USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II > Part 15
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Josiah Akin
6.00
S. K. Gillchrus. . 10.00
William Smith
3.00
John
4.00
John Sanders
1.00
David H. Williams
5.00
Abraham Brown, labor 10.00
M. O. Fitch, administrator of Charles Paxson, de- ceased 100.00
Seth Woodruff for G. W. Barclay. 19.00 John Miles. 20.00
Garret McCan, in blacksmithing 10.00 Robert Chamberlain. 3.00
William Beeler, carpenter work. 10.00
Daniel Wilson, by his agent, A. Clapp. 20.00
John S. Doughton. 5.00 James McCrum, nails, 10.00
John A. Bright. 10.00
John Jones. 50.00
Hugh Ferguson .
10.00
William Ferguson.
10.00
William Gamble, by his agent, Henry Bogert. 5.00
Thomas Sinex, carpenter work. 15.00
J. Starkey 20.00
At a special session of the commissioners held May 31, 1823, it was ordered that Caleb New- man be appointed to superintend the building of the court-house; his duties, as defined, being to collect the money from the subscribers, purchase the materials, pay the hands, and personally su- perintend the construction of the building. He was also authorized to sell the lots that had been donated, except the public square upon which the building was to be erected. He was required to report at each meeting of the board of commission- ers, and entered into bond of $1,500, with John Hancock as surety, for the faithful performance of his duties. He was to follow the published plan of the court-house, except to make the walls two feet higher. Mr. Newman went forward with the building of the court-house but did not complete it, and for some reason was superseded in August, 1824, by Thomas Sinex, who contin- ued to superintend the work until it was com- pleted, which was in November, 1824, except the cupola, which was to be erected by Seth Woodruff. Upon finishing the building and fil- ing his account, it appeared that $67.55 was due Mr. Sinex.
The building was a square, two-story brick, with a four-sided roof sloping up to the center, upon which was a cupola and bell. It was a sub- stantial building; stood about where the present building stands, and answered the purpose for which it was designed about forty years, when the business of the county had increased to such an extent as to require a new one. It was freely used in early days for public meetings, elections, and religious meetings. The cupola was not put up for several years after the building was other- wise finished, as appears by the following entry on the commissioners' records, dated March 5, 1827:
Ordered, that David M. Hale be appointed a committee to request that Seth Woodruff (who subscribed for the court- house, the building of a suitable cupola thereto) to com- plete said subscription, and superintend the putting up of the cupola; and said Hale is also appointed to finish one of the upper rooms of the court-house for the use of the jurors, and make an addition to the bar table, and fix a convenient desk
12
10.00
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
thereon for the use of the clerk during the sessions of the court.
These last mentioned improvements cost fifty dollars.
THE PRESENT COURT-HOUSE.
This beautiful and substantial structure was built during the years 1865-66-67. It is built of limestone from the Bedford quarries in Law- rence county, Indiana, and cost when completed $127,700. The style of architecture is Corinthi- an. The order for its erection was issued by the commissioners in March, 1865, and the corner- stone was laid July 11th of the same year with appropriate Masonic ceremonies. The building is sixty-four feet front by one hundred in depth, forty five feet in height, and fire-proof.
In the copper box placed in the corner-stone were placed. the following articles: Portraits of Presidents Andrew Johnson and Abraham Lin- coln, Edward Everett, Stephen A. Douglas, Her- schel V. Johnson, and John Bell; a copy of Harper's Weekly containing an account of the assassination of President Lincoln; various de- nominations of script, both Federal and Confed- erate; a large number of coins of various kinds ; portraits of the Governor of the State, and names of the members of Congress for this district, United States senators from Indiana, senator and representative from Floyd county, judges of the circuit and common pleas courts, county clerk, sheriff, treasurer, recorder, county commissioners, county auditor, all city officials, architects and builders, editors of the Ledger, officers of the masonic fraternity officiating; copies of the daily and weekly Ledger, a number of other news- papers and some other articles. Dr. Thomas R. Austin was the officiating officer and delivered the address.
THE JAILS.
