Lafayette Daily
Courier,
Tuesday, October 25, 1859
OLD
SETTLERS
"Mr. Editor: A few old settlers remain among us who, perhaps, would like to see some Pen Sketches of Early Times on the Wabash. The admirable paintings of our townsman, Winters, graphically portrays many scenes and incidents connected with the early history of the Wabash Valley; but the production of the artist can be owned and admired by few--while a few pen sketches published in your widely circulated paper can be read by thousands. In a few more fleeting years all the old settlers will have passed to that "bourne from whence no traveller returns." Shall their names and deeds, their toils and privations, which laid the foundation of our present happiness and prosperity, be so soon forgotten? Shall those hardy pioneers who first penetrated our deep forests and broke soil on our wide beautiful prairies be forgotten, while the log cabins and corduroy bridges, constructed by their hands still remain among us? "Despise not the day of small things," is a scriptural injunction--our beautiful Wabash Valley, which now teems with a thrifty and happy population, but a few years ago was a haunt for wild beasts, and a home for the wandering Indian. I have lately been permitted to examine and make some extracts from the Journal of the Black Creek School Master, beginning as far back as the year 1824,--giving an account of the first settle- ment of Crawfordsville, and the surrounding country--the laying off of the towns of Lafayette and Attica on the Wabash, with several other things, besides the manner of "keeping school" number of scholars &c., in those early days. If you will allow a few of these 'extracts' room in your columns, they are at your service." INCOG. |
Lafayette Daily
Courier,
Monday, October 31, 1859
OLD SETTLERS Crawfordsville, Ind.,
Dec. 24, 1824
"The land sales
commenced here
today, and the town
is full of strangers. The eastern and
Southern portions of the State are strangely
represented, as well as
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennesse
and Pennsylvania.
There is but little bidding against each other. The settlers, or "Squatters," as they are called by speculators, have arranged matters among themselves to their general satisfaction. If upon comparing numbers it appears that two are after the same tract of land, one asks the other what he will take not to bid against him? If neither will consent to be bought off, they then retire, and cast lots, and the lucky one enters the tract at Congress price--$1.25 per acre--and the other enters the second choice on his list. If a speculator makes a bid, or shows a disposition to take a settler's claim from him, he soon sees the white of a score of eyes snapping at him, and the first opportunity he crawfishes out of the crowd. The settlers tell foreign capitalists to hold on till they enter the tracts of land they have settled upon, and that they may then pitch in-that there will be land enough-more than enough for them all. (There is Squatter Sovereignty before it was christened and adopted by Stephen A. Douglas). The land is sold in
tiers of
Townships, beginning
at the southern part of the district and continuing
north until all has
been offered at public sale. Then private
entries can be made at
$1.25 per acre
of any that has been thus publicly offered.
This rule, adapted
by the officers, insures great regularity
in the sale, but it will keep many here for several
days, who desire
to purchase land in the southern
portion of the district.
A few days of public
sale has
sufficed to relieve
hundreds of their cash, but they secured their land,
which will serve
as
a basis for their future wealth and prosperity, if
they and their
families
use proper industry and economy, sure as "time's
gentle progress makes
a calf an ox." PETER WEAVER, ISAAC
SHELBY, and JEHU STANLEY
stopped with us two or three
nights during the sale. We were glad to see
and entertain these
old white water neighbors, altho' we live in a cabin
twelve by sixteen,
and there are seven of us in family, yet we made
room for them by
covering the floor with beds--no uncommon occurrence
in backwoods life.
They all succeeded in getting the land they wanted
without opposition. WEAVER
purchased at the lower end of the Wea prairie, SHELBY
west of
the
Wabash river opposite, STANLEY on the north
side of the Wabash,
above the mouth of Indian Creek, and my father, on
the north side of
the
Wea prairie. |
Lafayette Daily
Courier,
Tuesday, November 1, 1859
"After the public land
sales,
the
accessions to the population of Crawfordsville and the
surrounding
country
were constant and rapid.
