USA > Indiana > Lake County > Reports of the historical secretary of the Old settler and historical association of Lake County, Indiana, 1906 - 1910 > Part 3
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"Total Membership, 698." President of the Association, George M. Death; Secretary, H. E. Jones; Treasurer. A. J. Swanson; First Vice President, Mrs. Jennings of Whit- ing ; Second Vice President, Mrs. Gordon of East Chicago.
At the public meeting introductory remarks were made by the President, prayer was offered by Rev. Artman, and the address of the day was given by Hon. Thomas R. Jessup, Past Grand Master, of Richmond, Indiana.
SOLDIERS AT CROWN POINT.
Many citizens of Crown Point, especially women and school children, witnessed a scene of large interest on Thursday, September 27, 1906. Some five hundred sol- diers, United States troops, on their way to Fort Sheridan, with baggage wagons-four-horse teams-and the various things an army needs on a march, reached Crown Point about 10:15 in the morning, and left on the cars at 1:15 in the afternoon, the three hours of their stay being spent in getting their dinner, preparing their baggage for the changed mode of transportation, and taking some rest. They had camped at Orchard Grove the night before, and must have started on their march in the early morning. They had marched up from Indianapolis. They halted and dined on the open meadow eastward from the Pan-Handle sta- tion and north of North street. Several officers were with them, some of them, and especially the wagon guard, being mounted, others of the wagon guard on foot. The wagon train started out between twelve and one o'clock, expect- ing, some of the men said, to march until ten in the night. To see the guns of five hundred soldiers stacked in long lines on the green sward, to see the various arrangements for the dinner, to see, at length, each soldier pick up his
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baggage and load himself for marching, as if ready for war times, and see the quiet, perfect discipline that stem- ed to exist, as instantly, at the sound of the bugle, the soldiers formed in line, took up their guns, marched orderly on board the train, ought all to have been not only inter- esting but instructive to the many school children who were present.
The officers and soldiers were courteous to their vis- itors and communicative to proper questionings, and must have left a good impression in Crown Point of some mem- bers of our small "standing army."
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A GOLDEN WEDDING.
On February 12, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wilson cele- brated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, at their present home in Crown Point. Mrs. Wilson was Jane Mc- Coy, and they were married February 12, 1857, at the home of her father, John McCoy, at what is now Le Roy, by Rev. J. N. Buchanan, who is no longer living.
An interesting fiftieth anniversary was celebrated at Schneider in the south part of this county, April 19, of this year. Those enjoying this golden wedding were Mr. and Mrs. Ahlgrim, born in Germany, the one coming to this country in 1853 and the other in 1856, and married, of course, in 1857.
Present at their anniversary were four children, three daughters-in-law, eighteen grandchildren, two grand-daugh- ters-in-law, and one great-grandchild.
And so the thousands keep coming from the Old World adding to the millions already in this New World. Ger- mans seem very soon to become Americans.
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MARRIAGE OF MEMBERS AND OF PIONEER DESCENDANTS.
One of our members, Joseph Patton, went far out into the vast West, even beyond the Dakotas, into Montana, and there on Tuesday afternoon, October 23, 1906, was united in marriage with Mrs. Mary L. Bostwick, himself 72 and she 68 years of age, and soon returned with her to his home in Crown Point.
