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 70
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Another Klinger, John, came late in 1829, purchased land on the DeRome reservation, and set industriously about clearing and improving it. Thomas Griffis, arriving about the same time, did likewise, starting a small tannery on his tract. Both these men knew that the lot of the pioneer is hard toil, and they spared it not, sweetened as it was with the hope of future compensation. Wives shared their toil. Mrs. Griffis became an early prey to the hardships of the settlers' life, and her husband, after having spent his toil upon the DeRome land, was forced to relinquish it without compensation, because the President refused to sanction the sale of any of the DeRome land, since it had been conveyed to the minor children. John Klinger received the same treatment. Both money and labor was lost. Thomas Griffis, ruined and broken in heart, left the township for Kosciusko county, and was lost sight of. Mr. Klinger finally took up and improved a farm on the west side of the river. These experiences were so notorious that they ef- fectually prevented any further recurrences of the DeRome "graft." Moses Sivotts, also a native of Pennsylvania, was a settler of 1829, his land lying on the river opposite the DeRome reservation. A liberally educated and genial gentleman, he made many friends but did not remain many years, perferring to settle permanently in what became Cedar Creek township.
William Sturms, of Shelby, Ohio, is another of the 1829 group. Mr. Sturms was both farmer and huntsman, following each pursuit with enthusiasm. Not a servant of two masters, but a master of two trades, he met with success in each, while neglecting no duty of progressive citizenship. The figure of Martin Weeks, flashed on the Adams township horizon in 1823, only to fade at once from the picture, reappears very vividly against the background of St. Joseph in 1829. Martin settled in the southeast portion of the township, where the Hicksville or "Ridge" road was afterward surveyed. Had circumstances located him on the DeRome reserva- tion, the story of lost labor might have had a different ending. It is said that Mr. Weeks was not prodigal of labor. An easy-going and indifferent farmer, he was devoted to the hunting which was
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then abundant, though his prodigious strength would have made a mighty woodsman of him. If John Barleycorn was a settler in that district, it is not recorded; but this much is certain it takes two to make a quarrel-and quarrels were frequent in Martin Weeks' neighborhood-so frequent, in fact, that a wide berth began to be maintained about him. Perhaps Mr. Weeks was not all to blame, only proud of his physical strength and his ability to use it effectually in hand-to-hand contests. But, at all hazards, he acquired the reputation of being a dangerous, quarrelsome fel- low, the neighborhood "bad man," who later experienced "a change of heart," became a Baptist minister, and was the best of men and neighbors for the rest of his life. From the far perspec- tive of another century, the historian sees a possibility that some of the neighbors experienced a change of heart in the same religious upheaval. Also it seems probable that Martin Weeks was not a merely quarrelsome man, but just "a born fighter," a soldier, if you will, enlisted in the wrong army. When from somewhere a "light shined 'round about him," he saw his mistake, he went over to the other recruiting office-and undoubtedly was a fighter to the very last.
The virtues of the average settler were of a different charac- ter, a sturdy variety, but quiet rather than striking. Energy and perseverance might broadly be said to cover them all. What, then, must have been the dynamic force and ambition of two men who came to settle in St. Joseph township in 1830 that made them a marvel to neighbors whose whole stock in trade was made up of those two qualities? The strenuous labors of these two men, Abra- ham Dingman and William Butt, surpassed that of any pair of set- tlers known to the district, and is still a tradition which the his- torian is glad to point to with the fact that their labor was crowned with the success it deserved. Hardly less dynamic than Dingman and Butt was John Tilbury, who in 1832 settled on a farm on the Ridge road about three miles east of Fort Wayne, which his de- cendants still own.
Immigration became more and more rapid during the thirties, but among those entitled to the name "pioneer" are many whose names cannot lightly be passed over. James A. Royce, of New York, stands out prominently in the list credited to 1833. A man of thorough training and full experience, he spent his rich endow- ments and mature energies in the service of the township-as a teacher for many years, and always as a useful and honored citi- zen. James Porter stayed five years in St. Joseph, then, crossing the line into Washington township he became a resident there.