Fresh arrivals of movers were the current topics of conversation. New log cabins widened the limits of the town, and spread over the circumjacent country. The reader may be curious to know how the people spent their time, and what they followed for a livelihood in those early times, in the dense forest that surrounded Crawfordsville. I will answer for the
School
Master, for I was there
myself. We cleared land, rolled logs, and burnt
brush, blazed out
paths from one neighbors cabin to another--made and
used hand mills and
hominy mortars--hunted deer, turkies [sic], otter, and
raccoons--caught
fish, dug ginseng--hunted bees, and the like, and
lived on the fat of
the
land.
We read of a land of "corn and wine," and another "flowing with milk and honey," but I rather think, in a temporal point of view, taking into the account the richness of the soil, timber, stone, wild game and other advantages, that the Sugar Creek country would come up to, if not surpass any of them. I once cut cord wood
at 31 1/4
cents per cord, (and
walked a mile and a half--night and morning) where the
first frame
College
was built, near NATHANIEL DUNN's northwest of
town.
PROF. CURRY,
the lawyer,
would sometimes
come down and help for a few hours at a time, by way
of amusement, as
there
was but little or not law business in the town or
country at that time.
Reader what would you
think of
going six to eight
miles to help roll logs or raise a cabin? Or
from ten to thirty
miles
to mill, and wait three or four days and nights for
your grist?--as
many
had to do in the first settlement of this country.
Such things were
of
frequent occurrence then,
and there was but little grumbling about it. It
was a grand sight
to see the log heaps and brush piles burning in the
night on a clearing
of ten or fifteen acres--a Democratic torch, light
procession, or a
midnight
march of the Sons of Malta, with their Grand Isacusus
in the center,
bearing
the Grand Jewel of the Order, would be nowhere in
comparison with the
log
heaps and brush piles in a blaze!
But it may be asked,
"had you
any social amusements,
or manly past-times to recreate andenliven the
dwellers in the
wilderness?"
We had. In the social line we had our meetings
and singing
schools,
sugar boilings and weddings, which were as good as
ever came off in any
country, new or old; and
if our youngsters did not "trip the light fantastic
toe" under a
professor
of the terpsichorean art, or expert French dancing
master, they had
many
a good hoe-down on puncheon floors, and were not
annoyed by bad
whisky.
And as for manly sport, requiring mettle and muscle,
there were lots of
wild hogs running in the cat-tail swamps on Lie Creek
and Mill Creek,
and
raccoon and amongst them many large boars that
Ossian's heroes and
Homer's
model soldiers, such as Achilles, Hector and Ajax
would have delighted
to have given chase to.
The boys and men of
those days
had quite as much
sport, and made more money and health by their
hunting
excursions,
than our city gents do now-a-days, playing Chess by
telegraph, where
the
players are more than seventy miles apart.
In my next number I
will call
attention of the reader
to the laying off of the Town of Lafayette, the
organization of Tippecanoe County, the establishment
of the Seat of
Justice of said County, &c.
INCOG. |
Lafayette Daily
Courier,
Wednesday, November 2, 1859
OLD SETTLERS Crawfordsville, May 27, 1825 "ROBERT JOHNSON,
Esq.,
our new tavern
keeper, has just returned from surveying a new town on
the east bank of
the Wabash River, about two miles below the trading
house at Longlois,
and three or four miles below the mouth of Wild Cat
creek.
MR. WILLIAM DIGBY, the proprietor, calls it
Lafayette, in honor of
the patriotic Frenchman who periled his life and
fortune for the
success
of the American arms during the Revolution.
Those desirous of
purchasing
corner lots, can see
a plat of the new town, by calling our recorder's
office. MR.
COWLEY, recorder, or JOHN WILSON, his
deputy, will take
pleasure
in showing the map, and telling how near it lies to a
settlement.
The proprietor thinks when a new county is laid off
north of
Montgomery,
his town will stand a good chance of becoming the
county seat. MR.
JOHNSON
says the site is eligible for a fine town, although
the ground is very
thickly set with hazel and plum brush, grape vines and
large forest
trees,
which made it difficult to survey.
