USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II > Part 64
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The seminary consisted of three rooms, and had sometimes during the fall terms as many as three hundred students. Now the old school building is used for residence purposes.
Rev. H. H. Cambern, in 1849, bought up the old Masonic hall, or rather the original semi- nary, made additions and erected boarding houses, and opened a female seminary for the first time in Charlestown. Rev. George J. Reed was the first teacher. In this school all the higher branches were taught, the ladies leaving,
in many instances, with a diploma. Cambern's seminary lasted for fifteen or twenty years, at the end of which Zebulon B. Sturgus gained posses- sion, and changed it into a school for both sexes, giving it the name of Barnett's academy. Here Sturgus made considerable reputation, his stu- dents coming from different States along the Ohio river. But in course of time changes were made. Untoward circumstances threw the old teacher out of his position; but not desiring to begin a new business, he put up a frame building in the northern part of the village, and opened a school on his own account. This was in 1855. Students gathered here from all sections, and the faithful old teacher had the pleasure of see- ing in after years some of them quite distin- guished lawyers, statesmen, and philanthropists. Henry Crawford, one of the prominent lawyers of Chicago, and Senator Booth, of California, received much of their early education from Mr. Sturgus. The old teacher was a strict disciplin- arian. Tobacco-chewers and swearers were not allowed among his students. It is related that when the first locomotive passed over the Ohio & Mississippi railroad he whipped all the schol- ars for imitating the engine. Sturgus is no more; the old schools are gone, and the present genera- tion is reaping their golden grain.
At the present time Charlestown carries on her public school in the old court-house, with four teachers and about two hundred scholars. The colored school is separate, and out of two hun- dred colored residents there are about fifty pupils in it, and they are very irregular in attendance.
Charlestown township has fourteen public schools, including those in the village, just de- scribed.
SECRET SOCIETIES.
Ex-Governor Jonathan Jennings, who lived near Springville, or "Tulleytown," as it was called at first, was elected grand master of the State Grand lodge of Free Masons, which met at Madison, Jefferson county, in October, 1823. But previously, in 1818, the grand lodge held its session at Charlestown, electing Alexander Buck- ner, one of its citizens, grand master. On the 3d of October, 1826, Isaac Houk, another citi- zen, was chosen grand master, the lodge then meeting at Salem, in Washington county. May 5, 1877, Dr. A. P. Hay, of Charlestown, was called to the highest office in the order in the
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State. Thus we see that four grand masters have been taken from this place. It is not to be wondered at, however, since the town has for many years been known for its educated men. The Masonic hall is now over Alpha's store; the colored lodge in the same building.
The Odd Fellows hold their meetings on Long- worth row, as also do all other secret socicties of the village.
During the time when the Patrons of Husbandry were attracting so much attention, several granges were organized in this township; but on ac- count of waning interest they have died out.
CHURCHES.
The first Methodist preaching in the Grant was by Revs. Samuel Parker and Edward Tal- bott, in the spring of 18or. They held a two- days meeting at Springville, then but recently laid out. This was before Parker had become connected with the itinerant ministry, and soon after he was licensed to preach. Talbott was also a local preacher. Both were from Ken- tucky. Benjamin Lakin and Ralph Lotspeech were the first traveling preachers sent into the Grant. They came in 1803. Lakin first visited Gazaway's neighborhood, now Salem, in the New Washington circuit, five miles east of Charles- town, and preached in the woods as early in the spring as weather would permit. He then proposed taking this point and Robinson's, three miles north of Charlestown, into his circuit, and left appointments for this purpose. To these two points the preachers at first devoted but one day on their round, preaching alternately at each place. At this time they were traveling the Salt River and Shelby circuits. It was not long be- fore the presiding elder employed Samuel Parker and William Houston to travel on the same cir- cuit a part of the year.
It is believed that the first Methodist society organized in the State was at Gazaway's. This must have been in the year 1803, when Lakin and Lotspeech came over the Ohio river, and took them into the Shelby circuit, and was doubtless as early in the season as April or May. Lakin and Lotspeech were succeeded the follow- ing year by A. McGuire and Fletcher Sullivan. In 1804 McGuire was appointed to the Salt River circuit, and Sullivan to Shelby, yet Mc- Guire preached a few times in the Grant in con-
junction with the former. Sullivan was quite successful in his work. Benjamin Lakin and Peter Cartwright followed the next year. They were succeeded in the fall of 1805 hy Asa Shinn and Moses Ashworth. In the fall of 1806 Joseph Oglesby and Frederic Hood were sent to this circuit.