Christian Parker, whose grandfather had been a revolutionary soldier and his father a soldier under Wayne, cleared a quarter section, was elected first Justice, then County Commissioner, and, afterward, member of the State Legislature for four terms. In his house was performed the first marriage ceremony occurring in the township, that of Isaac Bush and Sarah Madden. The hospitality of his roof, up to 1838-39, had been the chief recourse of travelers on the Ridge road,-but not as a tavern, for he never accepted aught but goodwill from his guests. (The first hotel was opened by Mr. Rossington, it being a small wayside tavern-which be- came well known, however). The first religious service was held
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at Mr. Parker's house by Rev. Mr. Rankin, a Presbyterian minister from Fort Wayne. Mr. Parker was the petitioner who secured the survey and construction of the familiar "St. Joe" road, at first as a county road, and then, at the instance of the same petitioner made a State road and extended to the northern limit of the county, following practically the course of the river. From the rapidly swelling list of St. Joseph pioneers, all more or less picturesque personalties, may be culled a number somewhat more influential among their fellows-though all were "good men and true." There was Job Lee, soldier of 1812 and well past the prime of life when he undertook-and succeeded in-the clearing of his wilderness farm; True Pattee, an early minister of the Metho- dist church, who held the second religious service in the township -and many afterward; then, James Mayhew, John Harver, Silas, Charles and John LaVanway, and the Goodale brothers; Uriah J. Rock, Jeremiah Whitesides, Jedediah Halliday, William Matthews, Benjamin Coleman, Peter Parker and a host of others who left their mark on the township's records, and whose names are still familiar in the families of their descendants. Perhaps the quaint- est figure of them all was that of "Jerry" Whitesides, the one- armed hunter. Jerry was seldom or never separate from his rifle, tradition says, his right arm, amputated at the elbow, being no de- terrent, but serving as a rifle "rest." Tall and slim his striking figure was familiar throughout the upper Maumee valley.
The first St. Joseph pioneer to die was William Matthews, in 1830, before the establishment of a local burial place, he being laid in the Maumee settlement plot. The first cemetery, donated as has been said, by Jesse Klinger, 1834, was in use for twelve years, and was never disturbed; but a larger plot was given by Peter Parker in 1846 which then became the township cemetery. Peter Parker's house sheltered in 1839, the term of school taught by Ebenezer Ayres, of New York. In the matter of pioneer schools St. Joseph was more fortunate than some neighboring townships though the same "subscription" method of support was in vogue there, and the same trusting to providence, or luck, for teachers prevailed. Luck may more often have favored them, and during the twenty years previous to the establishment of the free school system, there were not a few worthy teachers who left an abiding impression upon the minds of the youthful pioneers, firing them with ambition for higher education, and giving the least of them glimpses of science more inviting than the rule of three.
Of churches, the Presbyterian held the first service, but never organized, the residents of that persuasion attending services in Fort Wayne. The Methodists came next, organizing at first in the school house, but not building until 1865. To the Lutherans, therefore, belongs the honor of the earliest church edifice built in the township. St. Michael's Catholic church, built on the farm of John Pierre in 1870, came third. This mission met the needs of a certain period, but with the trend of Catholic settlement in other directions, the building of St. Leo's at Leo, and of St. Vin- cent's near Academie, the church building has been abandoned and now stands empty and deserted by all but the graves of its early members, which still populate the little cemetery.
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Pioneer industries occupy a large place in the development of new communities, and St. Joseph had its share of successful in- stances, although the extreme fertility of the region predestined the activities of its residents to follow an agricultural bent. To this and to the township's splendid equipment in the item of roads, leading to profitable marketing points, is due the fact that no vil- lage has ever been platted within its borders. It is splendidly drained and well watered, and to be "a land-holder in St. Joe" has long been an equivalent to "prosperity." However, in 1835 the inevitable "first saw mill" was built by Klinger and Comparet, on Becket's Run, from which stream the power was derived. Six years afterwards, in 1841, Henry Rudisill built the first steam saw mill on the St. Joseph river, and after that, indefatigable mill- builder that he was, added a second story to the building and conducted a carding mill there. At the death of Mr. Rudisill the property passed to his son-in-law, N. B. Freeman, who con- tinued the business until 1866, when with two partners he built a dam and erected a paper mill about four miles up the river, and devoted his energies to the newer enterprise. . The paper mill was completely destroyed by fire in 1871, but in spite of very heavy loss, it was immediately rebuilt on a larger scale and continued its successful career.