Three days after
laying off his
town, DIGBY
sold it to SAMUEL SARGEANT for the sum of
$240 --reserving,
however,
a small fraction, the ferry privelege, and twenty
acres north-east,
adjoining
the town plat--which twenty acres he subsequently sold
to said SARGEANT,
for the sum of sixty dollars. SARGEANT,
who was an
enterprising
down-easter, and understanding well the ways of the
world for a young
man,
soon hit upon a successful plan to bring out his young
town. As
Crawfordsville
was the all-absorbing centre of business, civilization
and every kind
of
enterprise for the whole country for one hundred miles
around, he
thought
if he could get a few of prominent citizens of that
town interested in
Lafayette, it would be more likely to come to
something. He
therefore
soon struck a bargain with ISAAC C. ELSTON, JOHN
WILSON, and JONATHAN
W. POWERS, to whom he sold five-eights of all
the odd-numbered
lots,
for the sum of $130. These new lot holders lived
at
Crawfordsville,
and had daily intercourse with travelers, fortune
hunters, and fortune
makers, as well as with JOHN BEARD, the
people's able and
popular
representative, who would of course have much to do
with the laying off
of the contemplated new county north of Montgomery,
and the appointment
of commissioners to locate the seat of justice.
But with all
these
apparent advantages, Lafayette was quite languid in
its infancy, and it
often became a serious question with those most
interested, whether it
would live or die. INCOG
|
Lafayette Daily
Courier,
Thursday, November 3, 1859
OLD SETTLERS "If I was called upon
by a
lithographer for an original
sketch of the town of Lafayette and
its suburbs, as it was when I first saw it, I would in
the first place
draw the Wabash river, on a proper scale, according to
GUNTER,
give its exact curve
and meanderings, with a ferry flat, skiff, canoe, two
perogues, and a
keel boat, moored along its
eastern bank, near the foot
of Main street. I next would sketch three or
four rude cabins,
scattered along on the bank of the river, from Main
street to the foot
of Ferry street, where the
canal packet landing now is.
One of the cabins
would contain
Smith's store and the post office, WILLIAM
SMITH, the
store keeper, being the first postmaster in Lafayette;
MR. SMITH was
quite an enterprising,
public spirited citizen, and on the arrival of the
first steamboats
at the Lafayette landing, was in
the habit of saluting them with a "big gun," by boring
a stump,
charging
it heavily with powder,
and touching it off with a slow match, about the time
the steamer was
"rounding-to" to land at
the foot of Main street. And often, when trade
became a little
dull, he would charge a stump
and fire it off in order to bring in the country
people to tradeat
his store. One morning the reportof a heavy
cannon was heard near
the landing. The citizens of
the village ran down to see the steamer. On
passing SMITH's
store, they saw the proprietor lying upon his back on
the floor,
and several shelves of broken crockery and a shivered
door-facing were
lying smashed up around him. They picked up the
prostrate
merchant,
who, after he partially came to himself, enquired: "Is Mouser safe? I
thought I would give
them a blizzard, but I guess
I've got the worse of it.
Is Mouser safe?"
He then explained matters by pointing to the
fragments of a large stump that
stood not far from his store, which he said he charged
with about a
half pound of Dupont's best powder, and touched off by
a slow
match--that
he had made a sad mistake in putting the peg that
served to plug up the
auger-hole on the side of the stump facing his store,
and while he was
peeping round the door-cheek to witness the explosion,
the powder
ignited,
sent the plug againstthe door-facing in front of him,
shivering it to
pieces, knocking out
a log of the house, smashing his crockery, and well
nigh using up the
proprietor.
By noon the country people for many miles around
flocked in to see the
steamer that carried such heavy ordnance, and on
learning that MR.
SMITH
was convalescent, and his cat Mouser safe, returned to
their homes in
the
evening, satisfied that they were hoaxed again!
Another of these
cabins would
be DIGBY's
grocery; another KELSEY and BISHOP's justice
office; the other, RICHARD
M. JOHNSON's hotel. Near the bank ofthe
river, back of ROGERS & REYNOLDS'
present warehouse,
I would draw a few large sugar trees, growing on a
beautiful blue grass
plat; on which I would place a large house, larger
than anyof those
above depicted, which I would mark "SOLOMON
HAMER's
Grocery," the most public and most frequented place in
the
village.
