USA > Indiana > Grant County > Fairmount > The making of a township, being an account of the early settlement and subsequent development of Fairmount Township, Grant County, Indiana, 1829 to 1917, based upon data secured by personal interviews, from numerous communications > Part 25
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Transportation Problem-Pioneer Merchants.
Deer Creek hill, just this side of Marion. The first day they would drive to the Indian village and camp. The next day they would drive to Wabash or Lagro, dispose of their grain, do their trading, and return to the place where they camped the night before. On the third day they would drive home.
I wish to speak of one of the primitive methods of transportation- "The Mill Boy of the Slashes," and his gray mare. I have no reference here to the historic character distinguished by the above sobriquet whose life and character your schoolboys and girls will no doubt recall. I have reference to the Hoosier boy, who, mounted on the gray mare with a bag of shelled corn under him, rode through the slashes of Fair- mount Township to mill.
It was in January, 1861, and the weather was intensely cold. The slashes were covered with a coating of smooth ice. I then lived on the John Eaton farm, near what is now Hackleman. It was necessary to go to mill at Little Ridge, some two or three miles away. The road was an angling track through the woods, following the high ground in ordinary times to keep out of the water, and at this time to keep off the ice. I was mounted on the gray mare with a bag of corn, and in due time reached the mill, which was, I think, operated by Joel B. Wright, an honored and long time resident of your city.
When I reached the mill a number of Hoosier lads had preceded me, and I was compelled to await my turn, which came after the sun had gone down and darkness was approaching. The jolly miller put my grist (I mean the corn meal) on the mare, and me on top of it, and I started for home. I got along quite well until darkness came and I reached the ice in the woods. The mare missed the way, got on the ice and slipped and fell with me and the bag of meal. For- tunately, I was not injured, but my plight can better be imagined than realized. There I was, in the dense woods, in the bitter cold, surrounded by darkness, and unable, for want of strength, to put my meal back on the mare.
I was crying, bitterly, when there came to my aid a good Samaritan, Eli Smook, a pioneer preacher, who was passing through the woods and heard my cries and came to my rescue. He put my meal on the mare, mounted me on top of it, and led the mare to high ground and safety. I reached the cabin in the clearing about nine p. m., and after a good supper of mush and milk was ready to forget the hardships of my adventure.
Mike Beck and Benny Adams hauled freight from Anderson in the
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The Making of a Township.
early day, this being their occupation in 1860 to 1865. Beck brought the remains of the first Union soldier home from the War on the cold New Year in 1864. The body was taken to the residence of John Smith.
As some indication of the severe weather it is stated that this was the first time in his career that Walker Winslow left the harness on his horses all night for fear they would be so stiff from freezing as to make it impossible to harness the horses next day.
In 1866 David Baldwin commenced hauling freight from Anderson. which was then the nearest shipping point. He used a two-horse wagon. In 1868 the Pan Handle was built to Harrisburg. This being then the nearest railroad station. Baldwin continued to transport freight by wagon from that point, until 1872. During this year he met with an accident which left him a cripple for life. In 1873, J. W. Patter- son, nephew of Baldwin, quit school and at the age of thirteen succeeded his uncle in the work. Patterson continued to haul merchandise from Harrisburg until 1875, when the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan Rail- road was built to Fairmount, this line then taking over the freight business. In. 1875 Patterson purchased a dray outfit and continued to carry on this business in Fairmount until 1878, when he sold the dray line to Eli J. Scott and Uriah Ballard.
Before the Civil War O. H. P. Carey owned and operated a stage coach for passengers and freight between Marion and Anderson. His drivers were Coon Slagle and Caleb May. These men were occa- sionally relieved by Thomas Hobbs and Henley Winslow. They changed horses at Johnny Moore's, just north of Summitville, at a point called Wrinkle. Upon the outbreak of the war Carey volun- teered his services, becoming in a short time the colonel of a regiment. He sold his stage coach to Rode Hammill.
About the same year a stage line was established and in operation on the State road from Marion to Muncie. This line changed horses at Wheeling.
About 1860 Walker Winslow bought the stage of Hammill and continued the business. It was not a great while before he owned two Concord stages. One he named "Artemus Ward," after the famous humorist, and the other he called the "Lincoln." In those days it re- quired four horses to pull the load, and occasionally, in bad weather. it required six.
In 1861 Winslow secured a contract from the Government to carry the mail. The compensation agreed upon for this service was three hundred dollars a year, and his route was from Marion to Anderson.