In all these ventures, the settlers bore a part, for they were laborers in the building and operation of these mills, and without their participation in many occupations other than clearing and farming, many fine things had gone undone. Henry Tilbury, who came on from Adams and settled on the Bourie reservation, became a very active citizen of St. Joseph, farming well, carrying mail occasionally, or standing guard when the Indians were being "paid off'' in the early days. He died in 1858, but his widow remained on the farm, completing, at the time of her death, a sixty-year residence on the site. That she did not live alone there is made sure without the help of chronicles, for she was the mother of fifteen children. No one may deny that she too did her share toward settling St. Joseph township. The Jacob Notestine family, of distant German origin on the Notestine side, and of Virginian stock on the mother's side, were early pioneers of Allen county, coming in 1830 with their fifteen children to Fort Wayne and taking their temporary residence in the Spy Run district. Their tendency, as one might say, was in the direction of St. Joseph township, or the north and east, and their stop in Fort Wayne was merely a prelude to their real pioneering. The annalist can find no more suitable place to introduce them than in the spots which bear their names as well as their impress. The elder Notestine took the contract for digging the mill-race for the Rudisill mill, his son Uriah being one of the laborers. Uriah and his brother also assisted at the building of the dam, and together "scored" the timber for the building. One term of school in the old log school house which once graced the spot now long disgraced by the Allen County Jail, was their final fling at scholastic education, for the family removed, in 1834, to a remote district on the banks of the St. Joseph river, in Cedar Creek township. One of the sons mar- ried Rachel, daughter of Thomas Hatfield, and St. Joseph eventually claimed several of the family. Uriah was the first, becoming a
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notable figure in all the adventurous enterprises of the times. He made trips on horseback to Darke county, Ohio, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, to obtain the deed for the purchase of the Cedar Creek land. He also carried the first mail that was sent from Fort Wayne to White Pigeon, Michigan, a trip occupying four days. This was in 1835, after the family had removed to Cedar Creek. At the same time, he found opportunity to prosper as a farmer in St. Joseph, and to serve the township four terms as constable. Mr. Peter Bobay, whose death occurred recently, was the son of pioneer parents, who brought him from his birthplace in France, in 1843 when he was only six years old, to find a new home in the forests of St. Joseph township. There they built a one room log cabin, in which they lived through many years of toil and hardship, their only route to the trading point at Fort Wayne being seven miles through woods so wild that it was nec- essary to mark the trees with an ax when making trips, to "blaze a trail" for their safe return. The eldest of nine children and left fatherless at the age of eleven, Mr. Bobay may contest the title of "pioneer" with any man of his day. For several years Mr. and Mrs. Bobay have resided in Fort Wayne, where four years previous to his demise they had celebrated the golden anniversary of a little wedding which occurred in St. Vincent's church in 1863.
St. Joseph abounds in landmarks which testify to the useful lives led by her pioneers, Waltke, Bullerman, Bruick, Blumm, Ashley, Chausse, Alfred Taylor (first postmaster of the township), Fletter, Lapp, Vollmer, Vining and Antrup, and a host of others-all of whom have left their mark enduringly upon the township history and legends. Many a later pioneer may properly claim credit for the wonderful development of "St. Joe," for even as late as the sixties, the township had a vast wild acreage to subdue, and the bravery of patience with which this work was done not only here but in other townships by the late comers who took "what was left," and made it to blossom like the rose, has a worth that cannot be over-estimated. The excitements of the settlers' life were past, and the annalist cannot make their page to glitter with romantic adventure. But perhaps the picturesqueness could not wholly depart, and for proof that romance is ubiquitous, whether peril lurks in the branches of the trysting tree or no, search the marriage records.
