History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II, Part 24

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 680

USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II > Part 24

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GREENVILLE MOUNTED INFANTRY.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Thomas J. Williams, Greenville.

First Lieutenant James Taylor, Greenville. Second Lieutenant William T. Miller, Greenville.

EIGHTH REGIMENT, INDIANA LEGION.

[This was composed of companies from Clarke and Scott counties]. FIELD AND STAFF.

Colonel James Keigwin, Jeffersonville.

Colonel John M. Ingram, Jeffersonville.

Colonel John F. Willey, Memphis.

Lieutenant Colonel Samuel C. Taggart, Jeffersonville.

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas D. Fouts, Jeffersonville.

Lieutenant Colonel Warren Horr, Charlestown.

Adjutant Josiah W. Gwin, Jeffersonville.

Adjutant James Ryan, Jeffersonville.

Quartermaster Melvin Weir, Jeffersonville.

Surgeon David H. Combs, Jeffersonville.

JEFFERSON ARTILLERY. COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain George L. Key, Jeffersonville. First Lieutenant Reuben Wells, Jeffersonville. Second Lieutenant James Wathen, Jeffersonville.

BATTLE CREEK GUARDS. COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Benjamin F. Lutz, Jeffersonville. Captain John F. Willey, Jeffersonville.

Captain Dennis F. Willey, Jeffersonville. First Lieutenant Isaac M. Koons, Jeffersonville.

First Lieutenant George W. Luman, Jeffersonville.,

First Lieutenant Oscar F. Lutz, Jeffersonville. Second Lieutenant Oscar F. Lutz, Jeffersonville. Second Lieutenant Alban Lutz, Jeffersonville. Second Lientenant S. L. Jacobs, Jeffersonville.

UNION HOME GUARDS. COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain James M. Gwin, Memphis. Captain Josiah W. Gwin, Memphis. Captain Joseph C. Drummond, Memphis. First Lieutenant Joseph C. Drummond, Memphis. First Lieutenant Josiah W. Gwin, Memphis. First Lieutenant William C. Combes, Memphis.

Second Lieutenant William C. Combes, Memphis. Second Lieutenant John C. Peden, Memphis.

CLARKE GUARDS. COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain John M. Ingram, Jeffersonville. First Lieutenant James G. Caldwell, Jeffersonville. Second Lieutenant Gabriel Poindexter, Jeffersonville.

OREGON GUARDS. COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Frank M. Carr, Oregon.

Captain Jesse Summers, Oregon. First Lieutenant William W. Watson, Oregon. First Lieutenant Wilshire Minor, Oregon. Second Lieutenant Cornelius B. Ruddle, Oregon. Second Lieutenant Joseph Carr, Oregon.

ELLSWORTH ZOUAVES. COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. Captain William W. Caldwell, Jeffersonville. First Lieutenant Thomas Gray, Jeffersonville. Second Lieutenahi George W. Brown, Jeffersonville.

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

THE UNION COMPANY. COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Benjamin S. Henderson, Hibernia. First Lieutenant John D. Noe, Hibernia. First Lieutenant Jacob P. Bare, Hibernia. Second Lieutenant Aaron Cross, Hibernia. Second Lieutenant Calid Scott, Hibernia.

HENRYVILLE GREYS. COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Cyrus M. Park, Henryville. Captain J. S. Ryan, Henryville.

First Lieutenant Luke S. Becket, Henryville.

First Lieutenant James V. Herron, Henryville. Second Lieutenant J. A. C. McCoy, Henryvllle.

Second Lieutenant H. H. Prall, Henryville. Second Lieutenant Alexander D. Briggs, Henryville.

HOOSIER GUARDS.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain John T. Hamilton, New Hope. Captain John J. Bane, New Hope. First Lieutenant Chesterfield Hutsell, New Hope. Second Lieutenant Edward W. Thawley, New Hope. Second Lieutenant John J. Bane, New Hope.

Second Lieutenant William K. Matthews, New Hope.

UTICA ROUGH AND READY GUARDS.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Jesse Combs, Utica.

First Lieutenant Moses H. Tyler, Utica.

Second Lieutenant Thomas J. Worrall, Utica.

SILVER CREEK GUARDS.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain E. W. Moore, Sellersburg.

First Lieutenant George Bottorff, Sellersburg. Second Lieutenant John F. Downs, Sellersburg. Second Lieutenant P. J. Ash, Sellersburg.

CHARLESTOWN CAVALRY.

COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

Captain Warren Horr, Charlestown. First Lieutenant Isaac Koons, Charlestown. Second Lieutenant Benjamin F. Perdue, Charlestown.

CHAPTER VI. . THE CITY OF NEW ALBANY-GENERAL HISTORY.

EARLY HISTORY.

Regarding the first settlement of the territory now occupied by this city, the reader is referred to the chapter on New Albany township; though it may here be briefly stated that the original tract comprised eight hundred and twenty-six and one-half acres of land, lying between the Grant line and the foot of the knobs, which was

entered, or purchased of the Government, at the land office in Vincennes, by Colonel John Paul, of Madison, Indiana. Paul, who was a sagacious business man, was induced to enter this land as . early as 1808 because of its proximity to the foot of the falls, which it was then thought would in time be utilized for manufacturing purposes; and also because of its proximity to Clarke's Grant and the settlement at Clarksville, as well as for its intrinsic value, agriculturally consid- ered.

Time showed the wisdom of the purchase. Clarke's Grant, adjoining the tract on the east, was very soon occupied by settlers, largely by soldiers of Clarke's army. This Grant was sur- veyed and apportioned in 1784, and contained 150,000 acres, 1,000 of which were set apart for the village of Clarksville. One of Clarke's sol- diers, named Whitehill, owned a hundred acres within the Grant, in the corner where the line in- tersects the river and adjoining the Paul tract. Next to and east of Whitehill, Epaphras Jones, another of Clarke's soldiers, owned one hundred acres. On the north side of the John Paul tract the land was taken up by Judge Shelby, of Charlestown, and Charles London, a pioneer from Virginia, elsewhere mentioned. The two last-mentioned were not within the Grant. All of these tracts of land were long since included in the city limits; the best portion of the city, the part which includes the finer residences, now occu- pies the tracts originally owned by Jones and Whitehill, it being that portion of the city above Ninth street.

THE SCRIBNERS.

The city was founded by the Scribner broth- ers-Joel, Abner, and Nathaniel-all good busi- ness men and Yankees. Since the name of Scribner is intimately connected with the growth and development of the city, is woven all through the warp and woof of its history, and yet occupies a high place on its roll of honored citizens, a brief sketch of the family seems ap propriate in this place.

The family was originally from England. The- name there was Skrivener, and later Scrivener, and has been traced back to Benjamin Skrivener, who, in the quaint language of the time, "tooke to wiffe" Hannah Crampton, daughter of John Crampton, of Norwalke. They were married March 5, 1679, or 1680. From this couple

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

came the Scribners of America, branches of the family being located in different parts of the country, where many of the name have occu- · pied high positions in the various pursuits of mankind-business, literature, arts, science, and war. The firm giving name to Scribner's Monthly, (now the Century), belong to the same family.

Nathaniel Scribner, Sr., was the progenitor of the New Albany branch of the family. He must have emigrated to this country sometime prior to the Revolutionary war, as he was en- gaged in that conflict, being captain of a com- pany of Connecticut volunteers. He was wounded in the war; was subsequently a pen- sioner of the Government, and died in 1800. He settled in Connecticut, but subsequently re- moved to Dutchess county, New York, where Joel, one of the founders of New Albany, was born. The family comprised twelve children, namely: Eliphalet, James, Jemima, Joel, Phœbe and Martha (twins), Esther, Elijah, Elizabeth, Nathaniel, Anna, and Abner. Mr. William A. Scribner, son of Joel, during his life collected some history of the family, and writes as follows regarding a time as long ago as he could remem- ber: "We were then living in a country village called Weston (probably in Fairfield county), Connecticut. Of my grandfather, Nathaniel, Sr., I know nothing except that when my father was a young man his father was engaged in building a merchant mill in Milford, Connecti- cut, ten miles west of New Haven." Nathaniel, after living awhile in New York State, must have moved back to Connecticut, for it appears in the biography of his son, Joel, that the latter "was born at South East, Dutchess county, New York, in 1772," but was married in Milford, Con- necticut.

Eliphalet Scribner, the oldest son, went to the West Indies about 1800, where he amassed a fortune, it is said, in merchandising, but subse- quently lost it by the sinking of one of his own ships, while on a voyage to England with a valu- able cargo.

James, the second son, married and lived for a time in the State of New York, some fifty or sixty miles above the city ; but two or three years after his brothers founded New Albany he joined them, his wife having previously died. He brought his two sons with him, Alanson and

Isaac, and arrived in time to be elected the first treasurer of Floyd county, which office he held at the time of his death. He did not live long after his arrival, his death occurring in 1823.

