USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River, Vol. I > Part 31
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Thus we find the machinery of self-government set in motion in the pioneer county of vast dimensions where a little village of men and women, types of the hardy specimens of the race, set about the task of laying the foundation of the modern city.
More important than all other matters to come before the county commissioners in 1824, was the proposition of John T. Barr and John McCorkle, proprietors of the town plat which they had laid out in August. It included the offer to pay into the treasury of the county $500 cash, and to donate to the county "all of that oblong square piece of ground situate and being in the town of Fort Wayne aforesaid, and stained red on the plat of said town, as recorded in the recorder's office of Randolph county in said state [the present courthouse square], which is granted as a public square, whereon public buildings for said county are to be erected, and bounded by Main, Court, Berry and Calhoun streets." The offer included also a lot at the northwest corner of the plat, four rods square, "for a , church, to be of no particular denomination, but free to all," the unoccupied portion of which was to be used for a burial ground. In 1838 and 1839, Samuel Hanna, who purchased all of the unsold and unappropriated portion of the Barr and McCorkle holdings, arranged for the removal of the bodies of those buried in this ceme- tery to a new burial place (the present McCulloch park). The remains of one person, overlooked in the process of removing the bodies, were unearthed in April, 1916-seventy-seven years after the cemetery had been abandoned.
Another lot given by Barr and MeCorkle, for "a seminary of learning," on the site of the present county jail, was located east of the proposed church lot.
The place designated for a church was never used for this purpose, but the "seminary" became an important early educational
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1824
institution. In addition to the tracts already referred to, the pro- prietors offered to give the county lots 8 and 9 (north side of Supe- rior street, west of Clinton), lots 101, 102 and 103 (west side of Calhoun street, north from Berry street to the alley), and lots 104 to 118 (south side of Berry street, from the alley between Calhoun and Harrison east to the site of the Pixley block). Little time was lost in accepting this generous offer, and the town of Fort Wayne, consisting of about sixteen square blocks, came into existence. The deed was made out to John Tipton, the county agent. This plat was recorded at the county seat of Randolph county-Winchester- and subsequently in Recorder's Book A, page 316, in Allen county.
The first lots of the original plat of Fort Wayne were sold Sep- tember 18, 1824, under the direction of John Tipton as the county agent. The buyers were Francis Comparet, William Barbee, Wil- liam Suttenfield, Edward Mitchell, Thomas Rue, Charles W. Ewing,
COLONEL HUGH HANNA.
Born at Georgetown, Kentucky, in 1799 Colonel Hanna removed to Fort Wayne in 1824 and engaged in business as a carpenter and cabinetmaker. He became an influential citizen in connection with many affairs during the twenties, but in 1834, in company with David Burr, he platted a town which became the pres- ent city of Wabash, Indiana, and re- moved to that place in 1835. He became the sole proprietor of the place, and, with its growth, served in several im- portant official positions. His death oc- curred in 1869.
JOSEPH HOLMAN.
Mr. Holman was the first receiver of the land office, state representative and treasurer of Allen county. He was a na- tive of Versailles, Kentucky, and in 1805 settled in Wayne county, Indiana, where, for the protection of his neighbors dur- ing the war of 1812, he built a block- house on his farm. He then enlisted and served under Harrison. He was one of the founders of Peru, Indiana, in 1834. The portrait is reproduced from "Pic- tures of Peru, Past and Present," pub- lished by Omer Holman.
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Rees Goodwin, John H. Griggs, Benjamin B. Kercheval, Christopher Valleynitte, Chief Jean Baptiste de Richardville, Alexander Ewing, William Murphy, Benjamin Archer, Moses Scott, William N. Hood, Jacob Everly, Walker and Davis, Samuel Hanna, Moses Gerard, Henry Diehle, Benjamin James, Abner Gerard, Matthew Griggs, Jacob Everley, Ben Glassbrenner and Jacob Glassbrenner. Some of these lots, in the heart of the present city, sold for $10.25; the highest brought only $25. The entire thirty-six lots comprising this original sale, netted only $690.50, an average of less than $20 per lot. After the sale of some of the remaining lots, General Tipton
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resigned as county agent and Charles W. Ewing was appointed to fill the vacancy.
