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 8
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When first starting up house- keeping they had neither cook- stove nor clock for quite a while ; had a large fireplace in the west end of the house that would take in a backlog three and one-half feet long. Up over the fireplace was a long bar of iron reaching from one jamb to the other, with hooks hanging down on which mother would hang kettles to boil meat, cabbage, potatoes, turnips, etc., and to bake bread she had an oven. She would pull out fire coals on the hearth, put her oven on, and would then put her corn dodgers, biscuits or corn pones, whichever she was baking, then would put the lid on the oven and cover with good, live fire coals and let set until they were baked. I can almost see mother MAJOR B. V. NORTON lifting that lid to see how the bread was baking. To make mush, they would hang a kettle of water over the fire until the water would begin to boil, then mother would have her tray of meal served ready, then take the kettle of boiling water from over the fire, shovel some good, live coals out on the hearth, setting the kettle on ; then she would begin adding the meal ; father, with a wood paddle about three feet long, would keep constantly stirring the water as mother added the meal, until they got the mush as thick as they wanted it, then they would
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Glimpses of Pioneer Life.
let it boil until it was done. The only cupboard mother had for years was made by boring holes in the logs of the house and driving long pins in them, then laying clapboards on the pins for shelves, on which to put her dishes and victuals. The first clock they owned they traded a milch cow for. Father did not have any wagon to start out with, using a hand-made sled for some time.
I well remember the two large beds setting in the east end of the room, one on the north side and the other on the south side, with the trundle-bed run under the one on the north side. I imagine I can hear that trundle-bed squalling now as it is pulled out from under the large bed. But when the children grew large enough father hired a carpen- ter to build a stairway by using two rough boards, nailing cleats on the inside of them, then nailing steps on the cleats. The loft floor, as we called it those days, was made out of rough boards, with great cracks between the boards, and the roof was of four-foot clapboards riven out. The roof must have been put on the wrong time of the moon, as the boards curled up.
Now just imagine one sleeping up there on a stormy night in the winter and wake up in the night with snow sifting down in his face. and next morning when he went to arise, roll the cover back and hear the snow squeak like rolling a snowball ; then think of wading through snow down to the big fireplace, where he would receive a warm greeting.
Fairmount, Indiana.
CHAPTER X.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FIRST SETTLERS.
(By Dr. A. Henley.)
E VER since the descendants of Noah passed out from the plains of Shinar to people the whole earth and the islands of the seas, there has not been a land discovered by a record-making people that did not find a race of beings which had preceded them and taken possession and made themselves homes. This disposition to seek a new country seems to have been a God-given impulse that has come on down through the ages, and manifested itself in the Anglo-Saxon race of the eighteenth century.
We have records of but few of the early emigrants to Fairmount Township who became discouraged by reason of privations and hard- ships they had to endure in the new country and returned to their native land. This proved that they were in possession of that energy, perseverance and stick-to-itivenesss which triumphs over all difficulties.
Just why the people of North Carolina and Virginia should have selected Grant County for a future home without a forerunner to spy out the land I cannot say. Certainly the move demonstrated good judg- ment as to fertility of soil and favorable surroundings for the making of desirable homes and the development of a sturdy, loyal progeny .
In my location of the first settlers of Fairmount Township I will take up the district lying between the Range line on the west and the State road, or old pike, on the east, from the county line north. Later I may take up that part of the Township lying east of the old pike.
John Wilson and wife, Mary, with a family of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, came over the mountains from Randolph County, North Carolina, in May, 1837, and bought a half-section of land that was bounded on the south by the present County and Township line (it will be remembered that the Grant County line once extended a half-mile south of where it now is), erected a cabin and proceeded to the making of a farm. The family consisted of Jesse E., Nathan D., Cyrus, Henry, Nancy, Micajah, Elizabeth, Eliza, John Milton, Lind- sey, Samuel and Abigail.
John Wilson was an energetic, enthusiastic farmer, and with the low cost of labor of those days and the assistance of his boys, he in a few years had a self-sustaining farm, with grain and stock to sell to
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Characteristics of First Settlers.
those that came in later. John had the reputation of raising good horses, good corn and large melons.
He had the advantage of some in receiving a good education, and was a fine scribe. Very few excelled him with a pen. He was a good writer and composer, and wrote the life history of Joseph in poetry, which was worthy of preservation. At the beginning of each chapter there was a verse different in style from the balance, but appropriate to that chapter.