I would next draw "OLD SOL" (not the sun, but
the jolly old
grocery keeper,) whom I would have standing behind the
counter,
handing out Monoga-Durkee whisky by the half-pint to
his numerous
customers.
On the blue grass before the grocery door, between the
sugar trees and
the ferry, I would draw a group of men--some pitching
quoits, some
hopping
three hops, others wrestling, while others would be
trying to get up a
foot race. The hindmostman in all these sports had to
pay for the
liquor or take a sound drubbing,
which was frequently administered in those days for
the most trivial
provocation.
There were more black eyes, bruisednoses and bit
fingers in those early
times, than a few. We had
our TOM HYERS, MORISSEYS and BENICIA
Boys of those
days,
who, frequently at our musters and general elections,
would give some
bloody
demonstrations of their strength and pluck.
And if my lithographer
would
cry "more copy," I
would draw BENBRIDGE & FOSTER's store at
the foot of Main
street,
where McCORMICK's brick warehouse is located;
then I would
sketch JOHN
McCORMICK's little one story frame store, on the
corner of Main and
Wabash streets, where McCORMICK's large three
story brick block
now stands, with the old veteran and his two sons, PERRY
and JAMES,
selling goods. Next, I would give a sketch of JOSEPH
S.
HANNA's
new two story frame store house across the street
south of McCORMICK's
store (which stood where HANNA's large block
now stands, on
the
corner occupied by J.C. BANSEMER & Bro., JAY
MIX and others,
as wholesale grocery stores), which presented a fine
appearance, being
painted white, with green stripes running up and down,
and across it,
in
excellent taste for those early times. TAYLOR
& LINTON's
store stood on the south side of Main street, where
the TAYLOR House
and Artesian bathing buildings now stand. East
of McCORMICK's store,
on the north side of Main street, I would sketch AYRE's
grocery,
in a little log house, situated about where TAYLOR
& COLLIER's
stove store now stands; WILLIAM HEATON's
store, in a small
frame
which stood about where O.W. PEIRCE's
wholesale grocery house
is
now situated; and SENECA & CYRUS BALL's
store, in a small
frame
on the corner of Main and Ohio streets, lately
occupied by FOWLER
&
PENN. HILL & HOLLOWAY's store was kept
in a little house
which stood on the ground now occupied by ROSS
HENDERSON's
wholesale
grocery establishment. Across Main street, on
the corner of Main
and Ohio, ROBERT JOHNSON, formerly of
Crawfordsvile,
and who surveyed the
original
plat of Lafayette--kept tavern in a story and a half
log house, where TAYLOR's large
four story brick block now stands. He was a
popular landlord, had
a careful and amiable wife, and an interesting family,
mostly
daughters.
I would then exhibit DANIEL BUGHER's
residence and
office, a hewed
log house on the corner of Columbia and Wabash
streets, where J.
EWRY
& Co. now keep store, and ask for further
time to complete my
picture,
which I expect to do in my next chapter."
INCOG
|
Lafayette Daily
Courier,
Friday, November 4, 1859
OLD
SETTLERS
"In my last I left off
after
describing the residence
and office of Recorder BUGHER,
on the corner of Columbia and Wabash streets.
Next, I will draw JOHN
McCORMICK's
small but neat residence, at the foot of Columbia
street, near the
river where the large three
story brick warehouse stands occupied by J.M.
SPENCER.
From thence I will take a
southeast direction, drawing a cow-path through the underbrush towards SAMPLE's tanyard, situated over the branch in the country, which is surrounded by a dense forest of large trees. Half way between McCORMICK's residence and SAMPLE's tan yard, near a point on Wabash street where TEMPLE's foundry now stands, I would draw a daguerreotype likeness of MARIAM (Granny) NEFF's log cabin, with the old lady seated at the window, and POLLY standing in the door. The streets were then opened in patches, between houses only, and the roads and paths were cut through the brushwood and timber that covered the most of the town plat to suit the taste of those who opened these original avenues through the brush. My pen shall next
sketch SAMUEL
HOOVER's
one-story frame dwelling, in which he also
held the Clerk's office, on Main street, north of the
centre of the
public square, where he afterwards erected his
two-story brick block,
now
occupied with stores and offices.