It was Joel who first formed the resolution to improve his fortunes in the Great West. This was in 1811. He was then a resident of New York city, having been there engaged in the grocery business for three or four years. "Fam- ily groceries," probably, as a business, did not prove as remunerative as he desired, and, form- ing a partnership with his brother-in-law, William Waring, they left New York city on the 8th of October, 1811, having made up their minds to settle in the then village of Cincinnati, in Ohio. Waring was a practical tanner and currier, and their object was to establish a tannery and to connect with the manufacture of leather that of boots and shoes. This party of emigrants con- sisted of William Waring and wife, his brother Harry (unmarried), four children, and Joel Scrib- ner and wife, with their children-Harvey, Wil- liam, Augustus, Lucy Maria, Mary Lucinda, Eliphalet, Julia Ann, and Phœbe. It was a long, tedious journey in those days, from New York city to Cincinnati, the journey being made by wagon, stage, and river, and soon after their arrival in the future Queen City the War of 1812 began and upset their calculations. The War- ings went off to the war.

During the fall of 1812 Joel was joined by his younger brothers, Nathaniel and Abner, and in December, 1812, or January, 1813, they all started on an exploring expedition down the river, probably with a view of entering some land in the then wilds *of Indiana Territory. Abner was the shrewd business man of the Scribner brothers, and was somewhat differently consti- tuted from the rest of the family-"an odd sheep" in the flock. He was lame, club-footed; and in those pioneer days, when whisky flowed as freely as water and everybody drank more or less, Abner would occasionally imbibe a little of the ardent, but never drank to excess. His brothers were probably strictly temperate, as well as rigid members of the Presbyterian church. Abner was quick -witted, bold, pushing, quick in decision, and energetic and persistent in execu- tion -- a born leader among men. Ile inherited from his grandfather a propensity for milling, building mills, and looking up mill-sites. His

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

head was full of this business, and he built a number of mills before he died. No country was good for anything in his eye without plenty of mill-sites. Mills he considered the founda- tion of all public prosperity. There is no doubt whatever that when their boat reached the falls of the Ohio, Abner, looking down the long stretch of rushing water, exclaimed: "What a tremendous water-power ! What a place for a mill!" and suggested that they land and find out who owned the land on the Indiana shore; for they did not wish to own any land in a slave State. They found no chance, even at this early date, to enter land near the Falls; it was already occupied for several miles. Clarke and his sol- diers had taken the larger part of it, and John Paul had secured the remainder from the Grant to the foot of the knobs. If they went beyond the John Paul tract they would, as they sup- posed, lose any benefit to be derived by the water-power of the Falls; so they determined to try to purchase John Paul's interest. Eight thousand dollars was the price, as they ascer- tained by a visit to Colonel Paul, at Madison-a very large sum of money for those days, and the brothers were not wealthy at that time. They were all young and full of life and vigor, however, and they determined to risk purchasing it, Abner strongly advocating it and also the laying-out of a town on the purchase. Abner was always en- thusiastie over the prospects of their new town. He seemed to believe that the "world would one day revolve around New Albany." He would ex- patiate on the great water-power for manufactur- ing purposes, and succeeded in making himself believe, and was at least partially successful in making many other people believe that New Al- bany (named after Albany, New York,) would become in time the largest interior city on the continent !

It must have been about this time that Abner secured the position of supercargo or consignee at New Orleans for his West India brother, Eliphalet. The latter was then at the height of his prosperity, and sent one of his ships to New Orleans with a cargo of sugar consigned to his brother Abner. In connection with this transac- tion and the establishment of New Albany, General Benjamin F. Scribner, now a resident of New Albany, a gallant Union soldier in the late war, and recently United States Consul at one of

the seal islands of the Northwest, relates the fol- lowing anecdote: General Scribner, happening in Washington one day to be introduced to Gen- eral Dent (father-in-law of General Grant), Mr. Dent immediately inquired if he was related to Abner Seribner, of New Albany, and on being informed that General Scribner was Abner's son, General Dent went on to relate with a great deal of interest, that being when a young man a com- mission merchant in New Orleans, he met Abner Seribner at a certain hotel there, and the latter was desirous of disposing of a cargo of sugar, consigned to him by his brother Eliphalet, the ship containing the sugar having already entered the Mississippi river and approaching the harbor of New Orleans. Abner presented the manifests showing the amount of sugar on board, and suc- ceeded in selling the entire cargo to General Dent for $20,000, receiving the cash in hand. With this money Abner came up and paid for the land they had purchased of John Paul. Through some unaccountable accident the cargo of sugar never reached the harbor of New Or- leans, but went to the bottom of the Mississippi, the ship sinking just outside the harbor, and the cargo becoming a total loss to Mr. Dent, who had just paid for it. Not long afterwards Dent and Abner Scribner met in Louisville, when the former during the conversation remarked: "Abner, that was a bad thing for me-the purchase of that cargo of sugar before its arrival in the harbor." "Yes, Mr. I)ent," replied Abner, "it was a bad thing. for you, but a good thing for me." With this money the Scribners were enabled to pay for their land and to survey and open up for sale the lots of their new town.