St. Joseph is the fourth and last of the group of townships which by reason of their position are more or less inextricable from the city of Fort Wayne, their inner corners being welded together by the corporation. In reciting the history of these townships, however, all that relates to Fort Wayne as a corporation has been kept out of the rural annals, these having both in pioneer and latter days a character quite their own which it is desirable to preserve. So of Lakeside, which once was the site of Ke-ki-on-ga village, and then was wild land subdued by pioneer hands, we will say no more than that it is extending year by year with rapid strides, tak- ing in once famous farms and effacing ancient landmarks to make room for the swelling population of Fort Wayne. Verily the old order changeth. The Indiana School for Feeble-Minded Youth was located in this township in 1887, and occupies a portion of section 20, on what was once the farm of Christian Parker. In addition
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to this the school has in the neighborhood of five hundred acres of splendid farm land variously situated in the township, in por- tions of sections 19, 20, 30, and 36. About fifty-six acres surrounds the group of buildings on State Street (already a city street and paved), this being the original purchase, the others following in 1895 and 1907.
The Swift Farm, so long famous as a rural picnic resort in the old feeder canal days, was purchased in 1893 by the Fort Wayne Electric Street Railway Company, who built a line out to it by way of Spy Run avenue, and the old feeder towpath, which they pur- chased from the State, making a lovely scenic route about seven miles in length, between the banks of the St. Joe on one hand, and the old canal bed with its highlands on the other. The farm was renamed "Robison Park" and is a popular and profitable resort in the summer months. To the west of the Park is Sacred Heart Academy, built about 1866, which is one of the largest institutions of its kind in the State. Sacred Heart Academy is now a fully accredited high school. The Goeglein group of farm homes on the Maysville route is almost a village, but the postoffice, now abolished, since the introduction of rural free delivery, was located at Thur- man, which is not a village either.
The school enumeration of St. Joseph township, which seems low for so populous and old a district, is explained by the encroach- ment of Lakeside on the territory. The latest census on record gives 456 as the total. The public schools have enrolled 263 of these and parochial schools 49. There are ten public schools taught by ten teachers for a school year of 160 days, the average attend- ance per day being 211. Seventeen pupils were graduated from the eighth grade in June, 1916. The per capita expense of the public schools for its 263 pupils is $26.86. The library is quite large, numbering 2,414 volumes. The largest of the St. Joseph township schools is the "Riverside," a two room building set near the river, to the rear of the State School group.
Marion Township
A certain tentative discretion which characterized the first attempts at settling the territory comprised in Marion township, reminding one of the kitten that first tries the puddle with its paw before it trusts itself to wade it, requires explanation in view of the comparative ease with which this district could be reached, from the earliest years of emigration. Wayne Trace lay through its bounds, and also the upper St. Mary's river, and all who came "from Willshire down" traversed the region in so doing. It is probable that every successive homeseeker at the first pressed on as near to the parent settlement at the fort as it was con- venient to get, not realizing that as good or better opportunity was being passed by. Land had been entered, in fact, much earlier than it was occupied. Hugh Barnett of Fort Wayne owned a farm site there, which in 1825 he rented to a Mr. Douglas. After a trial of one year Mr. Douglas went elsewhere, and a young man who had been reared in Mr. Barnett's family occupied the tract until 1830. The title of "settler" is begrudged to this young man, Elisha Harris, because he did not own the land nor remain upon it
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permanently. The present-day historian sees no justice in this view. Mr. Harris was a shrewd fore-sighted young man (sub-titled "Yankee" by his acquaintance) who must have possessed good pioneer fibre to live alone in a township for four years, to plant the first orchard in its soil, and to "hold the fort" until a neighbor should be encouraged to cast in his lot in the same district. That neighbor was Mr. Philo Whitcomb, who with his wife and child had started in search of a new home in 1827, had tried successively Dearborn and Adams counties, and being still unsatisfied, tried once again and found a permanent location in Marion township in 1830. Mrs. Mezena Merriam, whose husband had died at the Adams county settlement, came also to Marion township in 1830 with her young family. Brave woman that she was, with the help of her boys, she made as good a pioneer as the best. Her farm on the old Piqua road was her home until her death. Mr. Whitcomb, because of essential qualities, became at once a leader in township affairs. The first postoffice was established at "Root," and Mr. Whitcomb was appointed postmaster by Andrew Jackson. This office he filled until 1835, when the township was organized by the county commissioners and he was called upon to act as Justice of the Peace. This and other local offices he filled during the rest of his life-a period not over long, for he died in 1842. He planted the second orchard, in 1833, built the first frame house in 1839, and for the twelve years of his life in the township left a record worthy of imitation.