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While the work of carrying the mail was important, Winslow soon discovered that the profitable part of his business was the transpor- tation of passengers and express between these points. The coach left Marion every Monday morn- ing, and he made three trips to Anderson every week. The stage would comfortably accommodate twelve passengers, but he has hauled as high as twenty-four when travel was heavy.
Winslow handled large sums of money by express and never lost a dollar. Upon one occasion he had charge of thirty-five thousand dol- lars in gold and silver, which was billed to Jason Willson's bank, at Marion.
At that time but nine miles of the thirty-four lying between An- derson and Marion were piked. and it frequently required eight hours to cover the distance be- tween the two towns, with six H. W. WINSLOW Son of John and Elizabeth (Henley) horses pulling every pound they Winslow, was born in Randolph Coun- could. In the summer months the distance could be covered in much less time. The old corduroy roads became at times almost impassable. In such an emergency as this he would be compelled to leave his coach behind and use a lighter ve- hicle to proceed with the mail, rid- ing horseback. ty, North Carolina, January 16, 1827. With his parents he came to Fair- mount Township and resided here un- til his death, except for a brief time passed in Minnesota and Iowa. The minutes of Back Creek Monthly Meet- ing of Friends show that on Septem- ber 19, 1840, a certificate was received for John Winslow and sons, Jesse H., Hugh W., Henry, William and Heze- kiah, from Back Creek Monthly Meet- ing. North Carolina. On February 22, 1848, H. W. Winslow was mar- ried to Miss Martha Newsom, a na- In an interview given to the tive of Randolph County, North Caro- newspapers shortly before his lina, born July 24, 1826. Mr. Wins- low died at his home in Fairmount on death, in 1911, Mr. Winslow re- September 6, 1911, and Mrs. Winslow lates this interesting story : passed away February 4, 1912.
"In addition to being carrier of the mail I invariably carried all important news northward from Anderson, and my route was lined with people daily asking for the latest news from the War. I brought
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The Making of a Township.
the first news of President Lincoln's assassination into Marion, and I can tell you it was a sorry task for me. People along the route became so excited that frequently men mounted horses and galloped ahead of me for miles, spreading the news to their neighbors.
"In coming through Alexandria that day a big soldier was occupy- ing the seat by my side, and upon reaching the main part of town I called out to the waiting crowd that I had sad news for them, imparting the information of the President's death. The words were scarcely uttered before a man in the crowd shouted :
"'It should have been done long ago!'
"The Union soldier, angered, looked at the man a minute, then crawled down from his seat, and, grabbing him by the throat, fairly ยท hissed into his ear that he and several other passengers in the stage had just come from the South, where they had been very busy shooting such reptiles as he was, and that if he did not get down on his knees and apologize and give a loud cheer for the American flag he would kill him in his tracks. The man fairly groveled in the dirt at the soldier's feet and gave a lusty hurrah, as instructed. This action un- doubtedy saved his life."
Winslow continued his stage line until the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan Railroad was built, in 1875.
I have read all the articles in the "Making of a Township" with great interest, as I remember so many of the things mentioned in the write-up. It brings back memories of long ago, of friends that have gone beyond, till it occasionally makes one homesick for ve olden times.
If my father. H. W. Winslow, was living, he could give you many thrilling accounts of his life during the War, as he drove the stage coach from Marion to Anderson. He carried the United States mail. also passengers, for that was the main transportation in those days. It was he who brought the War news. He carried The Indianapolis Journal and sold them readily at ten cents a piece. He always carried a brass horn on the stage, which he blew when about a mile from townl. Then the men would gather, ready to get the papers for the War news. He would get into Fairmount at 1 or 1:30 p. m., when the roads were good. Then he would change his team, which consisted of four horses, and get the other driver started on to Marion. He would stay there till the next morning, gather up the passengers ( for they would leave word
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the night before) and the mail. Then, when they would get to Fair- mount, change horses again. Father would then drive to Anderson.
Father was the first person to burn a coal oil lamp in Fairmount. When they came to Anderson he bought one, and when he got home with it people came in to see it burn. They were afraid of it, for fear it would explode. Then he was the first person to burn natural gas after it was drilled in at Fairmount.
In reading the article about David Stanfield I well remember being at church one day when he was the only one who preached, and his ser- mon was this :
"The young may die and the old must die."
That was all that was said at meeting that day.
JENNIE W. JONES. Niles, Ohio, March 27, 1917.
( Editor's Note .- Mrs. Jones is the daughter of Walker Winslow and the widow of Capt. John F. Jones. Mrs. Jones lived through the trying times of the Civil War, when most Fairmount people had rela- tives or friends at the front. It was a period of great anxiety. As the fortunes of war would shift from time to time, and the destiny of the Nation seemed to be hanging in the balance, interest was intense. Walker Winslow was a prominent figure in those days. He was the principal means of communication and the only medium of news which connected the great outside world with the isolated settlement in the wilderness.