The late Charles E. Bond held among his valued papers a deed of the transfer of the entire northeast fourth of the square bounded by Calhoun, Harrison, Berry and Wayne streets, which was sold in - 1825 to Benjamin Archer, Jr., for $31.50. The Old National bank block, the new Odd Fellows' block and a number of other business buildings now occupy this site.
That the proprietors of the original plat of the town of Fort Wayne were men of high ideals is shown in the record of their donation of sites for religious, educational and burial purposes. It is interesting to observe, also, that their agreement with the county specified that "of all the donations, it is expressly understood that 10 per centum is to be appropriated for use by said county of Allen. and to be appropriated for the use of a county library." The county records, dealing with the establishment of the Allen county library, are found to be incomplete, although it is known that as a result of the accumulation of a fund through the sale of lots of the original plat of the town of Fort Wayne, this fund amounted in 1842 to $1,700. Ten per cent. of the sale price of lots passed into this library fund. In 1834, J. H. Kincaid and S. V. B. Noel served as trustees ; in the following year, John Spencer, Robert Brackenridge and Thomas J. Smith were elected to manage the institution. The founders of the state of Indiana had incorporated in the provision for the formation of counties the means to establish a library in each county. Many of Fort Wayne's leading citizens assisted in making the local institution a success. The trustees under the act of 1824 were elected by popular vote, but subsequently they were appointed by the county commissioners to serve one year without pay. In 1831 it was provided that not more than $500 should be invested in land or other property except books. Among those who served as trustees during later periods were R. J. Dawson, William Means, Osborne Thomas, Madison Sweetser, William G. Ewing, Dr. Philip G. Jones, F. P. Randall, G. W. Wood, I. D. G. Nelson and Robert E. Fleming. Henry R. Colerick served as librarian, beginning in 1844.
In 1850, a committee composed of Hugh McCulloch, J. K. Edger- ton and Henry R. Colerick was appointed by the county commission- ers to purchase books to the value of $150 for the library. Five years after this period the county was subdivided into library districts and the books were distributed among them. A citizen who remembers the days of the county library has said: "It was the careless gathering of a sack full, carrying to the center of exchange, that separated the volumes, and the confusion was never fully restored to order." One of the sub-librarians was asked if the people read the books. He replied : "They don't take them out. They ain't much account. Plutarch's 'Lives' and a lot more old novels. They were getting yellow and I boxed them up." Some of the books passed into the hands of the township trustees and be- came a part of the township libraries. (See article on "Libraries of Allen County, " in "History of the Maumee River Basin," Vol. II, by John H. Jacobs.)
In 1824, the section of land now forming Spy Run and Bloom- ingdale, known as the Wells Pre-emption, which had been, by act of
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1824
congress in 1808, set apart as a pre-emption to Captain William Wells, who was authorized to enter it as soon as adjacent lands should be offered at $1.25 per acre, also came upon the market. The heirs of Captain Wells placed the lands on sale at the same time that the property south of the St. Mary's was opened to the settlers, and its subdivision soon followed.
A curious document filed in August, 1823, is the will of Mrs. Ann Turner, daughter of Captain William Wells. It was written one night when she was ill and alone, and fearing to die without leaving a record of her wishes concerning the disposal of her prop- erty. "It is now very late at night," she wrote. "I have the night- mare very severely. I stood in the door to get someone to go for the doctor, but could not, and thought I had better write this lest I might be called before the light of another morning." She left a valuable piece of ground "for religious purposes." Among other items is "the lot of land in dispute 70 acres, odd acres, to be appro- priated to my account to B. B. Kercheval which is a note for $200 and $30 borrowed when I was sick at R. Hood's, and $14 at two different times, and four barrels of flour, the bed and the candle- stick, making in all about $367." Others mentioned are the sister, Mrs. Hackley, Allen T. Hackley, D. F. Colerick, Dr. Cushman, A. L. Davis and Dr. L. G. Thompson. Mrs. Turner lived to witness the passage of eleven years after the making of the will.