Next, I would draw the
first-story of the old brick
Court House, which stood where the present
Court House now stands, surrounded by a cluster of
large stumps--for
the public square was originally covered with large
trees. I
would draw the scaffolding still
standing, and Major FERGUSON and his workmen
laying brick
while
in the background I would draw TOMMY COLLINS,
a jovial old
Irishman,
grubbing up a large stump on the public square, where
the first jail
stood,
near the spot occupied by the old Market House.
South of the Square,
near the
spot where the Courier
and American Express offices now stand, I would draw WILLIAM
S.
TRIMBLE's tan-yard,
with the proprietor drawing hides out of a vat with a
long pole, with a
crooked horn on the end of it.
On the southwest
corner of the
Square, on the corner
of Columbia and Ohio streets, generally called "FORD
& WALKER's
corner," I would place JOSEPH H. MARTIN's
little frame
store-house,
with JACOB WALKER and ANDREW KENNEDY
standing behind the
counter as clerks.
On the south side of
Main
street, a few rods east
of the Square, where the Odd Fellow's new and splendid
hall has been
recently
erected, I would place Dr. JAMES DAVIS' residence
and
office.
Next door east was JOHN and ALBERT BARTHOLOMEW's
store in a
little
one-story frame house. Further up Main street, MATTHIAS
S.
SCUDDER
lived in a low one-story frame house, and carried on
the cabinet making
business on the same lot where his large brick block
now stands,
opposite LAHR's
Hotel. About a hundred yards north of SCUDDER's,
almost
hid
amidst the hazel and plum brush, stood JESSE
STANSBURY's log
cabin
on the lot where THOMAS S. COX's dwelling is
situated.
Near
this cabin, on the east and south, was a large pond,
covering, in a wet
season, several acres of ground. Upon this pond,
which bore the
uphonious
name of "Lake Stansbury," I would draw a squad of
juveniles skating
upon
the ice, as I have often seen the, some with skates,
some with shoes,
and
some bare-footed.
ISAAC EDWARDS
and family
resided in a cabin
on the hill, on the ground where the "white house" now
stands, on the
corner
of Columbia and Missouri streets; and his brick-yard
lay east, over the
bog, where JOHN L. REYNOLDS has since built his
beautiful frame
palace, with its exquisite arbors and surroundings.
And, to complete the
diagram, I
would draw MATTHIAS
PETERSON's tan-yard, which lay back under the
hill, about where WILLIAM
PORTER's and B. HART's residences stand, south
and adjoining the
property
on which JAMES H. SPEARS' splendid residence
is situated.
Old settlers! those of
you who
lived here as far
back as 1826 - unroll the map of your memories - see
things as they
were
here then - and say whether my picture is not in the
main
correct.
I believe it will compare with the diagram imprinted
on your memories
long
time ago.