In 1896, when promoters first began to talk about building an Inter- urban line to connect Marion and Anderson, the scheme was put down as a foolish project, fantastic, chimerical and visionary, the dream of a poetic mind.
A meeting was called of men interested in the matter at the Clay- pool Hotel, in Indianapolis. There were present at this conference Noah Clodfelter, William R. Pearson, Dr. Sullivan, Dan Mustard, Burr Sweetser, John H. Winslow, V. C. Quick and Harvey Painter. Three New York financiers met with this party. Arrangements were made with a New York Trust Company to underwrite $500,000 worth of bonds to begin the work of construction. The conditions arising from the panic of that year rendered it impossible for the Trust Company to sell the bonds.
At a subsequent conference William R. Pearson was directed to go to Chicago to interview the President of the Trust Company of Iowa.
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The Making of a Township.
This man's father was a Wall Street capitalist. An attorney and one other representative of the Iowa people were sent to inspect the route of the proposed line. After going over the ground carefully these men returned to Chicago and reported the prospects first class. The Pres- ident of the Iowa Company went to New York to see his father re- garding the matter and the father turned down the proposition on ac- count of the financial stringency then generally prevailing.
L. N. Downs was then interested by the promoters of the enterprise, and he went to Kalamazoo, Mich., where a $92,000 loan was arranged
THE CLODFELTER POWER HOUSE
All that remains of the equipment bought by Noah Clodfelter, original pro- moter of the Interurban line between Marion and Summitville. This old building stands on the Jonesboro and Fairmount turnpike, opposite Park Cemetery.
for. Immediately upon the consummation of this deal, William R. Pearson went to Cleveland, Ohio, where seventeen carloads of rails were purchased to begin construction work. While at Cleveland Mr. Pearson received a telegram to return at once. Upon his arrival home announcement was made that a proposition had been submitted by Mr. McWhiney, Eli and Charles W. Halderman and Phil Matter for the purchase of the property, the proposition having been accepted. These men financed the enterprise, and in 1898 the line was opened for pas- senger traffic between Anderson and Marion.
In 1851, Joseph W. Baldwin built a small frame house at the north- east corner of Main and Washington Streets, where the Borrey block
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now stands. Here a store was opened, and Baldwin became the first merchant in the town.
Other merchants of the early day were Joseph Hollingsworth, Isaac Stanfield, Aaron Kaufman, Paul Williams, William and Vincent Wright, Solomon Parsons, George Doyle, Skid Horne. Seaberry Lines, Henry Harvey, J. P. Winslow, Micajah Wilson, Harmon Pemberton and Robert Bogue. Milt Crowell, Eph Wilson, John Busing. Joshua Hollingsworth, William P. Osborn, A. D. Bryan, Charlton Thomas, Nathan Johnson, John Lillibridge, Thomas Baldwin, B. S. Payne, Mrs. Maria Hollingsworth, Charles W. Hasty, Frank Norton, A. P. Harvey,
THE OLD SWIMMIN' HOLE (Down by the saw-mill) Looking north from the West Eighth Street bridge.
D. M. Nottingham, Wilson, Dove & Co., Winslow & Co., H. H. Wiley, Fields & Co., woolen-mill; Winslow & Beals, warehouse ; Charles R. Fleming, hotel, and Parker & Relfe, hardware.
A business directory prepared and printed in 1877 shows the fol- lowing :
William Azbel, proprietor hotel ; Enoch Beals, grain dealer ; Henry Charles, physician ; Asa Carter, carriage and wagon maker; Foster Davis, justice of the peace ; W. J. Dove, miller ; William S. Elliott,
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The Making of a Township.
farmer and tile maker ; Alpheus Henley, physician ; John B. Hollings- worth, monument dealer ; Cyrus Haisley, fariner ; Jabez H. Moore, re- tired farmer and mechanic; Eli Neal, farmer and Township trustec : Maj. B. V. Norton, farmer ; Thomas J. Parker, dealer in boots and shoes : Samuel Radley, farmer : Aaron Taylor, farmer and teacher : James Underwood, farmer : J. P. Winslow, merchant and county com- missioner : Jesse E. Wilson, farmer ; John Wilson, engineer ; H. H. Wiley, proprietor planing mill : C. A. Wood & Son, proprietors stave factory ; Lewis Moorman, retired farmer, and Joel B. Wright, farmer.