Some years later, when their town was growing and the brothers were in a prosperous condition, an opportunity occurred by which they were en- abled to reciprocate the kindness and generosity of their brother Eliphalet in furnishing the money to establish their town. A ship belonging to Eliphalet having (as before mentioned) sunk in mid-ocean, carrying down a valuable cargo, he was so embarrassed financially that he sent an agent to New Albany with a note of $20,000 to receive the endorsement of the brothers, which was given; but it is said that Eliphalet died before he entirely recovered from the loss.

In the new town the Scribners, of course, be- came very influential. Joel, the elder of the

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

three, and the only one who brought a family to this wilderness home, became the first postmas- ter, the first clerk of the new county, also auditor, and held various other offices. All the early records of the county commissioners for several years are in his handwriting, and are plainly written. He died of bilious fever in October, 1823, brought on, no doubt, by the malaria inci- dent to the swampy condition of the new coun- try, dying, therefore, a martyr to his undertaking. The house in which he lived is yet standing on Main street. He was a very pious man, a Pres- byterian, and highly esteemed by his acquaint- ances. He was a quiet business man and a good counselor.

Joel and Nathaniel went back to New York to settle up their affairs in 1815, making the journey on horseback. On this occasion they brought back with them their sister Esther and Nathan- iel's betrothed, Miss Elizabeth Edwards. They were married soon after their arrival here. Es- ther soon after married David M. Hale, of New Albany, subsequently a prominent man in all the affairs of the new town. Elizabeth Scribner was married to Mr. Wood in 1818, and the two brothers-in-law subsequently formed a partnership and went into business for a time in Vincennes. Dr. Ashel Clapp, also a prominent citizen of New Albany, married one of the Scribner sisters.

During the session of the Legislature at Cory- don in the winter of 1818-19, Nathaniel Scrib- ner and John K. Graham were sent by the people of New Albany to lobby for the establish- ment of a new county, and it was on this occa- sion that Nathaniel lost his life. His health had been somewhat impaired before starting on the trip, and as the weather was quite severe and the journey had to be made on horseback its exposure and hardship were more than he was able to bear. On their return he was com- pelled to stop at the house of Richard Watson, two and a half miles east of New Albany, where he died in December, 1818.

Abner, the youngest and only remaining brother of the three founders of the town, was continually engaged in mill building until his death. He made a discovery, at one time, on Ottawa creek, Kentucky, of a beautiful fall of water. The water poured over a cliff of rocks at just the right height and volume to furnishi a splendid power. The temptation was too great

for Abner, and he purchased the site for a mill, intending to place his water wheel under the fall. He erected here a very fine brick mill, which cost him seventeen thousand dollars, a very large sum for those days; but Abner determined to have the finest mill in all the West, and so it was. When the mill was finished and ready for operations, it was found that the water did not strike the wheel at the exact angle desired, and a dam was constructed for the purpose of turning the current slightly to one side. The result was fatal to the project. The water sank, and the fall disappeared forever. The ground in this region being full of caves, the water probably found an opening into one of them, and disap- peared. Thus the mill was a total loss. Abner died of yellow fever in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1827, where he had erected his last mill.

Thus it will be seen that the Scribner brothers did not live long after establishing their new town, but they lived long enough to stamp so thoroughly upon it their individuality that it re- mains to this day. They were public-spirited men, and were foremost in all benevolent and liberal enterprises for building up and bettering the community in which they lived. Their money, influence, and energy were freely spent in whatever contributed to the building up of their town and to the interest of its inhabitants; and their children stepped into their shoes when they were gone, and continued to work for the welfare of the city.

