant was placed in charge of Samuel Casseday, who leased it from time to time for various periods to some of the English workmen. He became the recognized owner and leased it in 1851 to Samuel Wilson and John Sanders, who continued the manufacture of yellow and Rockingham ware, through sundry vicissitudes of fire and calamity, becoming ab- solute owners of the property about 1860 when a two- story brick building was erected by Wilson alone. San- ders' death occurred in 1863, when his interests were leased to Benjamin Hinchco, an Englishman, like his associates.
In the extreme eastern portion of Perry County no town plat has ever been regularly laid out and re- corded, but in very early times the home of an old set- tler on the river bank, some few miles below the Craw- ford County line, came to be known as Dodson's Land- ing, where there was a woodyard, and where passing store-boats stopped to traffic with the few neighbour-
Digitized by Google
-
115
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
ing residents, Jesse Martin later carried on the wood- yard for some years, until his death about 1840, after which his widow continued the business.
Job Hatfield, one of several brothers in an Ohio fam- ily, came down the river about 1842 in a store-boat, and after remaining for a year or two afloat though tied to the bank, with increasing trade at this point, finally landed his boat above high-water mark and con- ducted the store as a fixed establishment, moving his family into a log dwelling which had been commenced by the Martins.
From that time to the present the Hatfield family, through the lines of Job, Lorenzo Dow and William, have been associated with the frowning cliffs of "Buz- zards' Roost," which come close to the river north of the rich bottom land between Oil Creek and the Ohio. In earlier days they were of important connection with the mercantile, professional and political affairs of Perry County, but the family name and stock is now more largely represented in Spencer, Warrick and Vanderburg Counties.
When a mail route was established in 1848 between Leavenworth and Cannelton, extending to Rockport, Job Hatfield was appointed postmaster and the settle- ment appears under the name Rono. This was said to be the name of an old dog once owned by Jesse Martin, which lived to an extraordinary age. Whether or not a true story, the hamlet remained as Rono until 1896, when the postal department changed it to Magnet, the present title.
The most important, if not the only, commercial in- terest of early Rono was the slaughtering and packing trade carried on for many years by the Hatfields, a massive stone smoke-house, built after a disastrous fire in 1856, yet standing in testimony to their exten- sive operations. They also conducted a business in general produce and merchandise, shipping flatboats South like most other dealers of their time.
Job Hatfield was the last treasurer of Perry County
Digitized by Google
116
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
who held office in the old court-house at Rome, and an interesting story, not without its exciting side, is re- called concerning an incident of his term, 1856-1860.
There were then no banks in the county, available as depositories, and the county funds were kept in such places of security as the treasurer could devise. On one occasion of taxpaying, when certain exceptionally large sums had been paid in, some circumstances aroused Treasurer Hatfield's suspicions, so that he de- termined to leave no money in the rather fragile county safe that night.
Carrying home, therefore, after dark all the coin and bills, in a huge sack whose weight was about all he could handle, he put it into a coal-scuttle which he next filled to the brim with loose coal, completely hiding the money-bag. Then calmly going to sleep, the first news to greet his awakening was that the treasurer's office had been "robbed," the safe broken into and all its con- tents stolen.
Hatfield received the startling messages with no sign of disturbance, merely saying that he would be at the court-house for business at his usual hour. And so he was, quietly bringing with him the money which he had in private removed from its place of concealment, so that no one, not even his immediate family, knew until long afterward just where the county treasure had been hidden over night.
The first physician of Rono was Dr. Hiram M. Curry, born September 23, 1827, in Brown County, Ohio, a son of William and Hannah (Adkins) Curry, who were natives, respectively, of Virginia and New York. After attending an academy in Maysville, Kentucky, and Shurtleff College, Alton, Illinois, he took a three years' course in Ohio Medical College, soon afterward locating in Perry County, where for two years he was associ- ated with Dr. William P. Drumb, of Leopold.
Later, he practiced alone at Rono, and for one year (1853) at Rome while filling out the unexpired term of William Van Winkle as auditor. Still later he lived at
------
Digitized by Google
117
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
Grandview, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at Cannelton, and lastly in Spencer County again. His first mar- riage was to Julia A. Hatfield, of Rono, May 18, 1855; Letitia Lamar, of Spencer County, becoming his sec- ond wife in 1864; and Fannie W. Smith, his third, in 1883. The offspring of these three unions keep up the Curry name elsewhere in Southern Indiana.
Probably the earliest minister of the Gospel in east- ern Perry County was Joseph Springer, who organized a Methodist class, meeting first in his own home and later at the log "Springer School-House," one of the most conspicuous school-buildings of the time in its locality. Meetings were also held near Leopold, where some of the members resided, as people then went many miles for the privileges of divine worship. Cir- cuit riders came once a month, or more seldom, and a journey of six or eight miles was considered nothing.
The Springers, Hatfields, Currys, Barrs, Borers, Heddens and Daileys were pioneer Methodists, and an early organization of the United Brethren (eventually disbanded) had several branches of the Myers and Fig- gins families as its principal members. Among the Universalists near Rono who held meetings at Beech Grove School-House were the Ewings, Tates, Spencers, Richardsons, Ballards and Millers, while Weedman, Farmer, Stiles, Cost, Rosecrans and Sinclair were names constituting the membership of a strong class who built a Disciples of Christ church some few miles west of Rono.
Some distance farther to the interior, and nearer to where Branchville was laid out in 1866, the Oil Creek Baptist Church was organized in 1851, by the Rev. R. M. Snyder and the Rev. J. Armstrong. Among its original members were James Falkenborough and his wife Barbara. Polly Frakes, Nancy Shaver, Daniel Rhodes and Charles A. Cunningham, the first clerk. The Cunningham family have maintained to the pres- ent their active support of this denomination and rank among the foremost Baptists in Perry County.