John met with quite a misfortune on election day, as I now recall it. The election was held in the woods near my father's house. John had ridden a spirited animal to the election which he hitched to a limb or bush not far away. The animal managed to get loose and started for home. The way was but a trail for near a mile through the thick woods. The animal evidently was running, and in making a short, quick turn, struck one hind leg against a sapling and broke the bone below the knee. The only remedy was to shoot the horse and relieve its suffering. I passed by that skeleton many times.
John Wilson gave each of his children a good start in life, and lived to see the country develop into good farms, and when too feeble to longer attend to his farm work, sold out and moved to town, where he died, in June, 1864, at the ripe old age of eighty years.
Hanley Broyles and wife, Betsy, came from North Carolina near the time John Wilson did, and took land in the southwest corner of the intersection of the County line and the Range line, where they made a farm and lived many years, esteemed by all who knew them, and died leaving no posterity.
The first man to take up land north of John Wilson was Dempsey Bailey, who did not remain there long, but sold to Jonathan Wilcuts, who, in a year or two, sold to Martin Bates.
There seemed to be considerable trading in land at that early date. The first settlers who came into the new country before mills were erected to grind corn had their resources severely taxed at times to provide for large, dependent families. Green corn, beans, potatoes and squash would substitute for bread for a short season, but soon the roasting ears were too hard. Then they must resort to other means to prepare the corn for the palate. One device was to cut a section of a tree twenty inches in diameter and three feet long, set it on end in some convenient place and with an axe or chisel and fire work out a depression in one end to hold a quart or more of corn. Then with a pestle made of hard wood beat the corn in this improvised mortar until one could run it through a sieve or blow the bran off and make a cake
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The Making of a Township.
or pot of hasty pudding, commonly called mush. He who has not read Will Carleton's poetical production on "Hasty Pudding" has missed a treat.
While Wilcuts was on this place he decided to have a wheat cake.
C. WILSON
SAMUEL
JOSEPH W HILL
JESSE BOGUE
ASA T. BALDWIN
HEADS OF WILSON-HILL-BOGUE-BALDWIN FAMILIES (1910)
Hon. Samuel C. Wilson, son of John Wilson; Joseph W. Hill, son of Aaron Hill; Jesse Bogue, son of Barnaba Bogue, and Asa T. Baldwin, son of Thomas Baldwin.
He had grubbed out a few acres in the green woods in the spring and put it in corn, and gave it some kind of cultivation, but the squirrels got a good part of the grain. When wheat sowing time came round, the
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Characteristics of First Settlers.
wild weeds and wild pea vines were taller and much thicker than the corn. Wilcuts made an effort to get between the corn rows with horse and plow, but after making quite an effort he gave it up as a bad job. He determined not to be beaten out of his wheat bread without one more trial. Shouldering his sack of wheat, he got on his horse and rode between the corn rows, sowing the grain over the tops of the weeds as he went, trusting that the weeds would soon fall down and protect the wheat, which they did, rewarding him with a fair yield the next harvest.
I have written of this incident to show future generations that may chance to read this what difficulties the early settler had to contend with. Wilcuts sold to Martin Bates, who, I think, put up the first frame house I recollect of seeing on Back Creek.
Bates had a half-section of land and took stock for all of it in a scheme to build a railroad from Cincinnati to Chicago. The bubble burst and nearly all that took stock in the road lost every dollar or acre of land they put in. Bates moved to Iowa, and from there to Kansas. I was near where he lived in Kansas, in 1858. It was said Martin was doing quite well there.
John Phillips lost eighty acres west of Little Ridge in that same railroad.
Bernard McDonald next bought the Bates land of the railroad cred- itors. Since then it has been divided up somewhat and may now be owned by Henry Davis's heirs.
James Lytle settled on the Cal Dean place. He sold to John Smith some time in the '60's and moved to Iowa, where he died some years ago.
The next place north was taken by Frank Lytle, Jr. He, too, emi- grated to Iowa. The place has since been owned by a number of per- sons, namely, Nixon Winslow, David Stanfield, Lindsey Wilson, and others.
The next eighty acres was taken by Benjamin Benbow and traded to Thomas Baldwin. Then, Calvin Bookout owned it; then, a Mrs. Dickey, I think.