They had much to contend with in the estab- lishment of their town, built as it was upon the borders of a slave State, and so exposed to the evil influences of slavery and the ignorance com- monly begotten by that institution. Many of the people who came to the new town from the South were ignorant, and brought with them their superstitious notions and false ideas of life. These were hard to combat, and the Scribners, who were educated and came from the land of churches and Puritan ideas, labored hard to fill up their city with emigrants from New England, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and other Northern States; and their efforts were not with- out success. Hundreds of Eastern families, in- bued with the spirit of freedom and enterprise, came to the new town; in fact, the New En. gland element was continually and largely in the majority, and has always ruled the town and

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

city; the result is seen in a city of churches and schools, and the high moral and intellectual character of its citizens, and in the moral tone of the entire community. It will be seen that the Scribners first gave sixty lots in their new town for school purposes, and sixty for church purposes, besides establishing a permanent fund of five thousand dollars for schools. This shows the spirit with which they entered upon their work, and their efforts in this direction never flagged. It is not easy at this time to sum up in figures or words the amount of good accom- plished in these energetic preliminary steps taken by the Scribners; but the general result is plainly visible to the stranger who may sojourn even for a few days in the now beautiful city.

EARLY SETTLEMENT, ETC.

At the time the Scribners purchased the site. of New Albany, there were several squatters upon the land. John Aldrich, the hunter and trapper, had probably disappeared, but McGrew and the colored man who lived with him were on " Mc- Grew's point;" old Mr. Trublood was living with a considerable family in a log hut on Falling run, and had a little log mill in the neighborhood of the present depot of the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago railroad ; his son, Martin, and James Mitchell were occupying a cabin which stood on the site of the present Carpenter house, on Main street, and were running a ferry, though it is not likely that there was much business in that line at that time-an occasional hunter and Indian was to be ferried across. In addition to these, Elihu Marsh, a Jerseyman and a Baptist with a considerable family, had erected a cabin and squatted near Trublood's mill. These were prob- ably all that were then occupying the original plat, but Jonathan Carson occupied a cabin fur- ther north, near the Shanty spring. The whole tract was covered with a dense forest, except in the immediate neighborhood of the cabins men- tioned, where little clearings had been made.

The Scribner purchase comprised fractional sections two and three, "together with the sole right of ferriage across the river from said land." As soon as the purchase was made the brothers returned to Cincinnati and prepared to move their family and effects to their chosen home. On the 2d day of March, 1813, the first tree was cut by the Scribners by way of commencement

in clearing a place for their cabin, to be occupied by Joel and his family, William Waring and family, and the two younger brothers of Joel Scribner as boarders. This particular spot was just above what is now Captain Samuel Montgomery's resi- dence, on Main street (corner of Sixth and Main). Mr. William A. Scribner, who died April 16, 1868, wrote thus regarding this settle- ment :

On the 2d day of May, just two months from the day on which the first tree was cut, the two families before mentioned, to wit, my father's and William Waring's, landed at the place now known as the Upper Ferry landing, and found this dwelling house of two months in building to be a double log cabin, with quite a wide hall between the two buildings, a large kitchen attached to one of the wings, as yet in an un- finished state, and although made of green logs just from the woods, we were of course compelled to occupy it in the condition it was in, make the best of it, and finish it up dur- ing the following summer.

The same writer says regarding the condition of the ground, etc .:

The entire bottom was heavily timbered with poplar, birch, and sugar; and the surface of the ground thickly covered with spice-wood, green-briar, pawpaw, and other varieties of underbrush so thick that when the leaves were out one could not see a rod ahead.

The first thing to be done was to procure a surveyor and commence the survey and platting of the lown. I can hardly tell where the proprietors found the gentleman who had the honor of doing it, but his name was John K. Graham, and my first recollection of him is that he moved his family into a small cabin built after we came here, located some two or three hundred yards this side (west) of ours; and 1 soon be- came acquainted with him, as I often assisted him as chain- carrier. After some time he bought a tract of land some three or four miles north, and moved to it.

The plat of the future city made at this time by John K. Graham included but an insignificant portion of the present site. It extended east and west from Upper Fifth to Lower Fifth streets, and north and south as follows: From the river to Spring street for all that portion below Lower First street, and from the river to Oak street for all that portion above Lower First. This was the regular plat. In addition, however, tiers of out-lots were laid out from Spring and Lower Fifth street to the river and Lower Eighth street. Another tier of out-lots was laid out from Upper Fifth to the Grant line, running on that line from Oak street to the river. These out-lots averaged from one to one and a half acres in size. They were soon included in the plat of the town. From this small plat the city has grown in every direction, but principally east and north, though it has extended west down the river, its length

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History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II, Part 24

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co. Number of Pages: 680

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 680