The first jail was built on the public square near where the present one is, and was a log building, erected by Seth Woodruff. In May, 1819, the following entry is found on the com- missioner's records :
Ordered, that Seth Woodruff, Esquire, be employed to build a jail to be set on the Public Square in the town of New Albany, agreeably to the following dimensions: Said Jail to be twelve feet square with a shingled roof thereon; to be built of logs hewed one foot square; seven feet high be- tween the floors; the floors and ceiling to be of hewed logs one foot thick and pinned down to the timbers; for which he is to receive fifty dollars out of the county treasury.
And it is further ordered that the said Woodruff be and is hereby appointed to make a good and sufficient door two feet square, lined with iron, for the above mentioned jail."
The above mentioned door "two feet square " was hung so as to drop down like the door of a chicken-coop and was secured by a padlock. Mr. Seabrook says: "as a general thing the pad- lock was lost and the door was secured by prop- ping it with a nail." Soon after the time that the great county of Floyd ordered a fifty dollar log jail, the following entry appears :
Ordered, that Charles Paxson employ some fit person to erect a fence fifty feet square, out of good white oak timber, fivefeet in height, for a public pound on the Public Square on which the jail now stands.
The cost of this public pound was $20, and Thomas Sinex was appointed pound keeper.
Whether the log jail was torn down by some unruly criminal or whether its limited space of twelve feet square was insufficient for the crimi- nal population of the county does not appear, but in May, 1823, the following entry appears :
Ordered, that the house belonging to the estate of Joseph Brindley, deceased, on lot 31, Upper High street, be made use of for one year for a gaol.
The probability is that the old log jail stood there until another was built in 1829, but having but one small room it was often found necessary to have some other place to confine criminals.
May 2, 1826, the following appears on the record :
Ordered, that three persons be appointed in each town- ship in the county to circulate subscription papers to solicit donations for the purpose of building a county gaol on one of the Public Squares of New Albany.
The persons appointed were David Sillings, Jacob Bence and John Rice, of Franklin township ; Harvey Scribner, Preston F. Tuley, and Elias Ayers, for New Albany township, and Aaron Hey, James H. Mills, and William Wil- kinson for Greenville township. For some rea- son this project failed to produce a new jail, and the years went by until January 5, 1829, when the subject is again referred to in the commis- sioners' records, as follows :
Resolved, that for the purpose of ascertaining the best plan for building a permanent gaol for the use of the county David M. Hale, Caleb Newman and William Wilkinson be and they are hereby appointed to devise and report at the next meeting of the commissioners separate plans for a gaol, and the probable expense of building the same.
March 29, 1829, the commissioners having examined the different plans, that of David M. Hale was accepted. From this it appears that
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
the "plan upon the ground is to be 54x16 feet ; criminal department is to be sixteen feet square and to be built of hewn stone ; the remainder of said house upon the ground and the second story is intended for a poor house and gaol keeper. The debtor's department is to be immediately above the criminal. See plan."
Ordered, that Richard Comly be appointed to superintend the building of the same; and $300 is hereby appropriated for building the same.
Thus was secured the first substantial "gaol" in the county and which answered the purpose until the present substantial brick and stone building was erected in 1858, on the northeast corner of State and Spring streets, at a cost of $15,000.
ANOTHER COUNTY BUILDING. ,
This is the county infirmary building, located two and a half miles north of the city near the railroad. The county secured a farm here of one hundred and sixty-seven acres about 1838. It contained a log house to which a log addition was added in 1842. Soon afterwards, however, a large frame house was built on the ground, which is yet standing. The present brick build- ing was erected in 1875. Prior to the establish- ment of the poor farm the paupers were "farmed out," that is, they were kept by the farmers of the county who were paid something by the county in addition to labor they were able to secure from the pauper. As indicated above, they were kept at the jail until places could be found for them.
CHAPTER IV. ORGANIZATION OF CLARKE COUNTY.
Clarke enjoys the proud pre-eminence of standing in the second generation of Indiana counties. Knox, created by proclamation of General Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the terri- tory northwest of the river Ohio, away back in the nineties, was, as is pretty well known, the original county, covering nearly the whole of what is now Indiana, with much more superficial area to the westward. It was, indeed, one of the four counties into which the great Northwest
Territory was divided, and the only one west of the then great county of Hamilton, whose boun- dary toward the setting sun was the line pre- scribed as the limit of Indian occupancy by the Treaty of Greenville, from Fort Recovery, near Wayne's battle-ground, hard upon the present Ohio State line, straight to the mouth of the river Kentucky.