It is quite natural that pioneer descendants should come, for their marriage ceremony, to the home of the chaplain of this Association, Rev. T. H. Ball; and by him were the following eight marriages duly solemnized :
I. Mr. Harry H. Woods, grandson of Hon. Bartlett Woods, and Miss Eleanor Arnold, Nov. 10, 1906;
2. Mr. Charles John Powell, of Chicago Heights, and Miss Sarah Effie McColley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mc- Colley, members of this Association, Nov. 24, 1906;
3. Mr. Bert L. Worley, grandson of Rev. J. L. Wor- ley, and Miss Anna Belle Stanley, Jan. 23, 1907 ;
Mr. Thomas Lake and Miss Mabel Gertrude Post, 4. granddaughter of Volney Holton, March 6, 1907;
5. Mr. Charlie E. Boyd and Miss Edna M. Saxton, granddaughter of Ebenezer Saxton, April 2, 1907;
6. Mr. Herbert A. Saxton and Miss Nora E. Pierce, the latter a descendant of the pioneer Muzzall, of Turkey Creek, the former of Ebenezer Saxton, June 12, 1907;
7. Mr. Ralph W. Muzzall and Mary K. Miller, August 3, 1907;
8. Mr. Harry Powell and Miss Maude McGary, born at Ross Station, a granddaughter of Julius Denmon, August 17, 1907.
These sixteen were all quite young people starting out hopefully into a new, untried life.
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Also, of pioneer descendants, Miss Josephine Lois Lin- coln, great-granddaughter of Solon Robinson, and Howell V. Parry, of Crown Point, were married in the city of Muncie, March 27, 1907 ;
Also, Miss Myra Wheeler, great-granddaughter of Judge Clark, and also of the pioneer James Farwell, of Hanover township, and John Fisher, a brother of Mrs. Claude Allman, were married by Rev. E. R. Horton, June 29, 1907 ;
Also, Miss Jessie Allman, a descendant of the Luther and Allman pioneers, and Frank B. Pattee, Esq., a mem- ber of an old Lake County family, were married by Rev. W. F. Hovis, of South Bend, at the home of Judge Mc- Mahan, August 14, 1907 ; .
Also, Miss Bessie Brown, granddaughter of Eli Sigler, was married in July, in the city of Chicago, to Dr. Robert Krost, of Crown Point.
Note .- Ebenezer Saxton, the pioneer, settled at Wig- gins' Point, now Merrillville, in 1837. The marriage, there- fore, of two of his descendants in 1907, celebrated 70 years of the residence of the family in the county.
Marriage Anniversary .- April 2, 1907, was the sixty- first anniversary of the marriage of Noah Bibler and his wife, who was Lydia M. Palmer, sister of Dennis Palmer, of Palmer, the one being 82 and the other 80 years of age.
On that same day, April 2, 1907, were married at Wheaton, Illinois, one of the two grandsons, Allison A. Bibler, editor of the Crown Point Register, and Miss Petra E. Lyng.
VARIOUS ITEMS.
Gary people preparing for inhabitants. On September
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II, 1906, there was filed in the County Recorder's Office by the Gary Land Company, a plat of the proposed city of Gary, containing 119 blocks and more than 4,200 lots, the land being situated in sections 3 and 4, range 8, town- ship 36, and comprising 400 acres or more.
The grain elevator at Dinwiddie station was opened for business on Friday, November 23, and the first load of grain was delivered there by Orville Hale. The second was by Tyler Hogan.
On Thursday, January 24, 1907, C. E. Nichols & Co., of Lowell, took in 155 loads of corn and 5 loads of seed and hay. Their receipts for the week were over 20,000 bushels or corn and their outlay for the same exceeded $75,000.
On Saturday, January 26, the S. M. La Rue Company sold at Lowell, 3,000 pounds of sugar.
Ed Fuller, from March I to June 5, of this year, has bought of Lowell merchants 1,300 cases of eggs, amount- ing to $5,553.
August 1, 1907, the Crown Point banks commenced allowing 3 per cent. interest on time deposits.
Other banks in the county had been allowing interest for some time past. Quite large sums of money are on deposit in the county waiting for profitable investments.
ICE HARVEST.
February I. Cloudy this morning. Mercury 30°. Some two inches of snow now on the ground. Some sleds and cutters were running yesterday. There have now been, after some zero weather, four good days of putting up ice. At the Fair Ground Lake the ice is said to be from six to seven inches in thickness, clear and good ice. At
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Cedar Lake it is reported to have been this week from six to ten inches thick.