The next man north of the Bates place was David Smithson, who took up three hundred and twenty acres, in length one mile north and south. Wilson, Bates and Smithson owned a block of land two miles in length, reaching from the County line north to Perry Seale's south line, or directly west of Washington Street, Fairmount.
David and Betsy Smithson had a family of twelve children, six sons and six daughters, namely, Mahala, Judiah, John, Jehu. Sarah, Jona-
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The Making of a Township.
than, Isaac, Anna, Margaret, Seth, Nancy and Adeline. Four of his sons were in the Civil War. They were Judiah, Isaac, Seth and Jehu. David was a good citizen and died on his farm. He set each of his children off with forty acres of land.
In 1833, Thomas Baldwin and Lydia, his wife, came from Wayne County, Indiana, and took up the land that reached to the center of Fairmount, later known as the David Stanfield homestead. Baldwin sold to Stanfield, who came, in 1836, from Tennessee, with a family of seven children, who later married and settled near Fairmount.
The land now owned by W. A. Beasley was first taken by Thomas Morris, April 9, 1832, and later sold to Benjamin Benbow. Thomas Baldwin, in the early day, taught three terms of school on that place.
Benbow sold the place to Daniel Thomas, who lived there from 1841 until his death.
Thomas Baldwin afterwards bought the farm later known as the Jesse Dillon place, north of town. From there he moved to the Deer Creek settlement.
Jesse E. and Nathan D. Wilson, sons of John and Mary Wilson. married sisters, Hannah and Mary, daughters of Aaron Hill, in 1838. and settled on the land given them by their father, south of the Rush farm and west of Back Creek. They both reared large families and were energetic, progressive farmers, useful members of church and community, and were much used in the church, giving freely of their time and substance to promote the cause of righteousness, temperance and peace, and were in the front ranks when anything was to be done for the betterment of the community. They led exemplary lives, and left the world better for having lived in it. They died on their farms, after enjoying the fruits of their labor for many years. Their widows died in Fairmount with relatives. Their children are scattered many miles apart. Some went on the long journey where life is full of joy and bright hopes. . A majority of both families now rest with the silent dead.
Daniel Baldwin and wife, Christian, with a family of ten children, came to Fairmount Township, in 1833, and settled on the quarter-sec- tion of land embracing what is now the north half of Fairmount. He erected a cabin near where J. H. Wilson's residence now stands. Here they lived, and here they died some years later, leaving five of the fam- ily yet unmarried. They subsequently married and lived in Fairmount.
Nathan Morris and wife. Miriam, with a family of children, came in 1832 and took the quarter-section lying immediately north of Daniel Baldwin, where he made a good farm. Nathan was energetic, progres-
Characteristics of First Settlers. 103
sive, and made a good and useful citizen. He was the father of twenty- two children. He emigrated west, in 1865, and died in Jewell County, Kansas, in 1881, having been a minister in the Society of Friends from early manhood. His old farm has been divided up and is now owned by different parties.
In 1835, Dugan Rush and wife, Elizabeth, took up the land now owned by John Kelsay. He was a hard worker, would pile his brush during the day and burn it at night. Mostly by his own labor, he made a nice farm and had passed over the most trying period of pioneer life. The alluring reports from the great West of the case with which one could make a farm on the prairie so enthused him that he sold out to Thomas Powell and moved to Iowa, where he purchased land and pro- ceeded to make a new home. They had not been gone more than a year, I think, when word came that Dugan was dead and the family was anxious to return to Indiana. A brother of Dugan's went after them and moved the family back. Having to dispose of their holdings out there at a reduced price, they had but little left when they arrived at their old home.
In 1835 came Thomas Winslow, wife and four children, Milton, Lydia, Milicent and Nixon.
In 1836, Phineas Henley and Mary, his wife, and four children came and took land lying between Dugan Rush and the Range line west and the Oak Ridge road on the north.
Thomas Winslow lived there until some time in 1850, when he sold to Robert Carey, and purchased the farm east of the pike formerly owned by Jesse Bogue.
Phineas Henley remained on his land until no longer able to work it, and moved to town.
Thomas Winslow's original farm is now owned by Mattie Wright and Phineas Henley's by Mrs. Alice Thomas.
Thomas Winslow died on the Bogue farm and Phineas Henley passed away at the home of his son, Dr. A. Henley, in Fairmount.