No county by its formation intervened in Southern Indiana between the original Knox and the original Clarke counties, the latter of which, like the former and the other primal sub- divisions of the Northwest Territory, was the child, not of legislative enactment, but of guber- natorial proclamation. Since Knox was erected, Indiana Territory had been carved out of the mighty Northwest, and the young but already famed general from Cincinnati, William Henry Harrison, by and by to become the hero of Tip- pecanoe, had been made Governor of the vast tract stretching from the Greenville boundary" line (Fort Recovery to the Kentucky) westward to the Mississippi and northward almost indefi- nitely. On the 3d day of February, 18or, many months before the State of Ohio had been cre- ated, it was deemed that the time had arrived for a new sub-division in southeastern Indiana. Upon proper representation to his excellency, the Governor and commander-in-chief, at his head- quarters and Territorial capital in Vincennes, he, upon the day named, issued his proclamation erecting the county of Clarke "out of that part of the county of Knox lying within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning on the Ohio, at the mouth of Blue river, thence up the said river to the crossing of the same by the road leading from Vincennes to Clarksville, thence by a direct line to the nearest part of White river, thence up the said river to that. branch thereof which runs towards Fort Recovery, and from the head spring of said branch to Fort Recovery; thence along the boundary line between the In- diana and Northwestern Territory to the Ohio, and down the Ohio to the place of beginning."
This was a great county, not far from one-fifth of the present tract of Indiana. Its boundaries can be traced with approximate accuracy upon any good, detailed map of the State, especially if it shows the principal roads and indicates, as some do, the old Greenville treaty line. The exact place of crossing the Blue river by the
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
Vincennes and Clarksville road may now be rather difficult to determine; but it could not have been very far from the present crossing of the main road from the old capital to Jefferson- ville or New Albany. Otherwise the lines, with- out much trouble, can be run with tolerable cer- tainty. They included not only the present counties of Clarke and Floyd, which make up but a moderate fraction of the original Clarke, but also, in whole or in part, Harrison, Washing- ton, Jackson, Scott, Jefferson, Jennings, Ripley, Decatur, Franklin, Bartholomew, Shelby, Rush, Fayette, Union, Henry, Randolph, Wayne, and very likely other counties. It was a noble tract, an embryo State, in territorial area.
THE COUNTY-SEAT.
No other name could have been so fitly applied to a county including the Clarke Grant and the residence of the hero of the Northwest-he to whom the fact is due that the country embraced in it was then and is now under the flag of the United States-than that of General George Rogers Clarke, the compatriot and friend of Har- rison ; and Clarke county, of course, it became by the latter's nomination. It would have been strikingly appropriate, also, if Clarksville on the Ohio, the place founded by the conqueror, and at this time his personal home, had been made the county-seat. It is probable, however, that geographical considerations, those of convenience to the straggling population-which, however, was nearly all within a few miles of the river --- determined the site of local government, in the first instance; and it was settled at Springville, then a hopeful hamlet a mile and a quarter southwest of Charlestown, the subsequent county- seat, and nearly four miles from the river at the nearest point. This place has fallen into greater decay than even Clarksville, not one of the prim- itive houses remaining, nor any visible sign that ever a village was there. It is now simply open country.
THE FIRST COURT.
Here, however, as the designated capital of the new county, assembled in solemn conclave, on the 7th day of April, 1801, the first court in Clarke, being the court of general quarter ses- sions of the peace, composed, under the com- mission of Governor Harrison and the seal of the Territory of Indiana, of Justices Marston Green
Clarke, Abraham Huff, James Noble Wood, Thomas Downs, William Goodwin, John Gibson, Charles Tuley, and William Harwood, Esquires -all, as may be seen elsewhere, good names in the early history of the county. Samuel Gwathmey also took his seat as clerk of this court and pro- thonotary of the court of common pleas, and clerk of the orphans' court of this county. General W. Johnson, "Gentleman," on his own motion, was admitted as an attorney-at-law in the court on production of his license and admin- istration of the prescribed oath.
THE FIRST TOWNSHIPS.