This Piqua state road was the first road to be surveyed through the region, the only other thoroughfare being Wayne Trace, the route followed by General Wayne's army in its departure from the fort in 1794, and which was improved and widened into a public highway as the years passed. The Piqua road was located by Benjamin Lytle with the assistance of the Bays brothers and Peter Dalman. It traversed a marshy region where a road was at any season apt to be heavy. Added to this natural difficulty, the trees felled in course of surveying the road were not removed, thus forming dams which held the water from rains, and made travel impossible over much of the route. Heavy teams were obliged to seek pathways through the woods, and the road line was dis- regarded. In 1850, a stock company undertook the management of the road, graded and planked it from Fort Wayne to Willshire, installed a line of daily stages and erected toll houses from which a goodly revenue was collected. Prosperity flowed along the road for years until in the course of time it changed ownership and was neglected so seriously that the travelers rebelled against the toll, burned the toll house and carried off the planks. Officially the road ceased to exist,-but in spite of that fact, it remains a much traveled and popular thoroughfare. Like all roads in the county it has been improved in high degree. The Decatur Interurban Electric line now follows that route. In the meantime, the Whit- ' combs and the Merriam family did not wait long for neighbors on the Piqua road nor elsewhere in the township. Hiram Moorey was even bold enough to open a store in a log house south of where Hesse Cassel now stands, as early as 1832. The sparse trade, however, brought discretion to valor's aid two years after, and the stock was removed to a better traffic point. "Hunting Henry"
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Snyder hunted well, not only game, but a farm site, and having found one made a fine farm of it, where he lived many years in the successful pursuit of happiness and prosperity. That was in 1833, a year which brought many settlers to this township, Michael Spitler, Samuel and Moses Beckner, George Hopple, Aden Brunson and others who were not recorded.
Joseph Small, a "man from Maine," came in 1838. Mr. Small did not bring his youth with him, that having been spent on the high seas as a sailor ; nor all of his prime, for that had been spent in farming and brickmaking in Ohio; but he brought a good name, an unbroken courage, health and a splendid family of sons and daughters, and with these to help he carved a farm out of the fine oak, beech and walnut woods of Marion, amassed a comfortable fortune, and lived to the age of eighty-eight to enjoy it. Jesse Heaton, sr., located here in 1833, purchasing land in the vicinity of sections twenty-seven and eight, near the site of Middle- town. He became one of the township's most prominent citizens, bearing a full share in its development. Before his death he was known as the oldest survivor of the pioneer citizens. From 1836 to 1840 the immigration was very rapid, but many who came remained only a year or two. Still, many stayed, and these were of the best. Prominent names among them are Thomas Thompson, Christopher Lipes, Jared Morton, Henry Drage, Joseph C. Wells, Isaac Harrod, Joseph Hall, William Ward, Daniel Whitaker and Judge Nelson McLain,-who was repeatedly called upon to serve the township in an official capacity. He succeeded Mr. Whitcomb as postmaster in 1838, and the office was removed to his house at the same time. Mail was carried at this period by a Mr. Stoker, on horseback, until the advent of the stage coaches in 1851. The postoffice was again removed, at the end of Judge Mclain's incum- bency, this time to Middletown. Dr. Hiram Barber was appointed postmaster at this date. It is not on record, but Dr. Barber was probably the first resident physician of the township.
The first wedding ceremony performed in Marion was that of William Cain and Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Philo Whitcomb. Samuel Rugg, Esq., officiated. In 1837 Absalom Roberts and Miss Elizabeth Everman were married, and the year following, Cyrenus Merriam, son of Mrs. Merriam, married Miss Jane Thompson.
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