The circuit court, at the session of 1825, appointed John Tipton, -Alexander Ewing and Joseph Holman as commissioners to make partition of 320 acres of land, "lying in the forks of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph rivers," the Wells Pre-emption, in response to a petition of James Wolcott (son-in-law of Captain William Wells), which commission recommended the partition of the property into eight portions, one to be given to each of the following: Ann Turner, James Hackley, Rebecca Hackley, William Wayne Wells, Samuel G. Wells, James Wolcott, Yelberton Peyton Wells, Juliana Wells and Mary Turner. This action was the beginning of litigation which extended down through the years. In 1825, Robert Turner and Mary, his wife, filed a suit in chancery against the eight above named and secured a guardian, Benjamin B. Kercheval, for the three last named, who were minors or infants. At the same session the court appointed a commission consisting of Paul Taber, Richard Beeson and William Rockhill to make partition of two sections of land held by Samuel Hanna and James Barnett as tenants in common with To-pe-ah, son of Francis LaFontaine.
The year 1824 brought to the village a number of valuable citizens. Mrs. Peter Edsall, with nine children, removed to Fort Wayne from a farm on Shane's prairie, southwest of Fort Wayne, on the St. Mary's river, where the husband had died. During a treaty in 1814 at Greenville, Ohio, Mrs. Edsall had conducted a boarding house, and from there removed to St. Mary's, where a similar gathering enabled the family to obtain the means to purchase a farm. Samuel, John, Simon and William S. Edsall became identi- fied actively in the development of the city and the county.
Benjamin Archer, pioneer brickmaker and the head of the Archer family, so long identified with Fort Wayne progress, came in 1824. Mr. Archer entered immediately upon the manufacture of
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brick, north of town, and it was from the product of his yards that the first brick buildings in Fort Wayne were constructed.
Another, who gave the imprint of his character to the earlier days of the town, was Esquire Smalwood Noel, of Virginia, who came in 1824.
Rev. James Holman, of Wayne county, came to Fort Wayne with his family in this year and established a farm home near the St. Mary's river, north of the present New York, Chicago and St. Louis (Nickel Plate) railroad. He was a Methodist; the people gath- ered at his home and his services were continued until about 1830.
Willliam Stewart, who served as street commissioner, council- man, mayor and justice of the peace, came in 1824. Other active
SMALWOOD NOEL.
"'Squire" Noel, as he was familiarly called, was one of the valuable citizens of his time. As a justice of the peace through a period of years, as postmaster of Fort Wayne beginning in 1841, as one of the two first elders of the First Pres- byterian church and in active positions of many kinds, 'Squire Noel exerted a wholesome influence over the commu- nity. He was a native of Virginia and settled in Fort Wayne about 1824. A son, S. V. B. Noel, was one of the found- ers of the Fort Wayne Sentinel. The portrait is from a photograph loaned by the late William E. Hood, a stepson of 'Squire Noel.
JESSE VERMILYEA.
Mr. Vermilyea was one of the influen- tial and active citizens of the early canal days. Born in New York state in 1809, he came to Fort Wayne in the early twenties and engaged in farming and trading with the Indians. He was one of the original directors of the Fort Wayne Branch bank, a contractor on the middle division of the Wabash and Erie canal and a pioneer plank road builder. In his later years he conducted the fa- mous Vermilyea house on the canal, about fourteen miles southwest of Fort Wayne, where his death occurred in 1846. The portrait is from a photograph of a painting loaned by Mrs. Littleton Tough, granddaughter of Mr. Vermilyea.
citizens of the time were Charles and Francis Minie, George Hunt, John Bruno, Richard Chobert and Joseph Barron.
Mention has been made of the first brick building erected in Fort Wayne. This small structure, owned and occupied by James Barnett, stood on a site on the north side of East Columbia street, just east of Clinton. The building was known latterly as Schwieter's bakery, and it stood until 1909. The brick for its construction were made by Benjamin Archer.
A THREATENED SAVAGE OUTBREAK.
An incident of the fall of 1824 brings forcibly to the mind the true frontier atmosphere of the place even though it had risen to the
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dignity of a county seat. One day, while a large number of Indians were gathered about the fort to receive their annuities, several of them became intoxicated. While in this condition, a young Miami stabbed and killed an Ottawa.