At this earliest term it was ordered that the immense county be divided into three townships, as follow :
The first to begin on the Ohio, opposite the month of Blue river; thence up the Ohio to the mouth of Peter Mc- Daniel's spring branch; from thence to [in ] direct course to Pleasant run, the branch on which Joseph Bartholomew lives, and down that branch to the mouth thereof, thence down Pleasant run to where the same enters into Silver creek; thence a due west course to the western boundary of this county ;- to be called and known by the name of CLARKS- VILLE TOWNSHIP.
The second to begin at the month of Peter McDaniel's spring branch; thence up the Ohio to the mouth of Fourteen Mile creek; thence up the main branch thereof to the head; and from thence a due west course to the county line, and from thence with the same to Clarksville township, and with the line thereof to the Ohio at the place of beginning ;- to be called and known by the name of SPRINGVILLE TOWN- SHIP.
The third one to begin at the mouth of Fourteen Mile creek; thence with the line of Springville township to the county line; thence with the same to the Ohio river; and thence down the same, to include the remaining part of the county to the place of beginning ;- to be called and known by the name of SPRING HILL TOWNSHIP.
This division, rude and insufficient as it may now appear, was doubtless all that was then de. manded by the conditions of white settlement. Every one of these township names, as such, it will be observed, has disappeared in the recon- struction of the county and its townships from decade to decade. More concerning these old sub-divisions will be found hereafter in the town- ship histories.
Mr. Charles Floyd was appointed by the court "constable of the county" for the township of Clarksville. William F. Tuley received similar appointment for Springville, and Robert Wardel for Spring Hill.
1
MORE COURT PROCEEDINGS.
At the next day's session of the general court
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
Robert Hamilton, also "Gentleman," after the fashion of that time, was admitted to the Clarke county bar.
Joshua Lindsey, on his own motion, was rec- ommended to "His Excellency the Governor of this Territory," as a proper person to keep a tavern in Springville for one year. Samuel Hay and George Wood were his sureties.
Under "an act to regulate county levies," the court appointed Joseph Bartholomew for one year, Peter Stacey for two years, and Joseph Stewart for three years, as commissioners to as- certain and lay the tax levy for the county. Isaac Holman and Charles Bags were appointed "to appraise each house in town, town lots, out-lot, and mansion-house" in the township of Clarks- ville; William Combs, Sr., and Absalom Little for Springville; and John Bags and John Owen for Spring Hill.
Leonard Bowman and William Wilson were made "supervisors of the public roads and high- ways" for Clarksville; Elisha Carr and George Huckleberry for Springville; and John Petit and Jesse Purdue for Spring Hill. Commissioners to settle their accounts, respectively, were George Hughes, James Davis, and Francis McGuire, for Clarksville; John Clegham, George Woods, and Nicholas Harmon, for Springville; and Abraham Huff, "Esquire" (one of the honorable court), William Plaskel, and William Brinton, for Spring Hill.
Under "an act regulating enclosures," Philip Dailey, Peter Stacey, and Isaac Holman were named fence viewers for Clarksville; --- Kauf- man, Nathan Robertson, and Frederick Rice, for Springville; and Jonathan Thomas, Christopher Fefler, and Jacob Heberick for Spring Hill.
Overseers of the poor for these townships, severally, were Benjamin Redman and Isaac Holman; George Huckleberry, Sr., and Abraham Little; and William Plaskel and John Bags.
It was ordered that the ferry-keepers on the Ohio in the county observe the following tariff of rates: For a man, woman, or child, twelve and one-half cents; each horse twelve and one-half cents; every head of ncat cattle three years old and upwards, twelve and one-half cents; all cattle under that age, nine cents; each sheep, goat, or hog, four cents; every wagon or four wheeled carriage, $1; and for every other carriage of two wheels, fifty cents; for goods, wares, merchan-
dise, lumber, etc., $1 for each boat load. Lower rates were made for the ferry at the mouth of Silver creek. This ferry was taxed twenty-five cents for the year; the ferries across the Ohio were required to pay from $4 to $7. George Hughes then kept the former; the others were run by Major Robert Floyd, Samuel Oldham, Rich- ard Ferrel, and James N. Wood.
THE EARLY ROADS.