I must now leave
Lafayette, and give brief description
of the surrounding country and its nhabitants. I
then will attend
to events which transpired in the first settlement of
Fountain county,
then return through Warren county, giving a
daguerreotype of old
settlers
and old times in Warren, and from thence to Lafayette
again, and take a
second view of Lafayette, in which will appear a brief
allusion to the
first Methodist Quarterly Meeting held at Lafayette,
at which the
renowned
and eloquent JOHN STRANGE officiated as
Presiding Elder, the
Black
Hawk War; with a notice of the stores, business
houses, lawyers,
doctors,
mechanics, &c, who were here at that
time. INCOG
|
Lafayette Daily
Courier,
Saturday, November 5, 1859
OLD SETTLERS "Mr. Editor--In my last number I promised to notice the rural, or country, population of Tippecanoe county at the time of its organization. As it will take some time to look over the notes and memorandums of the Journalist, and arrange the names of the settlers in their proper neighborhoods, according to priority of settlement, &c., I propose to furnish the reader, by way of episode, the following extract from the journal of the Black Creek school master, which reads as follows: BLACK CREEK, October 18, 1831 No school today, so I
will go
to the militia election,
and support WILLIAM S---- for captain and GABRIEL
B----
for
lieutenant. Election organized at 10 o'clock
A.M. under a shed
adjoining EDWARD BARKLEY's house--about 15
voters present at
the
time
of the organization. About
10 1/2 o'clock four more voters arrived, and a tin cup
of whiskey was
passed around. Being some- what chilling sitting
under the shed,
I took a tolerable deep nip of it. Eleven
o'clock the tin cup was
passed around a second time. I touched it
lightly, lest I might
make
blunders in clerking. Felt valiant--sorry I had
peremptorily
declined
running for Captain. Noon--about 30 voters
present.
A two gallon jug and a bucket of water passed around
with the tin cup.
A warm discussion now
sprang up
through the crowd.
Question--Ought the State of Indiana to accept the
grant of land
donated
by Congress, for the construction of the Wabash and
Erie Canal,
from Lake Erie to the mouth of the Tippecanoe
river? DOCTOR
STONE was the most noisy against accepting the
grant; his friends
called
him out in a speech of about twenty minutes; he spoke
vehemently
against
the measure, and challenged opposition. The
friends of the canal
looked about for some one to reply. The "young
school master" was
chosen for that purpose. The election adjourned
to give me a
chance
to speak. Sorry they called upon me, for I felt
about "half seas
over" from the free and frequent use of the tin cup.
I was puzzled to know what to do. To decline would injure me in the estimation of the neighbor- hood, who were generally strongly in favor of the grant and, on the other hand, if I attempted to speak, and failed from intoxication, it would ruin me with my patrons. Soon a fence rail was slipped into the worm fence which stood nearby, and a wash-tub turned bottom upwards, was placed upon it and the neighboring rails, about five feet from the ground as a rostrum for me to speak from. Two or three men seized hold of me and placed me upon the stand, amidst the vociferous shouts of the friends of the canal, which was none the less loud on account of the frequent circulation of the tin and jug. I could scarcely preserve my equilibrium, but there I was on the stand (tub) for the purpose of answering and exposing the doctor's sophistries, and an anxious auditory waiting for me to exterminate him. But, strange to say, my lips refused utterance. I saw "men as it were trees walking," and after a long and to me a painful pause, I smote my hand upon my breast, and said, "I feel too full for utterance." (I meant of whiskey--they thought I meant righteous indignation at the Doctor's effrontery in opposing the measure under consideration.) The ruse worked like a charm--the crowd shouted, "let him have it." I raised my finger and pointed a moment steadily at the Doctor; the audience shouted "hit him again." Thus encouraged I commenced the first stump speech I ever attempted to make; and after I got my mouth to go off, (and a part of the whiskey, in perspiration) I had no trouble whatever, and the liquor dispelled a native timidity that otherwise, perhaps, might have embarrassed me. I occupied the tub about twenty-five minutes. The doctor, boiling over with indignation and a speech, mounted the tub and harangued us for at least thirty minutes. The "young school master" was again called for and another speech from him, of about twenty minutes, closed the debate. A 'viva voce' vote of
the
company was taken, which
resulted in 26 for accepting the canal grant, and four
against.
My two friends were elected captain and lieutenant, and I am back at my boarding house, ready for supper, with a slight headache. Strange none of them discovered I was intoxicated. Lucky for me they did not or I would doubtless lose my school. I now here promise myself, on this leaf of my day-book, that I will not drink liquor again, except given as a medical prescription. Tradition says the young Black Creek school master stuck to his pledge and that many years after he made that entry in his daybook, he was often seen passing up and down on the packets that ran upon the Wabash and Erie canal, lecturing upon temperance, and cordially shaking hands with the old settlers, whom he found sprinkled along from Vincennes to Fort Wayne." INCOG |
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