Joseph W. Baldwin, son of Daniel and Christian (Wilcuts) Bald- win, was born in Wayne County, Indiana, January 13, 1818. He came to Fairmount Township in the fall of 1833, with his parents. His father entered land on December 16, 1833. When he became of age his father gave him eighty acres of land, then in the woods. now owned by the heirs of Perry Seale. Joseph immediately put out a deadening and built a cabin. On April 15, 1840, he married Lydia Jane Stanfield, a daughter of his neighbor, David Stanfield. They moved on the land and proceeded to make a farin, where he lived for some years, and where three of his children were born. When they moved into their cabin there was an unbroken wilderness for many miles directly west of them, and from that direction they could hear the wolves howl almost any night.
In ten years there was a great change made in that neighborhood. JOSEPH W. BALDWIN Emigrants came in, taking up land and clearing the forest. The people soon began to think of pub- lic improvements ; but no prophet, or son of a prophet, had yet given the projected village a name. Joseph W. Baldwin was getting a little tired of the slow progress of farming and conceived the idea of
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being the first man to start business in the prospective town. He was short of funds.
About this time James Cammack arrived upon the scene, looking for a location to erect a steam saw-mill. Previous to this date there was no mill nearer than Jonesboro, about five miles distant, where the good people could get lumber for buildings.
The heavy forest of fine saw timber and the growing settlement of a good class of citizens made a very favorable impression upon Mr. Cammack. At a called meeting of the citizens of Fairmount and sur- rounding community to ascertain the feeling and the support that would be given such an enterprise, the Township was well represented. Cam- mack made them a proposition that if they would sell him a piece of ground on which to locate a mill and dwelling, and guarantee a certain number of logs to be on the ground when the mill was ready for opera- tion, he ( Cammack) would build and operate the mill.
Cammack's proposition was so much more favorable than was ex- pected that the citizens were jubilant over it and a contract was soon entered into by David Stanfield offering to sell a mill site on his north line and Jonathan Baldwin offering to sell him a piece of ground on his south line for a residence building.
At this date the county road east and west had not been opened out and the travel was on the line between Jesse and Nathan Wilson's farms. They realized that work must be done at once or they could not even establish a cross-roads postoffice or blacksmith shop. Con- sequently. the people and road supervisor got busy and established that road and laid a corduroy and bridge over the creek, which at times reached from Rush Street to near Mill Street, a regular bog, set with willow maple, ash and buttonwood shrub. Long before Cammack had his mill ready to cut lumber his contract with the people for saw-logs was filled and duplicated.
John Bull had come over from England a short time before, bring- ing a bag of gold with which to buy land. Accordingly, Joseph struck Bull for a trade. Baldwin sold out to Bull and got his money all in cash. He at once proceeded to put up a small frame house (hauling his lumber from Jonesboro) on the corner where the Borrey block now stands. In this house he fitted up a room in the southwest corner for dry goods and groceries. He procured the assistance of Thomas Jay, a merchant of some experience from Jonesboro, to help him in the selec- tion of his first stock of goods, and was soon established as the first citizen and first merchant of the village. Here he made some money, but when competition got too sharp and the patronage divided up, he
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The Making of a Township.
sold out and bought a farm near Marion, where he ended his days. He died June 26, 1893. DR. A. HENLEY.
Following are the names of business and professional people in dif- ferent firms at present located in Fairmount :
Bee Hive Cash Store
Elmer Pennington
Xen H. Edwards
Elmer Jay & Son
Ribble Bros.
Mercer, Brannum & Bevington Co.
R. C. Shoffner
Ab Jones
M. W. Hunt
Charles F. Naber
W. H. Parrill
John Winslow
Fallis Bros.
A. D. Bryan
Hiatt & Ware
E. H. Parker
John Flanagan
N. A. Wilson
Charles C. Hackney
Fairmount State Bank
J. W. Dale
Citizens State Bank
Claud Jones
A. M. Seright
S. A. Hockett
Kelly & Son
Henry W. Hahne
Clinton Sellars
Charles Keifer
WV. P. Van Arsdall
L. E. Nolder
Dr. J. G. Yerkey
J. R. Busing & Co.
Dr. Sidney T. Rigsbee
Mrs. Bessie Cooper
Dr. C. N. Brown
John Osborn
Harley Winsett David G. Lewis
Hollingsworth & Co.