On Sunday, March 10, of this year, 1907, the Tod Opera House in East Chicago, built in 1888, was destroyed by fire, and much other property. Loss, about $16,000.
WORTH PRESERVING.
The following item of history, so far as I know, is not on any special record, and as it may be of interest at some future time I insert it here :
The first county farm for the poor was on section 20, two miles south of Crown Point, and was bought in 1854. The second, which is the present one, is on section II, three miles east of Crown Point, and was established as the county farm in December, 1869.
Those who have had the charge of the present one, are : Gordon McWilliams, who was in charge at the time of the removal; Captain W. Babbitt, 1881; T. A. Muzzall, 1886; Captain Babbitt in 1887, 1889. Others not known.
ANOTHER OLD BURIAL PLACE ..
In our earlier history known as "Lake County, 1872," thirty-eight burial places were named and locations given. Since 1872 at least two other old cemeteries have been located, and now, in May of 1907, the Lake County Star mentions another very little known ancient ground which may be called the Foley Mill Cemetery. The authority given for this statement is Mr. Abe Sowards, born in that Foley neighborhood and now sixty-five years of age. Six- teen bodies, it is said, were there committed to the earth, and the STAR says: "They have been there now sixty years and over, and it is still a lonesome, unsettled place, where nobody but hunters have ever traveled."
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The Historical Secretary remembers well a time, in 1843, as he was a young teacher in that district then, when in that Stringham and Foley neighborhood there was abund- ant life. But that was sixty-four years ago.
A CROWN POINT TRAGEDY.
At the Erie station in Crown Point on Wednesday evening, March 20, 1907, two boys, Eddie Kaiser and Freddie Wise, "news boys," quarreled over a game of marbles, and the Wise boy struck the Kaiser boy a blow on his jaw which knocked him senseless and in a short time resulted in his death.
FAMILY FESTIVALS.
'On Thanksgiving Day children and grandchildren met at Mr. Jacob Hayden's where 38 dined on "duck, goose and turkey," with other good things.
On Christmas the family of Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Brow- nell enjoyed a family reunion, the first full gathering of children and grandchildren for four years. Thirty were present at the dinner. Chicken and turkey meat was abund- ant with other good things.
On both these festive occasions there were many other family gatherings in the county, a county in which supplies of good food are abundant, and comparatively few suffer want.
January 3, 1907, Mrs. H. R. Nichols, a pioneer woman, was 81 years of age. The anniversary was celebrated by children and grandchildren partaking with her at her home of a fine birthday dinner.
February 16, T. H. Ball also reached his 8Ist anni- versary, which was duly celebrated by the kindness of Mrs. Youche and her son, Julian Youche.
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CHURCHI DEDICATION.
Sunday, June 30, 1907, was for the Methodist Episco- pal Church at Hammond a notable day. It was the day of the dedication of their new church building, a large brick structure with towers instead of a spire, costing about thirty-one thousand dollars and containing seatings for eleven hundred people. There were interesting exercises in the morning, afternoon and evening. A large attend- ance.
In the city of Hammond are twelve churches, the three leading or largest religious bodies, according to their build- ings, are the Roman Catholics, the German Lutheran, and the Methodist Episcopal, the buildings of the first having cost $35,000, which now would cost $50,000; the building of the second, a massive brick with a very tall spire, hav- ing cost $30,000, and would now cost about $40,000; and the large, solid looking building of the third costing $31,000. About one hundred thousand dollars these three denomina- tions have already laid out for buildings in the young city of Hammond, where not many years ago was only along this river known as Calumet the State Line Slaughter House.
VOTERS AND AGED MEN. ,
The enumeration of voters in the county, with their several ages, which is taken every six years, shows for this year the following numbers in the townships :
The whole number of voters will first be given, then those among them who are between 70 and 80 years of age, and then those who are over 80 years of age.
North township, 14,132 voters.
Calumet Hobart
1,527 20
886 26
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Ross
362
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3
St. Johns
425
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5
Hanover
270
7
2
Center
947
65
19
Winfield .