Seth Winslow and Mary, his wife, in 1829, entered land directly north of Iredell Rush's northeast forty and Nathan Morris's northwest forty. They had four children born to them, namely, Sarah, Elizabeth, Jesse and Ruth. Jesse died when about twelve years old, I think. Sarah lived to be a young woman and died. Elizabeth married and died, leav- ing four children. Ruth lived to care for her parents and soothe their pathway through the decline of life. Ruth has since joined her loved ones to give an account of her stewardship, and thus that family has become extinct.
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The Making of a Township.
In 1835 came Jacob Hale and Dorinda, his wife, from North Caro- lina, with a family of eight children, namely, Nancy, Elizabeth, Dorcas, Samuel, Asenath, William, Jane and George, and located on the eighty acres north of Josept W. Baldwin, the land now owned by John Flana- gan and W. P. Seale. Jacob's wife was a sister of Iredell and Nixon Rush. Hale sold to a man by the name of Townsend, he to Robert Corder, and Corder to W. P. Seale. Hale emigrated to Iowa, and from Iowa to Kansas, in 1858, where a remnant of the family is now living, near Leroy, Coffey County.
In 1837, Peter Rich and wife, Sarah, and six children, mostly of age, namely, Aaron. George, Rebecca, Mary, Martha and Isaac located directly east of Hale. Peter was a wagon maker by trade. He did all his work by hand and with few tools. His work was strong and last- ing. He was a useful man in the new country. They were a stout family and industrious workers. The mother and daughters spun, wove, colored and made all the material they wore. The father, mother and Isaac died a mile west of Fairmount. George, Rebecca and Martha died in Kansas. Aaron and (Mary died in Iowa.
The land joining the Rich farm on the east was taken by Iredell Rush, in 1831. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were also from the old North State. They had a family of eight children born to them in the new country, namely, John, Calvin, Nixon, Jr., Thomas, Jane, Milicent, Anna and Mary. Iredell was an energetic farmer and was forging ahead rapidly when he was taken violently sick and died, in the prime of life, leaving a widow with a large family. She nobly cared for them and lived to see all of them married but two, Thomas and Jane, who died unmarried. After many years of widowhood, the mother married Thomas Jay, a minister of the Society of Friends, where she had held an honorable position as elder for many years. They were a mutual help to each other, and passed down the shady side of life happily together, and now await the trumpet's call.
In 1836 came William Osborn and wife, Keziah, and took up the land that Mary Rich now lives on, directly north of Dugan Rush. William's wife was a sister of Thomas Harvey, Sr., and Jesse Harvey, Sr. They brought up a family of six children, namely, Mary, Abigail, Ruth, Lindon, Mahlon and Lydia. They were a very nice family of people, dressed and lived very plain, as most people did in the new country. Mary married Lindsey Baldwin, Abigail married George Shugart, Ruth married Samuel Roberts, Lydia married Milton McHat- ton, Lindon married Mary Reeder and Mahlon married Arcadia Phil- lips. I think not one of the family is now living.
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Characteristics of First Settlers.
Thomas Harvey, Sr., and Anna, his wife, came the same year, with a family of five, four sons and one daughter, namely, Jesse, John, Henry, Thomas and Mary, and took the land directly north of William Osborn and a forty west of the road that Jesse settled on, where Cyrus and Ephraim were born. Thomas Harvey, Sr., was a very industrious, quiet, inoffensive man. He had a large orchard and fruit nursery at an early day, and sold his fruit and young trees over the newer parts of the country. Thomas and his boys were great friends to the colored race, and assisted many on to freedom. The old homestead has passed out from the Harvey name, I think. All of the original family have passed away. A few of the second and third generations yet survive the ravages of time, but are widely scattered.
Directly east of William Osborn's old home lies Exum Newby's one hundred and sixty-acre farm, given him by his father-in-law, Joseph Winslow, in 1829. Here two children were born, Eleazer and Rebecca, when the young mother died, leaving a little babe that was taken by Grandmother Newby, and as years rolled by became the wife of Zimri Richardson. Caroline Newby was the first one of the new colony to be taken away. Her little boy was taken by an uncle and reared until he was of age, when he met with an accident that ended his life. Later on, Exum married Rachel Knight and reared a family of seven chil- dren. Exum Newby was a carpenter by trade, and was a No. I work- man. He and Thomas Hill, a brother of Aaron Hill, another good workmen, did the carpenter work on the old Friends brick meeting house at Back Creek. Anyone who has seen that work would say that it was a marvel of accuracy. The matching of the flooring, and espe- cially the ceiling, has not been excelled by the late machine work. Many a time I have sat and looked for a bad joint in that ceiling, but found none, and yet it was all worked out and gauged by hand.