On account of Hood's opinions in regard to slavery there were objections made to his labors, and he declined to travel. At the close of this year the Grant was stricken off the Shelby cir- cuit, made a circuit by itself, and Ashworth was placed in charge of it. It was at first a two- weeks circuit, but was soon changed to a three- weeks work. As years went on, its boundaries were enlarged, and in 1815 it was an eight-weeks circuit, and yet had but one traveling preacher. At the close of 1815 it was so divided that preaching was had every fortnight.
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Ashworth's year on the Silver Creek circuit, as It was then called, was closed with a camp-meet- ing in the Robinson neighborhood. William Burke, afterwards a famous man in Cincinnati, was presiding elder. For a new country this was a novel affair, and called together a vast multi- tude of people. The first Methodist Episcopal church built in the State was erected as early as 1806 or 1807, near where this camp-meeting was held. With it was connected a beautiful bury- ing-ground, where sleep many of the precious dead, who fell during a long succession of pioneer experiences. The same house, though removed to a site a little distant from the original one, continued to stand until within a few years. In this church was held, probably, the first Christ- mas exercises in the State.
During the term of years above referred to, this newly settled country was largely supplied by local preacher's whose labors were more or less efficient.
There were no special revivals on the Silver creek circuit until 1809-10. At this time there was a very large number of conversions and ac- cessions to the church.
The first Methodist preaching in Charlestown was in 1809. Class-meetings and prayer-meet- ings were then established. Such was their at- tendance that no house could be found large enough to accommodate the people who came. In those times the female part of the congrega- tion took part in the exercises.
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
From the earliest times Methodism in this region had much opposition, not only from non- professors, but also from certain professing Christians. The Arians, or New-lights, the fol- lowers of Stone and Marshall, were active in bringing into disrepute the orthodox doctrines and in discarding all disciplines and professions of faith. Their influence with the masses was very powerful, and for a while it seemed that everything would fall before it. The extraordi- nary exercises called "the jerks," which pre- vailed so extensively in their congregations, excited the public mind and attracted great crowds to their meetings. But the jerks were not altogether confined to the New-lights; they prevailed to some extent among most of the de- nominations. Those who held to the Calvinis- tic faith were then more active than at present in maintaining the peculiarities of their system in opposition to Methodism. But the war with Great Britain and the open hostilities of the Indians had much influence in checking the spread of Methodist doctrines, and in fact re- ligion generally. It seems, too, that this ancient and most honorable body is at present losing much of its former energy, its earlier simplicity, and the manners which made it so attractive in its old-time life. But it must not be presumed that all the hardy virtues which characterize a backwoods people, will be transmitted to the generations without being corrupted. We are now living in a different age, a day of steamboats, railroads, printing-presses, and electricity.
Presbyterianism had much to do in the shap- ing of opinions and dogmas in the early religious enterprises of Charlestown. The Presbyterian society was organized in 1812 in the old Court- house, and was under the control of the Louis- ville Presbytery. The Rev. John Todd was among the first preachers, and was the "stated supply," a term familiar to this sect. Leander Cobbs succeeded Mr. Todd. It was not till 1827 that the society found itself strong enough to erect a building. Within this year a conven- ient brick meeting-house was put up, occupying the site of the present edifice. This church had many professional men as its members. In 1820 the elders were Absalom Littell, John Cleghorn, James Scott, Alexander S. Henderson, and Alban Vernon. Among the members were the wives of the elders, Samuel Spear, George Barnes, John
C. Barnes, William Barnes, James Tilford, Bar- zilla Baker, John Todd, Jr., Jacob Temple, Ann Huckleberry, Penelope Teeple, Elizabeth Fer- guson, Nathan G. Hawkins, Evan Shelby, and others. There were fourteen who were heads of families.
Fifty-seven years after the first church was erected, another, built of brick, was put in its place. It is a handsome building, reflects credit on those who make it a place of worship, and honors the God whose law it aims to protect. The class is in a thriving condition, with Rev. Mr. McKillup as pastor, and one hundred and thirty members on the register.