John W. Dawson, who came to Fort Wayne fourteen years after the threatened outbreak and who secured his information from per- sons concerned in it, gives the following interesting details of the affair: The murderer was a member of White Raccoon's (Miami) party. After the commission of the deed, he brandished a long knife and defied anyone to attack him. The enraged Ottawas spread the news to their camps on the Auglaize river and at Flat Rock, and soon large numbers, under the leadership of their chief, Oquanoxas, advanced toward Fort Wayne and camped for the night on the south bank of the Maumee about one mile east of the fort. In the morning, Oquanoxas and a few followers came to the village and sought out Chief Richardville, of whom they demanded the payment of $5,000 in silver in atonement for the crime, this amount to be paid out of the next annuity consignment from the government. In default of meeting with these terms, the Ottawas threatened to attack the Miamis without further parley. Richardville and his leaders, with the white settlers, held a hurried council and decided to meet the will of the angered Ottawas, who were fully armed and prepared to wage a devastating war against the offending tribe. While this council was in session, the Ottawas determined to revise their de- mand by substituting merchandise for cash, fearing that through some miscarriage of plans they might be cheated out of their rich prize. It was arranged, then, that articles to the value of $5,000 should be selected at once from the store of Samuel Hanna and James Barnett, the payment therefor to be taken from the government an- nuities of the Miamis. The exulting Ottawas, laden with their prop- erty, returned to their camps to the eastward.
"This adjustment," says Mr. Dawson, "put an end to this fear- ful excitement which prevailed among the whites, created by the fear that Oquanoxas, who was noted for his bravery and impulsive- ness, would begin a bloody war on the Miamis. This fear may be justly measured when it is known that there was no military force nearer than Newport, Kentucky, and that before relief could come from that place, extermination would have been the fate of one or the other, and that, in the blind and bloody carnage, many whites in the village and in feeble settlements would have suffered death or pillage."
RICHARDVILLE'S ACT OF BRAVERY.
Richardville, the civil chief of the Miamis, had gained his high position while a youth through the sagacity of his mother. An interesting character study of this Indian mother and her half-breed son is given in the words of Henry Hay in Chapter X of this work. The story of his election to the chieftainship, as told to the late Allen Hamilton by Richardville, harmonizes smoothly with the later reve- lation of the characteristics of his mother.
It appears that during the period of raids upon defenseless white settlers, a captive was brought to the site of Fort Wayne and tied to the stake for torture and death. At this time, Richardville,
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although a youth, already was looked upon as a future leader of the tribe. His selection needed but the display of daring which the occasion of the torture of the white prisoner provided. When the torch was applied to the inflammable material about the feet of the prisoner, Richardville and his mother were some distance away from the circle of yelling savages. Suddenly, the mother, placing a knife in the hands of her son, bade him rescue the prisoner. With- out hesitation, the youth dashed toward the crowd, forced his way to the captive, severed his bonds and set him free. The audacity of the act of the youth astonished and surprised the savages, but they bowed to his will and allowed the prisoner to return to his people.
After the death of Little Turtle, Richardville was made to serve as his successor. It was he who, in 1818, signed the treaty of St. Mary's as the leader of his tribe.
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CHAPTER XXIII-1825-1828.
Beginnings of the Wabash and Erie Canal. 1
How the authorities obeyed the laws-The first murder case-The log jail on the court house square-The debtors' prison a faulty bastile-The county seminary-Allen Hamilton, postmaster-The canal "fever"-Judge Hanna reveals a plan to David Burr-The canal survey is authorized- Engineers succumb to attacks of fever-Judge Hanna in the legis- lature-Congress passes the canal bill-A close call-The "feeder" canal- An early lawyer's story-The first gristmill-Pioneer enterprises-A disastrous flood-The Ewings establish an extensive fur trade-Fort Wayne loses the government land office.
T HE YEAR 1825 found the village of Fort Wayne risen to a town of nearly two hundred population-that is to say, of persons considered more or less permanently settled. The town was in the pathway of many who traveled by way of the rivers, passing chiefly to the southwest; so there was a closer busi- ness and social connection with the busy eastern centers than had ʻ prevailed during the earlier years.
Henry Cooper came in 1825. Born at Havre-de-Grace, Mary- land, in 1783, he became a pioneer teacher, and rose to fame as one of Indiana's most prominent members of the bar. Others who dated their residence from this year were Peter Kiser, who opened a meat market and issued rations to the Indians and became an active figure in political and municipal life, and Francis D. Lasselle. who attained prominence in business circles. Peter Kiser made his first visit to the town in 1822. He was then a lad of twelve years, muscular and well accustomed to hard work. He had brought a drove of hogs to Fort Wayne from Grant county, Ohio.