178
7
3
Eagle Creek
194
4
I
Cedar Creek
653
36
8
West Creek
316
3
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It thus appears that the largest number of aged men are in Center township, the smallest number in West Creek, and the next in Eagle Creek. And it seems a little surprising that in Cedar Creek, lying right between the two, there should be 44 over 70, and in both the other townships there are only 9.
The above figures have been taken with considerable care from the reports of the township trustees made to the county auditor in July and August of 1907. They must be quite accurate. It thus is shown that, at this time, the voters of the county numbered 19,890, or nearly 20,000, and that of these 250 were over 70 years of age. A few more details may be worth preserving in this record.
In Calumet township are reported 57 colored voters. Probably in Gary.
In Hobart township the ages of five of the voters are 90, 92, 93, 93, 95. The last is the age of Fred Shavey, the second oldest voter in the county. The oldest voter in the county is Charles Westman, 96, in Center township.
The very aged men of Hobart township are, at this date, Gustave Carlestrom, A. K. Garhart, C. W. Harper, Z. W. Parks, Jerome Shurer and Frank John.
In Ross are three. D. Underwood, 80; J. Gentry, 81 ; Nathan Wood, 82. In Hanover are two over 80, one is 82, and one 83. One of these is Dr. Gromann.
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The voters in North township are thus distributed: In Vhiting, 1,915, with a population of 7,420; East Chicago, 393 voters, and a population of 17,652; Hammond, voters 384, and a population of 24,244. Entire population of the Forth township at this time, 51,438. The trustees' reports ive only the voters.
A few more statements may be worthy of attention as howing where growth has been slow and where it has een more rapid. In the last twelve years a comparison f the reports of the trustees showed an increase in the umber of voters, in West Creek 19, in Eagle creek 16, Hanover 12, in St. Johns 4, and in Winfield 4. In
Calumet the gain is 1,213, and in North, 9,823. Hobart, enter and Cedar Creek have made fair gains.
Twelve years ago the school children of the county umbered 9,380; now they number 16,336.
GIBSON STATION.
There is an interesting history connected with what as once known as Gibson Station, soon, apparently, to e more widely known as the town of Gibson in the 'alumet Region of Indiana. When the Michigan Central ailroad went through the county, about 1851, the spot hich became known as Gibson was made a watering sta- on and a shipping point.
New railroads often change town localities. The In- ana Harbor railroad was built a few years ago, and a ace soon was needed for their yards. St. Johns was lected at one time and work was commenced there, but ere were causes of dissatisfaction arising, and then the opportunity for the old Gibson Station came. The ilroad yards were located there. A large round-house
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was erected, and then for offices an "immense three story structure" was built where had once been the little Gibson village. The removal of the entire office force of what is now called now called the Chicago and Indiana South- ern to this building led to other improvements. Other in- terests besides the material needed care, a fact which the founders of some of our towns seem never to have re- alized. Railroad officials met with members of the Y. M. C. A., and the result was the erection of what the East Chicago Globe calls "the modern and imposing structure, three stories high, that stands beside the monster office building of the Chicago and Indiana Southern, dedicated by the Young Men's Christian Association and known as the Y. M. C. A. building." The opening was Friday, July 19, 1907. At the exercises W. C. Belmon, of Hammond, presided. Some of the speakers were, W. C. Hotchkins, President of the C., I. & S. railway ; Dr. B. A. Brown, sur- geon for the Big Four railroad, and Secretary Stacy, who presented the certificate from the officers of the State Association authorizing the Gibson Division. A number of telegrams from railroad men were read, 'among them one from B. J. Gifford.