On due petitions, orders were made for the view and survey of roads from Clarksville to the most, convenient landing above the rapids of Ohio (Jeffersonville had not yet even a namne to live); from the ferry of James N. Wood (Utica) to Springville; and from the house of Abraham Hoff to Springville. The viewers in the several cases were Henry Fail, Sr., George Hughes, and Leonard Bowman; Joseph Bartholenew, Thomas Ferguson, and Francis McGuire; and John Owens, John Bags, and George Woods. The surveyors, respectively, were William Wilson and Charles Tuley (the latter for both the second and third roads asked for).
The court then adjourned "until court in course"-the July term. An intelligent and vigorous beginning of county administration of government had begun.
THE COUNTY SEATS.
Springville was soon succeeded as the county seat by Jeffersonville; then Charlestown became the county seat; and finally, in September, 1878, after a sharp struggle, the records and offices were returned to Jeffersonville, where they are probably permanently located. Some details concerning these removals will appear in our histories of the townships.
CHAPTER V.
MILITARY RECORD OF CLARKE AND FLOYD COUNTIES.
The military record of the two counties of Floyd and Clarke is practically inseparable. In- timately neighbored as they are, in territory and interest, in patriotism and faithful service during periods of conflict, they should go down in his -.
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
.
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tory closely interlinked. Although some com- panies were raised exclusively in each of the counties, yet many others drew their officers and men almost indifferently from one county and the other; and commands from the two coun- ties are often found serving together in the same regiment. The rosters and records of Floyd and Clarke are found so closely associated upon the pages of the adjutant general's reports and else- where, that it would be exceedingly difficult, even were the compiler disposed to do so, to sepa- rate them and make a distinct history and set of rosters for each county. The glorious story of both has therefore been made one.
THE ANCIENT RECORD-
the old relation of wars and fightings about the Falls of the Ohio, and the movement of martial expeditions therefrom in the times that tried men's souls, has been told in our chapter on the Indians in the general introduction to this his- tory, in the first volume of the work, and in the military record of Jefferson county. It is there related with sufficient fullness, and no part of it need be repeated here. We are not aware that anything specially remains to be said for this side of the river, concerning bloody conflicts or the re- cruiting of forces for the field of battle, until the well-remembered period of
THE MEXICAN WAR.
In the spring of 1846, the government of Mexico, still claiming jurisdiction over the terri- tory of Texas between the Rio Grande and the Neuces, caused its army to invade that district, which was held by the United States government, by virtue of the recent annexation of the Lone Star State, to be the soil of the Federal union. The invasion was met and repelled by the army of the United States, under General Zachary Taylor, formerly a resident of Louisville, at Palo Alto on the 8th of May, and the next day at Re- saca de la Palma. Four days thereafter the Federal Congress by resolution declared that, "by the act of the Republic of Mexico, a state of war exists between that Government and the United States." May 22d, President Polk called upon the States for volunteer recruits for the army to the total number of forty-three thousand five hundred. Indiana was summoned to fur- nish three regiments of infantry and, under the proclamation of Governor Whitcomb, they were
speedily raised, and the First, Second, and Third Indiana regiments were organized and sent into the field. The next year, under the call of Au- gust 31, 1847, for two additional regiments from Indiana, the Fourth and Fifth were recruited and sent forward. From the numbers of these Mexican battalions the Indiana regiments in the late war took their point of departure, none of them bearing a number earlier than the Sixth.
The only muster-roll we have been able to procure, of soldiers from this region in the Mexican war, is that of Captain Sanderson's company in the Second regiment of Indiana volunteer infantry, which we have by the kind- ness of Colonel W. W. Tuley, of New Albany, who was a private in the company, and published an interesting history of it in the Public Press of that city, for December 14, 1881. It was originally an independent volunteer company, formed in New Albany in 1844, and named the Spencer Greys, in honor of Captain Spencer, a brave Indianan who fell at Tippecanoe. William L. Sanderson, a colonel in the late war, was cap- tain; Stewart W. Cayce and James C. Moodey, lieutenants. Sanderson was a good drill master, and the corps soon became "the crack com- pany" of the State. Upon the outbreak of the war, nearly all its members volunteered for the United States service, into which the company was sworn July 20, 1846. Captain Sander- son and Lieutenant Cayce retained their places by re-election ; but Thomas S. Kunkle was chosen second lieutenant, in place of Judge Moodey, who declined to go, and Henry Pennington was after made an additional second lieutenant. The roll of the company was as follows :
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