Presbyterian theology has always been noted for its even temperament. The old Scottish founders gave it a character which has never been lost. No revolution, no pestilence or famine, no great reformation has altered the steady nature of devoted Presbyterians. It is true, also, that it has ever been the church of cool and deliber- ate men, persons well poised and capable of judging for themselves. At least this was true in Charlestown. The society was among the oldest in the State, and the old church, when torn down, was the second in age in Indiana.
There was a denomination about 1800, two miles south of Charlestown, known as United Brethren. The members were mostly from the Southern States and Germany. Here a camp- meeting was held, and preaching had in some of homes of the pioneers. The rapid growth of Methodism, however, absorbed the society, and since that time it has ceased to exist in this sec- tion a's a separate church organization.
Previous to 1825, a very prosperous Baptist church was in existence at the old county seat. It was familiarly known as the "Hard-shell." During the reformation set in motion by Alex- ander Campbell, of Bethany, now in West Vir- ginia, the Baptist members left the church of their youth and went over in a body to the new faith. Campbell was here during his travels, and inspired his followers with a more intrepid nature. Mordecai Cole was their first preacher. Absalom and Christopher Cole, his brothers, Thomas Littell, and John D. Johnson, a brother of Richard M., the man reputed to have slain Tecumseh, were members. The first elders in the church were Samuel Work, Mordecai Cole, Mr. Pearsoll, and Morgan Parr. The church
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
stands on a rather ungainly spot of land, but is well supported in respect to necessary funds and other church requirements.
In the village of Charlestown there are seven churches, viz: Methodist Episcopal, Christian or "Campbellite," German Methodist Episcopal, German Lutheran, Presbyterian, African Meth- odist Episcopal, and Baptist.
Hon. Judge James Scott and Mrs. Rev. George Hester were the founders of the Sunday- school here, about seventy years ago. Sunday- schools were held then in the court-house, and were controlled by no separate church organiza- tion. They were union, both in form and spirit, and were supported by all the religious people of the community. Now the different churches have separate schools. In most instances they are well attended, but not in such numbers, com- paratively, as those of a primitive age.
CEMETERIES.
The old burying-ground of Charlestown was laid out in 1818. It is situated in the western part of the village, on a hill which slopes toward Pleasant run. Perhaps in the original grounds there was' one acre of land. Many years ago it was found necessary to begin a new and more commodious cemetery, on account of the old graveyard being entirely occupied. In the early part of the century it was used by the public gen- erally, and was the most noted of any in the northern part of the county. It is here that ex-Governor Jonathan Jennings is buried. Nothing marks his resting-piace - no marble slab, no granite monument, nothing but a few briars, alders, and stunted bushes. He is buried on lot number one hundred and twenty-two, two-thirds of the distance from the south side, and in the middle from east to west. It is to be regretted that Indiana has paid so little attention to perpetuating the memory of its first Governor. There will come a time when she will look with shame upon her past neglect. A monument should be erected by somebody-the citizens of Charlestown, if nobody else-which will pay a fitting tribute to its dead statesman, soldier, and farmer.
The present cemetery is not legally incor- porated by the State. It is under the control of the town authorities, fronts on Pleasant street, and originally had one hundred and twelve lots.
Along the northwest corner a branch of Pleasant run adds a fascinating feature, making the surface rolling and well suited for burying purposes. The ground has subdivisions for strangers, sui- cides, and colored people.
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.
When Tulleytown first attracted notice, on ac- count of the Indians making it a trading post ; when the traveling lawyers and judges held court here; when still-houses and mills, taverns and boarding-houses, all combined to secure for it a widespread reputation, Dr. Morrison James made it his place of doing professional business. He had none of the modern polish which now glit- ters so brilliantly in medicinal circles. His mode of treating patients sometimes was to stay with them until the medicine either killed or cured. Dr. James is now dead.
In later years there were in Charlestown Drs. Minor, A. P. Hay, Samuel Fowler, Hugh Lysle (here a long time), H. I. Tobias, Alban Vernon, Andrew Rodgers (who died very suddenly), Wil- liam G. Goforth, J. S. Athan, and Leonidas Clemmens, all of whom are dead. Those who have practiced here and are now living are Drs. Campbell, Hay, William Taggart, Samuel C. Taggart (who is the present clerk of court), D. H. Combs, R. Curran, J. E. Oldham, and Josiah Taggart. These men traveled over the whole county, from Bethlehem, on the Ohio, to New Providence in the knobs.