It seems from the report in the Globe that the New York Central lines furnished the funds for the building. One of the speakers said: "The company was willing to expend the money for the building because it would be a benefit to the company and to their men." So it is evident that the railroad men yet believe in the beneficial influence of Christianity. Referring to material interests, one speak- er said of Gibson, "It is the geographical center of the greatest consuming and producing area in the world, and is destined to become known in the business centers of the
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world as a great business center." So the old Gibson Sta- tion which a few of us knew when Hesseville was the cen- ter of North township, as to influence, is likely now to live on as long as Hammond itself, as a great center of busi- ness around a Y. M. C. A. building erected by railroad men, the first edifice of its kind in all Lake County.
GARY AGAIN.
Among the changes and improvements, changes called progress, Gary continues to grow. According to a table of assessments in my hands supposed to be correct, it is credited for 1907 with an assessed value of $3,197,859, East Chicago having an assessed value but little larger, $3,351,345. Its church buildings as yet are few, and it seems to be destitute as yet of a Y. M. C. A. building, structures which it will need before reaching its antici- pated population of 100,000 people. Many of the 1,500 voters in Calumet must be residents of Gary.
The improvements or evidences of growth over the en- tire county are too many to be given in detail. Buildings of different kinds have been erected, long stretches of con- crete sidewalks have been built, Crown Point is now put- ting in a sewerage system at an expense of $50,000, entire length to be 7 miles, and for enlarging the court house at Crown Point $90,000 have been appropriated.
The "DEPARTED," from September, 1906, to August, 1907 :
Every year some, and some of our own number, de- part from earth.
Mrs. M. Pierce, wife of Mycil Pierce, of Merrillville, a daughter of that pioneer, Abram Muzzall, of Turkey Creek, died suddenly, Sept. 11, 1906.
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Died, Sunday afternoon, Dec. 3, Frederick Perry, born in 1821. Age 85 years. Children living, 5; grandchildren, 27. Mrs. Perry, who was his very faithful wife, still lives.
Died at his home in Crown Point, October 2, in the night, Cyrus Chapman, born in Ohio in the summer of 1827. Age 79 years and 4 months. An inhabitant of Lake County for 60 years.
Died unexpectedly of paralysis, on Thursday, October II, Rodman H. Wells, the older son of a veteran pioneer, Henry Wells, a settler in what became Crown Point in 1835. Captain Wells was born June 9, 1838, was a soldier and officer in the Union Army, and was 68 years of age.
Died on Wednesday, November 28, Walter Bowes, born in February, 1849, in Chicago; married in January, 1881, to Arvilla Irish, and a resident in Crown Point for 25 years.
Died on Friday morning, December 21, 1906, at her home in Crown Point, Mrs. Mary Hackley Clark, wife of W. A. Clark. She was born in Ritchfield, N. Y., May 3, 1819, and came into this county about 1840.
Died at Los Angeles in California, Monday night, Nov. 12, 1906, Mrs. Jennie S. Rowins, daughter of Mr. J. S. Holton, 51 years of age, born in Crown Point, June 25, 1855. The body was brought to Crown Point for burial, the casket covered with the beautiful flowers of the West.
Died very unexpectedly, at the home of her daugh- ter, Mrs. McMahan, on Thursday, February 7, 1907, Mrs. Mary A. Allman; born in Chazy, New York, October 18, 1832, and so in the 75th year of her age. She was a prom- inent and very active member of this Association.
Died, May 1, 1907, Ora C. Serjeant, at her father's home in Lowell, nearly 32 years of age. A good teacher.
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ISAAC B. PIERCE.
It seems appropriate to make a mention here of the leath in Santa Barbara, California, of Isaac B. Pierce, a ormer resident of our county, who went to California in 872, and died in January, 1907, 81 years of age, it is aid, having been born in Canada in 1826, and married n our county in 1844 to Miss Emily Hayward.
A Santa Barbara paper says that in that city he had bout two hundred relatives, among them a brother, W. V. Pierce, 85 years of age.
The STAR of March 15, says that a late copy of the Morning Press," of Santa Barbara, announces the death here of Wheeler W. Pierce, who left Lake County in 875. He lived but a few weeks after his brother's death.