The old road that ran diagonally through the Newby farm has long been closed up, and the old frame house, one of the first that was put up on Back Creek, that was wont to resound with the cheerful voices of all the young people of that section, even for miles away, may now be the home of the bat or barn swallow.
The old Back Creek meeting house should never have been torn down, but kept as a lasting monument to the memory of the loyalty and energy of the founder of that church. What a great place that could have been made for recreation and public meetings !
North of the Newby farm, and joining the same, lay the Joseph and Peninah Winslow home, with their son, Henry. Joseph has been quite well written up and I will not detract from what has gone before.
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The Making of a Township.
His farm is now occupied by Ancil Winslow, a grandson of Thomas Winslow, one of the first settlers of the country.
Matthew Winslow (son of Joseph) and his wife, Anna, came with his father and took the land directly east of his father, where he made a farm and prospered. Later, he decided he must have more land for the boys. He sold out and moved to Iowa, where land was cheap. The change did not prove to be a good one. The two elder boys sickened and died, leaving him but one son. The bereavement cast a shadow over the remainder of their days. The old farm is now occupied by John A. Jones and John Devine.
Charles Baldwin (a brother of Daniel Baldwin) and Eunice, his wife, came in 1830 and took land joining the Newby farm on the east. Charles was married twice. By his first wife he had five sons and three daughters, namely, Thomas, Ahira, Lindsey, John and Quincy, Mary, Jane and Rachel. All of them came to the new colony, marrying and making homes near, by. Thomas married Harvey Davis's daughter, Ahira married Jane Newby (a sister of Exum Newby), Lindsey mar- ried Mary Osborn (a daughter of William and Keziah Osborn), Mary married Lancaster Bell, Jane married David Stanfield. Jr., and Rachel married Jesse Dillon and was the mother of the preacher. Josiah Dillon. The younger son, Charley, as we always called him, married Malinda Knight. a daughter of Benjamin Knight, near Marion. Thus we see the two elder Baldwins and Nathan Morris did a Roosevelt's part in popu- lating the new country. Charles Baldwin was rather dignified, but courteous and kind-hearted, kept close to the old style of Friends' plain dress and address, never wearing suspenders, and, I think, but few buttons. He and his wife rode to meeting in a two-wheeled covered gig. the only vehicle of the kind in the country at that date. His last wife was a fleshy woman, a sister of the Pembertons. Some twenty or thirty rods north of the LaRute brick house stood the old Baldwin residence, partly log and partly frame, a few rods east of the public road, and an open lane ran by it down east beyond where the Big Four railroad now crosses the farm. Just over there once stood a cabin that was occupied by Evan Hinshaw and family, then John Baldwin, and later Joseph Baldwin for a brief time. Across the lane from the residence the wood- house and carriage shed stood, where Carlotta Peacock ended her life.
The field east, south and west of this house contained some eight or ten acres, and was sown to wheat, which was ripe and ready for harvest. At that date wheat had mostly been cut with a sickle or cradle scythe. This field of grain had been put in the shock ready for threshing out. At that period threshing machines were in their development stage and rather crude affairs.
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Characteristics of First Settlers.
A man by the name of Jesse Morris, from near Marion, had a machine that was fashioned somewhat on the principle of the later- made ones, not so long in body, but set on four wheels, the two hind wheels being the drivers for the motor power, the whole thing drawn by four or six horses. - It was to pass over the field by the shocks, where the pitchers would toss the sheaves to the band-cutter and feeder, who stood on the machine. They had just made a start when it was dis- covered that the machine was defective. The band that ran the straw- carrier would slip off the pulley every few rods, necessitating the feeder to climb over the top of the machine- to adjust the band. In doing that he went over once too many times and let one foot slip into the cylinder, when one or more teeth hit his foot, tearing it to pieces. It was necessary to take the foot off above the ankle. That was done before the day of anasthetics. Dr. William Lomax, a young man then, did the operation.
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