Walter Jones
Charles H. Stephens
Charles L. Buller
Fritz & Son
Arley Addison
C. C. Brown
Dr. Harry Aldrich
John L. Conrad L. H. Kimes
Charles Brown
P. H. O'Mara
Myron Parker
Oz Fankboner
E. O. Ellis
J. C. Albertson
Dr. L. D. Holliday
C. L. Salyers
Dr. D. A. Holliday
L. E. Montgomery
Rev. P. W. Raidabaugh
Montgomery & Buchanan Will R. Lewis
S. H. Buchtel McNeil & Jay
W. Frank Buller
Marion Light and Heating Co. L. A. Wagoner, Manager Hill Brothers
Seth Cox
.A. R. Long
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Transportation Problem-Pioneer Merchants.
Mrs. Ella Patterson
Central Indiana Gas Company,
Wilbern & Briles
Charles Wingate, Manager
Charles T. Parker
Dr. D. M. Woolen
Joseph A. Roberts
Dr. J. P. Seale
C. D. Overman
Isaiah Jay
O. R. Scott
John T. Howell
R. C. Smith
Walter S. Ellis
J. W. Smith
Dr. Glenn Henley
A. L. Dreyer
Elmer Flint
John Winslow
Bowman Pickard
Nathan W. Edwards, for more than thirty years a leading citizen and successful business man of Fairmount, was a native of Madison County. He was born near Alexandria, October 27, 1847, and died at his home in Fairmount, May 24, 1910. Peter Edwards, his paternal grandfather, was one of the early pioneers of Madison County and the first citizen to build a brick residence in his neighborhood. During those primitive days in the wilder- ness the builder and owner of a brick house usually marked its pos- sessor as a man of substantial taste and discrimination and he was re- garded by his neighbors as a per- son unusually thrifty and pros- perous.
Henry and Thurza (Ellis) Ed- wards were natives of North Car- olina. They were parents of eight children, namely, Wesley and Benson, both of whom died of in- juries received in the Union army during the Civil War; Granville, Orville, Nathaniel, Mary, Isabelle F. and Nathan W.
The latter years of his life were spent by Henry Edwards at the home of his son, in Fairmount, NATHAN W. EDWARDS where he passed away August 21, 1900, at the ripe old age of eighty- six years. Though stricken with total blindness during the latter part of his life, he remained cheerful and optimistic to the last day, an exam- ple of patience and fortitude. Mrs. Thurza Edwards died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. William Tilden, in Miami County, in 1887, at the age of sixty-seven years.
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The Making of a Township.
Nathan W. Edwards was educated in the common schools of Madi- son and Starke Counties, and also attended Richmond Business College. He taught a number of terms in Starke and Madison Counties. He gave up the teaching profession for a business career and entered a drug store at Alexandria. He later owned and managed drug stores at Rigdon and Elwood. In 1877 he bought the Pioneer Drug Store of Dr. P. H. Wright and made Fairmount his home. In politics he never wavered in his support of the Republican party. In recognition of his capacity and fitness for the position, voters of Fairmount, in 1881, elected Mr. Edwards Town Clerk and Treasurer. He served in this office as the practically unanimous choice of citizens from July. 1881, to May, 1887, almost six years. On June 9, 1890. in apprecia- tion of good work performed as Clerk and Treasurer, he was unani- mously elected for a term of three years as member of the School Board. an office he filled with exceptional diligence and ability for many years. until June 21, 1909. when he was forced by failing health to resign the position. He was succeeded on the Board by his son, Xen H. Edwards, who filled out his father's unexpired term.
N. W. Edwards served as receiver for Rau Bros., and for a brief time was connected with the reorganization of the Farmers' and Mer- chants' State Bank. The exactions and confinement of this work were not suited to his tastes or desires and he relinquished his connection with the institution. He was at one time a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows orders. He was affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, having served as one of the trustees and a member of the official board.
On May 21. 1879, Mr. Edwards was married to Miss Lenora Gal- loway, born at Ogden, Henry County, Indiana, March 6, 1860. Her parents were Irvin and Jeannetta ( Daniels) Galloway. They were par- ents of five children, namely, Frank ( deceased), Elmer, Lenora, 'Alice and Ella, the latter deceased. Nathan W. and Lenora (Galloway) Ed- wards were parents of three children, namely, Xen H., who married Miss Ethel Harvey, January 15, 1905 : Gladys, who married Burl W. Cox. June 27, 1907, now residing at Alexandria, and Forrest, who re- sides with her mother in Fairmount.
Nathan W. Edwards was always interested in the welfare of the community, and was especially efficient in his efforts on behalf of im- proved educational facilities. He was among the first to see the need of higher learning, where boys and girls who passed out of the grades might have a chance without leaving home for increased knowledge and additional equipment for the life before them.
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