Died in Crown Point, Feb. 15, 1907, Mrs. Emily W. Vells, of the Vanhouten family, widow of the late Cap- ain R. H. Wells, in the 64th year of her age, having been orn in Steuben county, New York, August 29, 1843.
Died in Merrillville, Feb. 16, 1907, Mrs. Martha M. M. Coffey, in the 83d year of her age, a resident for many ears on a farm in Winfield township, and afterward on farm east of Merrillville, and in these later years, after he death of her husband, residing with her daughter in the illage of Merrillville.
Died at Manteno, Illinois, on Tuesday, May 21, 1907, yman Farley, the last of his generation of the pioneer Farley family. He was 84 years of age. He left kin- red at Lowell and Crown Point.
Some time in May, the date not at hand, Clint Dutton, n early resident in this county, the father of the late Mrs.
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Charles Merrill, departed from this life at his home in Cogad, Nebraska, at about the age of 80 years. He vis- ited our Association a few years ago to see his old friends once more. He was a very worthy man.
A copy of the following from a printed announcement sent to me by her kindred :
"Passed away at her home, Thursday, June 13, 1907, at 5 a. m., Mrs. Wesley Pattee, aged 70 years and 4 months."
Died in Crown Point, Saturday, August 10, an aged woman, Mrs. Margaret Smith, born in Maidstone, County of Kent, England, February 6, 1818, and therefore in the 90th year of her age. She was a member of the Jones fam- ily of Maidstone, had been in this country about 55 years, and was the mother-in-law of Mr. C. S. Coneway, where she had been well cared for, although her daughter had been dead for many years.
On Saturday, June 8, 1907, William Brown, born De- cember 5, 1821, having resided many years on his prairie farm near South East Grove, and for the last few years at Crown. Point, a life member of this Association, passed from the scenes of earth. He was in his 86th year. We miss his cheery presence among us here to-day.
Another death by accident, or what is called accident, took place at the Fair Ground Lake on Saturday, June 15, 1907, at 3 p. m. Several Crown Point boys, as is their cus- tom in the summer time, were bathing and swimming in the lake,-it is supposed that all Crown Point boys over 14 years of age can swim-when one of them, Walter Brown, son of W. B. Brown, undertaking to swim from a raft to the shore, suddenly threw up his hands and went down. Not till about 6:30 p. m. was the body recovered. Burial
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services were held Tuesday at 2 p. m., June 18. Walter was an only son, 16 years of age.
On Tuesday, April 16, 1907, the body of Mrs. Julia Wat- kins Brass was brought to Crown Point for burial in our cemetery. In the early days the name of Brass was well known to travelers along the Sand Ridge road. Mrs. Brass, who resided for some years in Crown Point, the grand- mother of Dr. A. L. Salisbury, died of pneumonia, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. S. W. Briggs, on Saturday, April 13, having lived more than 85 years.
Died at 2 p. m. Monday, March 11, 1907, Peter Phillips, of Ross township, after a residence here of sixty years. He was born March 24, 1833, in the State of New York, was married here to Rachael A. Butler December 20, 1857. Ten grandchildren are living. In thirteen more days he would have been 74 years of age.
Abel Sherman, born in Canada November 15, 1832, and so nearly 75 years of age, died on Tuesday night, August 20, 1907, at his home in Crown Point, where he has spent a long, an active, and a useful life.
Died, at her home, near Amboy, Ind., in the night of August 21, Mrs. Marion Bliss, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Brown, of Crown Point.
AN UNUSUAL RECORD.
On June 7, I learned of the death, at her home in Illi- nois, in the month of February, 1906, of one of our real pioneer women, Mrs. Valona Cutler, who was the daughter of that early settler of 1836 or 1837,-see his record in Lake county, 1872-Richard Church, and the wife of Leonard Cutler. At least as early as 1837 these Church and Cutler families were settlers on Prairie West, along with the Rock-
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