Charlestown was always noted for her distin- guished judges and lawyers; but during her ear- liest history professional men were seldom located here permanently. Many of them traveled from county seat to county seat, and filled engage- ments with their clients. Gabriel Johnson was a practitioner of law at Springville in 1801. He came from Louisville. James Scott ranked as a good lawyer. He afterwards became supreme judge and register of the land office at Jefferson- ville under Harrison and Taylor. General Joseph Bartholomew, of Kentucky, after whom Bar- tholomew county, Indiana, is named, practiced law here during his professional experience. The general served as a spy in the Indian wars of Kentucky, when that State was being overrun by savage foes, and when Daniel Boone took such an active part in Indian warfare. At the battle of Tippecanoe Bartholomew was wounded,
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
but survived, and some time after was elected brigadier-general of the Territorial militia. In 1819 he was chosen as a Senator, which office he filled with credit to himself and the county. During the latter part of his life he engaged in trapping and hunting on the Arkansas and White rivers, and died in Illinois in 1843.
Henry Hurst, James Scott, Davis Floyd, John H. Thompson, Charles Dewey, Isaac Houk, Isaac Naylor, Benjamin Ferguson, James Morri- son, and Worden Pope practiced at the Clark county bar at an early day. Mr. Pope was Clerk of Jefferson County Court for forty years. Major Henry Hurst studied law with Benjamin Sebastian, of Jefferson county, Kentucky, who was one of General Harrison's aids at the battle of Tippecanoe. He served as Clerk of the District Court of Indiana, and filled the position as Representative from Clark county to the State Legislature.
John H. Thompson came from Kentucky to Indiana Territory when lawyers were few and far between in Clark's grant, and settled at Spring- ville. By trade he was a cabinet-maker, but after removing to Charlestown Governor Harrison ap- pointed him a justice of the peace, which gave him a taste for law. Judge James Scott was his law preceptor, who lived to see his pupil serve in both branches of the State Legislature. In 1825 he was elected Lieutenant-governor, and in 1845 was chosen Secretary of State. Lieutenant- governor Thompson was a kind and genial gentleman. He lived to a ripe old age, and died surrounded by hosts of friends.
It was Governor Jennings who led most of the professional men of Clark county. He was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1788, and came to Charlestown township at the age of twenty-two. From 1809 to 1816 he served as Territorial delegate in Congress. When the convention met at Corydon to frame the State constitution he was chosen president of the convention. After serving two terms as Gov- ernor, he was agam elected to Congress, where he served till 1831, and three years afterwards died on his farm near Charlestown. In politics he was sucessful; in oratory not eloquent, but persuasive. He died, leaving behind him a rec- ord unspotted, untarnished, clear as the noonday sun.
Charles Dewey was a native of Massachusetts,
and a lawyer of distinction. His mind was ac- tive, and his constitution strong. He practiced law in the State and Federal courts, and suc- ceeded Judge Stephens as supreme judge. Pres- ident Tyler appointed him judge of the district court of Indiana, but he declined to accept. Dewey was a successful lawyer. He gathered about him some of the noblest professional or- naments of the State.
Isaac Houk was an able lawyer. He filled the position as Representative of Clark county several times in the State Legislature, and for two or three sessions was chosen speaker. He died in 1833, at Indianapolis.
John Denny was one of the early and most prominent citizens of Charlestown. His school- days were passed with R. M. Johnson, and while in his teens he was apprenticed to a gentleman to learn the cabinet trade. Before Johnson was yet twenty-one he was elected to the Legislature, mainly through the efforts of his young friend, who was at that time but eighteen years of age. Denny was in the battle of Tippecanoe, and when the night attack was made was on picket duty.
General Henry Dodge taught school in the Goodwin neighborhood in the early part of 1800. He came from Jefferson county, Kentucky. Dodge and General Atchinson were mainly in- strumental in putting an end to the Black Hawk war in 1832. He was afterwards' Governor of Wisconsin Territory, and when the State was ad- mitted into the Union was chosen one of its first Senators. General Dodge was a distinguished scholar and soldier. Most of his life was spent in those pursuits which polish and sharpen the native faculties of the mind.