The hardships of transportation of the period are impossible of realization in modern days. Traveled roads were few and usu- ally deep with mud, winding through the wilderness of prairie and forest-and these merely the Indian trails widened when neces- sary to accommodate the covered wagons of the hardy pioneers. But few bridges had been constructed and it was the common practice for a horseman to "swim" his faithful steed across a swollen stream, while the traveler with the cumbersome wagon was compelled to risk life and property in many cases in fording the numerous rivers and creeks of the west. The prevalence of wolves, often driven by hunger to invade the settlements, the fierce bliz- zards and the menace of drink-crazed Indians, added to the perils and sufferings of the traveler. However, many brave-hearted wives and mothers left comfortable homes in the older settlements to cast their lots with their sturdy protectors on the edge of the wil- derness.
Pioneer justice in Allen county at this time appears to have been dealt out with no show of favoritism. At the 1825 session of the circuit court, in November, Judges Hanna and Cushman found
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General Tipton guilty of assault, and he was fined $3 "for the use of the county seminary." The prosecuting attorney, Calvin Fletcher, was found guilty of contempt of court, and there were many cases of illegal liquor selling, assault and battery, larceny, affrays, defamation of character, gambling and the like.
At the second term of the court, which convened June 6, 1825, at the home of William G. Ewing, Bethuel F. Morris, of Indianapolis, president judge, elected to succeed Judge Wick, presided, with Samuel Hanna as his associate. Henry Cooper, of Fort Wayne; James Rariden, of Richmond; Calvin Fletcher, of Indianapolis, and Arthur St. Clair Vance, of Dearborn county, were admitted to the bar, Mr. Cooper being the second man in the county to be so honored. Mr. Fletcher was appointed to serve as prosecuting attorney, and Robert Hood as constable. The grand jury, consist- ing of William N. Hood (foreman), Thomas Robinson, Alexis Co- quillard, Joseph Troutman, Alexander Millar, Francis Comparet, Thomas Forsythe, James Wyman, Israel Taylor, Charles Weeks, Paul Taber, Hugh B. McKeen, James Hackley and Alexander Ewing, returned true bills against seven prominent citizens, chiefly for selling liquors illegally. Evidently, the pioneers found it of greater financial benefit to sell liquors and pay three-dollar fines than to refrain therefrom. At this session John P. Hedges won a trespass suit over William Suttenfield, and the jury awarded him 25 cents damages. Elisha B. Harris, commonly known as "Yankee Harris," who had been adjudged guilty of larceny at the first term of the 1825 session and who was later indicted for horse stealing, was found guilty of trespass in a suit brought by Thomas Robinson. William Caswell, George Ayres and John Forsythe, recently from Canada, were granted naturalization papers. The associate judges. under the provisions of a new law, became ex officio judges of the probate court.
The first indictment for murder was that of Saganaugh, "an Indian late of the county of Allen aforesaid, of sound memory and discretion, not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil," did stab and kill another Indian named Natawine. The crime caused much excitement at the time, but the case was continued several terms and finally dropped from the docket.
In 1824, General Tipton entered into a contract with David Irwin, of Darke county, Ohio; Robert Douglas and William N. Hood, to erect a log jail building on the southwest corner of the "publick square." The walls were to be "three feet thick, composed of tiers of oak timber, each piece to be one foot square; the logs of the inner wall to be sixteen feet long, and the timber of the middle wall to be set on end, the inner and outer walls to be laid and notched in manner commonly called dough-tailed, until the logs touch each other." The building was to be two stories in height, the rooms to be eight fect from floor to ceiling. The win- dows were to be provided with gratings made of half-inch iron. The building was erected in 1825. The lower floor was used for the confinement of criminals, while the upper floor was used as a debtors' prison.
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1825 1828
That this building was not entirely suited to its purpose is suggested in the report of the grand jury of 1826, of which John P. Hedges was the foreman. It read :
"We, the grand jury, empanneled for the county of Allen and state of Indiana, after examining the county jail, are of the opinion the criminal's room of said jail is not a place of safety for persons committed thereto, that the debtors room or upper department of said jail is not in suitable condition for the reception of debtors, from the want of locks, floors and bedding."
The late John W. Dawson says of this old log jail and the sheriff's residence :
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