Digitized by Google
118
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
Although material and commercial development was more marked elsewhere, the eastern section of the county furnished the earliest example of systematic effort toward mental and social culture, especially com- mendable in view of the sparsely settled region. The first regular organization (other than religious) re- corded in Perry County was "The Flint Island Ly- ceum," whose initial meeting was held January 19, 1843, its preamble then adopted stating that: "We, the citizens of Perry County, Indiana, being desirous of literary improvement and the dissemination of useful knowledge, agree to form ourselves into a literary so- ciety."
W. A. T. Blakeburn was chosen permanent presi- dent, and Israel Stevenson, secretary, while among others signing the constitution and by-laws appeared the names of William Stark Minor, Jonathan D. Esa- rey, J. H. Esarey, Fielding Deen, Joseph Deen, J. E. Springer, John Peckenpaugh, Richard Myers, William Myers, I. W. Myers, James Myers, William Figgins, Reily Figgins, W. L. Sapp, William Hatfield, Joseph McFall, Wesley Riddle, Stephen Martin, Andrew Gilli- land, Thomas Gilliland, J. A. Gilliland (non-residents) and others. During the lifetime of the society it was well conducted, with the usual exercises of debates, discussions, declamations and orations, until its even- tual abandonment.
The Sons of Temperance organized about 1847 at Rome a branch of the national order which had been established five years earlier in New York City, con- tinuing their zealous work for several years, extend- ing to Cannelton and other points nearby, though without long duration.
The first of the great fraternal societies to enter Per- ry County was the Masonic order, Morris Lodge No. 97, F. and A. M., being instituted April 27, 1849, at Cannelton, with N. H. Ewing, W. M .; Elijah Moore, S. W., and E. M. Clark, J. W. Its charter was granted one month later, May 29, 1849, with the following
Digitized by Google
-
=
119
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
charter officers: Abijah Moore, W. M .; E. M. Clark, S. W .; Joshua B. Huckeby, J. W .; R. G. Tift, Secre- tary; Shubal C. Little, Treasurer; G. K. Foots, S. D .; S. Nosinger, J. D .; E. Moore, T.
Owing to internal differences this lodge surrendered its charter after three years and was granted a dispen- sation October 7, 1852, as Cannelton Lodge No. 152, with M. F. Ross, W. M .; E. Moore, S. W .; and Joseph M. Gest, J. W., to whom a new charter, still in effect, was granted May 26, 1853.
James Lodge No. 100, I. O. O. F., was instituted No- vember 29, 1851, in Cannelton, by G. B. Jocelyn, D. G. M., with Willard Claflin, N. G .; Ziba H. Cook, V. G .; M. Fitzpatrick, Secretary; Jacob B. Maynard, Treas- urer. January 21, 1852, is the date of its charter and Thomas Hay was its first initiate.
Its career has been one of uniform success, and it is the only order (1915) in Cannelton owning its hall. A building fund was commenced in 1866, $1,500 being realized by a notable fair held in Mozart Hall, a not- able assembly-place in Cannelton's earlier years, still standing at the corner of Front and Madison Streets. Now put to prosaic uses, its fort-like stone walls give no hint of gaieties they once beheld.
On November 28, 1878, the present Odd Fellows' Hall, a substantial brick edifice at the corner of Third and Washington Streets, costing over $10,000, contain- ing handsome and appropriately furnished lodge- rooms, was formally dedicated by official ceremonial, followed by an elaborate banquet, and a ball, at night, which was one of the most brilliant semi-public func- tions ever witnessed in Cannelton.
Rome Lodge No. 133, F. and A. M., was chartered May 26, 1852, with John C. Shoemaker, W. M .; Isaac W. Whitehead, S. W .; William Hyde, J. W. Its mem- bership, at first small, became later large and active, but has undergone the usual vicissitudes of a declining community, though always a high standard of enthu- siasm and efficiency. Some of Southern Indiana's most
Digitized by Google
120
HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY
learned brethren of the compass and square took their work as neophytes in the hall of old Rome Lodge. Noteworthy among these were three sons of Elijah Brannon Huckeby-Lawrence Brannon, George Perry and Robert Thompson Huckeby each of whom be- came profoundly versed in ritual of the ancient craft.
Troy Lodge No. 256, F. and A. M., was organized August 20, 1859, under a dispensation authorizing the institution exercises, when the officers installed were: Remus W. Tong, W. M .; William T. Washer, S. W .; S. S. Amos, J. W .; J. G. Heinzle, Treasurer; William Basye, Secretary; Charles McNutt, S. D .; Dr. Magnus Brucker, J. D .; Henry Jordan, T. The charter was is- sued by the Grand Lodge of Indiana, May 30, 1860, and the rolls show John D. Williamson to have been the first candidate raised.
Digitized by Google
CHAPTER XIV
LAWYERS, JUDGES AND FIRST NEWSPAPERS.
AT the May term, 1846, Judge Embree was suc- ceeded by Hon. James Lockhart, of Vanderburg County, who had already become one of the foremost lawyers in Southern Indiana, so that his elevation to the bench of the Fourth Judicial Circuit was a deserved tribute to his ability.
For several years an indictment for kidnapping had been standing on the court docket of Perry County against Benjamin S. Harrison and William B. Harri- son, reciting that they had forcibly taken a free negro named Thomas, living in the county, had conveyed him into one of the Southern states and sold him as a slave. In 1846 two other free negro residents of Perry County, Abraham and Abigail, were abducted by Na- thaniel Dupree-not "Simon Legree"-carried South and sold into slavery.
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.