John Hay settled in Charlestown in 1806. He emigrated from Kentucky, and was the father of Drs. A. P. and Campbell Hay, who are now prominent citizens of the village. In 1818, when the State capital was at Corydon, he was a member of the Legislature. Dr. Campbell Hay studied medicine with his brother A. P., and for many years has practiced in Clark county. He was in the Black Hawk war as a United States ranger, in Captain Ford's company. Later in life he filled the office of auditor and clerk of the circuit court. At present he is town treas- urer, and is engaged in the drug business.
Captain Thomas W. Gibson, another early
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
citizen, was a room-mate with Edgar A. Poe at West Point for three years.
Rezin Hammond, who passed a portion of his life in this old place, has the honor of preaching the first sermon in Indianapolis, before that city had begun to assume anything of its present prosperity.
M. P. Alpha, a man who holds well the activi- ties of youth, is the architect of his own for- tune. He rose from humble life to a position enviable in the estimation of his countrymen. He is now engaged in commercial pursuits in the village of his boyhood.
William P. Huckleberry, who descended from a long line of ancestors, is worthy of the best notice. He has lived his life unmarried, and is probably the most remarkable person for the retention of pioneer incidents and reminiscences in Clark county. Life with him has been a cool, sequestered valley, where all the powers of his mind gathered a fund of knowledge of the widest and most varied kind. To him the citi- zens of Charlestown township are indebted for most of their history.
The oldest man in Charlestown is John Harris, now about ninety years of age. He served in the War of 1812, and participated in the battle of the Thames, where Tecumseh was killed.
James R. Beggs's father was in the convention which framed the State constitution, and after- wards served as Senator from Clark county in the State Legislature. .
David W. Dailey, Sr., was the first white child born in Charlestown township, and Campbell Hay the first in Charlestown village. The latter was born in 1809.
Thus we have reviewed, in a rapid and cursory · manner, the lives of some of the men who aided in bringing Charlestown to the proud position she occupied a quarter of a century ago. Most of them have changed their physical for spiritual bodies. Their race is run, but their deeds are left as living mementoes of the past.
POST-OFFICES AND MAILS.
We give the names of the postmasters at Charlestown in the order in which they served : Peter G. Taylor, of New York, 1817; Walter Wheatley, who is dead; Lemuel Ford, John Bowel, Thomas Carr, Henry Harrod, John C. Huckleberry, a brother of William P. Huckle-
berry; Rezin Hammond, who was in office in 1841; M. P. Alpha, who took possession on the Ist of May, 1849; Elias Long, from July, 1853; M. P. Alpha again, 1861; J. M. Parker, 1865; John Schwallier, January 1, 1869; M. P. Alpha once more, 1869 ; R. L. Howe, June, 1881; Henry Howard, at present. A number of the earlier postmasters are now dead. During Har- rod's administration the office was kept in an old building southwest of the court-house. Carr maintained the office on the corner of Main and Market streets. Bowel kept next to Douthitt's old house. Huckleberry dealt out letters in the printing office, Hammond south of the court- house, and Alpha in various places. Parker filled his office in a little building south of the court-house, and Schwallier on the southwest corner of Main and Market streets, close to Al- pha's corner.
Down to 1849 the mail came three times a week by way of Louisville, from Cincinnati. The steamboats brought the mail in most cases down the river. From the villages along the Ohio mail routes led off to the county seats and little post-offices in the townships. Mails were carried to all the villages of any importance in the county, on horseback, in a pair of saddle- bags. A mail-carrier was a person whom all per- sons delighted to see. Letters then, more than now, were precious articles.
Since the Ohio & Mississippi railroad has been built the mails are carried on trains from post- offices north and south, though some of the vil- lages in other townships are still in wagon-road communication with Charlestown. They are semi-weekly in most instances, and amount to but little in the way of a real, thriving business, Many papers are taken, however, and are the people's chief source of information.
AGRICULTURAL FAIRS.
The first fair in Clark county was held in 1836, on Denny's lots, southeast of the court-house. Thomas J. Henly, John Denny, and John W. Long were instrumental in its success. Nothing was exhibited of special attraction, except Dr. James Taggart's Durham bull, the first in the county. Avery Long was their president, and Campbell Hay treasurer. Until 1856 the county fair was regularly held in the vicinity of Charles- town. In that year it was taken to Jeffersonville.
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